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Card Costs on Overseas Vacations

post #1 of 16
8/14/09 at 10:27am
Thread Starter 
Four years ago I travelled around parts of Europe, and it was costing me A$5 each time I went to an ATM to take money out.

Two years ago I travelled around other parts of Europe, and it was costing between 1 and 1.5% to take cash out from ATMs when using cards that access savings accounts (Cirrus and Maestro), and between 2.5 - 3% for credit cards (Visa and Mastercard).

I'm going overseas in a week and a half to travel to Madrid, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Hong Kong. I've just discovered that to get cash from an ATM it's going to cost me around A$5 per transaction plus 3% when I use a card that accesses savings, and A$5 plus 5% for credit cards.

And I just noticed that the fee for buying anything overseas (directly or by internet) using a credit card, has just risen from 1% to 3%.

I'm curious - is this form of price gouging on card fees happening in your country, or is it just greedy Australian banks who are getting away with it?

Renato
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post #2 of 16
8/14/09 at 3:41pm
That happens in the US, it's basically a fee on the currency conversion. For the most part, I have just learned to take enough cash to cover most expenses to avoid that as much as possible. I usually only charge things that will be reimbursed to me for business purposes, anything else I just use cash. It is kind of a pain to travel and have to have money strapped to you, but it's usually pretty easy to exchange money and less chance for identity theft.

Once my best friend and I went to the Yucatan, she was staying in Mexico for 6 weeks so used her cc a lot and at some point in the part of the trip we were together, they stole her cc number and used it to charge up a lot of things. I only used my card for a tour we did and didn't have that issue. I sit on a creidut union supervisory committee so we hear a lot about fraud, identity theft and such, so I don't even have a debit card and rarely use my cc. lol
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post #3 of 16
8/14/09 at 5:28pm
My credit card charges fees for international usage, also. I don't know about the Debit transactions or cash machines, though.
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post #4 of 16
8/14/09 at 5:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jacona View Post

That happens in the US, it's basically a fee on the currency conversion.

Thanks for that.

Yes, that's what they call it own here - but it's a nonsense fee. Four years ago when they didn't have that fee, the banks still made lots of money on their buy/sell rate e.g if I was buying something from the US and it was US$0.80 = AUD$1, their conversion rate was always at something worse like US$0.785 = AUD$1 - and they still do that. And now they add 3 to 5% as a fee for applying nasty conversion rate.

The dumb thing is that if I just wanted to send money overseas with an overseas draft the bank just applies their conversion rate plus an A$35 fee. So sending say A$50,000 overseas cost me A$35. But if I take A$1000 from an ATM overseas at 3% plus A$5, that now costs me A$35.

I find taking lots of cash money overseas problematic - when it was inexpensive like four years ago, it was much easier to protect a debit/cash card than it was/is toprotect large amounts of cash.
Renato
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post #5 of 16
8/14/09 at 5:51pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Asha View Post

My credit card charges fees for international usage, also. I don't know about the Debit transactions or cash machines, though.

Have you any idea of the rate they are charging the fees? Are they gougers like mine?
Renato
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post #6 of 16
8/14/09 at 9:48pm
Renato,

Strongly suggest you investigate the Wizard Clear Advantage MasterCard. Put money into that account before you go, and you should have no problems. GE Money have more or less left Australia, but I understand this card is still the way to go.

http://www.wizardclearadvantage.com.au/index.html


Or, try NAB Gold Banking - you might want to open this just for your travel period. Put $5k in the account to avoid the fee.

http://www.nab.com.au/wps/wcm/connec..._finance/5/1/3

Whichever, you better be quick! Enjoy your trip.

(All care shown, no responsibility taken).
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post #7 of 16
8/15/09 at 11:44pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr_Rudi View Post

Renato,

Strongly suggest you investigate the Wizard Clear Advantage MasterCard. Put money into that account before you go, and you should have no problems. GE Money have more or less left Australia, but I understand this card is still the way to go.

http://www.wizardclearadvantage.com.au/index.html


Or, try NAB Gold Banking - you might want to open this just for your travel period. Put $5k in the account to avoid the fee.

http://www.nab.com.au/wps/wcm/connec..._finance/5/1/3

Whichever, you better be quick! Enjoy your trip.

(All care shown, no responsibility taken).

Thanks very much for that, but I've run out of time, as it's only a week and a day before departure time.

In the end, I bit the bullet and bought one of those Visa pre paid travel cards from ANZ and filled it with Euros - which had a better exchange rate than the Travelex ones that one sees around the place.

Renato
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post #8 of 16
8/16/09 at 8:28am
Those Visa pre paid cards are a very very good idea - I was also advised to get one for travelling abroad. It's safer than travellers' checks and using your own personal credit card.
Those card charges for ATM withdrawal and overseas card usage is criminal in my eyes- just another way to get more money !
I usually withdraw maximum amounts of money per day before I travel to cut down on credit card use and ATM withdrawal abroad.
I also know of people who have had their cards eaten up by ATMs abroad- and that is my nightmare too .

Plus when you pay in cash - you tend to be less extravagant on purchases- it hurts to say goodbye to hard cash !
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post #9 of 16
8/16/09 at 9:47am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticknot View Post

Those Visa pre paid cards are a very very good idea - I was also advised to get one for travelling abroad. It's safer than travellers' checks and using your own personal credit card.
Those card charges for ATM withdrawal and overseas card usage is criminal in my eyes- just another way to get more money !
I usually withdraw maximum amounts of money per day before I travel to cut down on credit card use and ATM withdrawal abroad.
I also know of people who have had their cards eaten up by ATMs abroad- and that is my nightmare too .

Plus when you pay in cash - you tend to be less extravagant on purchases- it hurts to say goodbye to hard cash !

Thanks. I'll find out soon enough if they're a good idea.

Down here the exchange conversion rates on the Visa prepaid from the banks is better than that on Traveller's Cheques (which I've never used). But when I first looked at those cards two years back, when they were mainly being offered by travel agents under the Travelex brand - the exchange rate was criminal - one was much better off just using standard credit and ATM cards.

I'm like you - I much prefer cash for purchases for the sense of reality it invokes.

And what I really hate in the world is how all these cards have "empowered" people who feel worthless - it makes their day buying a packet of chewing gum and potato chips - and holding up the supermarket queue by paying the $3.80, or whatever, with their card.
Renato
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post #10 of 16
8/16/09 at 10:18am
Renato - yes- it's a non cash world these days !
Be really aware of your credit ATM card being eaten up by foreign cash machines particularly if you are travelling in S E Asia ( I notice you are in Australia ) ! I have seen it with my own eyes twice - two women - separate occasions - crying by the ATM in Malaysia and Thailand because the local ATM has refused to return their cards. I don't think the ATMs are well serviced and maintained there. Made me paranoid !
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post #11 of 16
8/17/09 at 9:53am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticknot View Post

Renato - yes- it's a non cash world these days !
Be really aware of your credit ATM card being eaten up by foreign cash machines particularly if you are travelling in S E Asia ( I notice you are in Australia ) ! I have seen it with my own eyes twice - two women - separate occasions - crying by the ATM in Malaysia and Thailand because the local ATM has refused to return their cards. I don't think the ATMs are well serviced and maintained there. Made me paranoid !

I can understand why you'd have gotten paranoid - you're making me paranoid - with good reason!

I've never had any problem with the ATM machines in Europe, other than their not accepting my card and returning it.

I could never fathom it - in the local village in Italy, the closest ATM wouldn't take any of my cards. In the bigger town next door, every machine I tried took all of my cards. In Milan, I went through four machines that rejecting my cards till the fifth one gave me the money.

My brother has gone to Hong Kong on quite a few occasions, and never had a problem with their ATMs
Renato
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post #12 of 16
8/17/09 at 10:17am
I work at a bank (name witheld) and although my job responsibilities generally don't have me working in this field, there is a 3% charge for all international purchases.
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post #13 of 16
8/17/09 at 4:51pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mtgprox05 View Post

I work at a bank (name witheld) and although my job responsibilities generally don't have me working in this field, there is a 3% charge for all international purchases.

Thanks - that's fascinating because, as I mentioned above, banks used to be happy in the past making their money just on the buy/sell differential of the exchange rate, plus a small fee on top of that.

It occurs to me that if this trend of price gouging on international purchases I've observed in Australia is becoming common among other banks around the world, they'll wind up shooting themselves in the foot.

There is a really big competitor sitting on the sidelines who I used to think was expensive, but who now looks like reasonably good value by comparison. I wonder how long it'll be before PayPal becomes the dominant force in international transactions?
Renato
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post #14 of 16
8/17/09 at 5:11pm
Well I think Paypal is getting there- it's so easy to transfer money without fees ,as a gift .My husband and I were having this exact conversation the other day re. Paypal. It's a force to be reckoned with .
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post #15 of 16
8/17/09 at 8:09pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticknot View Post

Well I think Paypal is getting there- it's so easy to transfer money without fees ,as a gift .My husband and I were having this exact conversation the other day re. Paypal. It's a force to be reckoned with .

Funny how you, I and your husband think this, while the banks apparently don't - and instead are acting in a manner which only makes PayPal more attractive.

Seems to me the banks' mad scramble to charge everyone fees in order to repair their balance sheets, will ultimately cost them dearly.
Renato
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post #16 of 16
8/17/09 at 9:10pm
Well you know many banks here in the US are falling apart ! *LOL* Bank charges are just rip offs to me. I will only use Paypal when I can !
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