Both online and on your printed Amex statement, it says 2% for foreign fees if you had any during that period. This is true for all US Amex cards, even Centurion.

Where does it show up? Is it part of the line-item of the purchase? Is it in the finance charges section of the statement? Does it show up when the charge first posts online, or does it not show up until the monthly statement is issued? Thanks.

Unless it is an Amex issued by another bank, e.g. Citi PremierPass Amex, where they charged me 3%.

It shows up at the top of the transactions section. It does not show up on the transaction itself.

This is for the regular Amex Plat and Centurion as well as the Starwood Platinum. I don't know about the others.

I have Amex Blue, just checked my statement again. The 2% showed up in the back of the statment where they explained the terms ~~'Transaction made in foreign currencies'. Each transaction just showed the origin amount they charged in Canadian Dollar.

I got a debit card from a local bank a few months ago. On foreign transactions they only charge a 0.5% transaction fee. The conversion rate is the usual one. For those in Texas, especially Central and South Texas you might want to look at American Bank. They have a free checking account with no fees whatsover. I usually use it for my overseas purchases. If I have to pay for a hotel stay, I usually have to make sure that I have them charge it every 3 or 4 days, that way I do not run against the $2500 daily charge limit. That is the only drawback!

HSBC Premier Platinum Mastercards

And how do we apply for this card? I don't see it on their website.

why would anyone use a card that charges more for exchange fees than they offer for rewards?

several good cards "eat" the fee, e.g., BMW visa.

It is on this webpage if you are interested: http://www.banking.us.hsbc.com/premier/services.html

It says, "To apply, call us at 1-888-662-HSBC or contact your Relationship Manager."

Cheers!

In many cases because they have wild ideas about the worth of a frequent flier mile.

You need to have an HSBC Premier Account, which in turn requires a combined balance of $100,000 in HSBC accounts.

I don't know about you, but I can't think of ANY type of customer who likes to be nickle-and-dimed, but most customers don't have the clout to make a difference in the banks decision...

Citi and Well are difficult to get
 

Just got info about the Citi Chairman's card. I went to 2 branches and called about 4 CitiCard telephone numbers, they all told me that the Chairman's card is being discontinued and they push the Platimum card which has the 3% foreign transaction fee.

As to the Wells Fargo bank, the Special card required $25,000 new deposite and even with that, you have to established as a high user and then after 6 months of track record, you may or may not get invited to join the free foreign transaction card program which is reserved for their best customers.

The Chairman Card was discontinued but will be relaunched soon. You probably won't be able to find much about it through bank branches and Citicard phone numbers, however. Your best bet is probably a Smith Barney broker, which seems to be the main channels through which they offered the old version. Even they don't know much about it yet, though, so be patient. See the FT Chairman Card thread for speculation about what the card will be like (and lots of rants about how nobody knows when the relaunch will happen).

Keep in mind these high-end cards (Chairman, WF Signature, HSBC Premier) are designed to be "exclusive," so I'm not surprised that you can't just call and get one like your average no-annual-fee mass market credit card, even if it doesn't make much business sense. It's all about marketing.

As of last week, the HSBC issued Saks Fifth Avenue World Mastercard had a 3% FOXEX fee.