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(Last
Updated December 12, 2007)
Survey
Finds Wide Variance in International Credit Card Transaction
Fees
With business travel having become increasingly global in nature,
and with the summer travel season approaching, IndexCreditCards.com
researched the major U.S. credit card issuers to discover the
extra fees cardholders can expect when using their cards overseas.
Almost every credit card charges some sort of international
transaction fee on purchases overseas. Visa and MasterCard charge
a 1% processing fee on international transactions, and most
card-issuing banks add their own fees on top of that. These
fees, known as international transaction fees or foreign transaction
fees, are generally a percentage of your overall purchase price
(in U.S. dollars after the foreign currency exchange; for example,
if a purchase costing 100 Euro in France converts to $135 in
U.S. currency, the international transaction fee is a percentage
of the $135).
How
do the major credit card issuers stack up? Below are the international
transaction fees from each issuer (for banks that issue Visa
or MasterCard branded cards, these numbers include the Visa
or MasterCard fees):
- Capital
One: 0% transaction fee. (Capital One not only doesn't impose
its own fee, but it also eats the 1% fee that Visa or MasterCard
impose.)
- Discover:
0% transaction fee (Note, however that Discover is accepted
on a limited basis outside of North America.)
- Washington
Mutual/Providian: 1% transaction fee
- American
Express: 2%
- Pulaski
Bank: 2%
- Barclays/Juniper
Bank: 2%-3%, depending on card
- Bank
of America: 3%
- Chase:
3%
- Citibank:
3%
- GE Money
3%
- HSBC:
1-3% depending on card
- U.S.
Bancorp (U.S. Bank): 3%
- Wells
Fargo: 3%
While some
smaller card issuers may offer more favorable foreign transaction
fees, this survey attempts to track the credit cards most commonly
used by U.S. consumers.
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