Credit Card with no fee for exchange

Does anyone know of a credit card that does not charge an exchange fee for US dollars to KR or DKK?

do you mean a foreign transaction fee?

You will always be charged an exchange fee when using your card for different currency

Check Capital one cards or Chase

The CapitalOne Master Card does not charge any foreign exchange fees and also has no annual fee. The Globtrek Visa Card issued by Anderson Federal Credit Union also does not charge any foreign exchange fee and has no annual fees.....and this is also a Chip/PIN EMV card.

Hank

The United Airlines Visa from Chase has no foreign transaction fee. but it's $90 per year.

The CapitalOne Master Card does not charge any foreign exchange fees and also has no annual fee. The Globtrek Visa Card issued by Anderson Federal Credit Union also does not charge any foreign exchange fee and has no annual fees.....and this is also a Chip/PIN EMV card.

 

Hank

Did you mean Andrews Federal Credit Union? That is the card we have.

In Copenhagen the Andrews card defaulted to a signature --something to do with the Danish banks and foreign cards --at least that is what we were told. We had no need to use it in an automated situation so I'm not sure if it would default to PIN at that time.

Did you mean Andrews Federal Credit Union? That is the card we have.

In Copenhagen the Andrews card defaulted to a signature --something to do with the Danish banks and foreign cards --at least that is what we were told. We had no need to use it in an automated situation so I'm not sure if it would default to PIN at that time.

Couple of things. MC and visa have specific rules regarding foreign currency conversion. They sort of use the unofficial rate (it's called the interbank rate and is available on sites such as xe.com or oanda.com) and add 1% to that rate when the charge hits their system and is sent to your bank. At that point with US banks one of three things happens. Your bank may tack on an additional 2% fee making the total fee 3%. This is particularly true of the large banks such as Citibank, Chase and Bank of America. But...

For certain accounts, usually but not always those with hefty annual fees, they not only don't add the 2% fee but eat the visa/mc fee. I don't know of any Citibank cards which have no annual fee that eats the mc/visa fee. Nor with Chase. But Bank of America has several such cards including its travel rewards card which has no annual fee, no foreign transaction fee and has an emv chip. Also there are several other banks which eat the 1% visa/mc fee and have no ftf such as Capital one, Andrews FCU, Pentago FCU, State Department FCU. The later 3 have cards with the emv chip. Cap One cards do not have emv chips. Also several banks simply pass along the 1% mc/visa fee and thus have a 1% ftf.

As far as emv chips and the whole argument about chip and pin as opposed to chip and signature, the banks in the USA sort of have decided although it is not written in stone that when they convert to emv chips, their cards will be chip and signature preferred such as the Andrews FCU to cite one example. This card's first priority is signature verification. If the point of sale (pos) terminal processes the charge as chip and signature, a receipt will be printed and a signature required. The banks claim Americans prefer signature verification (I'm just the messenger). This could change as emv becomes more prevelent in the USA but that does seem the direction they are going. The card associations are working with the eu to try to make chip and signature verification in pos terminals the primary verification system. The Andrews card will function as chip and pin in unpersonneled kiosks and that apparently is what will happen with most US cards. Again this is not written in stone but it does seem the direction. There are a couple of banks in the USA that issue "true" chip and pin cards such as USAA but membe3rship in that bank is limited and they only provide chip and pin on their mastercards and pass along the 1% ftf of mc/visa.

Finally, as I've read in Denmark and probably other countries, it's a normal part of credit card life to slap a 2.5% fee on transactions with credit cards issued outside Denmark. I was planning a trip to Tivoli Gardens before my cruise in June and read of this policy on their web site. Interestingly enough, the fee on Diners Club cards is somewhat lower. And of course while I do not have a diners club card (it is almost as extinct as the dinosaurs are in the USA), internationally discover cards are supposed to be accepted in all places where Diners Club still exist.

Then there is the issue of dynamic currency conversion. But that's for another time and place. But let me just say if you are foolish enough to use an American credit card with the 3% ftf and you fall for the scam of dynamic currency conversion (this is where the merchants converts the charge to your currency as a "service" but it's really a scam because they use an outrageous rate) you get charged the 3% anyway as it is a transaction fee not a currency conversion fee.

The Chase Hyatt card is also chip and signature.

USAA Bank is open to anyone, some restrictions if you are not a USA citizen.

Personnally I use USAA for banking and use that to extract money from ATM, they reimburse for any ATM fees, however they have a 1% foreign transaction fee added to all ATM withdraws made out side the USA. Even with that I am still paying less for pulling my money out of foreign ATMs then with Bank of America.

Then have a capital one for credit card purchase with 0% foreign transaction fees. Stand ATM fee/interest so never use for ATM withdraws.

There are a few online only banking systems that beat USAA bank in for this.

Don't know about Denmark but I have not had any problems with ATMs adding any money as fees or anything else for other parts of Europe. Over the last couple of years have seen alot more ATMs that offer a DCC type scheme where they will tell your ATM card issuer that you extracted the money as dollars. A few make you go through a few warning screen that keep warning that you would be better off having them bill your bank at your regular currency. Calculated the interest and they were at just under 4%.

Several of Chase's cards have no Foreign transactions fees, like the Sapphire card.

Cheers

Len

The Chase Hyatt card is also chip and signature.

As is BofA Travel Rewards

USAA Bank is open to anyone, some restrictions if you are not a USA citizen.

 

 

Personnally I use USAA for banking and use that to extract money from ATM, they reimburse for any ATM fees, however they have a 1% foreign transaction fee added to all ATM withdraws made out side the USA. Even with that I am still paying less for pulling my money out of foreign ATMs then with Bank of America.

Then have a capital one for credit card purchase with 0% foreign transaction fees. Stand ATM fee/interest so never use for ATM withdraws.

 

There are a few online only banking systems that beat USAA bank in for this.

 

 

Don't know about Denmark but I have not had any problems with ATMs adding any money as fees or anything else for other parts of Europe. Over the last couple of years have seen alot more ATMs that offer a DCC type scheme where they will tell your ATM card issuer that you extracted the money as dollars. A few make you go through a few warning screen that keep warning that you would be better off having them bill your bank at your regular currency. Calculated the interest and they were at just under 4%.

Will,I'm not doubting you but from what I've read on other blogs, people who have no connection to the military have been unable to join USAA. I, myself, joined about 15 years ago and at that time, there was no restriction. It seems that they have instituted one based on what I read.

Also my post dealt with credit cards, not debit cards nor ATM cards. We can do a whole thing about debit cards and fees and ftf's and the like.

Several of Chase's cards have no Foreign transactions fees, like the Sapphire card.

 

Cheers

 

Len

Yes indeed but to the best of my knowledge, every Chase card sans ftf has a hefty annual fee (and anything more than $0 is hefty).

A quick google search will bring up a few sites where you can see many CC without FTF & no annual fees

We have very few options in Canada I counted 4 cards so far with no FTF

I acquired a Capital One credit card for no foreign transaction fees and opened an online bank account with them to bring a debit card for currency conversion and no atm fees. I only use them when traveling and have had great success with them.

Thanks for all the replies. I went online last night and signed up for a Capital One CC which has no annual fees and no foreign transaction fee. I should get my card next week which will be in plenty of time before my cruise.

I've had the Capital One card for a few years specifically for travel. The last time in Europe whoever I talked to didn't note my file and I was unable to use it on my trip. Be sure you call them first with specific travel plans and then I would call back a couple days later to verify with another rep. Total bummer when you really need it not to be able to use it.

Bearin mind, Capital one cards do not have emv chips and are not available as such at the present time. It should not be a problem for the most part but you might run into isolated cases where the merchants don't want to accept it in violation of their agreements with either mc or visa.

Did you mean Andrews Federal Credit Union? That is the card we have.

In Copenhagen the Andrews card defaulted to a signature --something to do with the Danish banks and foreign cards --at least that is what we were told. We had no need to use it in an automated situation so I'm not sure if it would default to PIN at that time.

Yes, meant Andrews. As to the Chip/PIN vs Chip/Signature here is how they work. Andrews has the on-card programmed to use Chip/Signature as the default. This means that if Chip/Signature is an option at the merchant, the card reader will automatically spit out a receipt for signature. If the merchant does not have the Chip/Signature capability then the card reader will ask for your PIN. If you use that Andrews card in any kind of automatic machine (i.e. gas pumps, parking lots, train ticket vending machines, toll booths, etc) it will use the Pin mode.

So we ask Andrews for an explanation why they just do not use Pin as the default. We were told that it costs Andrews more money in transaction fees every time one of their cards uses a Pin. But the signature mode is handled by a different clearing house (Visa International) and costs Andrews less per transaction. So Andrews simply programmed the on-card Chip to use the least expensive (to Andrews) mode as the default.

Hank

Yes, meant Andrews. As to the Chip/PIN vs Chip/Signature here is how they work. Andrews has the on-card programmed to use Chip/Signature as the default. This means that if Chip/Signature is an option at the merchant, the card reader will automatically spit out a receipt for signature. If the merchant does not have the Chip/Signature capability then the card reader will ask for your PIN. If you use that Andrews card in any kind of automatic machine (i.e. gas pumps, parking lots, train ticket vending machines, toll booths, etc) it will use the Pin mode.

 

So we ask Andrews for an explanation why they just do not use Pin as the default. We were told that it costs Andrews more money in transaction fees every time one of their cards uses a Pin. But the signature mode is handled by a different clearing house (Visa International) and costs Andrews less per transaction. So Andrews simply programmed the on-card Chip to use the least expensive (to Andrews) mode as the default.

 

Hank

Great explanation. I find it very useful to use it as a vacation account and transfer $$$ into it for ATM use when overseas.

Does anyone know of a credit card that does not charge an exchange fee for US dollars to KR or DKK?

I think the Sears MasterCard advertises that it has no foreign exchange.

Yes, meant Andrews. As to the Chip/PIN vs Chip/Signature here is how they work. Andrews has the on-card programmed to use Chip/Signature as the default. This means that if Chip/Signature is an option at the merchant, the card reader will automatically spit out a receipt for signature. If the merchant does not have the Chip/Signature capability then the card reader will ask for your PIN. If you use that Andrews card in any kind of automatic machine (i.e. gas pumps, parking lots, train ticket vending machines, toll booths, etc) it will use the Pin mode.

 

So we ask Andrews for an explanation why they just do not use Pin as the default. We were told that it costs Andrews more money in transaction fees every time one of their cards uses a Pin. But the signature mode is handled by a different clearing house (Visa International) and costs Andrews less per transaction. So Andrews simply programmed the on-card Chip to use the least expensive (to Andrews) mode as the default.

 

Hank

Interesting. No reason to doubt what they told you but it's the first I've heard of the dual pricing structure. The other FCU's offering chip and pin cards generally operate the same way (except USAA which is a true chip and pin card).

As I said, apparently the US banks will be operating this way when they start converting to emv and, as I said earlier, chip and signature seems to be the preferred methodoly, so it is claimed by the banks, for Americans who tend to carry more credit and debit cards than other nationalities given the size of the payment processing industry in the USA. It is claimed Americans prefer signature verificaton to pin verification although that is changing somewhat because of the problems at Target and the California DMV.

The only problem in this is that a few merchants, emphasize a few, have refused to process the chip and signature transaction done at their pos terminals due to the mistaken belief their liability increases for transactions lacking a pin. The thing is if the pos terminal starts spitting out the receipt for signature and the merchant is one of those, there is nothing you can do to get the pos terminal to fall back on the pin. This is a small issue that still has to be resolved.

Ah ha. I should have realized it. The csr at Andrews was confusing using a debit card with using a credit card. In the USA, with many debit cards, customers are presented with the choice of indicating they wish the transaction to be processed through the debit card networtk such as NYCE or Cirrus or Star or whatever or through the credit card network which is pictured on the card (mastercard or visa). Merchants want you to press debit as the transaction costs them less; banks want you to choose credit as they make more money on those transactions. This has been part of many suits within the USA and as part of the settlement, some merchants such as Walmart do not allow transaction with debit cards to be processed as credit transaction and as such when you present a debit card, only allow a pin transactions.

Transactions with credit cards go through the same network whether it's a pin verificiaton or a signature verification whomever the merchant's processor is. So Andrew's decision to go with what I for lack of a better term call hybrid cards i.e. signature verification preferred over pin verification was not done due to costs.

It still comes down to which I think is the direction the USA is moving in its slow adoption of emv. The banks think Americans are not capable of memorizing several different pins for each of the credit cards they use and are really moving, despite Target, in the direction of having US emv cards use signature verification with chip and pin a back up in those situations where the pos (not the merchant) rejects signature verification such as unpersonneled kiosks in which case they will be able to perform a chip and pin transaction. The banks are also pushing the credit card networks to make chip and signature the primary verification method for emv transactions and visa and mc seem willing to play along.

Frankly, it shouldn't really matter. Emv cards are much much more difficult to clone and by switching to emv, the US should be able to get the cloning problem under better control. None of this really matters where the big bucks are being lost due to credit card fraud i.e fraud over on line purchases. Whether emv or magnetic strip, that presents other problems which they haven't solved yet.

I've had the Capital One card for a few years specifically for travel. The last time in Europe whoever I talked to didn't note my file and I was unable to use it on my trip. Be sure you call them first with specific travel plans and then I would call back a couple days later to verify with another rep. Total bummer when you really need it not to be able to use it.

Capital One has one of the better websites for travel notifications. Enter the info online yourself and you can be sure it will be correct.

We have Marriott Reward Visa. There is an annual fee but each year you receive a free night in a hotel. We just returned from Europe and had no issues. It has the chip and pin. We never had to use our pin when we purchased anything. There were no exchange fees and the exchange rate was comparable to the banks. Plus I get points to use at Marriott!

We have Marriott Reward Visa. There is an annual fee but each year you receive a free night in a hotel. We just returned from Europe and had no issues. It has the chip and pin. We never had to use our pin when we purchased anything. There were no exchange fees and the exchange rate was comparable to the banks. Plus I get points to use at Marriott!

Did you have to sign for your purchases?