Thinking about it, I expect DCC to actually become more prevalent in the US thanks to EMV. :( There's a good chance that we'll have the largest set of signature-only terminals in the world (restaurants and the like) so there's less chance to opt-out since cards will still leave the cardholder's possession. And that has to be tempting for some companies out there, especially those who do a lot of business in tourist areas.

Well, nothing prevents DCC in a swipe-and-sign environment either. Apple Pay and the like could reduce the prevalence of DCC since DCC isn't allowed for contactless payments with no cardholder verification required.

I maintain that DCC isn't that prevalent in the US to begin with, but my spouse isn't letting me use her Taiwan issued Visa debit card to find out. She let me try one purchase at Mitsuwa, but there was no DCC.

It's easier in an EMV environment though because there's no need to keep a BIN->country association list constantly up to date; just check the Application Currency Code on the card. Also, it's probably not prevalent now because a lot of businesses have some really old terminals that probably can't even do it in the first place. :p

Then again, it's probably way easier to enforce proper DCC here than elsewhere so even if it does become more prevalent at least opt-out should be easy.

Since when did DCCing magnetic stripe cards ever prove too difficult for the many merchants of Ireland? LOL

Well, I'm thinking about this some more and perhaps more merchants will enable DCC as they swap out for newer terminals with the EMV change. However, over on the other thread, we've postulated that merchants here will be slow to change out their terminals, especially in venues like restaurants that are considered 'low risk' for fraud.

I think there is a lot of cultural difference as well. In Ireland, for example, I doubt most people feel much remorse for scamming Britons and Americans with DCC. Same for outsiders in Hong Kong and China. Canada, however, or the UK I doubt would find forced DCC to be nearly to acceptable of a practice. The US, however, is one country where I'd think forcing DCC would be considered downright patriotic "this is Murica and you're gonna pay us the way we want to get ar' 'Murican dollaz"

So I'm surprised it isn't more widespread.

I don't know enough about the cultures elsewhere to say whether or not that's the case. I think the customer service and rules driven culture likely prevails in the US to do the right thing or having cashiers/waitstaff willing to retry the transaction.

Or to put it in another perspective, wait until you see the size of my tip if you don't figure out a way to void this transaction and rerun in USD. ;)

I think the DCC scam is most likely present in areas with high tourist or foreign card traffic SE Asia, Europe, etc. I imagine outside of tourist areas in the US it is uncommon to find a non-USD denominated card in the wild. Even my international friends in college primarily used their US-issued debit cards from a local bank account (and later got credit cards as they established credit in the US). And in the kind of places I now visit, most of the foreign cards are UnionPay or JCB anyway, so I wouldn't see any opportunities for DCC.

In most cases I doubt you'd have issues because almost all major stores have digital signature pads now, and reclusive46 says that's where he has typically seen the DCC offer to appear outside of restaurants. It's just like DFS at HKIA where it was easy to decline if you knew what to expect. It's none of this charade of "check the box and hope the cashier makes some input after the fact".

There may well be cultural reasons as to whether the USA, for example, will deploy DCC on a wide basis. I don't think it started out as a scam; I think when it was introduced in Ireland in the 1990's it was looked on to a degree as a means of helping customers understand what they were paying for something. That was before ftf's so if a bank was getting 3% on the foreign currency transaction, they felt it was a way of getting in on the action, sparing the customer the 3% and providing a service. It became more of a scam when the banks in retaliation converted foeign currency fees to foreign transaction fees. Ouch. But then the processors claimed it wasn't they ripping off the customers but their banks.

But DCC didn't catch on in France because well the French sgtill had and probably retain the belief France is one of the great countries of the world; that everybody should speak French and spend French money while in France. Of course we also have this American exceptionalism here which Obama spoke about; i.e. everybody should speak English and everybody should use and accept American money (and American weights and measures and American 2nd Amendment rights yada yada yada. It is that attitude so prevalent in Murica that may account for the lack of DCC. Of course, the other attitude is capitalism reigns supreme and the idea is to make the last buck on unsuspecting tourists because the American capitalistic society best way to go (ever sit bck why the same medical proceure costs $100 throughout 99% of the workd and $5,000 here while statistics show American medical care is no better than most other places but then again that may cause me to be accused of stealing the topic and I wouldn't want to do that but this thought is there are 2 ways to do things, the rest of the world and America is something that is very prevalent in American mores.

DCC has evolved into a scam when the going rate is now between 4-5%, which is more than the standard 3% currency exchange fee that issuers charge. Since banks were losing out on this, they switched to foreign transaction fees, which we've discussed extensively already, so you're still getting with the 3% FTF even if you accept the 4-5% DCC offer, resulting in a 7-8% markup on your transaction. Back when it was one or the other (and the DCC offer was a more reasonable 3%) it really didn't matter which one you chose, and you might have even come out ahead accepting DCC since the currency exchange fee wasn't calculated as part of your rewards earnings whereas the total amount inclusive of the DCC fee would count. Again, this no longer holds true, but it did in the past.

If anything, I'm surprised DCC isn't more prevalent due to American culture trying to upsell at every possible opportunity. How often do you hear, "Would you like to make that a large for 49¢ more?" "How about adding purchase protection to this today?" "I see you've already got this, but can I interest you in this adjacent service [that's more expensive]?" It seems like every which way they're trying to get you to accept the offer, and some employees even have quotas to meet. The only reason why DCC isn't all over the place is because on average I suspect that few big box retailers see non-USD cards outside of select locations.

I suspect it's a battle between the mighty 'Murican dollar and the belief everyone everywhere should use them (which goes against DCC) and the belief that in 'Murica if you're not 'Murican you have no rights and should be scammed at every available opportunity. Frankly, I'd believe the latter would outweigh the former, but it usually doesn't.

In the UK, I think DCC is rare because 1. there's less utter hatred toward foreigners and 2. an even stronger love of the currency.

On the other hand, in Ireland there's no emotion for the Euro and a strong "let's take the British and American tourists for all they're worth" (the main people who will be DCC'd in Ireland) attitude that appears prevalent.

... :rolleyes:

Oh come on, I've met many people who genuinely believe that outside the borders of the US everyone is either evil, impoverished, or both. There is a widespread belief that the US is some type of paradise that everyone else wishes they could be just like.

Now, being in rural Montana plays no small part in being around this, I'm sure. But seriously, hell, if there was a way to "DCC" tourists from other STATES, I'm sure they'd do it here. Especially to Californians. Add a 5% fee for using a California-issued credit card? I can name quite a few businesses I bet would sign on in a heartbeat to such a scheme.

Currency fees are still common outside the US though right? Or have non-US banks switched to FTFs too?

They are still common, but some banks are switching over to FTFs. The worst is that some issuers outside of the US will have rewards bonuses on foreign spend, and DCC doesn't count.

I'm just gonna wager a guess that those people you're referencing have no idea what DCC is, and wouldn't want to bother to implement it.