UK Credit card using less than current Exchange rate for US based purchases

chattychappy

It's been explained to you.

Mastercard/Visa each have their own exchange rates, which are very close to interbank.

Individual CCs apply the Visa/Mastercard rate, and are at liberty to apply an extra fee (most charge 3%) which is separately itemised.

Alternatively, when overseas, a retailer may convert the purchase into GBP before charging your card. In this case, you will only see a GBP charge as there is no conversion by the CC. However the retailer's conversion will be at a very poor rate. This is DCC.

That's all there is to it.

You are muddling something up... and unless you quote what was actually on the statement (which you've been asked to), I don't see how anyone here can help you any further.

By all means persist with your would/should thing, or your claim that they apply a "different conversion rate per charge than the ACTUAL amount" or whatever, all posters can do here is to rephase answers already given.

Marchitiello

Bevereeno78 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies - even the sarcastic ones.

What I'm trying to understand - and failing to see why this is so difficult for others to comprehend....

Why can Santander/MasterCard charge a different conversion rate per charge than the ACTUAL amount? The UK Pound to US dollar has never been 0.7 nor even close.

I think you are not comprehending what other are saying. The MasterCard exchange rate is applied to all transaction using their network across currencies. MasterCard exchange rate, reportedly the best across all credit cards network, is still a bit off the actual currency exchange rate you see reported online, but there could be multiple reasons for your friend to have been overcharged (if at all the case as the 0.7 is to close the the conversion rate the way around, which everyone is pointing out to you...):

-your friend decided to pay in GBP and the retailer applied the conversion directly on their machine, which would be worst than the MasterCard rate.

- your friend does not have one of Santander Travel credit cards, namely Zero and 123, and therefore the bank applied the forex fee on top of the actual exchange rate, which some time include a percentage fee and a fix fee of about £2-3, which for a cup of coffee at Starbucks would make up most of the cost...

Best way forward is that your friend reports exactly what has been reported on his statement

dresdendave

Bevereeno78 wrote: »

What I'm trying to understand - and failing to see why this is so difficult for others to comprehend....

And what we are trying to understand - and failing to see why this is so difficult for you to comprehend....


.... is why you won't give an exact example of a transaction that is shown on the statement, price in $, price in £ and the quoted exchange rate.

Bevereeno78

If they go to the airport today and ask for 1000 US dollars - They pay 674 UK pounds - roughly. If I were to do the same thing abroad via Santander/Mastercard I now know they would be charged ~1350UK P.

Thats wrong. Why do they do this?

chattychappy

..and so it goes on.

dresdendave

Bevereeno78 wrote: »

If they go to the airport today and ask for 1000 US dollars - They pay 674 UK pounds - roughly. If I were to do the same thing abroad via Santander/Mastercard I now know they would be charged ~1350UK P.

Thats wrong. Why do they do this?

You have been asked on numerous posts to quote a real life transaction from a statement. Posting theoretical made up transactions is just a waste of everyone's time and will not allow you to get an explanation of what has occurred.

eskbanker

Bevereeno78 wrote: »

If they go to the airport today and ask for 1000 US dollars - They pay 674 UK pounds - roughly. If I were to do the same thing abroad via Santander/Mastercard I now know they would be charged ~1350UK P.

Thats wrong. Why do they do this?

They don't.

Your friend is talking rubbish and you're believing it.

Tell them to read their statement more carefully when they've sobered up, or get a grown-up to help....

Edi81

Don’t feed the troll!

Marchitiello

@Bevereeno78 either your friend is misunderstanding what is reading or is telling you porkies ...

Let him give you a practical example of a transaction on his statement.

For example my wife was recently in The Euro zone without a proper travel credit card and used her Visa Debit Card; the statement reported a transaction of £13.23 but in the description it read the following “Eur 14.50 at Visa Exchange rate of 1.13. The final GBP amount includes a Non-Sterling Transaction Fee of 0.35”.

Another example with a MasterCard Travel Card I used in Spain a while ago:
£42.84 and in the Description “name of the retailer, 49.80 Eur @1.1625” (no additional charges).
So ask your friend to report an example like the above and we can all have a good discussion

redux

These comments are all true.

£1 = $1.30769
$1 = £0.76471
$1.30769 = £1
£0.76471 = $1

At the moment I'm having difficulty believing the problem is worse than not noticing some transposition of numbers or £ and $ signs.

An item on the statement will appear with both numbers and the rate, with foreign price and rate either after the retailer name or in brackets on a second line.

If there truly is a problem of only getting $0.7 for £1, then this is a valid complaint to the bank.