Best option for regular small dollar payments?

Danj_2

If I want to sign up to a subscription service that is only able to charge in US Dollars, but I also want to minimise the amount of foreign currency transaction fees I pay, what's the best method to do that?

Currently if I was to sign up with my VISA debit card I'd get charged 2.99% plus £1.50 every time a dollar payment was made. On its own that doesn't sound like much but when you're talking about a subscription that's only a few dollars a month it represents a significant price hike.

Supercard seemed promising a while back but then they switched to a "proxy" Mastercard which worked in fewer places, and finally they folded entirely.

Whatever solution I end up with probably needs to be an actual account rather than a proxy, so that things like authorisations and preorders will work on it.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm in the UK so my current account is in UK Pounds.

eDicky

There are various fee-free options, credit cards, prepaid and Starling Bank, the same as those listed for foreign travel in the MSE articles, also Loot.io

Revolut will give you a virtual MasterCard to use immediately, if that's sufficient.

Danj_2

eDicky wrote: »

Revolut will give you a virtual MasterCard to use immediately, if that's sufficient.

Are they trustworthy? I can see a bunch of negative reviews on Trustpilot for example.

(can't post the link as I am a new user, just google revolut review and it is the top result)

eDicky

Revolut is a very sophisticated multi-currency tool and app. Some people seem to jump in and try to use it without bothering to see how it works or verify their identity, getting into a mess and then clogging up the customer services, even more so since they recently began offering cryptocurrency services. For your purpose it should be quite simple if you look through the Revolut FAQs, but even simpler would be Loot or Starling Bank.