What is the Visa credit card-exchange rate?

There is one Visa exchange rate for every type of currency, which can change once every 24 hours. And that rate is automatically applied to any international transaction made with a Visa credit card or debit card. You can easily check the latest Visa exchange rates online to get an idea of what to expect when traveling.... read full answer

Here’s how to see your Visa exchange rate:

1. Go to Visa’s online Exchange Rate Calculator.
2. Select United States Dollar for your card’s currency.
3. Select the currency used by the merchant.
4. Enter your bank fee (foreign transaction fee), if applicable. Ideally, you should use a no foreign transaction fee credit card.
5. Put in today’s date (the tool can’t predict the future).
6. Click “Calculate Exchange Rates.”

Using a no foreign transaction fee Visa credit card when traveling abroad will save you up to 9% compared to converting hard currency, according to WalletHub’s Currency Exchange Study. But a Mastercard will do the trick, too. There’s actually not much difference between the exchange rates offered by these two worldwide card networks.

Lastly, you should always avoid Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC). This is when a foreign vendor converts the price of a purchase to U.S. dollars, supposedly for your convenience. But that gives the merchant a chance to use an unfavorable exchange rate in place of the low rate you’d automatically get from Visa.

The usual credit card exchange rate used for purchases made abroad is 2-4%. Credit card networks (i.e. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover) generally use conversion rates based on interbank rates they select from customary industry sources on the business day prior to the processing date.

Visa and Mastercard provide calculators you can use to get an indication of the rate you may receive when using your card abroad.... read full answer

Other things to know before using your credit card abroad:

When shopping abroad, a merchant may ask you if you would like to convert your credit card transaction from the local currency into U.S. dollars. This is called Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC). This conversion rate is very expensive for the cardholder and should be avoided. Generally, when overseas merchants make this offer, they will use a conversion rate that is far higher than the actual going rate – as much as 7 percent higher.

When making foreign transactions, you should also be aware of foreign transaction fees. These fees are tacked on to any point-of-sale purchases outside of the United States, or purchases made through an internationally-based merchant. So, it’s best to use a credit card with no foreign transaction fees in this case. Some good examples include the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

The Visa foreign transaction fee is usually either 0% or 3%, depending on which Visa credit card or debit card you have. The Visa foreign transaction fee is typically 0% on travel rewards credit cards, which are built for spending all around the world. And some credit card companies, such as Capital One, don’t charge foreign fees on any of their cards, Visa or Mastercard. But many other Visa cards come with foreign transaction fees of 1%, 2% or even 3%. ... read full answer

If your Visa card does have a foreign transaction fee, you’ll have to pay it any time you make a purchase from a merchant that’s based in a country other than the U.S. So that means it applies to online purchases, too.

While it’s difficult to list every Visa’s foreign transaction fee – the are a ton of Visa cards – we can go over a few popular examples.

Here are some Visa foreign transaction fees:

• All Capital One Visa cards: $0 foreign fee
• All USAA Visa cards: 0% foreign fee
• All PenFed Visa cards: 0% foreign fee
• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: $0 foreign fee
• Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card for Students: $0 foreign fee
• Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card: 0% foreign fee
• Chase Freedom Unlimited®: 3% of each transaction in U.S. dollars foreign fee
• Wells Fargo Reflect® Card: 3% foreign fee
• Credit One Bank® Platinum Visa®: 3% or $1, whichever is greater foreign fee

As you can see, there are a lot of opportunities to get a Visa card with no foreign transaction fee. That’s definitely a good idea before traveling (or shopping) abroad, since Visa is accepted just about everywhere that takes credit cards worldwide.