#121 ·
John Thomas2 said:I used my Visa at Zappos while I was in the States without any issues, unknown
I was naive enough to convert a massive chunk of change from my local savings into USD before the trip, just so I wouldn't have to carry a fat wad of cash. I figured since I had a dollar account, every transaction would just pull directly from the USD balance. So, I pay for the hotel twice—everything seems fine—then I head over to a Chase Bank ATM to grab some cash. Bless them, they actually show you your balance on the screen. Well, I'm not exactly thrilled when I see I'm missing about $80 compared to what I calculated. I log into my online banking and find out my bank is converting my USD into EUR first, then charging me some insane exchange rate. I basically flushed $80 down the toilet on just two transactions. After that, I decided to stick with my old reliable Maestro card; it’s accepted everywhere and ended up being way cheaper. Honestly, if they were just pulling from my local account at a slightly higher rate (like +0.15), I could live with that—it's a tiny cost compared to this nightmare. 😠 Oh, and the ATM fee? $8.25 It's a whopping $100. Just a heads-up for anyone planning to spend anything other than USD from their foreign currency account. 🙄
I have used my Maestro card from USA in Austria, Canada, Canada, Slovakia... and even in Ukraine.
It always turns out to be the more economical option if you use an ATM belonging to your primary bank.
In most instances, they calculated the exchange based on the mid-market rate, though they still charge a commission of $8.75 per transaction, regardless of whether you are withdrawing $10 or $300.
Of course, you have to keep an eye on your daily limit, which is slightly higher than $300.
A few years ago, I was quite taken aback when I tried to settle a bill at a hotel in Budapest using my Maestro and realized I had already hit my daily limit, yet the receptionist didn't seem bothered at all.
He simply took my card, swiped it through that machine where they usually process American cards, and asked me to sign a check. When I checked my next bank statement, I saw the amount had been processed perfectly, even though I never entered a PIN.
So now I have a question. Since I cancelled my American card several years ago, I find myself needing a card that allows me to purchase goods from China via Alibaba; specifically, I need a card capable of handling payments exceeding $1,000.
When I visited my local USA branch, they weren't able to tell me which specific card would suit those types of transactions.
To them, the standard procedure is for me to bring in an invoice so they can execute the payment on my behalf,
but in that scenario, they sell me the dollars at the bank's retail exchange rate, which is significantly higher than what you would get at a currency exchange office, and they tack on their service fee via $33 per transaction.
