tmiw

Looks like the transaction finally posted at $32.49 which matches Visa's exchange rate of $1.299 to £1 for the 3rd. xe.com for the same date also seemed to hover around $1.295 to £1 or so, resulting in a 0.3% premium. While it's just one data point, 0.3% doesn't seem terrible.

tmiw

Just made another GBP purchase for £1.49--after having to reset all of my cards on PayPal to avoid DCC --this time using my Diners Club MC. The notification text said $1.96, which seems to be spot on with what xe.com says. We'll see what it says when it posts.

metoo

I need to pay for a tour in British Pounds through Pay Pay.

I have AMEX SPG business, and Chase Sapphire Preferred card , or IHG MC

I already paid 1000 GBP for deposit with my CSP.

Is it best to pay the balance with CSP or is it better with AMEX SPG biz.

tmiw

This question may be better suited here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...all-cards.html

FWIW, there was a 0.3% spread for my CSR once the transaction in question posted compared to xe.com's rates. The jury's still out on the charge I put on my Diners Club MC the other day but the pending transaction was basically spot on rate-wise. No idea yet about AmEx.

reclusive46

USD/GBP on Amex is pretty good (On par with Visa, sometimes worse than MC). Some other currencies on Amex are questionable though.

tmiw

That's good to hear. In any event, the difference seems small enough between all three that it probably doesn't matter for bonus categories and may only mildly matter for non-bonus spend.

tmiw

My MC transaction posted yesterday. (Faster than Chase, too, but that might have been due to the holiday weekend.) $1.322 to £1 per the attached screenshot, but since I'm not sure what time of the day the final exchange rate gets fixed it's difficult to compare.

tmiw

Tried my SPG AmEx card for one GBP charge--£17.50 posted as $23.79 last night ($1.3594 to £1). The highest GBP has been on xe.com since the charge authorized on September 24th was $1.3541, indicating a 0.4% premium at best.

Also, another Visa charge on the same date (and which posted at the same time) works out to be $1.3572 to £1. Looks like MC is currently better than AmEx which is better than Visa for GBP, though the percentages are still low enough that it probably won't matter much for bonus spend or most casual travelers.

BTW, props to AmEx for texting the foreign currency amount in their notifications instead of just the converted USD amount as with most other issuers. Unfortunately, foreign charges don't seem to appear in the pending transaction list on their website; not sure why that is.

wco81

I see that with Chase too. Not sure if BofA does.

But in the final statement, Chase shows the foreign currency.

I believe the apps. for Chase, BofA and Citi will pop notifications showing the foreign amounts if you turn on notifications for transactions.

tmiw

I'll have to pay attention next time I use my CSR to confirm but I'm fairly sure Chase still shows the USD amount even in the push notifications the app sends. Apple Pay definitely shows the foreign currency amount, however.

wco81

Hmm, maybe I'm mixing up Apple Pay notifications with Chase notifications.

You may be right, Chase doesn't display the foreign currency amounts.

richarddd

The claim is that they don't know the USD amount until it posts, as that's when they do the forex conversion. Therefore, they don't show it in pending. They could, of course, show you the foreign currency amount in pending, but they don't.

tmiw

I could have sworn that the charge was reflected in the available credit while it was still pending but I could be wrong on that.

richarddd

They may estimate the amount for available credit but not put it in pending charges until they have the final amount. I know they don't show pending forex (at least, in my experience), but I don't remember whether it was reflected in available credit, so I'm just guessing.

kayanco

I just came across this point. What does it mean "reset all of my cards on PayPal to avoid DCC"?

I don't see a DCC related option on PayPal. Can you explain this please?
Thanks.