Barclaycard Goldfish Exchange Rates Poor?

jonesjw

I just purchased a flight on Vietnam air using my Barclaycard Goldfish.

The Exchange rate: 29874.18
XE shows a rate of 31236, so I'm losing 4.6% on the exchange rate:mad:.

Since when have credit card exchange rates been this bad?
Have just applied for my Halifax Clarity card.

dzug1

IME they are not normally that bad - 2.75 to 3% is the normal range

I wonder if the airline made a charge/did DCC?

jonesjw

I made a point of booking in VND & the Barclaycard Goldfish statement shows the VND rate plus the exchange rates.

Barclaycard_Company_Representative

Hello,
Thank you for your comments, however we do not set the exchange rates on the card. These are set by the payment schemes based on current exchange rates on the date of purchase.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Barclaycard Company Representative

Moonchild

Barclaycard_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hello,
Thank you for your comments, however we do not set the exchange rates on the card. These are set by the payment schemes based on current exchange rates on the date of purchase.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Barclaycard Company Representative

Any chance of shortening your username? It's playing havoc with the view of the main board.

Bankers huh

dzug1

Barclaycard_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hello,
Thank you for your comments, however we do not set the exchange rates on the card. These are set by the payment schemes based on current exchange rates on the date of purchase.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Barclaycard Company Representative

I'm non the wiser. What are 'payment schemes'?

jonesjw

So if a bank the size of Barclays isn't responsible for exchange rate losses of in excess of 4% on a Barclaycard, then who is?

I expect banks to make a profit, but in this case the margin seems abnormally high.

jonesjw

So are Barclays going to say who is responsible for the exchange rates?

dzug1

jonesjw wrote: »

So are Barclays going to say who is responsible for the exchange rates?

Barclays are responsible for their own charges and no more.

The exchange rates (to which those charges are added) are the responsibility of Visa (or Mastercard) and possibly the merchant or his local bank.

eslick

great message from barclaycard as you would expect.

Have a look at this website it will show you the visa exchange rate on the day, remember that the rates on websites such as XE wont always be match those used by Visa or Mastercard.

ou need to ask Barclays what their handling charge is, put that in and see what you should have been charged if they are wrong ask them to look at your charge again.

http://corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_services/consumer_ex_rates.jsp

jonesjw

Thanks for the link.
I checked the statement again. The way they state the currency conversion is very confusing, but the exchange rate includes a handling charge, which must presumably be Barclays responsibility. THE NEXT TRANSACTION WILL BE WITH A DIFFERENT CREDIT CARD. I expect banks to make a reasonable profit, but this is just too greedy.