VS exchange rates

I've just booked an ex-US ticket priced at $2,200 (at the current exchange rate, this is about £1,450)

I wanted to pay for it on a UK credit card, so I asked them to price it for me in £.

Answer from VS: £1,718.

Me: "I think you're using the wrong rate."

VS: "I'm afraid we have to use the exchange rate in our IT system."

ME: "I'll pay for it in $."

You should never let the merchant convert the currency for you, your card issuer will always give you a better rate. Whenever I get asked if I want to pay in sterling, wherever I am, I always opt for local currency.

I do to, Bretty, I was just amazed by the mark-up!

Another + for "always pay in the local currency" - especially if you have one of the credit cards that does not charge foreign transaction fees.

I had a particularly arsey member of staff at MCO Duty Free last year who put my transaction through in Sterling "as you are from the UK - it's the best rate". She was far from happy when she had to call a supervisor over when I insisted on a refund & to pay in US$.

These dynamic exchange rates that the card machines offer when they detect a foreign card are always a rip-off. Avoid them like the plague.

Having worked in the industry I agree, if you're offered an exchange rate at the terminal or cash point and you can decline it, do so. I you certainly recommended getting any one of the multitude of FX cards that are available these days.

That being sure they are charging in local currency is a good thing to watch out for, thanks for posting.

One that 'really grinds my gears' is when a hotel wants to charge a 'deposit' on my cc against possible room charges and then actually does the transfer - instead of just a pre-authorisation some do charge the deposit as you arrive then refund it as you leave or a day or two or twelve later. All sounds fine until you see they have charged it in local currency and refunded it likewise but at differing exchange rates (never to your advantage unsurprisingly) or with an added 'bonus' of a foreign currency transaction fee being charged to your card

I started being more careful on which cc I offer to avoid the foreign currency transaction fee and other tips like those in a USA Today article 'How to Get a Hotel Deposit Waived' to avoid the whole problem (but even with those tips some still insist on doing it just in case you are an aged rock star and you throw the TV out of the window into the swimming pool).

I had a particularly arsey member of staff at MCO Duty Free last year who put my transaction through in Sterling "as you are from the UK - it's the best rate". She was far from happy when she had to call a supervisor over when I insisted on a refund & to pay in US$.

Ooh hardcore!
Well done though.

That being sure they are charging in local currency is a good thing to watch out for, thanks for posting.

One that 'really grinds my gears' is when a hotel wants to charge a 'deposit' on my cc against possible room charges and then actually does the transfer - instead of just a pre-authorisation some do charge the deposit as you arrive then refund it as you leave or a day or two or twelve later. All sounds fine until you see they have charged it in local currency and refunded it likewise but at differing exchange rates (never to your advantage unsurprisingly) or with an added 'bonus' of a foreign currency transaction fee being charged to your card

I started being more careful on which cc I offer to avoid the foreign currency transaction fee and other tips like those in a USA Today article 'How to Get a Hotel Deposit Waived' to avoid the whole problem (but even with those tips some still insist on doing it just in case you are an aged rock star and you throw the TV out of the window into the swimming pool).

I've not had the money taken from my card with a hotel pre-auth, and I'd be livid if they did. It's supposed to just be just that, and should be for a small amount, but you have to watch some places as they'll pre-authorise several hundred £ or $, which can create problems when you're out and about as even though the money hasn't actually been charged, it's taken off your credit limit.

I also had an experience with a pre-pay card we used for some years - great for transactions in any currency with no extra FX fees. This goes back to my previous point a little too. I gave the card for a pre-auth once in Toronto, and the bleedin receptionist pre-authorised $700!! Well on a pre-pay card that you load with funds from your bank it rendered the funds inaccessible and I had to transfer more money over to the card to use it. So I've always used a credit card since, and am cautious about how much is pre-authorised.

I'm pretty sure you don't have to pre-authorise though, all hotel staff can check and they just don't allow you to charge to your room if you haven't.

Tim I'd love to know more about getting it waived - is there an article I can find online?

edit: just Googled it.

Just paid my hotel bill for New York, on check in I gave them my VS Amex card which is in £ to pre-authorise. When it came to paying the bill they asked if I wanted to do it on my card that they had on file. I said no thanks and handed over my Caxton fx pre-paid card that is loaded with $US. Not only gets you a better rate as you can load it whenever you want when the rates are a bit better but also saves on the non-sterling transaction fee. OK you lose out on a few miles but save a few £££'s too.

Just paid my hotel bill for New York, on check in I gave them my VS Amex card which is in £ to pre-authorise. When it came to paying the bill they asked if I wanted to do it on my card that they had on file. I said no thanks and handed over my Caxton fx pre-paid card that is loaded with $US. Not only gets you a better rate as you can load it whenever you want when the rates are a bit better but also saves on the non-sterling transaction fee. OK you lose out on a few miles but save a few £££'s too.

I upgraded my car hire this year and paid the $1044 on Virgin Black card. £709
It cost me £19.50 non sterling fee and earned me 1418 miles.
If I'd spent £20 on miles booster I would have got 2000 miles.
So I guess I need to rethink my mile chasing strategy.
Halifax Clarity card next year!

Dick D

Appalling profiteering.
I have a travelex supercard.
Its linked to my Virgin Card, but only the VISA as they did not allow AMEX.
So I get the best rates + still collect some miles.
Even got miles for cashpoint withdrawals.

Appalling profiteering.
I have a travelex supercard.
Its linked to my Virgin Card, but only the VISA as they did not allow AMEX.
So I get the best rates + still collect some miles.
Even got miles for cashpoint withdrawals.

Sounded good, but their website says it is in the pilot phase and no more cards being sent out.
Dick D

The SuperCard is great... when it works.

There's quite a few kinks to work out yet before it launches as a mainstream product. First they have a major problem with certain card issuers failing to link to the Supercard at all. My RBS Visa stubbornly refuses to link, technical support tell me this is because the address doesn't match the Supercard despite the 2 addresses being character for character identical. This has still not been fixed 2 months after I reported it.

Secondly, the statement on the linked card is supposed to say Travelex or Supercard or something similar but all of mine say TuxedoMoney. This is pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things but it doesn't fill me full of confidence that Travelex still can't fix this after so many months.

Thirdly, have a read of this http://milesfromblighty.boardingarea.co ... supercard/ Fraud on the Supercard is a bit of a complicated subject, the Supercard charged your real card so who needs to fix it?

They don't work with Uber or petrol stations. This was a major pain in USA.

Finally the card is portrait which is quirky but the card number isn't raised, it's just flat printed. This means absolutely nothing except that people expect to see raised numbers on a card and more than one shopkeeper has tried to refuse me using the card because they instinctively think it isn't real. This isn't helped by the words "Electronic use only" being printed on the card. This is intended to mean you can't use the ancient manual slips and roller machine for payment but it confuses people, I was once told, "we can't accept this, I only have chip and pin". I'm not sure that saving a few pence printing the card is worth it for the hassle it causes.

Bring on the final version, if they can fix the above then great, but either way I'll still be using mine. It's brilliant.... when it works.

The SuperCard is great... when it works.

There's quite a few kinks to work out yet before it launches as a mainstream product. First they have a major problem with certain card issuers failing to link to the Supercard at all. My RBS Visa stubbornly refuses to link, technical support tell me this is because the address doesn't match the Supercard despite the 2 addresses being character for character identical. This has still not been fixed 2 months after I reported it.

Secondly, the statement on the linked card is supposed to say Travelex or Supercard or something similar but all of mine say TuxedoMoney. This is pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things but it doesn't fill me full of confidence that Travelex still can't fix this after so many months.

Thirdly, have a read of this http://milesfromblighty.boardingarea.co ... supercard/ Fraud on the Supercard is a bit of a complicated subject, the Supercard charged your real card so who needs to fix it?

They don't work with Uber or petrol stations. This was a major pain in USA.

Finally the card is portrait which is quirky but the card number isn't raised, it's just flat printed. This means absolutely nothing except that people expect to see raised numbers on a card and more than one shopkeeper has tried to refuse me using the card because they instinctively think it isn't real. This isn't helped by the words "Electronic use only" being printed on the card. This is intended to mean you can't use the ancient manual slips and roller machine for payment but it confuses people, I was once told, "we can't accept this, I only have chip and pin". I'm not sure that saving a few pence printing the card is worth it for the hassle it causes.

Bring on the final version, if they can fix the above then great, but either way I'll still be using mine. It's brilliant.... when it works.

I used it fine at one petrol station, but it failed at another.
I also had some ATM's refuse it.
Thirdly, I had some issues where the transaction would not go through because the retailer machine would timeout.
This happened to me in Century21 & Macys (where it had worked earlier on my trip), JFK Duty Free & also when I paid for an expensive meal - which ended up getting money ring fenced twice (as they tried to use my card twice) & had to wait 3 or 4 days for the transaction to cancel.

I put this down to teething problems, but most of the time the card was great.

I have a Travelex SuperCard but have never used it. This is because when I set it up I had linked it to mt MBNA Virgin Black. i have since closed the account but can not change the linked card online- so another glitch they need to resolve.

On my travels I use two different credit cards: The Lloyds Avios cards (Amex and Visa) which have a £24 annual fee (cost effective if you spend more than £2000/ year) but no foreign tranaction fees and earns me Avios. There is a fee for cash withdrawals though. So I also have a Halifax Clarity card. This has no fees and no foreign transaction or cash withdrawal fees overseas, but does not earm me points. So it is Lloyds Avios for all purchases and Halifax Clarity for cash withdrawals.

hi guys

I was going to ask which card was best to use ... ive got my Halifax clarity that I normally use but I was thinking of using my VA black for HRH and Hertz bookings as these are in dollars ?
im guessing that the clarity s still best .. hard rock bill is around $3500 ?

Lisa

hi guys

I was going to ask which card was best to use ... ive got my Halifax clarity that I normally use but I was thinking of using my VA black for HRH and Hertz bookings as these are in dollars ?
im guessing that the clarity s still best .. hard rock bill is around $3500 ?

Lisa

Unless you are desperate for airmiles I would not use any airline credit card for purchasing overseas.

Yes your Clarity card will be the best option of the two.

You can book and pay for car hire from the UK before you go. You can usually book cia the airlines and earn points, but that may not be the best price.

Just paid my hotel bill for New York, on check in I gave them my VS Amex card which is in £ to pre-authorise. When it came to paying the bill they asked if I wanted to do it on my card that they had on file. I said no thanks and handed over my Caxton fx pre-paid card that is loaded with $US. Not only gets you a better rate as you can load it whenever you want when the rates are a bit better but also saves on the non-sterling transaction fee. OK you lose out on a few miles but save a few £££'s too.

Yep - that is what we do.

All VISA/Mastercard merchants should give you the option of paying in local currency (YES) or in Sterling (NO). Unless you are in the UK of course!

We had a minor run in in Mallorca when the merchant insisted it was against EU law to pay in Euros on a UK card. I paid in cash, but when tried to follow it up........I couldn't. My card provider said it was a problem with VISA but VISA do not talk to consumers.

It is wide open to tourists being scammed. To be honest it is often only 2% or so so on small bills - a meal here, a meal there you may not notice be too bothered. But for the merchant an extra 2% of turnover is very nice.