Visa [credit card] profiteering

JuJu · #1 31.05.2007, 11:18

Been in Switzerland nearly a year now and was just reviewing my Swiss Visa card bills. I do quite a lot of Euro transactions on the card which incur a 0.70% processing fee. They seem to methodically round these fees up to the nearest Rap and the same with the total bill e.g. 1988.38 goes to 1988.40. OK a tiny amount, but suspicious little me thinks their software is clever enough to ensure the bank makes these .01 or .02 on every bill they send out. Certainly is on 10/10 of my bills. Nice little earner if they do it to all the customers. Anyone else have the same experience or am I just unlucky.

jenniferpache · #2 14.06.2007, 20:10

	Quote:	JuJu
	Been in Switzerland nearly a year now and was just reviewing my Swiss Visa card bills. I do quite a lot of Euro transactions on the card which incur a 0.70% processing fee. They seem to methodically round these fees up to the nearest Rap and the same with the total bill e.g. 1988.38 goes to 1988.40. OK a tiny amount, but suspicious little me thinks their software is clever enough to ensure the bank makes these .01 or .02 on every bill they send out. Certainly is on 10/10 of my bills. Nice little earner if they do it to all the customers. Anyone else have the same experience or am I just unlucky.

No, no, my friend, this is an old story - of course you are not alone! It happens to me too. It happens to everyone who dares to use a credit card. And they (the credit givers) do it in other countries too. Visa is HUGE - imagine 1 or 2 cents taken from millions of people. They are raking it in. Alas, if we travel, we need the card - a small??? luxury we have to pay for.

couta · #3 14.06.2007, 20:22

somehow off topic, but an IT analyst in a bank in OZ managed ( goes back a good 17 years), so skim 2 cents every month from every account from the bank he used to work for .... it turns out that he was already up 1.2 mil over 22 months... how he got caught ?? well one customer who was on the dole checked his bank account ( which had 3 cents) and when he got his statement just for the laugh of it, he went to the bank and complain that he only had 1 cent in his account and he wanted his money back ( this was before bank charges ). well.. things started getting tracked and voila ....

so yes 2 cents over a while multiplied over thousands of accounts is a good business....

AbFab · #4 14.06.2007, 21:10

	Quote:	JuJu
	Been in Switzerland nearly a year now and was just reviewing my Swiss Visa card bills. I do quite a lot of Euro transactions on the card which incur a 0.70% processing fee. They seem to methodically round these fees up to the nearest Rap and the same with the total bill e.g. 1988.38 goes to 1988.40. OK a tiny amount, but suspicious little me thinks their software is clever enough to ensure the bank makes these .01 or .02 on every bill they send out. Certainly is on 10/10 of my bills. Nice little earner if they do it to all the customers. Anyone else have the same experience or am I just unlucky.

I have no idea where you were before Switzerland, but did you buy items in another currency? Credit cards are actually one of the better ways of paying in another currency. What's the alternative?

Javo · #5 27.06.2007, 22:29

i have the same problem. my visa debit card takes the worst exchange rate of the week and uses it. i've called them on it because they should take the exchange rate of the day of the transaction. they say that there was a transaction delay.

i stopped using Visa and switched to American Express (they specialize in traveler situations).

Javo

cricketer · #6 28.06.2007, 19:14

Not only Visa.When I go back to the UK and use my Mastercard and come home to check lo and behold a 2% handling fee plus a really crap exchange rate. Banks are just thieves really

Mark75 · #7 28.06.2007, 19:49

	Quote:	JuJu
	Been in Switzerland nearly a year now and was just reviewing my Swiss Visa card bills. I do quite a lot of Euro transactions on the card which incur a 0.70%* processing fee.*

You are right about the rounding, but keep in mind that a processing fee of 0.7% is a pretty good deal. Other issuers (e.g. AECS) charge up to 2.5%!

William Tell · #8 28.06.2007, 20:34

Mastercard called me yesterday, and said I had some strange transactions on my card, and asked me to verify them. These transactions where not mine. They stopped the scam even before it started! Apparently, someone stole my number (not the card) and tested it out with a few low transaction in Canada ($6), and Mastercard cought it. Nice work.

Regarding interest rates - that is one thing I have never had a problem with in Switzerland. The rates here are low. Mortgage is as low as 2.5%

DaveA · #9 29.06.2007, 08:18

That happened to someone I know too. The same kind of transactions in Canada too.

dave

	Quote:	William Tell
	Mastercard called me yesterday, and said I had some strange transactions on my card, and asked me to verify them. These transactions where not mine. They stopped the scam even before it started! Apparently, someone stole my number (not the card) and tested it out with a few low transaction in Canada ($6), and Mastercard cought it. Nice work. Regarding interest rates - that is one thing I have never had a problem with in Switzerland. The rates here are low. Mortgage is as low as 2.5%

marmoset · #10 29.06.2007, 15:10

	Quote:	JuJu
	Been in Switzerland nearly a year now and was just reviewing my Swiss Visa card bills. I do quite a lot of Euro transactions on the card which incur a 0.70% processing fee. They seem to methodically round these fees up to the nearest Rap and the same with the total bill e.g. 1988.38 goes to 1988.40. OK a tiny amount, but suspicious little me thinks their software is clever enough to ensure the bank makes these .01 or .02 on every bill they send out. Certainly is on 10/10 of my bills. Nice little earner if they do it to all the customers. Anyone else have the same experience or am I just unlucky.

Ask a knowledgeable backoffice geezer

"According to the Swiss local settlement regulation, the fraction of the interest to be paid or received
as a result of a commercial transaction with banks in Switzerland need to be rounded up/down to
CHF 0.00 or 0.05.

Rounding rules:
CHF 0.01 and 0.02 to rounded down to CHF 0.00
CHF 0.03, 0.04, 0.06, 0.07 to be rounded up/down to CHF 0.05
CHF 0.08 and 0.09 to be rounded up to CHF 0.10

Hoping this answers your query.

Best regards,"

chiguy · #11 08.02.2008, 10:45

Not sure if this deserves a new thread or not (moderators feel free to move this if it does), but I just wanted to make people aware of this site which is dealing with a lawsuit in the US regarding charges by credit card companies for foreign currency transactions.

As I understand it, it's only for credit cards from the listed US banks so this obviously won't impact many EFers, but just the same, there are plenty of Americans on EF who could stand to benefit from this.

Claim forms are available on the website. The banks are supposed to provide you with electronic copies of old statements if you need them. The deadline for filing is May 30, 2008.

	Quote:
	Subject to final Court approval, a settlement has been reached in In re Foreign Currency Conversion Fee Antitrust Litigation (MDL 1409). This web site supplies information about the litigation and the settlement, and provides links to relevant documents for Members of the Settlement Classes and others interested in the settlement. The lawsuit is about the price cardholders of Visa-, MasterCard-, or Diners Club-branded payment cards were charged to make transactions in a foreign currency, or with a foreign merchant, between February 1, 1996 and November 8, 2006. Plaintiffs challenge how the prices of credit and debit/ATM card foreign transactions were set and disclosed, including claims that Visa, MasterCard, their member banks, and Diners Club conspired to set and conceal fees, typically of 1-3% of foreign transactions, and that Visa and MasterCard inflated their base exchange rates before applying these fees. The Defendants include Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, Bank of America, Bank One/First USA, Chase, Citibank, MBNA, HSBC/Household, and Washington Mutual/Providian. They deny the Plaintiffs' claims and say they have done nothing wrong, improper, or unlawful.

Sport_guy · #12 11.02.2008, 14:12

I have prepaid MASTERCARD, couse my bank assistant said I cant get VISA couse I am new in CH (that is not true as I found out now). Anyways for my cruise that costed 2.000 dolars, I had to pay extra 25 CHF extra for pop up fee and after they took another 30 for paying in differnt currency.

I think that is not totaly normal. In my country that never happened!!! And they say swiss bank system is the best in the world - my ass!!!