Travelling to another country? If so, then you definitely don’t want to pay foreign transaction fees every time you use your credit card when you’re out of the USA!
If you aren’t aware of the additional cost, these foreign transaction fees can stack up quickly. The typical foreign transaction fee is typically around 3% of each transaction in U.S. dollars. This foreign transaction fee might consist of a 1% fee charged by the payment processor, such as MasterCard or Visa, plus another 2% fee charged by the card issuer, such as Wells Fargo or Chase. Even Canadian credit cards charge a 2.5% foreign transaction fee for purchases made in currencies other than CAD to cover processing costs and other related expenses. This is sometimes referred to as a foreign exchange or “FX fee” .
To avoid foreign transaction fees, be sure to exchange any currency before you travel so you can pay with local currency, find a credit card that doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee, or open a bank account that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees. Since most of us travel with credit cards, finding a credit card that doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee is a necessity.