We are leaving for Italy in a month and wanted to use Capital One Visa and/or Mastercard while there. They told me they are the only Cr Card Company who does NOT charge a "foreign transaction fee" and the conversion is the actual euro rate (what like we see on CNBC each day?) Anyone have any experience with this who can tell me what their charges were? Thanks!
Posted by
Seattle, WA
1317 posts
I used a Capital One credit card to make several large purchases. No fees, just as promised. I don't recall the exchange rate exactly but it was pretty close if not spot on.
I also used a WaMu debit card with the Mastercard logo. The WaMu teller told me that the 1.5% charge was due to Mastercard and not them, though I'm not entirely sure I trust that. Either way, the fees were pretty small and the exchange rate seemed to closely match the actual published rate.
Posted by
OP
Venice
3 posts
I was a bit nervous using Capital because of the some bad press they had been getting and I think it is the state of Virginia who is suing them over bad fees/charges etc. I myself have never, thank God, had any problems using them for domestic charges. So I will bring both Cap One cards for my trip and am going to try and get my ATM set back up (pin numbers etc.) for use there as well.
Thanks for sharing your information with me! Denise
Posted by
Greenville, USA
192 posts
I used a mastercard for the hotel because I didn't find out about the capital one card soon enough to order before i left on vacation. Anyway, i was charged a 3% transaction fee but the exchange rates I was charged were good. I used the mastercard only for large purchases such as a hotel and cash for everything else and my fees ended up being about $20. I wasn't too upset about that.