foreign transaction fees

[lardor]

Don't know if this has come up before....but when I paid my final payment to my TA, somehow Oceania put it through an Irish bank and a whole lot of foreign transaction fees showed up. I of course canceled and had my TA put this payment on my Capitol One Visa account that has no foreign fees at all...(hope this does not jinx their policy). So if you do a lot of travel outside the US, you might look into having an "out of country" charge card to use....and in the same vein, if you use your ATM card when traveling outside the country, most banks now go through Visa and you are charged between 1 and 3% to access your own money. I found that Bank of America has 6 co-banks around the world and that if you use one of these there are no transaction fees. Check BofA's web site to get more info....

[Druke I]

That problem has come up before.

 

I use a Citibank card, and they don't assess the "foreign transaction" fee either for Oceania's billing, even though Oceania does use a bank in Ireland.

[LHT28]

I seem to remember a post from FDR that if this happens notify Oceania and they will credit you the fee or something like that?

Maybe a search here will find it.

 

As for the other fees from CC it seems to be the norm

[orchestrapal]

We had this charge and the only way Oceania would return the fee was to give us a ship-board account credit.:mad:

[lardor]

We had this charge and the only way Oceania would return the fee was to give us a ship-board account credit.:mad:

 

This was offered to us also but this is why we have the capitolOne account..

[lardor]

I seem to remember a post from FDR that if this happens notify Oceania and they will credit you the fee or something like that?

Maybe a search here will find it.

 

As for the other fees from CC it seems to be the norm

 

It's only the norm if you let them have their way without searching for a better way....

[Benita]

Conde Nast magazine had a great article about the foreign transaction and foreign bank fees. Oceania will bill you in US dollars, but they use a foreign bank in Ireland. Capital One and Citibank will not charge foreign bank fees. Capital One does not charge foreign transaction (conversion fees) either. Citibank will charge the conversion fee. AMEX and MBNA and most of the others charge for both. Capital One is the way to go out of the US - even though their frequent user programs are not very good, paying 3-5% in fees winds up costing more.

[serendipity1499]

This came up on this board last year..Our TA is in California & I discussed this with her when we booked our Amazon Cruise....According to her Oceania Sales Rep., Oceania claims it's been corrected & was only happening in rare cases with only one CC Company....

 

Our Credit Card Company normally does charge 3%... However our TA guaranteed that we would get any conversion fee back if it was in fact charged...I'm going to hold her to that as a conversion fee would be a couple of hundred dollars.! We still wanted to use our normal CC since we receive a 1% rebate for every dollar we charge..

 

I paid our final payment on Monday...Have just checked our bill on-line & it looks like no foreign transaction fee was charged.. Really hope that's the way it is, but will wait till we actually receive our bill from them..;)

 

Our friends also paid their final payment & they confirmed it was Oceania in California who processed their charge..

 

Wonder if it has anything to do with which Oceania office is accepting payment.. It's very odd that that funds paid in US Dollars are processed in Ireland in local currency & then converted back into US Dollars..

 

Both DH & I recently applied for a Capitol One Card, just to use when we shop out of the country so as not to pay those transaction fees..The only thing I don't like about Capitol One is we don't automatically get a 1% rebate off our monthly bill, which I do get when we use our other Credit Card..

 

Youy might want to check out this thread from Oct-Nov. last year:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=430210&highlight=foreign+transaction+fees

 

Happy cruising all..:) Betty

[scdreamer]

There has been a class action lawsuit regarding those credit card foreign transaction fees:

 

"If you used a Visa- or MasterCard-branded credit card or debit/ATM card, or a Diners Club card to make a foreign transaction from February 1, 1996 - November 8, 2006, you may have the right to a refund of all or part of the related foreign transaction charges. The deadline to file a claim: January 9, 2008."

You can go to www.CCFSettlement.com for more information and a claim form.

[DaveFr]

Conde Nast magazine had a great article about the foreign transaction and foreign bank fees. Oceania will bill you in US dollars, but they use a foreign bank in Ireland. Capital One and Citibank will not charge foreign bank fees. Capital One does not charge foreign transaction (conversion fees) either. Citibank will charge the conversion fee. AMEX and MBNA and most of the others charge for both. Capital One is the way to go out of the US - even though their frequent user programs are not very good, paying 3-5% in fees winds up costing more.

One minor correction. If you use an AMEX card for your Oceania deposit or final payment, there is no foreign transaction or bank fee. AMEX only adds a 2% charge if a transaction is in a foreign currancy. Since Oceania bills in US dollars, there is no charge.

[DaveFr]

This came up on this board last year..Our TA is in California & I discussed this with her when we booked our Amazon Cruise....According to her Oceania Sales Rep., Oceania claims it's been corrected & was only happening in rare cases with only one CC Company....

 

Our Credit Card Company normally does charge 3%... However our TA guaranteed that we would get any conversion fee back if it was in fact charged...I'm going to hold her to that as a conversion fee would be a couple of hundred dollars.! We still wanted to use our normal CC since we receive a 1% rebate for every dollar we charge..

 

I paid our final payment on Monday...Have just checked our bill on-line & it looks like no foreign transaction fee was charged.. Really hope that's the way it is, but will wait till we actually receive our bill from them..;)

 

Betty,

 

In my experience, credit card banks don't show a running subtotal of foreign transaction fees online. They only compute the total foreign transaction fees after your monthly closing date. Be sure to check your final bill.

[serendipity1499]

Betty,

 

In my experience, credit card banks don't show a running subtotal of foreign transaction fees online. They only compute the total foreign transaction fees after your monthly closing date. Be sure to check your final bill.

 

Thanks so much for the Heads up Dave..Our closing date was yesterday, so we'll receive our bill sometime in the next week or so..Will be sure to double check it!..Betty

[serendipity1499]

Hi everyone..

 

As previously said we took our TA at her word & paid our final payment for our Amazon Cruise last Monday on our regular Credit Card..Also booked one Oceania excursion on-line (folk show in the Amazon) as the theater only holds 380 Passengers..Had seen the show before & wanted to be sure to see it again...

 

Our closing date for this account was June 28...We're happy to report that, our final bill reads exactly what we paid in US dollars for both the cruise & the excursion, even though it indicates that the charge was put through & billed by Oceania Cruises, Inc. IRL..

 

Will use our CapitalOne Card for purchases in local currency when we are out of the country..Many merchants out of the US, will bill your credit card in USD..Suggest you check it out before using any Credit Card other than CapitalOne...

 

Hope this helps, :) Betty

[DaveFr]

Thanks for the information, Betty.