Barclaycard Reward card foreign transaction refund different to original payment (not exchange rate)

VXman

A hotel in Australia charged my account with $800.19 and then refunded it 4 days later with $800.19.

However the Sterling amount came out at £399.43 and  £393.31 respectively meaning I lost £6.12.

Why is this? It can't be down to exchange rate by that much in 4 days and Barclaycard rewards say no foreign transaction charges.

Any ideas? 

singhini

VXman said:

A hotel in Australia charged my account with $800.19 and then refunded it 4 days later with $800.19.

However the Sterling amount came out at £399.43 and  £393.31 respectively meaning I lost £6.12.

Why is this? It can't be down to exchange rate by that much in 4 days and Barclaycard rewards say no foreign transaction charges.

Any ideas? 

In not 100% sure, but in fairness it could be exchange rate movements (£6.12 is about 1.5%) and currency can move that much in 4 days.

The hotel might have processed the refund as a separate transaction, not reversing the original at the exact same rate.

Therefore even if Barclaycard says no foreign transaction fees, the actual rate applied could have differed between:

Initial authorisation (when the charge is made)

Actual settlement (when the money leaves the merchant and is refunded)

eskbanker

VXman said:

A hotel in Australia charged my account with $800.19 and then refunded it 4 days later with $800.19.

However the Sterling amount came out at £399.43 and  £393.31 respectively meaning I lost £6.12.

Why is this? It can't be down to exchange rate by that much in 4 days and Barclaycard rewards say no foreign transaction charges.

Any ideas? 

As above, it most certainly can be exchange rate fluctuation, not sure why you'd ruled that out?

Those conversions equate to GBP/AUD rates of 2.00 and 2.03, which can easily be seen over a four day period, such as 3 and 7 November, for example.

la531983

It is 100% exchange rate fluctuation. You could easily have been UP six quid instead. Would you be giving the £6 back?

Nobody has done anything wrong and you have no redress.

Ayr_Rage

Rate fluctuation along with buy/sell spread at visa/mastercard.

Perfectly normal, it just went against you on this occasion.

born_again

Exchange rate is calculated on date of debit, not authorisation.

daveyjp

Quite possible to see such a movement in a few days.

On November 06 2025, the GBP / AUD rate was 2.0264, compared to today which is 2.0010, this gives a difference of 0.0254 which is a 1.26% decrease.

singhini

OP: Kwasi Kwarteng gave his main Chancellor's speech in the House of Commons on September 23, 2022

The same day the £/$ exchange dropped by 1.9%  (in a single day...... infact less than a day..... in a few hours) 

On 22 Sept the rate was about 1 GBP ≈ 1.6942 AUD

On 23 Sept it moved to about 1 GBP ≈ 1.6600 AUD

Australian Dollar (AUD) to British Pound (GBP) 2022 Historical Exchange Rates

SacredStephan

VXman said:

A hotel in Australia charged my account with $800.19 and then refunded it 4 days later with $800.19.

However the Sterling amount came out at £399.43 and  £393.31 respectively meaning I lost £6.12.

Doesn't your statement show the exchange rates used for each non-sterling transaction?

FarmGirl78

It's important to realise you haven't paid any Foreign transaction FEES, ie they haven't charged you an extra fee for paying in a different currency, it's just down to change in the exchange rate.

I had this happen when flights to America got cancelled right at the start of COVID. It was a German airline so I'd paid in Euros, and made about £80 on it. You win some, you lost some!

retiredbanker1

SacredStephan said:

VXman said:

A hotel in Australia charged my account with $800.19 and then refunded it 4 days later with $800.19.

However the Sterling amount came out at £399.43 and  £393.31 respectively meaning I lost £6.12.

Doesn't your statement show the exchange rates used for each non-sterling transaction?

Even if it doesn't show the rate you can easily calculate it.

Divide the £ amount by the AUD figure to give you the rates.