Currency conversion surcharge for debit card?

I'll shortly be buying an expensive round-the-world ticket, some CAD$7,000+, and I want to try to avoid paying a 3% currency conversion surcharge (thanks to First USA, my primary credit card issuer) on this large purchase.

One obvious option is to get an additional card with more favorable currency conversion terms. Plenty of good suggestions at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/000378.html . But this will take time -- and I need to buy the ticket soon. (I know, I shouldn't have left this to the last minute...)

What to do?

Is my Fleet debit card (bearing a VISA logo) a possibility? A 1% VISA fee would certainly beat 3% on the main First USA card. But Fleet is known to have some awfully high fees for some services, and while it's hard to imagine a fee higher than 3%, I wouldn't want to find out the hard way. (And by using the debit card, I'd be giving up the bonus associated with my First USA card.)

Needless to say, Fleet's web site wasn't helpful. I did look, and carefully at that...

As far as I recall, Fleet is one of the banks that doesn't charge an additional surcharge on forex transactions on their credit cards, but for the debit card questions, you should call them directly. It's nearly impossible to generalize about a bank and their fee structure since they all have so many different products.

Capital One also (generally) doesn't charge any additional surcharge either, and their Miles One program can also be used as a basic 1% cash back card. ($100 for 10k points, $200 for 20k points, etc.)

-David


[This message has been edited by LIH Prem (edited 05-02-2003).]

I asked Fleet using the form in their Homelink site and got the following answer

Sounds great... I just wonder if it's true.

I guess you will find out.

-David


[This message has been edited by LIH Prem (edited 05-04-2003).]