My bank recently slams me with a 1% charge on all International orders I make, so I went out and got a credit card but they charge me 1% too..  Since I do all my credit card ordering internationally (Amazon.co.jp, CDJapan, vgmworld), it's starting to add up and piss me off.

Anyone know of any reputable (AMEX, VISA, Discover) credit card companies that don't have retarded 1% International surcharges?  My current card(s) are Visa, one is my bank card with a Visa logo and the other is just a Visa.

~jb

I don't recall anything like this, does it show up as a seperate charge on your account?  Maybe it depends what bank you have?

I have Wachovia, and yes it shows up as a separate charge on both my bank statement and my credit card statement, depending on which I use. 

03/22/2007     03/20/2007           FOREIGN TRANSACTION FE - FTF      $0.44           
03/22/2007     03/20/2007           AMAZON.CO.JP - TOKYO      $44.19

2/09/2007      Other      INTL SERVICE FEE 02/07      $0.65         
02/09/2007     Purchase     PURCHASE AMAZON.CO.JP 02/07     $65.32

I emailed Visa and they said that it's a global type deal.
I called Discover and they said they're not accepted in Asia.
I checked American Express and the only card they have that doesn't have the surcharge is a Traveler's Cheque credit card, which needs to be manually filled up for x amount of dollars.

Not really good solutions imo, and it's getting a little expensive, especially since my last order was 400$. =/

bank of america and other credit card companies are currently getting hit with a class action lawsuit for their practice of foreign transaction fees from '96 to '06... i recieved an opt-in notice in the mail a week or two ago. however since i dont keep my statements for that long i decided to pass...  but for someone with a US issued card who spent a month or so LIVING in a foreign country,, it may be worth jumping in on this to reclaim up to 10 years of those fees:

http://www.travelfinances.com/blog/inde … tion-fees/

Yeah, I got that too. And I actually have all my statements from all that time, heh...got some major calculating to do. JB, check the official website to see if you can claim anything under the lawsuit:

www.ccfsettlement.com

Well I most certainly can!  That gets me 6.70$ back .

So, all issues aside does anyone know of a bank or card that does not charge an International Service Charge?

~jb

I have a Bank of America debit card, and I've never been charged anything for international purchases.

EDIT: It's a VISA card

Music to my ears!! I called Commerce too and they said they didn't charge, but I'd rather go with someone larg(er).

I have an Amazon VISA card through Chase bank, and I put all of my orders for CDJapan, Play-Asia, Hobby Link Japan, Amazon JP, etc on it, and have never been charged a surcharge.

That, and a percentage of the credit I use goes into Amazon "points" which is kinda neat... each time I accumulate 2500 of them or something, they send me a $25 Amazon gift card.

Kinda gimmicky, but I keep it paid off (ow 17% APR), so it's no biggie.

The evils of credit cards... didn't we have this discussion before?
Well, I'll have to look into that, but all my credit cards (chase, citibank, discover) have never charged me for international orders. However, I think credit cards do charge you a surcharge if you use them while at a foreign country. It'll be interesting to see what others find out.

cheers,

-avatar!

I also got the BoA/MBNA Opt in Notice, but I only have statements going back two years and I don't know if it's worth my time to try to figure out what I've spent in yen since I have no idea how that will translate to what they owe me.  I know I  must have spent thousands in yen during that time, but I don't think I can prove it.  Maybe I should check online and see how far back that stuff goes.

None of these 3 cards have ever charged me any International fees:
1st Financial Bank Visa, Chase Visa, and Capital One Mastercard.

Well, I've gone through the process of switching banks (Bank of America!).  Gotta get all my online orders squared away and make sure direct deposits working before switching over completely, but thanks for the help.

I use USAA, which doesn't charge any international fees, AND even gives you free ATM withdrawls anywhere in the world;  They refund the fees that terminals charge.

You can only join, however, if you are Active Duty US Military.
Or a Veteran that has separated in the last 6 months.
Or the family member of a service member.

http://www.USAA.COM

You sure about Chase? That's the card I've been using for some time now with CD Japan, and I'm always charged something extra called an "exchange rate adjustment." Is that not the same as an "transaction fee" or whatever?

Looks like Schala caught my mistake, and I went digging through the box of bills for hard proof.

Using Chase at Play-Asia was safe from fees since they bill in Dollars not yen, but indeed there was an "Exch Rate Adj" using Chase at Amazon.co.jp  That adjustment was $2.66 for a $91 order.    OOOPS, don't use Chase!

Using Capital One at neowing/cdjapan will bill in Yen and show the current exchange rate, but no additional adjustment or conversion fees were listed, so this card is in the clear!

And apparently I've only used the 1st Financial domestically, so no yen-proof paper evidence there, sorry for any misleadings.  Guess I can only recommend Capital One then.

On a seperate note, I'd be willing to try Citibank sometime, since their ATMs in Japan accessed my USA checking account and dispensed Yen cash while I was on vacation there, without a single penny in fees!

For the record, VGM World charges your card in dollars, so if you buy from them in the U.S., you won't get hit with any currency conversion charges.

I've taken the liberty of deleting the crap from this thread, which unfortunately constituted over half of it.  Some requests:

1) No racist jokes please.  Or at least none with no more substance and apparent humor to them than "f-ing [insert race of dispreference here]".  And saying that they say the same thing on South Park doesn't qualify as justification.

2) Even as a response to 1, using rather nasty language in bold print hardly seems like an ideal retort.

3) There's nothing necessarily wrong with stating your qualms with a particular buyer or seller here, but do it in a civilized manner with civilized language.

Exiting perturbed parent mode now.

Post clean-up, just to reiterate jb's deleted post so the issue here isn't forgotten: Bank of America is now charging 3% for some kind of "conversion fee" for international purchases.

Don't use Bank of America.  Apparently, their division cross-communicate with each other.  I once applied for a mortgage, but they also sent me a credit card...without asking for my permission.  I had to complain to their customer service not only to terminate the newly-opened and unauthorized account, but to remove it from my credit report.