See how international transaction fees vary between issuers…
With business travel becoming increasingly global in nature, and with the summer travel season soon approaching, IndexCreditCards.com researched the major US credit card issuers to compare fees cardholders can expect to pay when using their cards overseas.
Almost every credit card charges some sort of fee for purchases made outside the US. Visa and MasterCard charge a 1% fee on international transactions, and most card-issuing banks add their own fees on top of that. These fees, known as ‘international transaction fees’ or ‘foreign transaction fees’, are generally a percentage of your overall purchase price (in U.S. dollars after the foreign currency exchange; for example, if a purchase costing 100 Euro in France converts to $120 in U.S. currency, the international transaction fee is a percentage of the $120). How do the major credit card issuers compare?
Below are the international transaction fees from each issuer:
* Capital One: 0% (Capital One not only doesn’t impose its own fee, but it also eats the 1% fee that Visa or MasterCard impose.)
* Washington Mutual/Providian: 1%
* American Express: 2%
* Barclays/Juniper Bank: 2%
* Bank of America: 3%
* Chase: 3%
* Citibank: 3%
* HSBC: 1-3% depending on card
* U.S. Bancorp (U.S. Bank): 3%
* Wells Fargo: 3%
While Discover offers a popular credit card in the United States, it is still rarely accepted outside of the United States and thus is not included in the above list. While some smaller card issuers may offer more favorable foreign transaction fees, this survey attempts to track the credit cards most commonly used by U.S. consumers.