Originally Posted by
xyzzy
One of our credit card companies just sent us revised terms for continued use of a MasterCard. The card currently charges only a 1% foreign conversion fee. Starting August 1, 2008, this charge applies to all foreign transactions and is no longer just a conversion fee. I see this as yet another reason not to take merchants up on their offer of converting charges to USD (or whatever your home currency is) at purchase time.
I suspect other card issuers will be making this change, or have recently done so.
That's not unusual. It has been my experience that most cards with foreign transaction fees apply them regardless of the currency used, as long as the transaction takes place in a foreign country.