Visa Debit card or US credit card?

[mom2rm]

Just wondering if anyone has used their Canadian Visa/Debit card for mobile food orders/paying for Genie+ etc in the parks? I want to avoid the exchange rate on my Canadian credit card so I'm just wondering if I can use my Visa Debit card using my US savings account or just open a US visa to pay for incidentals at the parks?

 

[efrant]

If you want to avoid the foreign transaction fee, then you will need one of these credit cards: 1) Any Brim MasterCard; 2) a Home Trust Visa; 3) a Rogers World Elite MasterCard; 4) a Scotia Passport Visa Infinite; 5) a Scotia Gold Amex; or 6) an HSBC World Elite Mastercard. No other Canadian cards (debit or credit cards) let you avoid that fee. If you open a Canadian USD Visa card, you still have to pay it off with USD, so unless you have USD saved up. you will pay the fee when you buy USD to pay it. But even still, you'd be losing out on rewards you would have otherwise earned by using the cards mentioned (other than the HT Visa which, like Canadian USD cards, doesn't give out any rewards on USD purchases).

EDIT: And you cannot use your Visa Debit card to pay from your Canadian USD Savings account.

 

[romanr27]

An alternative may be to buy Disney Gift Cards in Canada before you go. I believe Disney uses the previous day's closing rate for converting CAD to USD and doesn't charge an f/x fee. Especially if your Canadian credit card has a cashback bonus for groceries, for example, buying them at Loblaws, etc. can save you both the f/x fee and also get you more rewards.

 

[efrant]

An alternative may be to buy Disney Gift Cards in Canada before you. I believe Disney uses the previous day's closing rate for converting CAD to USD and doesn't charge an f/x fee. Especially if your Canadian credit card has a cashback bonus for groceries, for example, buying them at Loblaws, etc. can save you both the f/x fee and also get you more rewards.

That's a great alternative!