Doesn't MBNA?

I don't know. I only have Bank of America and Amex.

I just checked my Capital One Visa and Amex charges from Mid march, and compared them to the exchange rates for those days on http://www.xe.com/ict/

Amex charged exactly 2% above the rate shown, Capital One came through within pennies of the exact rate- so neither padded the rate, but Amex bit 2% off of me. Next trip I'll just use Visa.

On mine, Amex shows the Euro and Dollar amounts. Visa just shows the Dollar amount. Neither posts the exchange rate.

I'm pleased how the world has improved, as Dovster ably demonstrates: The German MasterRace respects his Israeli Visa. Now if only some other countries will learn from history, all of our exchange rates will improve dramatically. ;)

My Amex, DC and MBNA Visa show the foreign currency amount underneath the vendor. However, this detail is only available once the paper statement is generated. Until then, I can only see the dollar amount charged when I check online.

That may be my problem then -- I don't get paper statements.

Can you open a PDF of your Amex statement from the website? This is a fairly new feature, but I can and it shows the foreign currency equivalent just like the physical paper statement. For MBNA, it isn't a PDF but looks just like the paper statement, although it has disclaimer "this is not an official statement."

DC website is rather primitive and I mainly use this card for car rentals but I just checked some old online statements and they show the foreign currency amount also.

greedy Bank of China and Shanghai Joint merchant bank
 

Just returned from China. There are greedy local bank that tack on 1% charge. Most of the charges are at an exhange rate of 8.25 while Bank of China and Shanghai Joint Silver Bank processed charges only give 8.15. Thus, if you use Citi AA or first usa United, the total cost to you may be as high as 5%... for mileage.

My Amex Centurion account started showing the foreign amount online a few months back. But I think my Starwood Amex doesn't yet have this feature.

HH Amex does. I only ever use it at Hiltons abroad, for incidentals on award stays. I've never used the Starwood card overseas so I will probably never know!

i use the amtrak mbna card when im travelling abroad. i read in that other post that mbna started to do 3 % rather than the previous visa 1%. i dont think this is true, i was in israel in mar and just calculated my charges using xe.com and then adding one percent and all the charges on my bill were correct (or slightly less than the converted amt+1%)!
so for now im stickin with the mbna card...

If you read these threads carefully, you'll see:

1. Not all MBNA cards are going to 3%
2. Those that are changing to 3% aren't doing so until the end of May

I have an upcoming three week trip to Europe and would like to avoid the 3% fee without applying for yet another card. I just left a Wells Fargo branch where I inquired about using their Debit card for purchases and cash withdrawals in Europe. I spoke to three different people and got three different answers. The bottom line seems to be that the 3% fee applies to their Debit cards as well as their Credit cards and there is a $5.00 fee for ATM cash withdrawals. All three said the 3% fee was a Visa fee and not a Wells Fargo fee. Be careful what you believe.

Visa/MC currently charge a 1% fee. Anything above that is the bank. Things are changing in May, however.

So the new MC/VISA rules for Debit and Credit cards seem to be :

MC : Effective Oct 1, 2005 if cardholder and merchant are in different countries, charge the issuer 0.8% of the transaction amount. AND if charge requires currency conversion, charge the issuer another 0.2%

VISA : Effective April 1, 2005 if charge is made outside cardholder's country, charge the issuer 1%