Watch out for Credit Card fees when travelling to Canada

On Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:05:19 -0700 (PDT), PeterL
wrote:

On Jul 27, 10:43*am, "Bill B" wrote:
I convert to Canadian currency at my local bank, there has not been a fee.
They will only convert *paper*, *no coin.

But what was the conversion rate?

Or more specifcally, were there two rates, one for buy and one
for sell? If so, the "true" rate is, to first order, the average
of the two rates.

I remember about ten years ago checking the American Express
office near my workplace and finding that on dollar-pound
conversions they were charging a spread of about 14%, meaning you
were getting screwed out of 7% if you exchanged either way.

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

In article ,
Hatunen wrote:

Or more specifcally, were there two rates, one for buy and one
for sell? If so, the "true" rate is, to first order, the average
of the two rates.

Correct you've got it. After all they have to make money on the
exchange.

In Vancouver BC the best rates I've found is at a money exchange place
downtown, but it's only worthwhile going down there for a large amount.
My travel approach is some cash for small purchases, credit card for
most of my purchases, but I don't use the credit card at smaller
businesses for security reasons.

Jochen Kriegerowski wrote:
Probably not: You get a different exchange rate when you buy cash at the
bank.
Buying 100 CAD will cost you more USD than buying an item worth 100 CAD
with your credit card.

I'm sure that's true when you compare some card issuers with some
exchange desks. But to make a blanket statement that claims that is
always the case is just plain wrong.

--
K.

Lang may your lum reek.

"Rtavi" wrote in message
...

We just got back from a 2 month trip to East Coast and Canada.--
Beautiful and loved it despite $1.59/Liter for diesel!
I have always been told to use a credit card when out of the US since you
get the benefit of paying in Canada Dollars which are running at about
$.95 US then the credit card company converts your charge to $US. As far
as this goes, it is true and I saved about $25 when the transactions were
posted. What I was not aware of was that CITI card charges a "Foreign
Transaction Fee" on every purchase. This totaled up to a charge of over
$100 US. It's my fault for not reading all the fine print but this didn't
happen 7 years ago when I was using an ATT card in Canada. I just wanted
to let you guys to be aware of this. I should have done what I did with
some of my cash on hand which was to go to a Royal Bank of Canada and have
them change $100 US to Canadian for a $3 fee so that I would have pocket
money.(btw Canadian money is pretty) that would have been cheaper .


No, what you should have done is gotten a credit card that doesn't
charge a foreign transaction fee. Most of them, but not all, now do.

Like you I mostly use a Citi card for domestic use, but I have a
Capitol One card that I use when travelling internationally. They
don't charge such a fee.

--
Ken Blake
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Tom J wrote:

I don't think you can get a credit card from anyone anymore that
doesn't charge a fee for Foreign exchange.

I'm told that Capital One does not assess this fee, but I have no direct
knowledge.

I always use a debit card affiliated with a checking account whilst
traveling in other countries. That is the *only* time I use a debit
card, there being no transaction safeguards on them. I also use an
account separate from my usual one so that if I do get stung, the
thieves won't have access to the vast majority of my money.

This fee, which is simply a "junk" fee providing no service, can also be
avoided by taking travelers cheques, whose commission is generally much
less than the credit card junk fees. And, if one is a member of AAA, he
can probably get those cheques for no charge at all. More's the better!

Ken H

In article ,
Ken Harrison wrote:

Tom J wrote:

I don't think you can get a credit card from anyone anymore that
doesn't charge a fee for Foreign exchange.

I'm told that Capital One does not assess this fee, but I have no direct
knowledge.

I do, they don't

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This posting address is a spam-trap and seldom read
RV and Camping FAQ can be found at
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"Ken Harrison" wrote:
I always use a debit card affiliated with a checking account whilst
traveling in other countries. That is the *only* time I use a debit card,
there being no transaction safeguards on them. I also use an account
separate from my usual one so that if I do get stung, the thieves won't
have access to the vast majority of my money.

Even for everyday use, I keep debit-ATM money in an account
that separate from my other accounts, and transfer $$ into it only
as I forseeably may need, month-to-month.

On Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:05:42 -0700, Ken Harrison
wrote:

This fee, which is simply a "junk" fee providing no service, can also be
avoided by taking travelers cheques, whose commission is generally much
less than the credit card junk fees. And, if one is a member of AAA, he
can probably get those cheques for no charge at all. More's the better!

During our travels for the past twenty years in Europe, we've had great
difficulty finding businesses other than hotels which will take traveler's
checks. We find them pretty useless, unless they're AmEx and you're going to be
staying near an AmEx location.

-- Larry

In article ,
pltrgyst wrote:
On Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:05:42 -0700, Ken Harrison
wrote:

This fee, which is simply a "junk" fee providing no service, can also be
avoided by taking travelers cheques, whose commission is generally much
less than the credit card junk fees. And, if one is a member of AAA, he
can probably get those cheques for no charge at all. More's the better!

During our travels for the past twenty years in Europe, we've had great
difficulty finding businesses other than hotels which will take traveler's
checks. We find them pretty useless, unless they're AmEx and you're going to be
staying near an AmEx location.

Depends _who's_ cheques they are.

Barclays of London meet a lot less resistance than those of domestic U.S.
issuers.

On 8/10/08 2:07 PM, in article
xcommunications, "Robert Bonomi"
wrote:

In article ,
pltrgyst wrote:
On Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:05:42 -0700, Ken Harrison
wrote:

This fee, which is simply a "junk" fee providing no service, can also be
avoided by taking travelers cheques, whose commission is generally much
less than the credit card junk fees. And, if one is a member of AAA, he
can probably get those cheques for no charge at all. More's the better!

During our travels for the past twenty years in Europe, we've had great
difficulty finding businesses other than hotels which will take traveler's
checks. We find them pretty useless, unless they're AmEx and you're going to
be
staying near an AmEx location.

Depends _who's_ cheques they are.

Barclays of London meet a lot less resistance than those of domestic U.S.
issuers.


A number of years ago, I took Bank of America Travelers Cheques to a Bank of
America in San Francisco. They didn't want to take them and when I persisted
they charged me a fee. Can't remember what it was---a couple of bucks I
think.

--
Martha Canada