Stealth charge on foreign transactions

harttss3

13 January 2010, conversion rate given was 1.066321. The Euro amount was 220.27 and I had expected to pay around £197. I was charged a little over £206!

CannyJock

harttss3 wrote: »

13 January 2010, conversion rate given was 1.066321. The Euro amount was 220.27 and I had expected to pay around £197. I was charged a little over £206!

220.27 EUR / 1.066321 = 206.57 GBP

Looks fine to me.

Why did you expect £197?

harttss3

Because the exchange rate on the day was more like 1.12:o

CannyJock

According to the Mastercard converter here http://www.freedom-card.co.uk/currency-converter.aspx

Your 220.27 EUR should have been 198.60 GBP
But it actually cost you 206.57 GBP?
So difference of 7.97 GBP or 4.0%

The table http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/overseas-card-charges quotes Tesco loading fee at 2.75% so looks like you've been charged an extra 1.25% somewhere else in the chain, unless Tesco have changed their loading fee.

With the 2.75% loading fee it would have been closer to £204.06.
So a difference of roughly £2.51?

ManAtHome

harttss3 wrote: »

13 January 2010, conversion rate given was 1.066321. The Euro amount was 220.27 and I had expected to pay around £197. I was charged a little over £206!

Just to double-check - were you also charged the 2.75% by Tesco or are you expecting to be charged it?

The low rate looks more like DCC to me (where the retailer has 'kindly' converted to quids). If this is the case, the bill would hit your card in quids, so there wouldn't be the 2.75% fee.

CSM17

Hey

Is 2.99% a fair amount to be charged on any non-sterling transactions made abroad, using a credit card?

And also, could anyone please advise me of the risks involved with purchasing foreign currency with a credit card?

Thanks
:):)

dazza.mk

CSM17 wrote: »

Hey

Is 2.99% a fair amount to be charged on any non-sterling transactions made abroad, using a credit card?

And also, could anyone please advise me of the risks involved with purchasing foreign currency with a credit card?

Thanks
:):)

There's no risks in purchasing currency on a credit card.....

But, it will be viewed as a cash advance (only exception I know of is M&S Card in M&S Travel Bureau) so you will be charged cash advance charges + interest from the day of purchase.

... but this isn't a risk, its a certainty