Depending on how often you go to any specific destination, there's a sure way to avoid DCC: Open a local bank account and "feed" the account through currencyfair or transferwise (or the like).

For the EUR-zone as a whole there's www.dkb.de - a German bank that offers accounts to everyone, regardless of location. Drawback: Their webinterface and customerservice is in German (only).

Alternative would be www.number26.de - they offer an account also in English, but only to residents of Germany + Austria. Since this account is strictly credit based there are no credit checks or the like, so it might be possible to open this one using a friend's address in Germany/Austria if you know someone.

But I agree, it's quite a hassle to open accounts everywhere.

Usually I'd say Revolut is part of the solution, especially if they beef up the holding currencies by 12 to an overall of 15 soon. However, not by Revolut's fault, even if you hold money in any given currency, as the card is UK-issued, terminals still try to DCC customers into the GBP. So while the product is GREAT, it doesn't automatically kill off DCC. Except for the UK, where Revolut is the perfect and automatic anti-DCC solution.

Visa and Mastercard should be bullied into offering a default-opt-out per individual credit card, automatically disallowing DCC per card. If a random customer wants to actually make use of this great "service" then so be it: They should be free to choose, but not to our disadvantage.

Revolut may still be a good solution judging by my recent ATM experience. Some more datapoints will have to come in though to conclude either way though.

It's also possible to get cash out of an ATM. At least in the US, there are multiple debit card/savings accounts that offer 0% foreign transaction fee withdrawals and reimburse any fees (except DCC of course). However, I've never seen an ATM where it was impossible to opt out of DCC, so withdrawing and using cash does avoid DCC like opening up a local account.

While if you're a frequent visitor/resident/student in another location it might make sense to open a local bank account, there are often restrictions on doing so in many countries. I don't see this as a viable solution for the occasional traveler.

Furthermore, the whole reason we use credit cards is for the miles and points. Obtaining a rewards earning credit card in another country is unlikely to be an available option for all but a select few on the forum whose circumstances permit this. For instance, I doubt I could go into a bank in a euro area country and open a rewards earning credit card so that I wouldn't get hit with DCC in Ireland and Spain.

We're left with limited choices such as American Express or being vigilant when we make purchases to ensure that we're not hit with DCC.

So if the currency of this card GBP or USD? If you use it at a US merchant who DCC's will you see your USD amount converted to GBP and then the card company debits your card account in GBP and then reconverts to USD. I don't understand how this card works in that regard.

The card currency is GBP but like I was saying above, some terminals might not see that part of the card data because of how it's encoded on the card.

I noticed this when I was in Romania this summer- some ATMs offered me DCC when I used a MasterCard but not when I used a Visa.

Wow I wasn't offered DCC once in Romania. I saw one ATM advertising it but it was in a touristy spot and I had no need to use it. I only used bank ATMs. No issue. No DCC at the POS either.

I have just returned from Gran Canaria (Spain). Used my credit card four times and an ATM once:

• Hiperdino (a Canarian supermarket chain) - card terminal linked to POS: no DCC offered, card charged in Euros
• The Mint Company (a clothing chain) - card terminal branded as Comercia Global Payments (related to "la caixa"): DCC offered *after* PIN entered, green to accept red to refuse. Pressed red button and it cancelled the transaction. Cashier tried again and told me machine was touch screen. Touched the red panel on the screen and was given the "are you really sure" warning. Cashier pressed something here quite quickly but she clearly knew I didn't want DCC. Card charged in Euros with no DCC, thankfully cashier knew what I wanted (despite a small language barrier) and was happy to assist me in getting this.
• Palmito's Park (a tourist attraction) - BBVA terminal. Paid contactlessly. Terminal asked for PIN (surprised as this was contactless and card was never inserted) - no amount shown on screen during PIN entry. Small slip prints, which has lots of text, so I assume DCC. Cashier quickly tears this off and throws into bin. She then goes to press enter. At this point, I stop her and ask to see the screen. It is offering "Press 1 for GBP; Press Enter for EUR". She smiled and said they've had complaints, so just select Euros for everyone. Card charged in EUR.
• Duty Free Shop at LPA airport - very old BBVA terminal connected to POS. PIN entered with no amount on the screen. DCC offered *after* PIN entered: "Press 1 for EUR; Press 3 for GBP". Before I could even read it, the cashier had lent over and pressed 3. Fortunately, this has to be followed by Enter. So I interupted, pressed clear, then 1, then enter. Card charged in EUR. Similar set-up as reported in post #2197 by Points Scrounger.

The experience with ATMs was pretty standard. DCC offered each time, but very easy to avoid.

It appears the "DCC after PIN" is now considerably more common in Spain than I expected. Watch out very carefully and keep an eye on the screen until the receipt is issued. Also assume contactless is *not* safe from DCC.

The small BBVA slip that she tossed away, rather than handing to you, was one that gives you the actual DCC difference in what you would be paying so that you will have informed consent on your choice. In reality, to get at the difference you would have to have her stand there and wait while you pulled out a calculator. At a cafe in Madrid, the waiter gave me the slip after the transaction was complete along with the receipt.

There's something to be said for signature transactions. I'd be a bit upset at the duty free cashier who selected GBP on your behalf. Also, this implementation is super shady considering you may not be in control of the terminal at the point in time when DCC is offered.

It is good that Palmito's is doing the right thing based on complaints. ^

So much for the "just use contactless and you're safe" theory...

So I made a purchase recently at Amazon and had it sent to Canada to a relative as a gift.
I was offered to charge the purchase in USD since I have a US card:
Total purchase in USD: $78.92
Total purchase in CAD: $101.85

I checked the market foreign exchange rate on that day and Amazon's was slightly higher than that.
I chose to have the purchase charged in CAD and when I checked my Capital One's account later on, I was charged USD $76.53, a saving of $2.39 or 3% of the amount Amazon was offering to charge in USD.

I've skimmed this thread but did not find an answer to this question:
If I'm going to be making an extended trip to a country where DCC is very common, such as China, but where DCC there also does not comply with Visa International Operating Regulations, generally by not offering any choice and/or making DCC the default, can I just deface any DCC slip I'm offered and then call my issuer upon the transactions posting and ask for all of them to be disputed under reason code 76? Does anyone have any experience with attempting this strategy with specific US issuers (primarily interested in Capital One, Chase, and Citibank, if that helps)? And finally, what disadvantages would this strategy have over struggling to work through a language barrier to get the clerk to cancel or allow me to try to cancel the DCC initially?

Yes, you can deface the receipt as a last resort. If language barriers are an issue then sometimes you'll have little recourse. If in China you can always use Discover, but rewards are more limited. AmEx is also immune from DCC, so you can get away with the SPG AmEx, Hilton, Platinum, or Delta cards. There have been multiple reports of successful chargebacks with Chase, and it will become more routine if more people demand reason code 76 chargebacks. Think of it like the progression with fighting fraudulent charges on a credit card. It used to be that the issuer would require a police report as part of the dispute. Now you can simply call and the issuer will remove the charge pending investigation. If enough DCC complaints are made, perhaps issuers will have a similar process.

If it's an option, you could consider getting a local rewards credit card for use in country.

That's typical DCC maybe even a bit better than average. DCC is one of the biggest scams out there. I find it really sad that Amazon participates on such a large scale, given in many other ways they're consumer friendly. At least it is far easier to opt out than PayPal (which has no opt-out if you use Discover because apparently Discover doesn't require an opt-out option!)

I thought Discover didn't support DCC? Did I miss something along the way? :eek: