topic Re: Foreign Transaction Fees: in Credit Cards

Foreign Transaction Fees:

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:54:20 GMT

I have:

PenFed

BofA Amex

Discover (DFS)

Citi - DP

Chase - Platinum (I think.)

Macy's Visa

Direct Merchants Bank (HSBC)

I am leaving on a cruise Saturday and need to know which of these cards have the lowest foreign transaction fees. I can call a few but not all for answers so I am looking for ideas. No time!!

Re: Foreign Transaction Fees:

Watchmann — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:52:53 GMT

Not sure on the individual cards, but if the onboard ship charges bill in USD there will be no fee on those charges. I have one Visa card issued by my CU and unless I contact them in advance they won't approve any foreign transactions.

Re: Foreign Transaction Fees:

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:13:41 GMT

This might help, although I don't know how up to date it is.

http://www.moneybluebook.com/list-of-credit-card-foreign-currency-transaction-fees/

Re: Foreign Transaction Fees:

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:21:10 GMT

@Watchmann wrote:
Not sure on the individual cards, but if the onboard ship charges bill in USD there will be no fee on those charges.

This may no longer be true. I recently read (can't recall where, unfortunately) that Visa & MasterCard now charge FX fees if the merchant's bank is non-US, even if the transaction in question was USD-denominated. Take this for what it's worth, since I can't provide a source right now.

Re: Foreign Transaction Fees:

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:28:20 GMT

Watchmann wrote:
Not sure on the individual cards, but if the onboard ship charges bill in USD there will be no fee on those charges. I have one Visa card issued by my CU and unless I contact them in advance they won't approve any foreign transactions.

I know how it works on board - this is my 10th cruise! Just want to be prepared ashore should I find that bargain I can't resist. (So unlikely!) But I could get trashed in Carlos' and Charlie's and wanna slide 'em a card. God I miss my Diner's Club of yore - never used to worry about any of this crap! FT fee - what an excuse to make a buck.

Re: Foreign Transaction Fees:

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:33:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Watchmann wrote:
Not sure on the individual cards, but if the onboard ship charges bill in USD there will be no fee on those charges.
This may no longer be true. I recently read (can't recall where, unfortunately) that Visa & MasterCard now charge FX fees if the merchant's bank is non-US, even if the transaction in question was USD-denominated. Take this for what it's worth, since I can't provide a source right now.

That's why it is called a foreign transaction fee and not a foreign exchange fee. The fee is applied to all transactions originating outside the US without regard to the currency. Still, each issuer sets their own fee. My understanding is that Cap1 still does not charge an FT fee, but they are not on my list.

The shipboard charges are transmitted shoreside to the US and cleared here so those charges are not "foreign".

Message Edited by creditwherecreditisdue on 10-29-2009 11:33 PM

Re: Foreign Transaction Fees:

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:20:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
This might help, although I don't know how up to date it is.

http://www.moneybluebook.com/list-of-credit-card-foreign-currency-transaction-fees/

Sifting through the above led to a real treasure trove:

http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Credit/Debit/ATM_Cards_and_Foreign_Exchange

According to what I am reading there the winner is PenFed. Their fee is still 1%. I knew the recent CIT included changing this fee to 2% but couldn't remember when the change kicked in. The answer is 30NOV2009:

https://www.penfed.org/productsAndRates/creditcards/PenFedNotice.pdf

Thanks, JimB!

P,S, Macy's Visa also = 1%, Go figure! CWCID

Message Edited by creditwherecreditisdue on 10-30-2009 12:20 AM

Re: Foreign Transaction Fees:

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:45:22 GMT

Have fun on your Cruise. Whenever we travel out of country, be it a cruise, etc, (or even if we are traveling out of state) I always call the CC companies beforehand and have them make a note on the acct we are traveling.

That way if a strange charge shows up from a distant place, they know it is us. Can help ease problems as sometimes communications in foreign lands is difficult at best.

Also, thats why of our four credit cards, 3 are joint plus we each have an Individual acct. Thus if my wallet or my wifes purse is stolen and we have to cancel the cards, we will always have my a valid card to use until replacements arrive. Usually we each take just 1 joint card and our individual cards, as I have no need to carry extra cards we dont need.

Re: Foreign Transaction Fees:

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:53:39 GMT

I now primarily use my Schwab 2% card which has NO FTF. However, in reality, I find that I charge very little off ship when I go on these cruises. I pay for any tours on-board in $$$ but use my cards off-shore for a few meals, t-shirt purchases, etc. Unless you're planning to purchase diamonds or a Rolex, I wouldn't sweat the FTF.

Have a safe trip........

Re: Foreign Transaction Fees:

score_building — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:32:22 GMT

here's one instance when a cap1 card could be a winner...

with pen fed looks like you're getting in right under the wire b4 the CIT to 2% on FT fees. Happy trails!

Re: Foreign Transaction Fees:

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:09:18 GMT

Thanks for all the good wishes! Much appreciated!

As soon as I get back I'm going back to selling cruises, too! Return Thursday, first training session is Friday afternoon!

Re: Foreign Transaction Fees:

DI — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:28:21 GMT

Sail away! Enjoy your 10th Cruise.

Message Edited by DI on 10-30-2009 03:28 PM

Re: Foreign Transaction Fees:

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:16:52 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Watchmann wrote:
Not sure on the individual cards, but if the onboard ship charges bill in USD there will be no fee on those charges.
This may no longer be true. I recently read (can't recall where, unfortunately) that Visa & MasterCard now charge FX fees if the merchant's bank is non-US, even if the transaction in question was USD-denominated. Take this for what it's worth, since I can't provide a source right now.

That's why it is called a foreign transaction fee and not a foreign exchange fee. The fee is applied to all transactions originating outside the US without regard to the currency. Still, each issuer sets their own fee. My understanding is that Cap1 still does not charge an FT fee, but they are not on my list.

The shipboard charges are transmitted shoreside to the US and cleared here so those charges are not "foreign".
Message Edited by creditwherecreditisdue on 10-29-2009 11:33 PM

Macy's is 1%. And, although not on OP's list, so is USAA.

In some countries in Asia, there is no foreign transaction fee for Discover.

This fee, actually, is imposed by Visa / MC / AmEx on your bank. Currently the fee the card associations are charging the card issuers is about 1%, but then some card issuers tack on another 1 or 2%. Currently the card associations do not charge if the transaction is denominated in US$ even though conducted abroad, but the banks still tack on the 1% or more.

Those banks that do not charge a foreign transaction fee are either eating the fee charged to them by the card association(s) or have negotiated with them not to be charged.

Re: Foreign Transaction Fees:

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:09:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

In some countries in Asia, there is no foreign transaction fee for Discover.

DISCOVER is NOT widely accepted overseas.....

I would recommend Schwab or Cap ONE....

Re: Foreign Transaction Fees:

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:55:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

In some countries in Asia, there is no foreign transaction fee for Discover.

DISCOVER is NOT widely accepted overseas.....

I would recommend Schwab or Cap ONE....

Discover is widely accepted in Asia, but perhaps you aren't aware of that.

Discover owns a significant interest in China UnionPay which allows you to use Discover at several hundred thousand China UnionPay merchants and ATMs in China, Hong Kong and Macau. Plus at China UnionPay ATMs sprinkled throughout every country in Asia and including several in the U.K.

Discover is also very widely accepted at merchants and ATMs in Japan through the JCB network.