Credit card fees using abroad.

[Tanzanite]

I used my Bank of America card for several purchases in Carribbean got a $78 charge for my purchase 3% for using card .Does every bank card charge this .St Thomas jewellry purchase saved from paying on it.s they didnt charge asUSA territory thank goodness for that.

 

[katied]

yes - my Citibank mastercard charges the fee also - we get cash out of the ATM and use a lot of cash instead - lower fees.

 

[ancestry]

Not every bank does this but I can tell you Bank of America is one of the worst with international fees. They charge this service charge for any transaction outside of the country.

 

[Tanzanite]

Ive never used my Debit card when on vacation what sort of fee do they charge .Only problem is i got in trouble in jewellry stores got some loveley bling wouldnt have had enough to pay with cash would i be better to carry American travellers cheques my bank doesnt charge for those.

 

[Tanzanite]

Not every bank does this but I can tell you Bank of America is one of the worst with international fees. They charge this service charge for any transaction outside of the country.

I used two different cards Bank of America never charged in St Thomas i phoned they said because US Territory no fees .But purchases made in St Maartan they charged me fee. my other credit card didnt charge the one purchase i made in ST Thomas either they said no bank should charge as US Territory.Next year hoping to do Med cruise not sure how to get around charges there .

 

[JoiseyMom]

I called all my credit card companies before I left the country. Amex charged no fees .

 

[LEXAVE]

American Express charges 2.7%.

 

[JoiseyMom]

American Express charges 2.7%.

When we cruised in 2008, my AMEX charged no fees for us.

 

[LEXAVE]

When we cruised in 2008, my AMEX charged no fees for us.

While in Paris and London (this past June) and were charged 2.7% on all charges.

Then we took a transatlantic cruise back to the U.S. and used Amex and were not charged a fee.

 

[katied]

Ive never used my Debit card when on vacation what sort of fee do they charge .Only problem is i got in trouble in jewellry stores got some loveley bling wouldnt have had enough to pay with cash would i be better to carry American travellers cheques my bank doesnt charge for those.

My bank doesn't charge fees for using my debit card oversees.

 

[nordkin]

Capital One never charges fee, while almost all others do. Debit cards are also charged fees by almost every bank. We use PNC Bank and with the type of accounts we have we pay no fee for any ATM around the world, but we do pay 3% if we use it as a Visa.

 

[JCMHutch]

I've travelled around the carribbean and mexico and used my Discover card and had no extra charges. I used in in Cozumel, Costa Maya, St. Maartin and the British VI. You may want to consider changing cards if you plan on traveling more!

 

[swilshire]

I keep a Capitol One card because it's the only one I'm aware of with no fees for foreign transactions.

Sheila

 

[clh2]

We have had a lot of success with pulling money of of foreign ATM's when travelling. Yes there are some fees, similar to when you use an ATM that is out of network, but really, they were very reasonable. It allowed us to not convert a boatload of money, (and pay conversion fees) and then pay conversion fees to convert it back to US dollars.

I would NEVER travel with travellers checks outside of the country...I understand they are getting more and more difficult to cash, and then you are stuck with essentially - no money. (FWIW - when we went to Berlin Germany - MOST places only accepted cash - which is why we took money out of the ATM about every other day.)

 

[marie1203]

Not every card charges the fees. Our bank of america card does but our american express doesn't when we travel abroad we always try to use our Amex or cash to avoid fees. We have used our Amex in Europe, Dubai, Israel, south america and no fees.

 

[Tanzanite]

Thanks everyone i have an American express will call to see if its free .

 

[rock_doctor]

Visa and Mastercard charges the CC a fee of 3 or 4% for purchases. In the US the vender pays this charge but outside the US it is passed onto the purchaser. So you will pay this 3 or 4% in addition to the normal money conversion fees that they charge. I have a Bank of America card (that i hate with a vengeance) and a Capital One credit card. I use the BOA for US purchases and my Capital One for anything outside the US (plus for huge purchases as they never give me any issues). Capital One gets charged the fees but instead of passing them on they just eat them as an encouragement to use their card. So if you plan to travel outside the US get a capital one card. The commercials are funny but it really is the best card i have ever used.

 

[Tanzanite]

I will look in to getting a Capitol one card.I have a big credit limit with Bank of America but i hate that i have to call to get large purchases preapproved in advance.

 

[WheelCEO]

very glad that I read this post.. I'm going to call my cc's tomorrow and see which one charges the lowest fees! I'm going on a cruise and this did not even cross my mind.

 

[JB2K]

I used my Bank of America card for several purchases in Carribbean got a $78 charge for my purchase 3% for using card .Does every bank card charge this .St Thomas jewellry purchase saved from paying on it.s they didnt charge asUSA territory thank goodness for that.

This is a good one -- these rules are set by MasterCard/Visa, not the individual banks, meaning you will get socked for an additional 3% for every swipe/ATM withdrawal if you are outside the United States and it's territories.

And, as ATM withdrawals go, there may be some extra fees from the ATM owner and your home bank.

A good budget alternative for Bank of America customers is called the "Global ATM Alliance", which enables customers of BofA, ScotiaBank (Canada) and certain other big banks around the world to use each others ATMs completely fee-free.

I was able to use my BofA card at Westpac ATMs in Australia a few years ago and it worked perfectly!

For those of you using Capital One, I can vouch they do not charge the 3% international fee for card swipes.

American Express is a mixed bag as they already pass-on the highest swipe rates in the industry to the merchant. Ditto for Discover, as it is primarily a domestic card, to begin with.

As for your own bank, international card swipe/ATM withdrawal fees should be listed in the agreement pamphlet that came with your card.