Question for you: I have a receipt from a bar similar to the one you show on the right from the CY. I specifically asked the merchant to charge me in HKD with "no conversion" and received one that had the USD amount and FX rate. She circled the HKD amount and said that I would not be charged the conversion. I logged onto my Citibank account just now and see a temporary authorisation for the USD amount stated on the receipt. I take it I was lied to by merchant?? Did I get DCCd? I've been so good at avoiding it this week between my BKK and HKG trips.

Hold amount might still be at DCC rate even if the transaction eventually posts for HKD. Have to wait til posting before any conclusion can be drawn.

That's right. For instance, my hold was the DCC amount of the preauth. It was a higher amount than $321.34 but still reflecting the 4.9% amount over the Visa rate for whatever the preauth amount was in HKD.

It really depends on the implementation of DCC. Usually the ones where the FX rate is presented will hold the DCC amount and post the non-DCC amount. You want to look at the batch number/reference number. In HK you can ask for a reprint/courtesy copy, and it will show which currency was actually charged.

+1 for the courtesy slip in HK, usually for higher-end places where they are patient enough to do this for you.

Thanks all, I'll be sure to ask for a courtosey slip next time. And of course, wait and see what actually posts on my account before drawing conclusions.

In the worst case, you have rock solid proof with a circled/checked HKD carbon copy slip for a chargeback.

PSA: Moneris, Canada's largest acquirer/processor has recently announced that DCC is available to its merchants on its terminals: https://www.moneris.com/en/products-...cy-conversion/

If a merchant opts in, it will only occur if a card is inserted or swiped. Contactless/tap transactions will only be in CAD.

As Canada is a chip-and-PIN country, cardholder interaction with the payment terminals is normal so opting out should not be difficult.

If the implementation is like that YouTube video, then it is relatively benign, similar to DCC implementations I've seen in the US where the customer has complete control over the currency selection.

It will be interesting to see how widespread DCC becomes in Canada as a result.

I do believe the fact that Canada is chip-and-PIN is beneficial since there is a higher chance the customer will be facing the PIN pad when the DCC prompt comes up.

Plus Moneris terminals always ask the customer to confirm the amount (which personally I find annoying with a Canadian card, as I'm essentially confirming the CAD amount twice).

I would say in the case of DCC that's a very good thing. I don't like the non-compliant "Amount OK?" style messages which is an opt-in to DCC.

Please pardon my ignorance. I have not been out of the US since I got my first chipped credit card.

Are you saying that if I use a card with a chip, I need to enter a PIN to make a purchase? I ask because I never get cash from a credit card, and I don't even know the PINs for any of my credit cards. In at least one case, I decline to request a PIN. If I understood that correctly, then I'll set about learning and setting PINs.

As far as I know, most US cards are still Chip and Signature, so no PIN required. (I haven't been following the Chip transition recently, but I'm pretty sure that's still the case).

No, what I meant was as Canadian cards are all chip and PIN, that the payment infrastructure is designed with this is mind so there is high user level interaction with the payment terminal. Almost all US cards are still chip and signature and will cause the terminals in Canada to print a signature slip.

This has been a source of discussion in other threads on this board. For a variety of reasons, the US in implementing the chip cards is very insistant that using a signature to verify a purchase is what most Americans desire (they are probably right) and so our cards are set up in such a way that even if you are in a country like Canada, where their naitive cards usually require a pin, your card will generate a message to the merchant signature required, a slip will be printed for you to sign, the merchant is supposed to compare the signature on the slip with the signature on the card (ha ha ha) and the purchase is completed. There was some fear at the beginning that there would be difficulties using unpersonneled kiosks but mc/visa passed regulations prohibiting kiosks from rejecting out of hand cards lacking a pin to accomodate the US banks. So you need not worry; quite frankly you simply don't need a pin and will never be asked for one.

I do wonder how it'll eventually shape out in the US. On one hand, the vast majority probably won't bother enabling it in the first place--if it's even made available for their terminals. On the other, there will likely be far more terminals in the US that aren't in control of customers compared to Canada, so I can see something like HK's charge slip thing happening at some locations (albeit with much less hassle with getting your choice respected). Still too early to be able to tell for sure in any case.