Yes, using Amex will avoid DCC. It's the same with Discover (but with more limited international acceptance, of course). JCB and UnionPay also do not have DCC. There is interoperability with Discover in theory but not in practice with JCB and UnionPay.

I read the article, and it's a good article. However, notice that it was a freelance author on behalf of American Express. If I were Amex, I would have reminded the author that American Express cards do not feature DCC (and list that as an advantage of using American Express where accepted internationally).

Noted briefly in the Wiki, but my mother came to Europe for a visit and when she used her US Visa card to make an ATM withdrawal at one of our major banks (the FX fees get refunded on her card), there was a tricky prompt showing the USD amount that was actually an attempt to get the user to accept DCC. It was when I saw the 14% markup noted that I hit 'decline' and the transaction went thru in EUR.

So DCC clearly extends to ATMs as well; not just merchant purchases.

The good thing about ATMs is that the prompts are always under the user's control, and we've never heard of a report of forced DCC with an ATM. The 14% rate sounds awful though!

They can really make it confusing though. We needed some cash urgently once and we kept thinking the transaction would cancel entirely if we said no, and did cancel out twice. We found another ATM. Same thing. Finally we ended up getting the money and hit with a big fee. The next time on same trip we were able to navigate it better and hit "no" or "cancel" at the right times and avoided DCC. We are reasonably sophisticated travelers but just didn't figure it out the first time. Our fault in the end, yes, and lesson learned, but still frustrating, and one of the reasons this DCC stuff agitates me so much.

As mentioned above, the first time one sees the message, you might think hitting "decline" would cancel out the entire transaction. No mention of 'paying in own currency' as in the case of buying from a merchant.
Perhaps this is a thing with US-issued cards only ? Because my European bank card (Mastercard) never prompts for DCC when paying or withdrawing cash in a foreign currency- I'm sure this would run afoul of EU consumer protection rules !

Definitely true. There's an Honest Guides YouTube video about this. The guy was talking about how Euronet ATMs will have default amounts way higher and try to force DCC versus when using a local card.

With ATMs it’s not just DCC. It can also be the ATM’s owner charging (apparently) whatever fees they wish.

The merchant can only use DCC if the transaction currency is your local currency. As I understand it, an authorisation to use DCC is considered to be invalid if the wrong currency was used, so it should be easy to have DCC undone by disputing the charge.It depends on where you are. Nordea cash machines in Denmark ask me to pay in SEK instead of DKK.Once, a Danish merchant asked for 250 SEK for a purchase, but when I declined DCC, my bank converted the DKK amount to just 200 SEK, so a neat 25% markup.

I was at the Dufry duty free shop at YVR today, and I noticed on the screen that there was a post-it note that said <-- Only CAD covering the lower right portion of the screen. I did a contactless payment, which resulted in a DCC prompt, and the note covered the DCC option. The cashier proactively said, "Press CAD."

I don't recall there being DCC on a contactless payment about a year ago. Mrs. Majuki didn't buy anything there during our last visit in May.

I'm not complaining, but I'm wondering what the motivation was to be corralling people toward opting out of DCC. I'm wondering if it was more than just trying to steer customers away from a bad exchange rate. There are two reasons I could think of: 1) they had chargebacks for people who unknowingly accepted DCC or 2) it is easier to remit any necessary duty to CBP since this shop was inside the preclearance area.

It must be hard enough to get customers interested in "Duty Free" prices. Sales people don't need another disincentive like DCC.

Normally, I'm not big into duty free myself. I wanted to buy some maple syrup for Mrs. Majuki, and since I was carry on only today, it was easier to make the purchase airside.

An ATM charging a fee only for non-DCC transactions
 

I saw this for the first time yesterday, in Poland: an ATM that charges a withdrawal fee only for non-DCC transactions. If I hadn't had a bank that reimburses that fee, accepting DCC would have made sense, as the total including the fee was converted to US$23.23 by my bank. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ed42ee4ed8.jpg

That's pretty sneaky!

Honest Guide noticed this with ATMs in Prague. Another note was that the withdrawal amounts were much more reasonable with a local card versus a non-local card. For instance, it would offer $100, $200, and $300 withdrawal amounts (you could change manually) with a non-local card but $40, $60, and $80 amounts with a local card.

Oh, interesting. I had that experience here too but didn't think anything of it. There was a "quick 20 PLN" button (about $5), but when it got to the main choices they were in the thousands (more than $200) and I second-guessed my math before inputting my own number. It even timed out when I recalculated.

When withdrawing in a local currency other than Euro I usually figure out the amount I want to withdraw before I get to the ATM, that way all my attention is focused on avoiding DCC and getting as close to the desired amount as possible. Hate it when the machine times out while my brain cogs are struggling to keep up.

Yes — I do the same and I was thinking a little less than 100 PLN depending on the options (I like to get just under a big round number so that I end up with some small bills). But then the suggestions were in the 1000s and I started thinking, wait, is it 4 PLN to the dollar or 40? The machine threw me off!

In the summer I mentioned the DCC in the US and testing things a bit... I honestly have not much to report. I have used my Polish debit card in a number of places at this point and I have not seen DCC except for Walgreens back in Miami over my traveling. Since then, I have used it at Walmart, Lowe's, Sheetz and Wawa (local convenience store & gas station chains), a couple of restaurants, chain like Zoup, Advanced Auto Parts and a bunch of small places with a toast and square and not one DCC - the only time I have experienced it in the US so far was at Walgreens.

I still have about $90 left to spend on the card and I am willing to go, so if anybody has any suggestions on a chain to use, drop it in, otherwise I'll try to be diverse and see what I can do, but it seems that DCC is not prevalent at all in the US. And rightfully so, considering the low amount of foreign cards we come across with relatively speaking.

My sister-in-law used an AUD denominated card here at Walgreens, Target, and a couple of other smaller cafes/takeout restaurants without seeing DCC. She did contactless for everything, and the eateries were all using Toast, Clover, or equivalent terminals.

The Walgreens in Miami used DCC for both contactless, contact and GPay transactions. But I did notice that in the last year or two they got new terminals, so maybe that's something to do with it? Or the Miami ones are preying on foreigners? I have a walgreens in my area, I can stop by and see for myself how is the one in PA working.

Another purchase at El Cortes Ingles, first since pandemic. Supermarket this time, I was able to select Euros:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...270a4d451.jpeg

Jetstar had a DCC option, but this was one of the better implementations that I have seen on a website with DCC. Instead of presenting the option only after clicking the payment button, the DCC selection came up right after I had entered my credit card number and prior to selecting the T&Cs box and clicking pay.

My account on Chase is showing the pending amount of $351.68 whereas the DCC offer was $375.82.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...02d08cec99.jpg

All over Seville and Barcelona, using Apple Pay, almost always asked EUR or US Dollars. Of course I choose Euros.

I will say its been easy to choose Euros, its not been a hassle to use an American Visa.

And, as expected, only on Visa. Amex just defaults to EUR and does not ask.

In Peru had a new twist -- hotel would only quote me a price in dollars ($40) for a tour, but then wanted to do their own conversion to local at a rate they picked and charge me that on my card. I asked them to just charge me in soles what a Peruvian would get charged and they refused to give me a number. Not quite DCC, but...

Let's not forget why many find DCC offensive -- it's the deception involved. A business quotes one price, obfuscates the collection process, then ends up collecting another amount.
Otherwise there's no offense in doing honest business in any currency.

FWIW, my CapOne Venture X, checking transactions online show the amounts only in USD. (I know I was charged in Euros). AMEX show USD and then in a smaller text, one line below shows the original Euro amount

It's the "Summary View". At the left side of every transaction there's a down arrow. Click on that to see the "Detailed View" -- for the original currency and all other details.

Wow, 15% seems offensive; and is it me or is the wording/layout ambiguous (and probably deliberately so)? Like, I consider myself a DCC veteran and I still had to pause for a second to verify that the markup referred to the USD equivalent.

(Although granted, a lot of alcohol had been consumed by this point :D this was for a family banquet at the Howard Plaza Hotel in Kaohsiung)

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...25c8f1c3c4.jpg

XE rate at the time:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...77fe645e72.png

I give the terminal credit for using the word markup. Clear that you are getting hosed. :-)

Given the choice between TWD (worth USD 1,656.80 per an independent source) or a dynamic currency conversion (DCC) rate of USD 1,918.26, presumably you chose the former.

I agree that the "15.0% Markup" language definitely seems to imply reference to the TWD price -- both by the parenthetical usage, and placement before the second option number (2). This seems a blatant attempt to steer purchasers into making the more expensive choice. :eek: :mad:

I made the right choice, but as I said it took me a second :o

Stay vigilant, my friends...

That's a very common practice all over Latin America. Prices are quoted in USD, but then the hotel converts into local currency using an exchange rate that usually varies somewhat from the "official" rate.

I had that happen a couple of times in Guatemala this past summer. In one case, it was at a hotel, and at the other, it was at a shop inside the Westin Camino Real in Guatemala City. In both cases it was a negligible difference. I think in Guatemala the convention is just to quote hotel prices in USD, but then to charge in quetzales. In the case of the shop, I think they just price everything in USD because their market is foreign tourists and they assume gringos can't deal with dividing by 8 or whatever.

In other countries (Uruguay springs to mind), hotels will quote you prices in USD and then just automatically charge your card that price in USD - no currency conversion, no DCC, just a straight-up USD transaction.

Thanks! Showing my lack of experience in South America. Helpful to know it is a common practice and not just this hotel pulling a sneaky move. Still not ideal to me, but... We did have one vendor want to sell us a high-end item and they quoted dollars, charged us dollars, but that was a clear thing vs the conversion.

It's an honest transaction, but may not be a good deal. It's buyer's responsibility to research the market, especially for a high-end item -- then negotiate accordingly.

No DCC at all in Paris with the Cap One Ven X

This was from Wednesday, but I think it was MCC instead of DCC since it appeared one could select any of the currencies in the drop down list:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...86d9315f2e.jpg

Moderator action
 

Discussion of a new Uber feature has been moved: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cred...g-1-5-fee.html

Travelex ATM at LHR on 12/29:

Quoted exchange rate: 1.4434 USD/GBP
Quoted markup: 12.49%

Visa exchange rate: 1.283099 USD/GBP
Actual markup: 12.49%

It was easy enough to opt out, and it was interesting that the actual markup matched the quoted markup. Historically, the actual markup has typically been higher.

During my travels, I came across a POS device that would access DCC options after tapping or chip. Then it would show a message that was too quick for me to take a picture which clearly said that only the customer can select the currency choice (for devices that are not consumer facing). Then, the two flags would show up with the local currency/country and the converted option.

I think it is a good reminder that when you protest a DCC it is about not having a choice. Although, it seems that in many cases our local issuers eat the charge difference.

UOB ATM in Singapore

I withdrew S$100, and the DCC offer appeared as 1 SGD = 0.78181 USD (3.99%) for $78.18. There were buttons at the bottom with both SG and US flags and read, "Proceed without conversion," and "Proceed with conversion." I declined DCC, and the pending transaction showed as $75.18, which matches the 3.99% markup.