Credit cards & foreign country fees

[Balliett]

- Deposit, final payment, and expenses on board for cruise was in dollars, paid by Amex and no additional fees.

 

- Capital One credit card, which we obtained just for this trip. When the bill came, the no-fee conversion rates looked legit. Of course the exchange rate changes daily, but it seems to be in line with the newspaper rates. Amazing bargain, I'd say.

 

- Accessing ATM overseas, my local bank First Merit, tacked on about 3-4% for the withdrawals from my checking account from various Italian bank machines.

 

- Before leaving the US for Italy, we ordered a bunch of Euros from Wells Fargo, online, paying with Visa, paying about 4.5% commission. They come to your house Fedex. Turned out to be a good deal, because our Euros got more valuable when the dollar weakened.

[mike35]

- Before leaving the US for Italy, we ordered a bunch of Euros from Wells Fargo, online, paying with Visa, paying about 4.5% commission.

 

How does this compare with what they charge at airport currency exchanges?

[happy cruzer]

Balliet, did the 4.5% include the cost of the fedex delivery?? Thanks for sharing!

[mike35]

Just checked the Wells Fargo site - they add $8.00 for the delivery charge, so I'll probably just stick with the currency changers at the airport.