FlyerTalk Forums - Problem? USAA Switches from Mastercard to Visa

Quote:

Originally Posted by serpens (Post 27529921)

Is there a typical percentage difference? If so, what is it? If not, then I assume there is a range, and it is impossible to tell beforehand where in the range a purchase will fall. In this case, it would be interesting to know the range.

My questions are motivated by the situation where I have a Visa and a Mastercard, and the Visa pays a greater reward than the Mastercard. What is the break-even point?

Thanks for any insight.

My rule of thumb now is that I always use 0% FTF MC for foreign currency purposes, unless the rewards are at least 0.5% points better on Visa/AMEX. Then I will use 0% FTF Visa/AMEX.

So bonus category spend on Visa is usually better than non-bonused on MC.

This does not mean the Visa exchange rates are always 0.5% worse. In fact, the Visa/MC spread can vary quite a bit and occasionally Visa even has the better rate. But on average MC is slightly better and I have no incentive to use Visa for non-bonused purchases.

You might consider using Visa/AMEX instead of MC for other reasons. For example car rental. You might have a Chase Sapphire Visa or AMEX with primary car rental insurance, or want to use AMEX to avoid DCC (rather notorious among rental car agency) or for better consumer protection