Credit Cards Watch out when using your credit card abroad

Going on holiday to France, Italy or Spain ( medical insurance ) this year?

Then beware of a new trick to overcharge your credit or debt card. (loan quotations)

Many retailers and restaurateurs in these countries now have the ability to ask you to authorise ( mortgage quotes ) your bill in euros but then they charge your card in £sterling. This may sound innocuous but theres a sting in the tail. The retailers charge you an additional fee of up to 4% for the service! The service is called "dynamic currency conversion". (life insurance policies)

Guidelines from Visa say that British cardholders should verbally be given the option ( car insurance policy ) to either have their card charged in euros or to authorise in euros and then be charged in £sterling when the transaction goes through. In practice, it seems that few of us are being offered the alternative. Many retailers are automatically charging us in £sterling - and with the extra fee! The lack of explanation ( mortgages ) may be down to the language barrier but we are a little more cynical than that! Even where an explanation is given, we doubt whether many retailers and ( cheap mortgages ) restaurateurs will clearly spell out their extra service fee. After all to them, extra profit is extra profit!

Click here for page 2 (remortgages)

(Cheap mortgage)