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Charge Card that does not charge to convert currency

travelplanner70

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I can only find Discover Card that does not charge the ~4% to convert foreign currency charges into US dollars. Does anyone know of a MC or Visa card or AMEX that does not charge? Discover card is just not honored at enough places to meet my needs in Europe. Thanks.
 

Passepartout

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We've been able to use our (small local bank) Visa check card. They waive all atm fees and charge the bank rate. Seems to me that Capitol 1 doesn't charge the 'foreign currency fee' on purchases, but I don't know if that's on cash advances. Getting cash on a credit card incurs such other horrendous costs that a currency fee just gets lost in them.

Jim Ricks
 

Timeshare Von

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I too have used Capital One for purchases abroad and not received any conversion/exchange fees. I don't use my credit cards to access cash, so I would not know about using them at ATM machines, etc.
 

gorevs9

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You might want to check you local bank or credit union (my local bank only charged 1% if I used the debit check card.

I think the AMEX gold card either waives the fee or charges only 1% (though the annual fee might offset any savings).

I was surprised to see the transaction fee on some of my credit card purchases in St. Marteen that were in USD anyway.
 

Icarus

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Ditto on Capital One and checking with your credit union.

-David
 

Judy

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Capital One Visa and MasterCard do not charge a currency conversion fee on purchases. Capital One ATM cards don't charge currency conversion fees or ATM fees to withdraw cash from Capital One bank accounts.
 

jmatias

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From what I read on Flyertalk, the most recommended card that doesn't charge a fee is the Schwab credit card.

Jen
 

IreneLF

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If you have accounts with Fidelity, you can get their 'smart card', a debit card. I used this to withdraw cash in Europe. There were no fees and they gave a great competitive rate, better than whatever we saw posted in the banks. Should any foreign ATMs charge fees, Fidelity waives them. It also pays a tiny interest on whatever money you put in the account.
 

Icarus

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they gave a great competitive rate, better than whatever we saw posted in the banks.

Any USA based bank card or ATM card that uses MC or Visa will give you those same wholesale exchange rates.

MC and Visa use the days average wholesale exchange rates when doing the conversion. That, in itself, is a great deal. Then they charge the banks a 1% fee on all the conversions they do for that bank. Almost all banks and some CUs pass along that 1% fee to the consumer. Cap One absorbs that 1% fee. Even my CU doesn't absorb that 1% fee, but some people have reported that other CUs do absorb it.

-David
 
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I think only some Cap 1 cards don't charge exchange fee. You have to make sure you apply for one that does not charge an exchange fee.
 
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