Foreign Currency & International Fees for Credit Cards

The most common question sent to us without a doubt is ‘Where can I find the international and foreign currency conversion fees for each provider ?’

Too many Australian’s come home from overseas to find their credit card statement bombarded with foreign fees, and thus it’s imperative to be educated on what you will be charged whilst travelling.

To answer our users questions, we have stockpiled all the main banks currency conversion and international fees in one place for your benefit.

While practically every financial provider charges foreign currency conversion and cash withdrawal, only several charge percentage fees for any transaction made overseas.

No Foreign Currency Exchange Fees

With the NAB Gold Banking Debit Card, you wont have to pay a monthly account service fee if you deposit at least $5,000 per month. It is a great debit card for travelling since there are no foreign currency exchange fees.

Best Features:

• No Foreign currency exchange fees
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Overseas Charges & Fees Comparison

Credit Card	Foreign Currency Conversion	Overseas Transaction Charge	Cash Advance Fee
Compare Bankwest Credit Cards	2.95%	0%	2.00%
Compare Members Equity Bank Credit Cards	1.2% (If payment processor is Australian) 1.8% (If international payment processor)	0%	$4
Compare ANZ Credit Cards	2.50%	0%	1.50%
Compare Commonwealth Bank Credit Cards	2.95% for MasterCard, 2.95% for Visa.	0%	1.25%
Compare NAB Credit Cards	2.30% single currency for Visa 2.00% single currency for MasterCard	1.5% / Min. Fee of $4.00	1.50%
Compare St.George Credit Cards	2.50%	0%	$5
Compare Suncorp Credit Cards	2.50%	0%	$5
Compare Bendigo Bank Credit Cards	2.00%	2.00%	$3.25 / 0.5%
Review the Aussie Credit Cards	3.00%	0%	2.00%
Compare Westpac Credit Cards	3.00%	0%	2.00%
Compare HSBC Credit Cards	2.00%	2.00%	2.00%
Compare GE Money Credit Cards	3.00%	2.00%	3.00%
Compare Bank of Queensland Credit Cards	3.00%	0%	1.5%
Compare American Express Credit Cards	3.00%	0%	3.00%
Compare Citibank Credit Cards	3.40% for MasterCard 3.30% for Visa	0%	$5

What is a Foreign Currency Conversion fee?

Since you own an Australian credit card, your balance and credit is automatically in Australian dollars. When you make a purchase overseas, say $50 US, it will not only convert to roughly $80 AU, but you will be charged a foreign currency conversion fee as well. For instance, that $80 AU purchase in America on a St George Credit Card would impose a $2 AU fee (2.50% of 80 = $2).
Visa and MasterCard automatically charge a 1-2% fee on foreign currency exchange, so this minimum can at least be expected. Anything in excess is generally a small margin of profit for the bank.
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What is an Overseas Transaction Charge?

Regardless of the currency, purchase, or cash advance, a couple of providers impose an overseas transaction charge, which takes a clean 1-3% figure off the total transaction amount.
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What is a Cash Advance Fee? (International)

It’s general credit card knowledge that cash advances are expensive, even domestically. Once you begin using your credit card overseas, withdrawing cash will only escalate the fees. On top of the normal interest rate and lack of interest free days, you can be imposed a $1-$10 / 1%-4% fee (whichever is higher) everytime you carry out an overseas cash advance.

American Express Fees

• “Foreign Currency Cash Conversion fee of 3%.”
• 3% on international cash advances.

• “A fee of 2.5% of the value of any foreign currency transaction
  will be charged to all ANZ Corporate Card Cardholder Accounts.”
• Overseas cash advances incur a 4% transaction fee – the standard 1.50% cash fee + 2.5% foreign fee.

• “When you make a purchase or cash advance in a foreign currency you’ll be charged 3% of the value of any foreign currency transaction.”
• For cash advances, a $4 fee as well as 2% of your total cash advance transaction will be charged, on top of any related foreign currency exchange fees.

• Foreign Currency Exchange Fees:
  “Visa accounts “2% Payable for each transaction posted to the account in a foreign currency,calculated as a percentage of the foreign currency amount.
  MasterCard accounts “2% Payable for each MasterCard transaction occurring outside Australia,whether in foreign currency or Australian dollars.”
• For cash advances, the greater of 2% or $4.00 (maximum $50) applys, on top of any foreign currency fee involved.

• Foreign Currency Exchange Fees:
  2% Foreign Currency Conversion fee.
• Overseas Transaction Charge:
  2% of any transaction or purchase made internationally.
• For cash advances, the greater of 0.5% or $3.25 applies, on top of any foreign currency fee involved.

• Foreign Currency Exchange Fee:
  MasterCard – 3.4% of transaction amount.
  Visa – 3.3% of transaction amount.
• International cash advances are subject to the foreign currency exchange fees, as well as $5 per transaction.

Commonwealth Bank International Fees

• Foreign Currency Exchange Fee:
  MasterCard – 2.5% of transaction amount.
  Visa – 2.4% of transaction amount.
• Overseas cash advances incur a $4 or 1.25% fee (whichever is higher) on-top of the regular foreign currency exchange rate.

Bank of Queensland International Fees

• Foreign Currency Exchange Fee:
  International Transaction Fee (also referred to as Foreign Currency Exchange Fee) – Visa and MasterCard
  3% of transaction amount An International Transaction Fee of 3% on the Australian dollar conversion of any credit card transaction made in foreign currency, of which a 1% service and assessment fee is payable by us to Visa or MasterCard. This will be charged to your account when you transact via your credit card overseas.
• 1.5% of transaction amount outside of Australia. Minimum amount of $4.00 – maximum amount of $30.00

GE Money International Fees

• International Transaction Fee
  Charged when you obtain funds or make a purchase outside of Australia. 2% on all transactions.
• Foreign Currency Exchange Fee – 3% of the total currency amount converted.

• Cash advances also incur a $4 fee per transaction, and 2% of the cash advance amount.

Member’s Equity International Fees

• International Transaction Fee
  1% of the amount of any foreign currency transaction converted into Australian dollars and payable at the time the currency conversion is made. This fee is payable to Members Equity Bank.
  MasterCard Fees: 0.2% of the amount of any foreign currency transaction converted into Australian dollars and payable at the time the currency conversion is made. This fee is payable to MasterCard International.
  0.8% of the amount of any transaction where the merchant account is not held in Australia. This fee is payable to MasterCard International.

• $1.25 per cash advance in Australia if you use a Members Equity Bank or Westpac branded ATM+ $4.00 per cash advance overseas

• Visa – Single Currency: 2.30%
  Visa – Multi Currency: 2.50%

• MasterCard – Single Currency: 2.00%
  MasterCard – Multi Currency: 1.70%-2.50% (subjective to the payment processing).

• Overseas cash advances impose a 1.50% or $4 fee (whichever is higher), on-top of any related currency conversion fees.

HSBC International Fees

• Overseas Transaction Charge:
  2.0% of the total value amount of each such transaction
• Foreign Currency Conversion:
  1.5% in Australian dollars charged for payments made in foreign currencies.
• Overseas cash advances impose a 2% or $2.50 fee (whichever is higher) on-top of any related foreign fees.

St George International Fees

• Foreign Currency Conversion:
  2.5% to exchange Australian dollars between foreign currencies.
• For overseas cash advances, a flat $5 fee is charged on-top of any related foreign fees.
• Note that BankSA is a subsidiary of St George, and the same fees apply.

Suncorp International Fees

• Foreign Currency Conversion:
  2.5% of the converted Australian Dollar transaction amount of any foreign currency transaction made or charged to your credit card
• Overseas Cash Advance:$5.00 per transaction made outside Australia.

Westpac International Fees

• Foreign Currency Conversion:
  3% for any purchases which require a currency conversion.
• Overseas cash advances impose a 2% or $2.50 fee (whichever greater). The maximum you can be charged is $150.

Wizard

Wizard offer arguably the most popular international credit card in Australia – the Clear Advantage MasterCard which features no foreign transaction or withdrawal fees.
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This information has come from each financial provider’s latest up-to-date PDS & Disclosure Statement. It is subject to change at any time.
The fees and charges listed on this page should only be used as a reference and guide for comparison, and are accurate as of February 24th 2009. Before travelling internationally, we recommend you confirm fees with your bank prior to departure incase any terms have been altered.

Calculate the current foreign exchange rates at XE.com

2 Responses

1. How To Query A Transaction On Your ANZ Credit Card | Credit Card Finder Says:
   December 3rd, 2009 at 3:20 pm

   [...] amount charged is different to your receipt – This can happen if the purchase was made abroad, or with an overseas merchant. Your card provider or the merchant will charge a mark-up on these transactions; which one does [...]

2. Brent Says:
   April 14th, 2010 at 12:06 pm

   Be wary of ANZ, they changed their system in late 2009. You can get charged international transaction fees for purchases that appear to be domestic. I’ve been stung a few times with unexpected international transaction fees when purchasing in AU$ with Australian based companies (like JetStar).

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