2% fee for credit cards in Ireland - is this always the case?

Never, never use a credit card to obtain cash. This is considered a cash advance and starts accruing interest charges immediately. Capital One is the only credit card I know of that charges no additional fee for foreign transactions. The best way to obtain cash, though, is with an ATM debit card attached to a checking account. You would have to contact Paypal to find out what their policy is.

Do a little searching first and you would find dozens of responses to your question. ALL fees, repeat, ALL FEEs are determined by the card issuer. Call them and ask !! Not deteremined by the country or anyone else. There is a network fee of about 1% this buried in the exchange rate from Plus or Cirrus depending on which network your card uses. After you could get a zero charge which is true with certain Capitol credit cards and the fee could be as high as 3% with other credit cards. The same applies to debit cards and any cash that you obtain.

It also good to request that your credit card charge be rung in local currency (pounds/euros), Esp in large cities. Some retailers will ring charge up in dollars( it will be converted at more than the going rate) and you might be charged a fee by the credit card company on top of that.

Tom

Hi all thanks for your responses. I do not think
I was clearr, so I will re-word it. Was anyone charged the 2% fee on paypal for a transaction paid in advance to a business in Ireland from your checking acct BEFORE leaving for Ireland?

For credit cards, I do realize they charge a fee.

thanks

As I said before, contact Paypal and ask what their policy is. The conversion fee is not up to the business, it is up to the financial entity (in this case Paypal).

Our "confusion" stems, in part, from this question:

"If I use my credit card I will be always charged this fee unless I take out a large amt and get cash?"

....Was anyone charged the 2% fee on paypal for a transaction....
......paid with funds directly from my checking there is no 2% fee......

I still think it is confusing. Have no idea what the question is. Which is it??? fee or no fee. Need a little clarity.

Remember, it is also VERY important to know the exchange rate used. Debit and credit cards are prohibited from burying fees in the exchange rate -- a frequent practice years ago. Other financial institutions are not required to identify fees. So paypal (or anyone else) COULD say that they do not charge a fee but have a higher exchange rate that included the fee and more.