From: Chris Blunt 
Newsgroups: uk.finance
Subject: Re: credit card exchange rate - tourist or interbank?
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 16:35:49 +0000

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 23:54:25 +0000, Phil Richards
 wrote:

>Alec wrote:
>
>> Also in some countries (notably Ireland), many service establishments, 
>> through their card handler, do a 'dynamic currency conversion' and bill your 
>> card direct in sterling, using a rate which is 2-3% worse than interbank. It 
>> hits you in the pocket if you have 'no foreign fee' card like Nationwide and 
>> Liverpool & Victoria.
>
>Can anyone confirm whether or not retailers in Ireland in particular where
>I've been stung with this "Dynamic Currency Conversion" technique:
>
>(a) Have to ask you first whether you want your card billed in GBP or EUR
>(b) If they don't, you can instruct them to charge the card in EUR?

I don't know about Ireland, but I've done that in Thailand. I refused
to sign a charge slip which had been converted to GBP at a ripoff rate
and they just did me another one in local currency. The saving when it
was eventually converted to GBP by Nationwide at a very reasonable
rate was quite considerable.

Chris