Credit Card currency conversion

kilofarahs

Its probably been asked a 1000times, so apologies - I did a quick search but nothing exactly appeared.

Do you know roughly how credit card merchants calculate the exchange rate. My example, i have paid for some hotel rooms in advance @ 750 euros. I have checked with the hotel and they confirm they received the 750 at their end.

My online statement shows this has being £682.50 - now on a general exchange id have though that should be closer to £660.

MBNA are unable to provide with the calculation they used until Thursday (blah blah system doesnt do this that or that blah blah)

In the meantime i wondered if there was a general rule of thumb e.g exchange rate plus 2% or something..

benjus

The base exchange rate is set by the credit card network, e.g. Visa (http://www.corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_services/consumer_ex_rates.jsp) or Mastercard. It is typically equal or very close to the wholesale exchange rates published on xe.com etc.

The credit card issuer can then apply a "loading" to the exchange rate (this is referred to as the "bank fee" on the link above). This should be given in the T&C for your card - it's typically around 2.75%, but some cards don't apply any loading (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/overseas-card-charges).

kilofarahs

Thanks for that Benjus, id calculated a 3% charge - so will probably turn out to be that. Its the first time ive used this card for euro transactions, my own bank card doesnt appear to charge (or never noticed it)........Its very generous of them to charge me £20 to book a hotel room so i guess its time we parted company.