Forex transaction on Credit : advise needed

qlncao

Hi,

I have a halifax platinum credit card, on which I bought a high value item for a gift to a relative which came to 495 GBP . Unfortunately the site could not deliver that item and refunded me the entire amount in local currency , which came to 445 GBP only 5 days after the original purchase !

Do I have any recourse to recovering the difference or is it just a case of Visa making a killing on exchange rates ?! Since it was a big transaction on a different country website , I thought I was doing the prudent think and making the purchase on my credit card . Unfortunately its led me to losing 40 pounds . Do I have any rights when transactions are refunded on a credit card ?

Thanks

camuk81

You would have to speak to the card provider though I'm sure somewhere in the T&C's they will have a get out clause.

Give me half a chance to check the T&C

Ultimately its the card issuer fault not visa or the person who you bought the goods from. The rates will have changed and therefore they will force this onto to you. They will have had the same impact as well from there end

Plxply

Visa and Mastercard normally have extremely good conversion rates, as they make money on the merchant fees and want you to use your card. Although normally your card provider applies a 2.75% fee on top. I'm surprised the rates varied that much over five days, what currency was it originally made in?

Ben8282

Plxply has made a good point here. You would expect a small difference here, which could even have been in your favour if rates had gone the other way, but the £50 difference here is too much.

Nobody has made a 'killing' here. You have purchased foriegn currency (i.e. you made a foriegn currency transaction which was converted to GBP) and then re-sold the foriegn currency when you received the refund.

In view of the very large difference between the two amounts I suggest you call Halifax and request an explanation. Are you sure the original transaction was refunded in full?

bengalknights

This is correct unfortunatly this is what happens when purchasing in foreign currency sometimes you end up with more and sometimes less.

This sounds like it was dollar/euro which wouldnt be much of a difference.