Current Fees for Foreign Purchases?
 

As far as I know, most cards now mark up foreign purchases by 3% over the current exchange rate. Does the MBNA card still charge only 1%, and AmEx 1.5%? Any others assess low markups?

Frontier Master Card (Juniper Bank) charged me $3 for $150 purchase charged in UK.

AMEX (in the United States at least) used to say it charged a 2% currency conversion fee on top of the interbank conversion rate. More recently they have changed that to say "Unless a particular rate is required by applicable law, you authorize us to chose a conversion rate that is acceptable to us for that date."

Sort of adds some uncertainty, doesn't it. What happens if the interbank rate for euros into dollars happens to be €1 = $1.20, and they find a rate of €1 = $2 to be "acceptable" to them.

My experience has been that they usually are within about 3% of the interbank rate, although some cases they have been interbank rate plus 10%. (In those cases, in all fairness, when I called to complain they credited back -- as a "courtesy credit" rather than an overcharge -- all over interbank plus 2%.)

If you look on the American Express forum, you will find some threads where the posters speculate that AMEX is inflating the exchange rate deliberately -- because they now can -- and only giving a credit back when someone complains. See, e.g.,

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142118

Also, some years back a list was posted of the currency exchange fees charged by various cards. I'm not sure if it's current, but you can view it at:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ign+conversion

MBNA still charges only 1% - I have the MBNA AAA Visa card - it's a good card that gives you 5% cash back on gas (upto $2.00 rebate per day - $40 worth of gas) & has no annual fee - also gives you 2% back on AAA purchases (including travel, I think) and for every 5K spent on the card, you get a $50.00 gift certificate to AAA.

http://www.aaamidatlantic.com/financial/creditcard.asp

MBNA and Capital One are the major credit card issuers still at 1%. The rest add additional surcharges, usually totaling 3%.

Many local credit union and smaller bank issued cards also only have a 1% fee.

But the cheapest way to get foreign cash is to use an ATM card issued by a bank that does not assess network fees, and to withdraw the money from an ATM that does not have an ATM fee. (Most ATMs outside the USA do not have a fee.)

Fleet still charges 1%.

QL

I almost included Fleet in my list, but when I checked their web site at www.fleetbank.com, it says that they merged with Bank of America. When I clicked on their credit card products, they appear to only offer Bank of America cards, which have a 3% foreign currency transaction fee.

Looks like only current Fleet Bank cardholders are grandfathered in to having a card with a 1% fee. And that may change with the merger...

Which banks could you recommend that do not charge fees for withdrawing $ from foreign country, foreign institution ATMs?

BTW, the US practice of charging holders of foreign institution ATM cards is spreading to some other countries. Canadian institutions charge, and I believe Korean banks do as well.

Washington Mutual has never charged me, but perhaps I am grandfathered.

QL

I love umbrellabank.com
 

I always use my Umbrellabank.com Visa ATM card to get cash when in the US or overseas. The rate I get overseas is almost exactly 1% above the day's market rate on xe.com with no other fees (at least that's been my experience in China, Hong Kong, Holland, Spain, Israel, and the UK). The same rate seems to apply for POS transactions, so I've started using it for shopping when overseas, because the miles aren't worth the 2-3% Amex and Citi charge on top of their already-crappy exchange rates.

I've been with Umbrella for almost 4 years now and have been extremely happy. I have only a $500 minimum balance to avoid fees for _interest_ checking with free online billpay, free Visa ATM card, free postage paid deposit envelopes, 24hr native-English-speaking customer service, and up to 5 ATM fee rebates per month (so I can use any bank's ATM in the US). I have only three complaints: I can't deposit cash because deposits are by mail, I can't choose my ATM PIN number (it's randomly assigned), and there's no call-collect number on the back of the card for when I'm overseas. Otherwise, I've been thrilled.

Now if only they had a referral system like ING Direct.... I promise I have no affiliation with them other than being a happy customer.

Probably so, since WaMu's credit card operations (at least for new customers) are now handled by Citibank.

themicah, thanks for the recommendation! I may well try them.

On Sept 12, after having read numerous complaints about Amex charges, I decided to make an experiment. I made two purchases in Israel, within 15 minutes of each other, one using my Bank of America Visa and the other my Amex.

Amex wound up charging me $0.2286 for each Israeli shekel I charged.

Visa charged me $0.2252 for each shekel, but I found a second charge on my bill. I inquired about it and received the following reply from Bank of America:

Thank you for your inquiry dated 9/15/04 regarding Regular Checking -
We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced.

The item that posted to your account on 9/14/04 is a foreign currency conversion adjustment of 2%. The 2% foreign currency conversion adjustment will be charged for each purchase made with a Check Card in a foreign country. The new adjustment is in addition to the 1% charge currently assessed by Visa, which is included in the original transaction amount. The 2% adjustment will be listed separately from the original transaction.

If we may be of further assistance, please contact us again by e-mail.
Thank you for choosing Bank of America.

This new charge now means that when I am using my Bank of America Visa I am paying $0.2296 per shekel -- more than what Amex costs.

On 8/29 Umbrellabank charged me $0.2222 per shekel at an ATM. And they charged me $0.2227 and $0.2241 per shekel on 8/29 and 9/4 for sign-the-receipt transactions in stores. No additional fees.

Well I'm no BofA fan, but kudo's for them for splitting it out. MBNA can't even tell me what exchange rate they used.

While I'd rather pay rate with a 1% surcharge than the 3%, I think all exchange rates should be noted on the statement.

This is a hidden fee. It's built into their exchange rate so you don't see it on your statement.

The exchange rate has always been 1% above the Interbank rate so I don't think that's it.

QL

I just opened an account with Umbrellabank.com and must say I'm disappointed. Reading through Umbrellabank's terms and conditions I see listed under "Other Services/Fees":

International ATM withdrawal -- $6.50 Bank Service Charge

That's horrid. I would terminate my relationship with them immediately.

I bank with First IB (www.firstib.com), and I've never been hit with any surcharges over 1% of the exchange rate when pulling money out in Singapore, Tokyo, London, Rome, Canada, and others countries.

What?!

I was in England last week, and got a rate of 1.8136 USD/GBP at the ATM for a 100GBP withdrawal. The next day my fiance's MBNA Visa credit card gave her a rate of 1.8015 on a big purchase (250GBP) and 1.8155 on a small purchase (29GBP), so I certainly wasn't charged a stinkin' $6.50 bank service charge. It was essentially the same market rate + 1% as MBNA.

So I called Umbrella and asked about it, because as the person who referred you I feel pretty bad if it turns out to be a bum deal (I know I'd be annoyed if I was in your shoes). The rep I spoke with said he sees nothing about a $6.50 fee anywhere in the T&C. The only charge he was aware of is the 1% Visa transaction fee.

You are looking at the T&C for the Umbrellabank.com Visa Debit card, right? The rep I spoke to suggested you call and let them know where in the T&C you saw the $6.50 fee. I'd be curious to know myself, just in case this is some new thing that I'm going to get nailed with next time I go overseas, but the rep seemed to be pretty confident that there shouldn't be a fee.

Please keep us posted on this!

The charge may well have come from the European bank which hosted the ATM. That is very common there.

The "International ATM withdrawal -- $6.50 Bank Service Charge" is listed in the "Other Services/Fees" section of the paper version of the "Understanding your Deposit Account, Terms and Condititions, Truth in Savings" document dated March 2, 2002 sent out in the new account Welcome Kit I received yesterday. The International ATM fee is listed between the "Replacement(Lost) ATM Card" fee and the "Deposited Items returned unpaid" fee.

I didn't see the international ATM fee when originally signing up because it doesn't appear in the online version of the Truth in Savings document:

http://www.umbrellabank.com/disclosu...th_savings.asp

However the fee is listed in what they send you. One wonders why they mail you notice of different terms and conditions than those they promote on their site. Banks typically slip new and higher fees by burying them in the T&Cs they mail out to you as "notice", so I actually read them.

Just an update on Umbrella. My Umbrella Visa Debit card that came with my Basic Interest Checking account is still not charging me a fee for foreign ATM access. I withdrew 30 euros from an ATM in AMS and 150 shekels from an ATM in TLV on 11/4, and was charged almost exactly 1% above the rates listed that day on xe.com. So definitely no $6.50 fee. For me at least. YMMV, however, and I'd still be curious to hear about any experiences you have, Quokka.

E*Trade Bank
 

E*Trade bank tells me that there is no fee from them for withdrawal from any ATM worldwide. I will test this in Thailand and Vietnam in January. I am told that have good miles offers, but the only ones I have found so far are for their brokerage accounts.

Bank One going to 3%
 

I just got a notice re my Bank One card & the Bank One/Chase merger. Buried in the fine print is the news that the foreign transactions rate will be changing to 3%. One more reason to use my MBNA card!

MBNA Only
 

On my recent trip to Spain, I stuck with Amtrak MBNA exclusively, earning 33% fewer HHonors points than Hilton AmEx, but saving money overall. Let's hope MBNA continues to be reasonable, else it's a credit union card. Please report any MBNA changes here!