Frank
tapeworms of the credit card world
With a 2.75% charge applied to non-Sterling purchases, VISA doesn't seem satisfied with the fact that it creates money out of thin air and charges the ordinary people on that manufactured money. Try buying anything outside the UK with your VISA card and you can add almost 3% to the purchase price. If you thought the fun stops there, understand that VISA also gives you a lower exchange rate on the purchase price than the actual daily currency exchange rate. Today, for example, the GBP to EUR exchange rate is 1.13 euros to the pound. Yet VISA only gives you 1.09 euros to the pound. Adding all this up. If you purchased a 1000 euro item online in Germany today using your VISA card, you can expect to pay 1027.50 euros for it. When paying your credit card bill in pounds you'll be paying £942.66 for an item that is worth £884.95. Or £57.71 more than the purchase price. That's a price increase - or 'charge' - of 5.77% just for the honour of using their plastic. *****Thankfully, there are credit card companies that DON'T charge you non-Sterling transaction fees. With these, you can buy items and services in euros, adding 0% to the purchase price. You can find these by searching the phrase 'moneysavingexpert Travel Money Card Credit Eligibility Calculator'. This will give you a comparison between card providers who charge 0% and your likelihood of having the card application approved. There are also bank transfer companies that give you better rates than your own bank. Try moneytransfercomparison dot com.