Credit card exchange rate

JoseChungsDoomsday

Hey folks
I know that theres a interbank exchange rate for CC purchases abroad, but i was wondering do visa, mastercard and amex use the same rate or do they have their own interbank rates??

Reason Im asking, Im planning a hol to florida this times next year and am bringing my nationwide visa and lombard MC and was wondering which one uses the best exchange rate! :rolleyes:

Galstonian

I think Visa and M/C publish their own rates but I've not found a source for them so can't compare. My expereince is that there is little (if anything) between the two and since they can change regularly it may not be possible to guarantee getting the best one.

Rafter

I think a lot will depend on the time of day the American visa network processes the transaction and sends it to your bank in the UK - something you can't exactly control.

xe.com have a few useful tools for checking what rate and charges have been applied and also the interbank rate over time which should be similar to the rates used by visa and mastercard.

R.

http://www.xe.com/ccc/

pin

I emailed both Visa and MC about this some time ago. They both said they used their own wholesale rates, but they would be very similar to the wholesale rates published on the likes of xe.com.

KTF

The visa exchange rates are here:

http://corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_ex_rates.jsp?src=home

Enter in your card details and it will work out the loading (unless you are with the Nationwide in which case you get the full rate )

JoseChungsDoomsday

many thanks guys. Im going to contact Amex as well to see what they say, I've a feeling that they prob have a worse rate than Visa & MC...

slightly off topic but I found this on the paypal site, that i thought was interesting...

http://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_help-ext&eloc=1019&loc=1010&unique_id=130041&source_page=_home&flow=

pin

JoseChungsDoomsday wrote:

many thanks guys. Im going to contact Amex as well to see what they say, I've a feeling that they prob have a worse rate than Visa & MC...

slightly off topic but I found this on the paypal site, that i thought was interesting...

http://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_help-ext&eloc=1019&loc=1010&unique_id=130041&source_page=_home&flow=

Amex, again run their own wholesale rate and then add 2.73%. Clause 12 of their T&Cs spells it all out:

12.1 If you make a Charge in a currency other than in Pound Sterling, that Charge will be converted into Pound Sterling. The conversion will take place on the date the Charge is processed by American Express, which may not be the same date on which you made your Charge as it depends on when the Charge was submitted to American Express. If the Charge is not in U.S. dollars, the conversion will be made through U.S. dollars, by converting the Charge amount into U.S. dollars and then by converting the U.S. dollar amount into Pound Sterling. If the Charge is in U.S. dollars, it will be converted directly into Pound Sterling.

12.2 Unless a specific rate is required by applicable law, you understand and agree that the American Express treasury system will use conversion rates based on interbank rates that it selects from customary industry sources on the business day prior to the processing date, increased by a single conversion commission of 2.73%. If Charges are converted by third parties prior to being submitted to us, any conversions made by those third parties will be at rates selected by them.