By Laura Bly, USA TODAY
Many American travelers using credit cards are discovering that their overseas jaunts are getting more expensive. The culprits: higher card fees combined with changes in the ways purchases made in a foreign currency are converted to dollars.
Starting this month, Visa replaced its 1% charge for changing foreign currencies into dollars with a 1% “transaction fee” that applies to all purchases in another country, regardless of whether the sale is completed in dollars or in a local currency. MasterCard charges 1% for foreign currency transactions and nothing if the international purchase is made in dollars, but it has announced a similar fee change effective Oct. 1.
For this complete story, please visit New Credit Card Fees Take a Further Swipe at Dollar.
