British Airways card - any charges for FX transactions?

jumperabv3

I have a question for those of you who have the British Airways American Express card - if I buy online from Amazon something in US Dollars, would I be paying extra for paying in a foreign currency?

dzug1

American Express charge 2.99% for a foreign currency transaction


Whether the BA card is an exception - pass. I doubt it.

jumperabv3

Thank you !

YorkshireBoy

jumperabv3 wrote: »

I have a question for those of you who have the British Airways American Express card

You don't need to hold the card to find out, just know where to get the information...


https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/content/pdf/card-products/ba-credit-card/BA-SummaryBox.pdf

jumperabv3

Thank you!

mrchiggles

If you want to earn Avios on FX transactions then the Lloyds is the best bet - I've got that for abroad.

Roger1

mrchiggles wrote: »

If you want to earn Avios on FX transactions then the Lloyds is the best bet - I've got that for abroad.

Up to a point. There are two Lloyds Avios cards, the free one offering just 1 Avios per £, double abroad with a 3% FX surcharge, and the fee-payable one (£140 p.a.) offering 1.25 Avios per £, double abroad for the first 6 months only, no FX fee.

These rates are for the Lloyds Avios AmEx cards. The earning rates for the accompanying Lloyds Avios MasterCards are truly pathetic.

OllyM

Roger1 wrote: »

Up to a point. There are two Lloyds Avios cards, the free one offering just 1 Avios per £, double abroad with a 3% FX surcharge, and the fee-payable one (£140 p.a.) offering 1.25 Avios per £, double abroad for the first 6 months only, no FX fee.

These rates are for the Lloyds Avios AmEx cards. The earning rates for the accompanying Lloyds Avios MasterCards are truly pathetic.

Lloyds don't have a free Avios earning card any more for new applicants and both of the 'new' cards have 0% FX fee.

The standard card is £24 a year and earns 1.25 Avios per £1 on the Amex and 1.25 per £5 on the Mastercard. The Premier card is £140 a year and earns 1.5 Avios per £1 on the Amex and 1.5 per £5 on the Mastercard.

Roger1

Oo er! Thanks for the update.

Before posting, I checked online and found http://www.lloydsbank.com/credit-cards/duo-avios.asp , the basis for my comment. Going back and clicking on the links, I get error messages. Gee, thanks, Lloyds for the expired info.

This page - http://www.lloydsbank.com/credit-cards/comparison.asp?WT.ac=CCDACC - seems to have the up-to-date info.

I have the old card offering 1 Avios per £, double abroad but the 3% FX surcharge makes this uncompetitive. Lloyds said existing cardholders couldn't apply for the new card. I'll probably cancel it as there are better alternatives.

The spending threshold for earning more with the £24 Lloyds card compared with the free BA AmEx or the old Lloyds Avios card is about £2,000 p.a. Above that, the new Lloyds card is a better bet. It's hard to see a rational reason for taking out the £140 card.