Just got hit with my first DCC in years. Wasn't paying attention. Luckily it was only 3% (a few dollars) of a small restaurant bill in Sorrento, Italy.

After tapping my credit card, the waiter said "American"? I stupidly assumed he was asking me if this was an American card, but what he really meant was "US Dollars"? Good reminder lesson to pay more attention when traveling. Hasn't happened in so long I wasn't on my guard. Can't believe this hasn't been outlawed yet. I hate DCC worse than the spam calls offering extended warranty on a car I don't own

What's worse is contactless is no longer a reliable protection against DCC. I assume you didn't have control of the terminal for the transaction?

I know this is after the fact, but in such a case I would ask the merchant to void the transaction. If the merchant refused, I'd indicate on the receipt and/or file a chargeback.

Now that international travel is picking up again we have to be vigilant for DCC for the first time in up to two years.

Right, they were holding the terminal... and I wasn't paying close enough attention. It was just a solo dinner, and the DCC ended up costing me $3-$4. So I'll just let it go. I nailed the merchant with a 1* google review. But it's a wake up call to me to remember to stay vigilant.

This is common practice for hotels in the DR regardless of ownership--rates are quoted in USD, but charges are always made in DOP based on an exchange rate the hotel decides on. I think it's both a throwback to the bad old days of an unstable currency and a nod to the huge numbers of American tourists who come here. In my experience they're often lazy with updating the exchange rate and it can go in either party's favor--but if you call them on it, most will usually switch to the rate printed in the newspaper or on Google without much argument.

And for whatever reason, it seems that when it's offered here, DCC always offers to charge in USD, even if the card is in EUR or CAD. But this is a country where you buy fruit by the pound and fuel by the gallon.

Purchases with the Swedish national rail company are also subject to the DCC scam when using non-European bank cards.

thats usually the case with 3rd party ATM operators

Ohh , its euronet .... fun fact , they own XE.com and RiA

2 things i like with them
.

1. they usually accept amex
2. they signed contracts with smaller banks who dont want to invest in offices + atm , so the customers of these banks can withdraw from euronet's ATM for free

.Besides that , if i see yellow/blue colors it help me recognize them from far away , so i can avoid them and not get scammed

In some cases in DR , you have shops where the DCC is enabled by default on the terminals , and judging by the face cashiers/bartenders do when i ask them to pay without dcc , you can be sure that consumer rights is the least of their concerns

I would simply recommend anyone to arrive in DR with cash (USD or EUR) and change it in town or withdraw big amount of DOP in one time , cause many places dont accept cards and some when they do accept card

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...260cdf5b07.jpg
This shop advertise DCC at its door

I used Google Pay to pay the bill and the terminal offered DCC which I immediately refused it.

For those not familiar with Polish, loosely translated (I believe) sign says here you pay with mobile and telephone.

DCC is pretty obvious :rolleyes: :( :td:

No need for snark. The OP probably meant the other text on the door "Pay in your currency".

How did you refuse it, demanding local currency instead?

Snark not intended.

Sorry you were offended.

Suspect most would not recognize Polish letters when they see them :idea:

You mean of course here you pay with card and telephone, right? Yes, sadly from what I've seen on this forum Poland is one of those places where DCC is rampant. I've only been there as a transit stop so never had a chance to experience it myself, but it's definitely telling that the Złoty symbol isn't even pictured, as if it weren't an option :(

Bolding mine.

Yes, of course ......

I was in Poland several years ago, and don't recall running into DCC. Then again, I used points for the hotel (the good old days of 5K stays at IHG properties, RIP).

IIRC primarily paid cash for food except at supermarkets. And public transport accepted CCs at machine at bus / tram stop :tu:

Poland has been among the worst offenders for DCC for the past 4 or 5 years based on the reports here. There's certainly a self-selection process on FlyerTalk, but the country comes up frequently.

For instance, I just got back from 5 weeks in Australia. While DCC is definitely present in Australia these days, I never saw it by tapping my payments 100% of the time. I either used points or paid with Amex for hotels, so I didn't see DCC there either.

So tapping is the safest way to avoid DCC in Australia? I'll be heading back to Sydney later this year and I want to use cards as much as I can. AMEX seems pretty useless outside of hotels, but no DCC at all with them?

Correct. Only Visa and MC are subject to DCC with MC being slightly more favorable to the consumer by having a buyer's remorse provision for DCC. By tapping my card I didn't see DCC, but I know for a fact it's been prevalent since around 2016. My first time seeing it was at a cafe in Brisbane 8 years ago (and I reported on it here in the previous thread). I've done trial transactions on previous trips where I try the same card on the same terminal via chip-and-signature, contactless with the card (no signature), and contactless via mobile device (Google pay, no signature). The DCC prompt would only appear when doing the chip-and-signature transaction, but it was easy to opt out if you were aware of what was happening. There should not be a situation in Australia where you do not control the terminal, so you can manage the DCC prompts.

The only thing unfortunately that's nearly ubiquitous these days is the 1-1.5% credit card surcharge. I justify it by using a card with no foreign transaction fee and 1.5-4.5x rewards (on a Chase Sapphire Reserve with a 50% bonus on redemptions) for the categories of my spend, so it's a breakeven in the worst case. Even at 1x, you're probably still breaking even with respect to exchange rate fluctuations.

I agree and I used my CC as much as I could despite the surcharge. I even got A$50 from the ATM and never had to use it as Sydney can be mostly cashless. I hate the surcharge, but if I do break even then it's still better than having cash. The only disappointing thing is that AMEX has a very low acceptance rate. It's mostly Visa and MC.

Last month I went back to Canada for the first time in 3 years. Stopped in a Canadian TD bank near the US border and was surprised the ATM offered DCC. Very easy to decline of course. Didn't encounter DCC anywhere else on the trip , but there were plenty of signs in Niagara Falls ON stating that US$ was accepted (at a worse rate of course)

Depending on the merchant and exchange rate it hasn't always a bad deal historically (but typically was). For instance, I'd always do a quick calculation for the Blue Water Bridge toll to see if it made more sense to pay in CAD or USD. It probably evened out in the long term, but the occasional arbitrage was fun. :D

Now with 0% FTF credit and debit cards, it's always in your interest to use local currency, either cash or card, outside of the corner cases of abrupt changes in the exchange rate.

Last time I visited Montreal before covid, shops there accepted USD at a better rate than the market. in any case, it's not DCC when the whole transaction is negotiable.

That is an exaggeration. Car rental and almost all petrol stations accept Amex. So do all major supermarkets and liquor outlets. It's pretty easy to use Amex for 90% of purchases in Australia unless you go to lots of small businesses, non-chain cafes, etc. (There are some weird situations with franchises. e.g. Domino's Pizza accepts Amex online, but an individual shop's equipment may not necessarily be set up for it if you walk in and want to pay them directly. Paying them directly means you can't use online coupons, which are often ~30% off, so usually a very bad idea anyhow.)

I observed lots of DCC in Thailand recently at IHG hotels, but they were good enough to clearly print the surcharge (around 3.8%) at the bottom of the pre-receipt. (Their standard procedure seems to be to show it to you and ask which you'd prefer. I guess if you are dumb enough to see a physical print-out that tells you that you'll be paying more and agree to it, you really have no recourse after the fact.)

I'd say DCC rate is negotiable, just not for the consumer. :p

Thanks for the recent data point. It looks like it hasn't changed. There have also been historical reports of the quote slip in Singapore and Taiwan, but I don't have recent data points or observations of either. (My last visits to both were right before 2020.)

Another Paypal data point: received a Paypal payment request denominated in Euros, but on opening it up in the app, Paypal displayed a USD amount corresponding to 1 USD = 0.93590 EUR. After poking around I was able to find a way to switch it to EUR (sorry for the vagueness, this was like a week ago, although I did write the numbers down) and pay in EUR via a no-FTF Chase card. Chase converted at 0.97466; the XE rate was 0.9878.

Really? Do you mean big department stores downtown, or shops catering to tourists? I've definitely seen signs saying "we accept USD" of course, but I've never known them to be advantageous to anyone actually using USD. I've always assumed that was to appeal to Americans who can't be bothered to understand Canadian dollars, and charging them for being clueless.

Some small eateries had signs "we'll accept USD at xxx rate". I remember thinking that the rates were pretty good for that time, even though I probably paid with a card anyways (didn't want CAD change).

Huh, that surprises me. For most Canadian merchants, dealing with USD is a hassle.

I'm currently in Poland and see that basically it is still an issue. DCC is everywhere. However, it is easy to avoid - every single time I have been asked which currency I want to pay in if it shows up on the terminal and I do not have control. However, I speak Polish, no idea how foreigners would be treated.

Nevertheless, in many places you do have control of the terminal and it shows up and you can refuse it easily as well.

It used to be that tapping was a way to avoid it, but no more. I noticed that sometimes tapping only triggers it when it is above 100 PLN which is the authorization trigger - PIN or signature required. Even if you use Google Pay, above 100 PLN it still triggers DCC.

Also, every single ATM has DCC here.

AMEX only way to avoid DCC then? What is AMEX's acceptance rate in Warsaw like?

AMEX acceptance is pretty common in more touristy areas etc., but sometimes it is lacking in random places. My understanding is that Amex is the most expensive for merchants hence they opt out. There are no banks issuing Amex, so it is not possible for a Polish person to get one without going to a foreign bank. But still, I would say maybe it's at 70-80% of merchants were Amex works, I could be off. But yes, that is the only sure way to avoid DCC, although like I said, it is pretty easy to reject it in almost all cases.

As a side note, Discover is also supported in about as many places as Amex is. I am actually quite happy as I get to get 5% back on restaurants during this trip while having no FTF :)

What is 100 PLN in USD? I can't read Polish. How is it obvious for someone like me to avoid DCC when paying with a Visa or MC?

Thank you.

It's about $22. This is probably the Visa Easy Payment Service (VEPS) threshold in Poland. I remember reading that DCC isn't allowed on VEPS transactions (although there have been non-compliant data points here in the past).

So I am not sure if that happens 100% of the time, but whenever I have been DCC'd, the prompt becomes English - whether it's very nice and graphic or it shows USD and PLN options. So no Polish reading required for that.

Also keep in mind that in many locatiions it just doesn't pay to worry about DCC. When the prices are already a tiny fraction of what you pay at home, it's zero consequence if they tack another 3% "stupid tourist" tax.

It's more the principle, really, especially when various merchants make it so that it's difficult or even impossible to opt out. If DCC was such a good deal for consumers, they wouldn't need to resort to dark patterns and various other sketchiness as consumers would willingly choose "yes" to paying in their own currency.

Yeah, I hear ya. Like I once bought some clothes at Koton store (in Turkey). Their terminals are on the cashier's side of the counter, and the girl had to insert my payment card. When I got the receipt, it was in USD with DCC applied. I sure was irritated for a few seconds. But given the crazy prices in TK, it only amounted to USD 0.12. It just wasn't worth delaying my vacation. At this point DCC is not even a deception as everyone knows what's happening. And there are many similar taxes and fees that we likewise pay all the time.

I would say many people are still unaware what's happening with DCC based on informal observations at hotel receptions and discarded ATM receipts. Taxes (and some fees) are required. There are some fees, such as resort fees, that are a merchant cash grab. DCC is in the same category.

For smaller transaction amounts, it is about the principle, but there has got to be a threshold where most people would complain. For instance, if you had a restaurant bill of $90, paid $100 cash, and only received $5 in change, I'm sure you would speak up.

Yes, pretty much my sentiment in Post 913.

It is absolutely a deception. I would bet that the vast majority of tourists have never heard of DCC and have no idea what is happening.

I agree. It's not consumer friendly and quite frankly, it should be illegal.

Hell NO! By that logic any banking operation would be shut down, since they're all taking cuts without delivering goods or useful services. DCC must at least disclose the actual charge, which is not the case with bank spreads. CitiGold at one point advertised "No Fee" ForEx with free mail delivery. After some digging I learned that "Free" really meant a 10% Buy/Sell spread. And if "consumer friendly" is now a requirement, how come airport exchange offices are still in business?