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Letting the retailer convert the currency
tobiascurious
Posts: 568 Forumite
I have read that you should usually let the card issuer do the conversion if you are making a purchase in a foreign currency. But what are the exceptions?
This is what Ryanair say on their website - it sounds like they are saying it is safer and usually cheaper to accept their own exchange rate, is that true?
"If you do not wish to accept the exchange rate please untick the check box below. The rate on this currency transaction is guaranteed and will not vary. If you untick the checkbox below, the rate you receive from your bank is not guaranteed, and is subject to daily fluctuations, which could result in a significantly higher cost to you. Please go to our terms and conditions for details of our guaranteed exchange rate. We recommend you do not untick the checkbox so that you receive our guaranteed exchange rate"
This is what Ryanair say on their website - it sounds like they are saying it is safer and usually cheaper to accept their own exchange rate, is that true?
"If you do not wish to accept the exchange rate please untick the check box below. The rate on this currency transaction is guaranteed and will not vary. If you untick the checkbox below, the rate you receive from your bank is not guaranteed, and is subject to daily fluctuations, which could result in a significantly higher cost to you. Please go to our terms and conditions for details of our guaranteed exchange rate. We recommend you do not untick the checkbox so that you receive our guaranteed exchange rate"
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Comments
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"Could" result in a significantly higher cost. "Could" is a very strong weasel word. They are saying you "could" pay more as a way of implying that you WILL pay more so as to use their rate.
They are banking on you not checking.urs sinserly,
~~joosy jeezus~~0 -
Your card issuer will normally always have a better exchange rate than a retailer. I paid by credit card in the duty free at an airport in Sweden last year and they asked whether I wanted to pay in GBP or SEK. The answer was easy as I new the airport would apply a horrendous exchange rate.0
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I think it depends on the rate the retailer is going to convert at, taking into account any fees levied by the bank.
When I bought something off Amazon.com recently I was given the option of paying in $USD or £GBP with the total cost of both listed, I checked the exchange rate with Visa ( http://www.visaeurope.com/en/cardholders/exchange_rates.aspx ) and it was cheaper for me to pay in £GBP on Amazon.0 -
tobiascurious wrote: », which could result in a significantly higher cost to you.
It could, of course, just as easily result in a significantly lower cost to you, but we're hoping you're too thick to realise that...:DOptimists see a glass half full
Pessimists see a glass half empty
Engineers just see a glass twice the size it needed to be
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