Anyone got a solution for avoiding this fee?
It used to be everytime I was overseas my Suncorp-Metway VISA card would take out local currency at an ATM free of charge and at a favourable conversion rate.
Now everytime I use my VISA and also when withdrawing from ATM’s O/S I get slugged with a ‘conversion fee’. It’s around 2% as well.
Anyone have a solution?
“Write the wrongs that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on marble.” Arab proverb
Hi, we will be heading to the US early next year and I saw in the Money magazine an add for a no cost Wizard Clear Advantage Mastercard.
# No annual fee. Ever.
# 0% interest for six months on transferred balances.*
# No fees for ATM withdrawals, cash advances or overseas purchases.
# A low 12.4% rate on purchases AND cash (unlike some other low rate credit cards).â€
# Up to 55 days interest free.‡I have applied for one. Go to the Wizard website and it will spell everything out (sorry, don’t know how to paste the link here). Apply on the net and get your answer in minutes (although our financial position is a bit more complicated and we have to wait for an answer).
Good luck, Wylie.
Hi waysolid
if your heading to the same country everytime why not set up an account in that country (if you can)
I’ve been to the US 4 times in the past 12 months an i set up a US account. I then transfer money once to this account and use the Debit card. Oh and i use Ozforex to tranfer the money OS its free for amounts over $10,000.
regards westan
Properties in the USA 15-25% returns- email to join our database [email protected]
sorry guys, this fee is part of a change in how visa and mastercad iternational now list these fees on your credit card, no avoidance possible no matter which of these cards you use is issued in australia. it was always tied up in your total transaction cost but now they must list it seperately on the card statement. I have a lot of dealings in NZ and have a credit card there which I use on my visits.
cash or travellers cheques are the other answer, but why would you use them? at least if you use your credit card you can initiate a chargeback if you have a valid reason.
like I said you have always paid the fee previously, it just wasn’t listed seperately on the credit card statement, so it hasnt really changed much.
Dohicky
A slight update to this post.
I have found out that there is a standard 2% charge on all foreign currency transactions with my Suncorp Metway VISA card.
Interestingly I got a mysterious ‘foreign currency refund fee’ for all my transactions recently, and it was quite a decent amount as well.
No idea why, but I won’t be phoning to enquire.
“Write the wrongs that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on marble.” Arab proverb
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