Just back from a week in Slovakia using a USD-denominated Visa card via Apple Pay. Most cafés and restaurants charged EUR without any messing about, but supermarkets (Billa and Tesco chains) and one restaurant made me choose a currency after tapping my phone (F1 or 1 for USD, F4 or 4 for EUR).

At that stage, the POS terminal did not show me any information about the exchange rate, final amount or additional charges I would incur if I chose USD. For obvious reasons, I didn't proceed further to find out.

Peru is my second country (of five) on this South American trip. No DCC to report earlier from Chile. However, today at lunch I tapped Google Wallet at the counter on the way out; DCC appeared, causing the employee to immediately choose local Sol over dollars, before I fully realized what was happening.

Ireland does bring out the terminals but she had me tap it but never let me see the screen like the other places we went all over Ireland. chase did refund me (Unfortunately I misread my receipt and forgot they stated the exact amount they charged me so they only refunded me $2.6 dollars instead of $3.5 euros) but I doubt Chase even bothered with the chargeback.

I didn't try with the Euronet because the Charles Schwab conditions explicitly state that they do not refund fees related to dynamic currency conversion and only if the fee was taken out in host currency. That was quite a bit of money and I could have tried but I doubt it would have worked as you did have to click yes.

Chase just issued a courtesy credit. In the case of a chargeback, the transaction would have been reprocessed in local currency at the exchange rate backdated to the date of the transaction.

As a best practice, I always view the terminal and assume the staff have bad intentions if they are holding onto the terminal or concealing the screen from view. In a recent example, the waiter was a bit taken aback when I insisted on holding the terminal after tapping my card until the transaction processed completely. :)

Below is my first DCC instance spotted in Germany at the Deutsches Museum. I tried to tap the payment, which failed. There were no prompts on the terminal and no signature slip, but notice that the amount default amount was in USD (at a 4.75% markup over the pending transaction amount on my card). The failed contactless transaction did not show up as a pending transaction on my card. When I inserted my card, the DCC prompts appeared on screen, and the cashier helped me select EUR without issue. A signature slip printed for the second transaction.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b1d0774e49.jpg

The above is the only transaction with DCC I've seen so far, but I predict that my hotel might also have DCC when I checkout in an hour. (The preauth was in EUR.)

A dishonorable mention is something I overheard at breakfast yesterday morning. Someone was sitting at the table next to mine and had just sat down. He had used a Euronet ATM at a shopping mall and asked the others at the table, "There was something about a 13.95% fee? I didn't know what to do or how to avoid it. The receipt shows this fee." I considered mentioning that he likely had just gotten ripped off in multiple ways: cash & balance fee, DCC spread, Euronet's ATM fee, his bank's ATM fee for using another financial institution's ATM, and perhaps a foreign transaction fee. If he had taken out €100, it's possible he could have had up to 25% in fees if all of the above were paid.

For EUR we in HKG now have the ability to withdraw EUR banknotes from our local bank ATMs before departure. We can even deposit and withdraw from our foreign currency accounts (deposit needs to be at manned counter, of course).

I’m wondering should I change CZK and HUF from EUR when I get there, or attempt local Cirrus withdrawal and brave the obligatory DCC offers.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8140a098e.jpeg

I'd withdraw cash locally.

I tapped all my transactions in NZ last week. I received one DCC offer from a restaurant which was easily declined.

I should know, but might as well ask here to be safe. Traveling to Italy soon, is using American Express still a reliable way to avoid DCC or has something changed? Mexico and South America latest trips I was able to avoid. I usually try with AmEx, then Chase Visa if AmEx not accepted. And any recs of best ATMs to look for in Italy to avoid (or make obvious how to avoid)? Thanks.

Yes. Only Visa and Mastercard networks support DCC. Other networks, such as American Express, Discover, JCB, and UnionPay do not.

I usually go to branded bank ATMs. This isn't specific to Italy but rather anywhere. I'd avoid Euronet ATMs that have high fees and always try to DCC. You can see how to opt out of the fees and DCC if you read my post from about a month ago, but it's better to go to a bank's ATM to avoid this entirely.

If you are a Bank of America customer, you will not be assessed ATM access fees at Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, which is owned by BNP Paribas, as all are members of the Global ATM Alliance.

Thanks. I thought I saw that AmEx website says they support DCC, but maybe that is for non AmEx card? We'll just stick to our Gold and Hilton Aspire cards as much as possible. Didn't have trouble last time in Italy, but I am always weary given the issues I see here and my issues in Morocco. Thanks.

Thanks. We are Chase and Golden 1 credit union (need to see if they have any agreements, but typically their fees are not as nutty as Chase).

You may have seen one of these articles that American Express publishes. They provide general guidance, and do not differentiate American Express products from others, although there are embedded ads for Amex cards.

https://www.americanexpress.com/en-u...hen-traveling/

Mrs. Majuki made two purchases at a department store in Kaohsiung, one at Muji and one at Uniqlo. I saw that they had two credit card payment terminals, but the cashiers at both stores used the National Credit Card Center ones, which presented a DCC prompt for both transactions (with a tap). At Muji, the cashier verbally proactively offered, "台幣 (táibì)," which we could select as the number 2 option on the screen. Like the purchase more than a month ago, the signature slip appears on the terminal with the total in the selected currency. I suppose in the case of a forced DCC you could refuse to sign at that point, but it hasn't been an issue. Even in cases where the terminals are not customer facing, the cashier has always presented the terminal at retail shops or respected the currency choice at hotels.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8db51ffb20.jpghttps://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d0d9fff4de.jpg

Renfe offered DCC. While the offer said that it was 2%, the Visa amount is $153.79. Therefore, the DCC offer is more like 4.99%.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...fe1287114c.jpg

I stopped in a souvenir shop in Edinburgh today, and there was an Evalon branded sign about paying in your own currency. The credit card terminal was customer facing, and, for the first time for me in the UK, a contactless transaction resulted in a DCC offer. The rate was $18.58 (at a 4% markup) for £13.99. I was able to opt out easily, but I'll have increased vigilance now with contactless transactions in the UK.