In article <rImdnQNxydjOOxHVnZ2dnUVZ_gednZ2d at (no spam) earthlink.com>,
"Tom J" <tomnews at (no spam) earthlink.net> wrote:

I don't think you can get a credit card from anyone anymore that
doesn't charge a fee for Foreign exchange.
M<y CDNbank includes the (~2%) fee in their exchange rate.

Also, the next time you visit Canada, ask if there is a fee before
exchanging cash. I have never paid a fee to exchange cash in
Canada.
I have walked out the door of a few banks and gone down the street
to
another bank.
The fee for cash exchange is in their exchange rate.

We just got back from a 2 month trip to East Coast and Canada.--  Beautiful
and loved it despite $1.59/Liter for diesel!
I have always been told to use a credit card when out of the US since you
get the benefit of paying in Canada Dollars which are running at about $.95
US then the credit card company converts your charge to $US. As far as this
goes, it is true and I saved about $25 when the transactions were posted.
What I was not aware of was that CITI card charges a "Foreign Transaction
Fee" on every purchase.  This totaled up to a charge of over $100 US.  It's
my fault for not reading all the fine print but this didn't happen 7 years
ago when I was using an ATT card in Canada.  I just wanted to let you guys
to be aware of this.  I should have done what I did with some of my cash on
hand which was to go to a Royal Bank of Canada and have them change $100 US
to Canadian for a $3 fee so that I would have pocket money.(btw Canadian
money is pretty) that would have been cheaper .
Anyway we had a great trip and I wanted to save you guys some cash.  Don't
be a dummy like me!

I convert to Canadian currency at my local bank, there has not been a fee..
They will only convert *paper*,  no coin.

On Jul 27, 10:43 am, "Bill B" <ibh... at (no spam) comcast.net> wrote:
I convert to Canadian currency at my local bank, there has not been a fee.
They will only convert *paper*,  no coin.

But what was the conversion rate?

Or more specifcally, were there two rates, one for buy and one
for sell? If so, the "true" rate is, to first order, the average
of the two rates.

We just got back from a 2 month trip to East Coast and Canada.--
Beautiful and loved it despite $1.59/Liter for diesel!
I have always been told to use a credit card when out of the US since you
get the benefit of paying in Canada Dollars which are running at about
$.95 US then the credit card company converts your charge to $US. As far
as this goes, it is true and I saved about $25 when the transactions were
posted. What I was not aware of was that CITI card charges a "Foreign
Transaction Fee" on every purchase. This totaled up to a charge of over
$100 US. It's my fault for not reading all the fine print but this didn't
happen 7 years ago when I was using an ATT card in Canada. I just wanted
to let you guys to be aware of this. I should have done what I did with
some of my cash on hand which was to go to a Royal Bank of Canada and have
them change $100 US to Canadian for a $3 fee so that I would have pocket
money.(btw Canadian money is pretty) that would have been cheaper .

I don't think you can get a credit card from anyone anymore that
doesn't charge a fee for Foreign exchange.

Tom J wrote:

I don't think you can get a credit card from anyone anymore that
doesn't charge a fee for Foreign exchange.

I'm told that Capital One does not assess this fee, but I have no direct
knowledge.

I do, they don't

I always use a debit card affiliated with a checking account whilst
traveling in other countries. That is the *only* time I use a debit card,
there being no transaction safeguards on them. I also use an account
separate from my usual one so that if I do get stung, the thieves won't
have access to the vast majority of my money.

This fee, which is simply a "junk" fee providing no service, can also be
avoided by taking travelers cheques, whose commission is generally much
less than the credit card junk fees. And, if one is a member of AAA, he
can probably get those cheques for no charge at all. More's the better!

On Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:05:42 -0700, Ken Harrison <sptrain98 at (no spam) earthlink.net
wrote:

This fee, which is simply a "junk" fee providing no service, can also be
avoided by taking travelers cheques, whose commission is generally much
less than the credit card junk fees. And, if one is a member of AAA, he
can probably get those cheques for no charge at all. More's the better!

During our travels for the past twenty years in Europe, we've had great
difficulty finding businesses other than hotels which will take traveler's
checks. We find them pretty useless, unless they're AmEx and you're going to be
staying near an AmEx location.

In article <02ku94lfu22piknpgc6j28rfjmffd6somg at (no spam) 4ax.com>,
pltrgyst <pltrgyst at (no spam) spamlessxhost.org> wrote:
On Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:05:42 -0700, Ken Harrison <sptrain98 at (no spam) earthlink.net
wrote:

This fee, which is simply a "junk" fee providing no service, can also be
avoided by taking travelers cheques, whose commission is generally much
less than the credit card junk fees. And, if one is a member of AAA, he
can probably get those cheques for no charge at all. More's the better!

During our travels for the past twenty years in Europe, we've had great
difficulty finding businesses other than hotels which will take traveler's
checks. We find them pretty useless, unless they're AmEx and you're going to
be
staying near an AmEx location.

Depends _who's_ cheques they are. :)

Barclays of London meet a lot less resistance than those of domestic U.S.
issuers.


A number of years ago, I took Bank of America Travelers Cheques to a Bank of

"Ken Harrison" <sptrain98 at (no spam) earthlink.net> wrote:
I always use a debit card affiliated with a checking account whilst
traveling in other countries. That is the *only* time I use a debit card,
there being no transaction safeguards on them. I also use an account
separate from my usual one so that if I do get stung, the thieves won't
have access to the vast majority of my money.

Even for everyday use, I keep debit-ATM money in an account
that separate from my other accounts, and transfer $$ into it only
as I forseeably may need, month-to-month.

On 8/10/08 2:07 PM, in article
e7Kdnd8LIboTxQLVnZ2dnUVZ_rvinZ2d at (no spam) posted.nuvoxcommunications, "Robert Bonomi"
bonomi at (no spam) host122.r-bonomi.com> wrote:

In article <02ku94lfu22piknpgc6j28rfjmffd6somg at (no spam) 4ax.com>,
pltrgyst <pltrgyst at (no spam) spamlessxhost.org> wrote:
On Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:05:42 -0700, Ken Harrison <sptrain98 at (no spam) earthlink.net
wrote:

This fee, which is simply a "junk" fee providing no service, can also be
avoided by taking travelers cheques, whose commission is generally much
less than the credit card junk fees. And, if one is a member of AAA, he
can probably get those cheques for no charge at all. More's the better!

During our travels for the past twenty years in Europe, we've had great
difficulty finding businesses other than hotels which will take traveler's
checks. We find them pretty useless, unless they're AmEx and you're going to
be
staying near an AmEx location.

Depends _who's_ cheques they are. :)

Barclays of London meet a lot less resistance than those of domestic U.S.
issuers.


A number of years ago, I took Bank of America Travelers Cheques to a Bank of
America in San Francisco. They didn't want to take them

and when I persisted
they charged me a fee. Can't remember what it was---a couple of bucks I
think.

If my debit card is used improperly and I conform with the requirements,
such as reporting the violation within forty-eight hours of my learning of
it, I am protected. The difference between my credit card and my debit
card has to do with what happens when it is used. My credit card bill
describes the violation and I don't pay for it. My debit is deducted
immediately. That deduction is recovered within ten days of the report.
The immediate deduction sucks. You can get really screwed up if you
have automatic payments get boggled in that ten day period....