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You Are Here: Home > Personal Finance > Credit Cards > FAQ > Question and answer
Using your Credit Card abroad

Watch out for this sly rip off
Last update : March 2010
Never discount the credit card industry's thirst for extra profits at our expense.

case in point is the nasty Dynamic Currency Conversion (DDC) which is yet another trick to shake us down for more money when using our Credit and Debit Cards abroad.

It works like this -
Watch out when abroad - many retailers will try to con you with the DCC trick
  • You are in a Restaurant and when the bill arrives you're offered the facility to pay in pounds rather than the local currency of Euros
  • If you elect to pay in pounds the retailer can then legally charge you an extra service fee of up to 4%
  • This fee will be included in the bill and not listed separately so you won't know it's there
  • The 4% goes straight to the retailer, so it's in their interest to try to force it on unsuspecting customers
The rules almost certainly won't be obeyed

Credit Card regulations state the customer should be offered the bill in both the local currency and pounds so we can choose. But many businesses try to hide this fact and only offer the facility to pay in sterling.

It has been known for places to make lame excuses like 'they can only charge in pounds because the machine is broken etc'. If this happened to me I'd refuse to pay the bill unless in the local currency - I also wouldn't leave a tip.

Be on the lookout for this (legal) holiday scam and don't pay with your plastic in any currency but the local one.
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