Friday, May 31, 2013

Foreign Transaction Fees

Last week Chris Elliott ran a great article about currency conversion and foreign transaction fees - dynamic currency conversion and the pitfalls.

If you've been traveling I'm sure you've had someone at some point as if you want your transaction to show as dollars or the local currency.  Of course they don't mention the rate or the fee they add on, maybe not even if you ask for it.

What's a girl to do? (or a guy). Well, it seems the best course of action is to have a credit card with no foreign transaction fee and to pay in the local currency.

Which cards don't charge a fee? Here is a quick list (some do have an annual fee) of some that I'm aware of, as of the publishing of this post:
Chase, Marriott Rewards, Sapphire Preferred
American Express Platinum
Capital One - Venture, Cash Rewards

Here is an even more extensive list of cards from Nerdwallet.