What currency conversion fees are written in yesterday`s article also provides some ways to avoid currency conversion fees. But in fact, when you swipe your card abroad, there is a bigger hole, that is, DCC..
I believe that after many friends swipe their cards abroad, they return home and take a look at the bills. They find that the amount collected by the bank is much higher than the amount estimated by themselves at the exchange rate. When they call the bank, the customer service of many banks is not very clear. They can only follow the text and say, because there is a problem of currency conversion fees in the middle. If you are already using a free credit card and find that the amount gap is still large, there is a good chance that it will be DCC.
So what is DCC, can it be avoided, how to avoid it?
What is DCC
The full name of DCC is Dynamic Currency Conversion dynamic currency conversion fee, which is different from currency conversion fee. DCC is collected by credit card organization and credit card issuing bank. DCC is collected by an independent company and is said to have been developed by an Australian company. If you use DCC, on the Poselist when you swipe your card, you will directly turn the local amount you spend into dollars or euros. The name can help customers understand how much they spend intuitively. Of course, for this little convenience, customers may pay a handling fee from 2.5% to 8%.
A detailed explanation of DCC students who are interested in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_currency_conversion, on Wiki can learn on their own.
The last time I was shopping at a duty-free shop at the Hong Kong airport, I checked out in Citic`s full currency, and the cashier asked me if I would choose Hong Kong dollars or US dollars. This is a typical pit, ready for my deal DCC.
First, choose Hong Kong dollar to settle accounts, then the merchant will write down my consumption amount, apply to the credit card organization Visa Hong Kong dollar fee, Visa converted Hong Kong dollar to my bill (CITIC all currency pass free transfer), I use US dollar or RMB repayment.
Second, choose US dollar to check out, when the merchant swipes the card to convert the Hong Kong dollar amount into the US dollar amount through the DCC organization (this process according to the DCC organization exchange rate-Dakeng-plus the handling fee), applies to the Visa US dollar fee, Visa charges the US dollar to my bill, I repay in US dollars or RMB. This process was hit by the father`s DCC.
It can be seen that the difference between DCC trading and non-DCC trading is when the local currency is converted into US dollars, if the card organization is transferred to the US dollar, if the card organization is transferred, if the DCC organization is transferred, it will be DCC.
This is a typical Pose bill by DCC:
You can see that the bill lists two trading currencies, one in the local currency, the other in the United States dollar, and the conversion ratio between the Thai baht and the United States dollar. If you are interested, you can check the exchange rate of the dollar and the Thai baht on August 03, 13, to see how bad it is.
If it is a normal transaction Pose, there should be only one Thai baht on it, and the currency conversion process should be left to a card organization such as v.
Under what circumstance will encounter DCC.
Because DCC trading process, only Visa and Master approval, other credit card organizations such as UnionPay, Express, JCB and other organizations have not signed agreements with DCC organizations, so in the use of Visa and Master single or double currency cards may encounter DCC, with other credit cards will not encounter.
Whether DCC or not depends on which country you swipe your card without relationship, it is possible to run into it in any country. It`s not that if you spend in the United States with a dollar card, you won`t run into it. In a practical case, a friend holds a double-marked US dollar card, swipes a card in the United States, walks the Visa line, is judged by the Posemachine as a card from China, directly DCC into RMB, and then applies to Visa and Master for RMB. Visa and Master can not liquidate RMB at home, but can only convert RMB into US dollar currency conversion fee into US dollar account. This process was not only charged by DCC, but also by Visa to charge another currency conversion fee, which is a double pit.
And in the process of DCC trading, merchants will receive a benefit from the handling fees, so overseas merchants are sparing no effort to promote DCC transactions.
Regular businesses, such as the Hong Kong airport duty-free shop mentioned above, will also ask you what currency you choose to settle in the course of the transaction. More small businesses will not ask, just type out the Pose order and let you sign. There are also worse merchants co-receiving banks that force DCC, on direct Pose not to give you a chance to choose a trading currency at all.
There are also many overseas Amoy sites, in order to facilitate mainland customers, Chinese pages are marked in RMB, to settle the time is also the price of RMB, but also do not provide UnionPay channel settlement, in this case, it is easy to encounter the double charge of DCC goods transfer.
Judging DCC is also very simple, in one country swipe a card, but the Pose sheet shows another currency checkout, basically encountered DCC.
In addition, Visa and Master approve DCC transactions, but make it clear that customers must agree to DCC, so there is usually a exemption under the DCC bill. The blue wireframe in the picture above is to the effect that "the merchant provides the choice of local currency and dollar, and the customer agrees to settle in US dollars" or "the customer knows that V / M has its own exchange rate." But customers do not choose the exchange rate of v / m, but choose the exchange rate of xxx to settle the transaction.
This is common on accounting Pose sheets.
The first is Malaysia`s DCC`s Pose, which uses FX for the DCC transaction.
How to avoid being DCC.
As long as you have this knowledge, the DCC isn`t that scary, and in most cases you can avoid DCCs by:
For example, in the case of South Korea, where the goods are priced in US dollars, the credit card can be brushed directly, as long as the dollar amount on the Pose list is the same as the commodity price.
Second, some Pose will let you choose the type of currency in the process of swiping your card; some will ask you to operate; some will let you choose after typing out the Pose list, and then the cashier will operate. The principle is to choose the local currency and the US dollar goods in duty-free stores to choose US dollars. In addition, note that some Pose is just for you to tick, some Pose is just for you to cross, don`t get confused, if you`re afraid of confusing, you can write NO USD, next to the dollar amount, which means you don`t want the dollar to keep an account.
To add, this is the most recent credit card receipt that came into contact with DCC.
As you can see, it is the number of Hong Kong dollar HKD crossed here, indicating that the choice of Hong Kong dollars to keep accounts, rather than US dollars, to avoid the tragedy of DCC.
The following figures also make it clear what a hole it would be if you chose the exchange rate of FX (that is, by DCC) and would be 6.2% higher than the exchange rate of Visa.
Third, if the cashier doesn`t say anything, let you sign the Pose bill, take a careful look at the above amount before signing it, whether the above amount is shown in the local currency, or the extra one shows that there is a US dollar account, if there is a US dollar amount, plus a pile of exemptions, let the cashier cancel and rebrush the local currency.
Four, if encountered force DCC`s machine, cannot choose the currency, then changes a card to brush, generally forces the DCC`s machine to force a card organization`s card, Master is forced DCC, may choose the local currency with Visa.
Fifth, really can not, change to UnionPay, Express and other cards to brush, although UnionPay exchange rate is not good, Express 2% of the goods turn, these are compared with DCC are floating clouds.
Forced DCC how to do.
What if you meet the DCC, cashier when you swipe your card and refuse to cancel, or if you don`t know how to cancel, or if you don`t have time to mess around in a hurry?
First, do not sign on the Pose form,
Second, if the merchant must sign, you can write NO USD, on the dollar amount and then sign it again, and take a picture of the one given to the merchant at the same time.
When you return home, you can call the bank and ask for the cancellation of the DCC transaction and refund your overpaid money. Basically all my friends around me have returned the extra fee. If you sign it directly and don`t do anything, the money won`t come back.
When a bank complains, it should be noted that many bank customer service do not understand what DCC, means to explain to them, so directly say that your consumption amount is inconsistent with the amount recorded, and let them transfer to the department dealing with disputes. These people specialize in dealing with these issues, so they know more about this.
Author: colorful SH (from Douban)
