Mastercard exchange rate incorrect

Spikey68

Just thought it was worth pointing out that Mastercard appear to be using incorrect Euro/GBP exchange rates on the 14 Dec. There was significant volatility in the spot market on 13th December following the election result and the rate moved between 1.183 and 1.207, closing at 1.199. The rate I received for a transaction on the 14Dec was 1.181. I have the Halifax Clarity Credit Card which many members will know has no extra fees and uses the "MasterCard" rate which is usual very much in line with the spot market rate. However on this occasion something has gone wrong. It's either an error or something far more sinister has gone on. Either way, I have spoken to both Halifax and Mastercard who both blame each other and send you round in circles...the MasterCard people are downright rude!

It was quite a sizeable transaction and to lose out around 1.5% seems a little harsh.....if anyone has experienced the same thing I would love to hear, as I'm questioning whether I will continue to use this card for foreign transactions now...

raghav.tarique

With Mastercards you get the mid- market wholesale rate on the day the transaction settles.
Visa cards I believe, are the same but on the day the transaction is made.

System

It depends on when the transaction was processed.

I've not always received the rate on the Visa / MasterCard calculators.
They are indicative only.

Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose with dynamic forex rates.

born_again

Debited on the 14th or was that when you made it?

eDicky

As above, was Dec 14 the date of the transaction, or the date of settlement..?

What will you use instead of your Charity card..?

Spikey68

If you use the Mastercard online currency converter for Saturday 14th December, their published rate is 1.1818. This is the rate that was used for my transaction dated and coincidentally posted on the same day (14th Dec)... as mentioned previously the closing rate on the wholesale market the day before was 1.199...as you can see their is a very big discrepancy between the MasterCard rate on that day and the last rate seen on the wholesale market......hope that makes my issue clearer

SnowTiger

Spikey68 wrote: »

Just thought it was worth pointing out that Mastercard appear to be using incorrect Euro/GBP exchange rates on the 14 Dec. There was significant volatility in the spot market on 13th December following the election result and the rate moved between 1.183 and 1.207, closing at 1.199. The rate I received for a transaction on the 14Dec was 1.181. I have the Halifax Clarity Credit Card which many members will know has no extra fees and uses the "MasterCard" rate which is usual very much in line with the spot market rate. However on this occasion something has gone wrong. It's either an error or something far more sinister has gone on. Either way, I have spoken to both Halifax and Mastercard who both blame each other and send you round in circles...the MasterCard people are downright rude!

It was quite a sizeable transaction and to lose out around 1.5% seems a little harsh.....if anyone has experienced the same thing I would love to hear, as I'm questioning whether I will continue to use this card for foreign transactions now...

Interestingly, Visa's rate for 14th December was:

1 British Pound = 1.181137 Euro.

The 14th was a Saturday. I don't know if falling on a weekend is significant.

xe.com suggests the exchange rate on that day was around 1.19 Euro to £1.

I guess there isn't a universal exchange rate.

Do Mastercard and Visa set their rates based on demand within their own networks?

jcontest

https://www.mastercard.co.uk/en-gb/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html shows a rate of
1 GBP = 1.201986 EUR for the 14th of December.
This seems different from what some of you have seen .

SnowTiger

jcontest wrote: »

https://www.mastercard.co.uk/en-gb/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html shows a rate of
1 GBP = 1.201986 EUR for the 14th of December.
This seems different from what some of you have seen .

That's what you get when the transaction is in GBP and the card's currency is in EUR.

OP was using a Halifax Clarify card. The card's currency is in GBP. The transaction was in EUR. The other way around.



€1 = £0.846644.

Therefore:

£1 = €1.181134.

chattychappy

Spikey68 wrote: »

There was significant volatility in the spot market on 13th December following the election result and the rate moved between 1.183 and 1.207

Cheer up! That's nothing compared with volatility in the days of yore when it could also take longer to process a transaction.

Many moons ago I put a US$2500 transaction through when the rate was about £1 = US$2.10. Due to "volatility" and delays, I eventually got £1 = US$1.87. That was a serious "ouch" !