topic Re: Foreign transaction fees in Credit Cards

Foreign transaction fees

micvite — Fri, 21 May 2021 06:13:58 GMT

Going overseas in 2 weeks and I just realized my biggest reliance has a 3% transaction fee... Im going to a country that basically accepts mastercard and mastercard and that's about it for the most part (might get lucky with a disco or amex here and there and visa has been going up lately but don't have any visa cards)

So was wondering if anyone has any suggestions other than relying on my 1200 cap1 SL and hoping I can use my discover and or amex gold to compensate... I was totally going to rely on my citi DC but found out about the 3% which isn't terrible if I'm looking at it as a 1% after cashback and I'll use it in a pinch but still.

My nr of inquiries would suggest it's not a good idea to apply for another card and hope I get approved (25 ish). Is there any reasonable way I could convince citi to waive the fees for the month? Or having cap 1 raise the limit on my definitely bucketed qs again after just 2 months? yes i know I'm being presumptuous, but you never know!

Thanks for any input.

Edit I'm going away for a month and will have multiple big transactions that will sometimes even exceed my total SL on cap1... for example my rental car, and I know cap1 wants to wait until things post to actually pay the bill and release my credit line.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

Horseshoez — Fri, 21 May 2021 07:26:28 GMT

@micvite, how long since you opened your CapOne card? I ask because if it has been more than 6-months, applying for a new Quicksilver card (which is virtually always a MasterCard these days) is a pretty good bet.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

jcooks — Fri, 21 May 2021 10:57:27 GMT

Capital One gives you immediate access to credit as soon as you pay. Might be a hassle, but you may have to constantly pay. If I remember correctly, they only accept 1 payment per day so plan ahead.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

Horseshoez — Fri, 21 May 2021 11:52:35 GMT

@jcooks wrote:
Capital One gives you immediate access to credit as soon as you pay. Might be a hassle, but you may have to constantly pay. If I remember correctly, they only accept 1 payment per day so plan ahead.

Not in my experience; as I've written elsewhere on this forum, CapOne has intermittently held my payments for up to 12 days.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

Anonymous — Fri, 21 May 2021 12:21:25 GMT

I doubt if you could get Citi to waive the FTF, but if you succeed, that would be an important DP! Whether Amex and Discover would be usable depends on where you are going, both country and place. In a big city which is a popular tourist destination, Amex is more likely to be accepted for some of the big expenses, such as auto rental and hotels, leaving Cap One available for the smaller stuff. In some places, a lot of stores won't accept cards at all, so if you are in one of those, you will also need a way to get cash.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

jcooks — Fri, 21 May 2021 13:27:04 GMT

@Horseshoez wrote:
@jcooks wrote:
Capital One gives you immediate access to credit as soon as you pay. Might be a hassle, but you may have to constantly pay. If I remember correctly, they only accept 1 payment per day so plan ahead.
Not in my experience; as I've written elsewhere on this forum, CapOne has intermittently held my payments for up to 12 days.

Did you have an issue with a returned payment previously with CapOne? Every time I make any payment through the app, I see automation with the "+XXX.XX" however much I just paid off get added to the available credit immediately.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

jcooks — Fri, 21 May 2021 13:45:51 GMT

I just checked Capital One's website, it states that the available credit does not get released immediately. For whatever reason, mine does though.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

Horseshoez — Fri, 21 May 2021 14:50:29 GMT

@jcooks wrote:
@Horseshoez wrote:
@jcooks wrote:
Capital One gives you immediate access to credit as soon as you pay. Might be a hassle, but you may have to constantly pay. If I remember correctly, they only accept 1 payment per day so plan ahead.
Not in my experience; as I've written elsewhere on this forum, CapOne has intermittently held my payments for up to 12 days.
Did you have an issue with a returned payment previously with CapOne? Every time I make any payment through the app, I see automation with the "+XXX.XX" however much I just paid off get added to the available credit immediately.

Nope, never. In fact, when they were holding my payments I was paying the card in two or more times per month so I could use the card. Now that I have the Quicksilver card with a much more usable line of credit, I still pay it (and all of my other cards) before the monthly due date, and this in turn means the only balance which shows up on my statements are the few charges which posted between my payment and the statement (which is typically less than $50).

Re: Foreign transaction fees

Zosimus — Fri, 21 May 2021 15:17:02 GMT

HSBC. Mastercard. No foreign transaction fees.

On the downside, I've had my HSBC card for 4 years. They started me with a $1,000 SL. Still at $1,000.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

SouthJamaica — Fri, 21 May 2021 15:42:54 GMT

@micvite wrote:
Going overseas in 2 weeks and I just realized my biggest reliance has a 3% transaction fee... Im going to a country that basically accepts mastercard and mastercard and that's about it for the most part (might get lucky with a disco or amex here and there and visa has been going up lately but don't have any visa cards)

So was wondering if anyone has any suggestions other than relying on my 1200 cap1 SL and hoping I can use my discover and or amex gold to compensate... I was totally going to rely on my citi DC but found out about the 3% which isn't terrible if I'm looking at it as a 1% after cashback and I'll use it in a pinch but still.

My nr of inquiries would suggest it's not a good idea to apply for another card and hope I get approved (25 ish). Is there any reasonable way I could convince citi to waive the fees for the month? Or having cap 1 raise the limit on my definitely bucketed qs again after just 2 months? yes i know I'm being presumptuous, but you never know!

Thanks for any input.

Edit I'm going away for a month and will have multiple big transactions that will sometimes even exceed my total SL on cap1... for example my rental car, and I know cap1 wants to wait until things post to actually pay the bill and release my credit line.

Citi's Premier card has no foreign transaction fee.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

micvite — Fri, 21 May 2021 16:52:33 GMT

@jcooks wrote:
I just checked Capital One's website, it states that the available credit does not get released immediately. For whatever reason, mine does though.

Mine does too, problem is I have to wait for charges to post which takes 3-5 days for whatever reason in the country I'm going to... and like I said I'm gonna be blasting through 500-1k a day more or less so I'll have a good 3-5 days where I won't have my cap1 card usable.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

micvite — Fri, 21 May 2021 16:55:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I doubt if you could get Citi to waive the FTF, but if you succeed, that would be an important DP! Whether Amex and Discover would be usable depends on where you are going, both country and place. In a big city which is a popular tourist destination, Amex is more likely to be accepted for some of the big expenses, such as auto rental and hotels, leaving Cap One available for the smaller stuff. In some places, a lot of stores won't accept cards at all, so if you are in one of those, you will also need a way to get cash.

I'm not going to a tourist destination, and even in tourist destinations, amex is very seldomly accepted, mainly because of the way POS systems are set up there, in romania, the POS system is linked directly to a bank, not a third party like in the usa, well it just depends what bank it's linked to, some places have multiple so they have wider acceptance for example one supermarket in the country takes amex none of the others do.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

delaney1 — Fri, 21 May 2021 17:18:10 GMT

@jcooks wrote:
I just checked Capital One's website, it states that the available credit does not get released immediately. For whatever reason, mine does though.

My Quicksilver releases the available funds immediately, my Savor releases the next day.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

Horseshoez — Fri, 21 May 2021 17:26:06 GMT

@delaney1 wrote:
@jcooks wrote:
I just checked Capital One's website, it states that the available credit does not get released immediately. For whatever reason, mine does though.
My Quicksilver releases the available funds immediately, my Savor releases the next day.

CapOne is hit and miss regarding funds being posted to the account, I have never had my funds made immediately available; given I now have a card with enough headroom to allow me to only pay (in full) once per month, my funds typically clear a day after the payment is logged, and occasionally two days.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

Horseshoez — Fri, 21 May 2021 17:39:36 GMT

@micvite, I've traveled a lot in my time, and like you I've been in areas where MasterCard rules and Visa and AMEX are ugly step children which few, if any establishments will accept. The first time that happened to me I was sporting exclusively AMEX and Visa and it was a real challenge to even buy gas for the car; super annoying. The instant I got back to the United States I applied for a MasterCard.

Regarding your CapitalOne situation, there are lots of stories on this board, mine included, where a CLI was either unavailable, or available in an irrelevant amount, however, that same card holder was able to apply for another CapOne card and get approved for a relatively high starting limit. I don't know which CapOne card you have, but I believe all new (as in new account, not a product change) Platinum and Quicksilver cards issued within the last six months are MasterCard. My bet is if you apply today, you'll have your new card in hand before you leave the States.

Edit:

I just looked up the CapOne Savor and SavorOne cards, they are both currently being issued as MasterCards as well.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

Kforce — Fri, 21 May 2021 17:33:30 GMT

Depending on where you live, there are many smaller CU's that have no "FTF"/MasterCard's with 1 to 1.5% cashback. Give us a state, and county and members can give CU's you could check out.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

micvite — Fri, 21 May 2021 17:38:43 GMT

@Horseshoez wrote:
@micvite, I've traveled a lot in my time, and like you I've been in areas where MasterCard rules and Visa and AMEX are ugly step children which few, if any establishments will accept. The first time that happened to me I was sporting exclusively AMEX and Visa and it was a real challenge to even buy gas for the car; super annoying. The instant I got back to the United States I applied for a MasterCard.

Regarding your CapitalOne situation, there are lots of stories on this board, mine included, where a CLI was either unavailable, or available in an irrelevant amount, however, that same card holder was able to apply for another CapOne card and get approved for a relatively high starting limit. I don't know which CapOne card you have, but I believe all new (as in new account, not a product change) Platinum and Quicksilver cards issued within the last six months are MasterCard. My bet is if you apply today, you'll have your new card in hand before you leave the States.

My main concern (I have a QS1 no af) is the number of inquiries preventing me from getting approved and just adding another one for no reason (I'm also buying a car and house soon so trying to make due with what I have if possible) I have 33 ex, 26 tu and 18 eq inquiries or so... I already know the card is in the Lowest tier of cap1 cards, it was my first starter card, credit steps and all and somehow I didn't even get the credit steps lol... for example I just got a 100$ cli, after a few months of heavy spend on the card, 1% UTI total, 720 scores, and 1 30 day late from 3 years ago... my mom with a 640, a bunch of charged off mortgages, collections for over 100k and multiple 120+ day lates amd 80% util got a 2600$ auto cli on the qs1 to just under 10k total lol... she was nearly maxed out on the card before.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

micvite — Fri, 21 May 2021 17:39:41 GMT

Nj, atlantic county, but DL says Wisconsin Sheboygan county.

@Kforce wrote:
Depending on where you live, there are many smaller CU's that have no "FTF"/MasterCard's with 1 to 1.5% cashback. Give us a state, and county and members can give CU's you could check out.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

Horseshoez — Fri, 21 May 2021 17:45:57 GMT

@micvite wrote:
@Horseshoez wrote:
@micvite, I've traveled a lot in my time, and like you I've been in areas where MasterCard rules and Visa and AMEX are ugly step children which few, if any establishments will accept. The first time that happened to me I was sporting exclusively AMEX and Visa and it was a real challenge to even buy gas for the car; super annoying. The instant I got back to the United States I applied for a MasterCard.

Regarding your CapitalOne situation, there are lots of stories on this board, mine included, where a CLI was either unavailable, or available in an irrelevant amount, however, that same card holder was able to apply for another CapOne card and get approved for a relatively high starting limit. I don't know which CapOne card you have, but I believe all new (as in new account, not a product change) Platinum and Quicksilver cards issued within the last six months are MasterCard. My bet is if you apply today, you'll have your new card in hand before you leave the States.
My main concern (I have a QS1 no af) is the number of inquiries preventing me from getting approved and just adding another one for no reason (I'm also buying a car and house soon so trying to make due with what I have if possible) I have 33 ex, 26 tu and 18 eq inquiries or so... I already know the card is in the Lowest tier of cap1 cards, it was my first starter card, credit steps and all and somehow I didn't even get the credit steps lol... for example I just got a 100$ cli, after a few months of heavy spend on the card, 1% UTI total, 720 scores, and 1 30 day late from 3 years ago... my mom with a 640, a bunch of charged off mortgages, collections for over 100k and multiple 120+ day lates amd 80% util got a 2600$ auto cli on the qs1 to just under 10k total lol... she was nearly maxed out on the card before.

Just for kicks and giggles, have you tried CapOne's "soft pull" PreQual page on their web site? At least that way you'll know if they're willing to pop you a new card, Platinum, Quicksillver, SavorOne, or Savor; they're all MasterCards these days.

Re: Foreign transaction fees

micvite — Fri, 21 May 2021 17:48:26 GMT

@Horseshoez wrote:
@micvite wrote:
@Horseshoez wrote:
@micvite, I've traveled a lot in my time, and like you I've been in areas where MasterCard rules and Visa and AMEX are ugly step children which few, if any establishments will accept. The first time that happened to me I was sporting exclusively AMEX and Visa and it was a real challenge to even buy gas for the car; super annoying. The instant I got back to the United States I applied for a MasterCard.

Regarding your CapitalOne situation, there are lots of stories on this board, mine included, where a CLI was either unavailable, or available in an irrelevant amount, however, that same card holder was able to apply for another CapOne card and get approved for a relatively high starting limit. I don't know which CapOne card you have, but I believe all new (as in new account, not a product change) Platinum and Quicksilver cards issued within the last six months are MasterCard. My bet is if you apply today, you'll have your new card in hand before you leave the States.
My main concern (I have a QS1 no af) is the number of inquiries preventing me from getting approved and just adding another one for no reason (I'm also buying a car and house soon so trying to make due with what I have if possible) I have 33 ex, 26 tu and 18 eq inquiries or so... I already know the card is in the Lowest tier of cap1 cards, it was my first starter card, credit steps and all and somehow I didn't even get the credit steps lol... for example I just got a 100$ cli, after a few months of heavy spend on the card, 1% UTI total, 720 scores, and 1 30 day late from 3 years ago... my mom with a 640, a bunch of charged off mortgages, collections for over 100k and multiple 120+ day lates amd 80% util got a 2600$ auto cli on the qs1 to just under 10k total lol... she was nearly maxed out on the card before.
Just for kicks and giggles, have you tried CapOne's "soft pull" PreQual page on their web site? At least that way you'll know if they're willing to pop you a new card, Platinum, Quicksillver, SavorOne, or Savor; they're all MasterCards these days.

Yeah, I've gotten mixed results from getting a preapproval for the cap one qs1 for good credit to only getting a prequal for platinum 😅😅