Credit card caveat

In Ireland in June ’12, my wife and I ran into a new phenomenon regarding credit cards — new for us, at least.

We use a MasterCard from USAA. (A USAA card is available to those who have once served in any capacity in the Armed Services of the USA and their families.) This credit card carries only a 1% charge over the conversion rate, compared to ATM conversions which cost us about 1.8%, so it seemed logical to use the card for purchases when we could.

What we found surprising was that, if we weren’t careful, the charge often was made in dollars, not euros. The net result was an up-charge of about 8.5%.

Businesses’ POS machines we encountered in Ireland required each handler to indicate whether or not to convert the charge into dollars on the spot, incurring (for us) an unfavorable conversion fee. After the first time a charge of ours was converted to dollars by the establishment, we quickly became aware.

At one B&B, the owner kept clicking on the option for the charge to be made in euros, but the machine would not accept that answer. Of course, we paid that bill in cash euros.

It is important to tell the merchant that you want the charge in euros, not dollars.

DENNY THOMAS
Wando, SC