topic Re: What exactly is FTF? in Credit Cards

What exactly is FTF?

DavidZeng — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 04:28:08 GMT

I know this is a noob question. Is the FTF just means the transactions in foreign currency or included foreign merchants(which can put the transactions amount in $$, but located abroad)?

Re: What exactly is FTF?

Gatortrout — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 06:02:01 GMT

FTF = Foreign Transaction Fee. Fees the CC company tack on to your purchases made in foreign countries.

Re: What exactly is FTF?

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 06:10:05 GMT

@Gatortrout wrote:
FTF = Foreign Transaction Fee. Fees the CC company tack on to your purchases made in foreign countries.

If it is processed by a foreign processor. And, as the OP suggests, can be in local or US currency. What also sometimes catches people out is buying on the web, so airline X, even the US site, might end up processing payments in its home country, and these can incur FTF as well.

Re: What exactly is FTF?

lg8302ch — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 09:47:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Gatortrout wrote:
FTF = Foreign Transaction Fee. Fees the CC company tack on to your purchases made in foreign countries.
If it is processed by a foreign processor. And, as the OP suggests, can be in local or US currency. What also sometimes catches people out is buying on the web, so airline X, even the US site, might end up processing payments in its home country, and these can incur FTF as well.

or in the case of www.aa.com international tickets get processed in the UK for some odd reasons for me and Citi AA is adding the FTF... still trying to figure out why domestic tickets get processed in the US and international in the UK.... AA and Citi both are clueless to why this is happening and blame the fees on each other....LOL... I can use the Citi AA card paying for everything but AA tickets

Re: What exactly is FTF?

DavidZeng — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 13:04:05 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Gatortrout wrote:
FTF = Foreign Transaction Fee. Fees the CC company tack on to your purchases made in foreign countries.
If it is processed by a foreign processor. And, as the OP suggests, can be in local or US currency. What also sometimes catches people out is buying on the web, so airline X, even the US site, might end up processing payments in its home country, and these can incur FTF as well.

So if I bought a hotel room charged in US dollars in Japan, I also need to pay FTF? That is sad

Re: What exactly is FTF?

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 13:28:25 GMT

@DavidZeng wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Gatortrout wrote:
FTF = Foreign Transaction Fee. Fees the CC company tack on to your purchases made in foreign countries.
If it is processed by a foreign processor. And, as the OP suggests, can be in local or US currency. What also sometimes catches people out is buying on the web, so airline X, even the US site, might end up processing payments in its home country, and these can incur FTF as well.
So if I bought a hotel room charged in US dollars in Japan, I also need to pay FTF? That is sad

Yes, this is a transaction in a foreign country. This catches a lot of people out: the merchant offers, "for convenience" to charge you in dollars. The customer agrees, either for convenience (they don't have to calculate!) or because they think this will avoid extra fees. Instead, what happens is the merchant converts at a worse rate than the CC would give you (making a profit) and then you still get hit with a FTF. Advice is always keep the charges in local currency. Dynamic Currency Conversion is not your friend.

Re: What exactly is FTF?

DavidZeng — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 13:44:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@DavidZeng wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Gatortrout wrote:
FTF = Foreign Transaction Fee. Fees the CC company tack on to your purchases made in foreign countries.
If it is processed by a foreign processor. And, as the OP suggests, can be in local or US currency. What also sometimes catches people out is buying on the web, so airline X, even the US site, might end up processing payments in its home country, and these can incur FTF as well.
So if I bought a hotel room charged in US dollars in Japan, I also need to pay FTF? That is sad
Yes, this is a transaction in a foreign country. This catches a lot of people out: the merchant offers, "for convenience" to charge you in dollars. The customer agrees, either for convenience (they don't have to calculate!) or because they think this will avoid extra fees. Instead, what happens is the merchant converts at a worse rate than the CC would give you (making a profit) and then you still get hit with a FTF. Advice is always keep the charges in local currency. Dynamic Currency Conversion is not your friend.

YES YES! The merchant usally use 1 USD to ONLY 90 or worse JPY, the normal rate is 1 USD to 105 JPY! OH MY GOD. And on top of that, still FTF?? Next time, I will just ask them to put JPY.

Re: What exactly is FTF?

phonic — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 00:17:14 GMT

You may get charged an FTF even if you make a purchase in the US in USD.

The most rediculous example of this occured to me near Buffalo, NY by Niagra Falls. I parked on a CITY street and opted to use the credit card machine to pay the parking fee since I wasn't sure how long I would be there and you could pay at the end and only be charged for the time spent. Total charge was ~$2. Fast forward a few weeks and I see a $0.04 "Miscellaneous Charge" on my statement. Not sure what this was, I called my bank. Apparently the credit card machine processed the transaction in Canada so I was charged an FTF. Part of me wanted to dispute this on principle, but I just couldn't find it in my mind to argue over four cents.

But the fact that I was charged an FTF fee for making a purchase in the US for parking on a municipal street and paying in US dollars just pissed me off royally.

Once in a while you might get charged FTF for PayPal transactions as well since PayPal will send a foreign purchase flag to the credit card company if the seller is out of the US, even if you pay in USD. As far as I can see, Google does not do this.

Re: What exactly is FTF?

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 01:15:11 GMT

@phonic wrote:
You may get charged an FTF even if you make a purchase in the US in USD.

The most rediculous example of this occured to me near Buffalo, NY by Niagra Falls. I parked on a CITY street and opted to use the credit card machine to pay the parking fee since I wasn't sure how long I would be there and you could pay at the end and only be charged for the time spent. Total charge was ~$2. Fast forward a few weeks and I see a $0.04 "Miscellaneous Charge" on my statement. Not sure what this was, I called my bank. Apparently the credit card machine processed the transaction in Canada so I was charged an FTF. Part of me wanted to dispute this on principle, but I just couldn't find it in my mind to argue over four cents.

But the fact that I was charged an FTF fee for making a purchase in the US for parking on a municipal street and paying in US dollars just pissed me off royally.

Once in a while you might get charged FTF for PayPal transactions as well since PayPal will send a foreign purchase flag to the credit card company if the seller is out of the US, even if you pay in USD. As far as I can see, Google does not do this.

+1.

Also becareful about buying from online retailers that have both US and overseas shipping centers. If the orders are fulfilled overseas, chances are the payment might be processed overseas as well, which means a FTF fee will be incurred. Topshop and SuperDry for instance sometimes have this issue.

Re: What exactly is FTF?

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Sep 2014 16:34:10 GMT

This is an older thread but have a question. How does the FTF appear on your credit card statement? Is it called FTF on the statement?

We've traveled a lot in the Caribbean and I don't remember ever noticing this fee. Maybe I've only ever used cash or Cap1.

Re: What exactly is FTF?

trumpet-205 — Sat, 27 Sep 2014 18:29:51 GMT

@DavidZeng wrote:
YES YES! The merchant usally use 1 USD to ONLY 90 or worse JPY, the normal rate is 1 USD to 105 JPY! OH MY GOD. And on top of that, still FTF?? Next time, I will just ask them to put JPY.

That's what you should be doing from the start.

Whenever you make a purchase at foreign country or foreign website, ALWAYS ask to be charged in foriegn currency. Your credit card network (Visa/MC/AMEX/Discover) will ALWAYS gives you favoarable conversion rate.

FTF will appear as a fee under your credit card statement.

Re: What exactly is FTF?

Burned2manybridgesB4 — Sat, 27 Sep 2014 18:33:03 GMT

I learned FTF the hard way...damn Senior Frogs, and booze....

Re: What exactly is FTF?

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Sep 2014 18:40:05 GMT

ROFL.

Going to St Martin for 10 days in a few weeks. Will keep this in mind. <Self: get drunk in Euros and Guilders>