Pounds to dollars

I’m trying to understand what you’re trying to say, but it’s not quite clear to me. What do you mean by “ I was comparing our sales slip with the credit card and of course all are higher.”
Assuming that by sales slip you mean the receipt that the restaurant staff or sales staff gave you, the amount should be in GB Pounds. Your credit card statement is in US dollars. How much in dollars you are charged for a purchase in pounds, depends on the exchange rate at the time of the transaction. So I’m not sure why you would feel you may have missed something?
Can you maybe give an example of a specific transaction?

You are exactly right,that's what I was looking at. I thought you were asked before your purchase if you wanted it to be pounds or dollars. We were asked once but every other transaction was automatic. I wasn't sure if there was something on the credit card machine that gave you a choice. I have jet lag so not sure I am explaining myself well!

We were never offered the choice of paying in pounds when using our card

You may have been victimized by Dynamic Currency Conversion. Often one is offered the credit card machine to choose whether to pay in one’s own currency or the local currency, if you choose to pay in dollars with DCC, it will be at your disadvantage. Always insist on paying in local currency, in this case GBP, as your bank will give a better rate than the DCC option. You should have been given the option. If the vendor chose dollars for you they took advantage of the situation.

I’m still not quite sure what you’re asking. The exchange rate of the GBP and the US dollar isn’t on par. Currently 1 pound costs around $1.15. This means that if you buy something that costs 5 pounds, it will cost you $ 5.75. You receipt/sales slip will say £ 5, but your credit card statement will say $5.75. Is that what you mean?

Much more clarity is needed before we can respond accurately. Was the final amount on the sales receipt different than the credit card receipt? Or are you comparing the sales receipt to the amount listed on your credit card statement? Need to understand what is being compared ----- comparing our sales slip with the credit card

There is nothing to toggle on a hand held credit card machine. It should be always presented in pounds. You will never be offered the option to pay in pounds. It is the reverse. Option to pay in dollars. And it is not that common on routine credit card usage. We have only been offered when dealing with larger purchase of art or clothing but never a routine purchase in a bar or restaurant.

On the credit card monthly statement you should see the original amount, the exchange rate, and the final total price in dollars. The exchange rate listed should be within one percent of the Interbank exchange rate for that day and hour since the exchange will change during the day. And since the pound is worth more than the dollar the final dollar figure will always be higher.

Yes, I was comparing the Sales slip for a purchase to what appeared on my credit card monthy statement. Thanks for the information.

Our credit card statements show both the original price in £££ followed by the converted price in $$$, which is the actual amount charged to the card. If your statement only shows the charged amount in $$$, maybe it works differently, but I would not like that important detail to be omitted. Or maybe it was originally charged in $$$ via dynamic currency conversion, which is not supposed to occur without your permission.

You would know if that actually happened if the amount in $$$ on the statement it significantly higher than what it should be under the official conversion rate of ££ to $$$. Yes, there are daily fluctuations in the rate, but they are very slight. and it is possible to get graphs looking back and showing the conversion rate throughout a given month.

Can you give a specific example of the amount in £ on the receipt and the amount in $$ on your statement for the same transaction? That should make it pretty clear whether DCC occurred.

The Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) problem isn’t universally present with all vendors. We’ve seldom been offered the “opportunity” to have our transaction rung up in dollars, rather than the local pounds, Euros, whatever, but when the choice is offered, we always pick the local, to avoid getting charged an additional “convenience fee” of having the restaurant or the shop’s bank do the exchange rate calculation for us.

If they don’t offer us pounds versus dollars, then they’re automatically ringing up the sale in pounds, no question. We let our bank do the exchange rate calculations, and we see the result on our credit card statement.

Since a pound is worth more than a dollar at the moment, a transaction for £10 will display on your monthly credit card statement as more than $10, but probably only due to the exchange rate, not because of any additional sleight of hand on the part of the merchant, your or their bank, or any rookie mistake on your part.

We’re coming home from Italy in a few days. Because the value of the Euro is now at, or just below that of the dollar, I expect to see the numbers on our credit card statements to be a bit lower than what the Euro amount was on the original receipt. Not because we pulled a fast one, but because that’s the current exchange rate. Our cards are also no foreign transaction fee, and there was just one time we were offered to choose Euros or dollars, and we did Euros - never dollars in Europe!

“ Yes, I was comparing the Sales slip for a purchase to what appeared on my credit card monthy statement. ”

And? What did it say on the sales slip? What amount? And what amount do you see on your credit card statement?

One charge was GBP 37.50 but on my credit card statement it was $44.10

And I do remember RS saying to pay in country's currency. We were asked one time then I forgot to ask! No one ever mentioned it again. I'm just glad the rate is what it is now compared to 15 years ago!

That's $1.18 per pound, which seems in the ballpark but probably a little high. What date was the purchase posted? I think the credit-card conversion rate is usually about 1% higher than the interbank rate. The interbank rate is what we see on the internet.

Here's a chart showing the movement of the pound-to-dollar conversion rate over the last month: https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=GBP&to=USD&view=1M

It's possible you don't have a no-foreign-transaction-fee credit card.

One charge was GBP 37.50 but on my credit card statement it was $44.10

You made a purchase in pounds, put it on your credit card, and your CC issuer coverted it to dollars so you can pay it. The only way to pay the bill in pounds is to have a British bank account.

You are told to purchase in the local currency because the exchange rate your credit card company offers is better than the conversion rate offered by the merchant's bank.

If you are not offered a choice at purchase it means the sale is automatically in the local currency.

Your Credit card statement will always reduce the charge to Dollars, independent of what you actually pay in. Whether your statement indicates the original charge in whatever currency, is up to the statement formatting of the institution you deal with.

As long as they told you the amount due is 20 GBP, you paid, and received a receipt for 20 GBP, you are good. What your statement shows is what the end result is after the credit card network converts to Dollars, then your bank or credit card issuer may or may not add on fees.

Thanks all! I feel better I didn't screw up! I have a no foreign transaction fee card. My CC statement only shows $$. My husband saved all of our charge slips so ,again,I'm glad the rate is what it is!

Still think it should be reflected on your credit card statement. All of our cards (3) run through Chase Bank and always shows the original amount charged in the foreign currency and the exchange and, of course, the final amount in dollars. This information is always in a very small type directly under ID line for the charge. Or at least that was the way it was done two years ago.

I am sure you are OK and you did not have any unusual charges. As posted by Cyn we seldom see the dynamic conversion for routine transactions so I serious doubt if you were hit with any dynamic conversion. Have seen it couple times recently at ATMs. Dynamic conversion and pick pockets get a lot of discussion here but it is a minor happening.