luna6

Actually it makes perfect sense, because earlier posts mentioned that Visa/Mastercard uses exchange rates on day of usage and Amex the day it settles (?). So in instances with a rapidly dropping currency you'll see Amex lose out. Conversely, when exchange rate is stable or currency is rising then Amex will come out ahead.

In reply to poster above CSP is still worthwhile for dining. I use it for dining/taxi, because I consider 2x UR better than 1 SPG point or 2% cashback even with its higher f/x rate. Don't have a Citi ThankYou card for comparison.

For what its worth, I'm using Amex SPG for everyday spend, CSP for dining/taxi's and the Amex SPG for SPG hotel stays. I've kicked Barclays Arrival+ to the curb because of higher redemption threshold. I have a Capital One Quicksilver One Mastercard as backup for everyday spend, but haven't had a need to use it yet (useful if Marriott destroys SPG). Next time I get to the states hope to get a City Thankyou card and see how that works out.

richarddd

With falling exchange rates, the charge in dollars should be lower the later the date that is used to calculate exchange rates. The pound has been getting cheaper (likely due to talk of Brexit).

If Visa uses day of usage and Amex uses the same or a later day, Amex should be the same or lower, rather than being about 1.25% higher.

zyxlsy

My observation is that MC and Visa use rates of the posting date (settlement date) as the posted amount are always different from the pending amount, where pending amount using rates of the transaction (usage) date. For Amex I'm not sure.

G-CIVC

I want to make a large purchase using my MC over the weekend denominated in ZAR (it fell off a cliff today from 15.6 ZAR to 16.2 ZAR per 1 USD).I suppose the transaction will post next Monday. I've seen that VISA takes the 'worst' rate they can of the previous transaction date, but what about MC? Should I wait a bit longer?

zyxlsy

If it's a true market currency, then MC is almost always better than Visa.

However we should never expect that we can catch the best rate point... Or we will be making a fortune doing currency trading.

bamba70

I've just done a test with 4 different cards:
Mastercard - the lowest
Discover - 0.35% higher than MC
Visa - 0.55% higher than MC
Amex - not yet showing with the USD equivalent (perhaps since there's no official trading now in the weekend)

bigbuy

Regarding Amex, not necessarily true.
This from Amex t&c's
"Unless otherwise required by law, we will chose a rate that is acceptable to us for that date. The rate we use will be no more than the HIGHEST official rate published by a government agency or the HIGHEST interbank rate we identify from customary banking sources on the conversion date or the PRIOR business day. This rate may differ from the rates that are in effect on the date of your charge".

richarddd

My point was that, contrary to the post to which I responded, if rates are falling (e.g., fewer dollars per pound), using a later date will give you a lower price, not a higher price. The OP got it exactly backwards.

Your post does not seem responsive to that issue. It could be consistent with my post that Amex gave a worse rate.

Earlier posts were to the effect that Amex generally gives a better exchange rate than Visa. Both Amex and Visa appear to use the highest rate on the relevant day, which suggests neither is generally better than the other, it depends on which date is used and how market rates are moving.

From the t&c you post, Amex seems to use posting date rather than date of use. Visa seems to be the same, given that the amount shown in "pending charges" is often different than the final amount. Amex does not seem to post "pending charges" for forex transactions, perhaps to avoid showing different pending and final amounts.

patrick.barnes

I've just done a large AUD transaction on my A+ so will let you know when it posts.

If they're adding 1% then the A+ will see the shredder as large foreign spend is the only reason I still keep it.

zyxlsy

Well this is some meat in the recent posts~

Keep me posted, and fingers crossed!

If true, I still will keep it, so that it is my backup card to try in Europe's unmanned stations...

patrick.barnes

That's why I signed up for Revolut.

Zero issues anywhere C+P is required.

The A+ is still useful for that, but why pay $89/year for it? I was saving thousands a year in FX fees so... that was my only reason to keep it.

zyxlsy

Maybe for the 2% cashback??? I'm for that to be honest, and the C+P of course.

However, at a Osaka Shinkansen kiosk requiring passwords, A+ didn't work, but my Amex SPG worked when I keyed in a password that even I wasn't sure was correct or not... But it just worked, and the transaction did not appear as cash advance like I feared.

Michael Ad

You can get a PIN for an SPG card? That's cool.

Or are you sure you set one? Maybe it'll take anything if the card is really chip and sig?

I know, years ago, the only way I could get a bike from Paris Velib was to use an Amex because they didn't have chip yet, so the system had to fall back to the magnetic strip (couldn't do it with Visa because they required a chip for Visa). Maybe this is a similar security fallback?

patrick.barnes

Okay, so to put the A+ fears aside:

Transaction for $3204 AUD on 02/29, posted same day (02/29):

USD $2281.57

Rate: 0.71210049937578

Xe.com rate for 02-28: 0.7126000000
Xe.com rate for 02-29: 0.7148934607

So MC beat the best mid market rate for both dates (taking into account possible timezone differences).

No 1% hidden markup noticed.

patrick.barnes

You can't...