In my experience that is not always the case, it depends on the cards issuing currency and the card branding (VISA MasterCard, AMEX, Discover and others). I have been to places where it was cheaper to let the merchant do the conversion for me than my bank. Note this may not always be the case, but for larger purchases/payments you may want to check it out before paying.
Example 1 -
Card network: VISA
Card Currency: USD
I make a purchase today in JMD the conversion rate is 126.27. If I go to Bill Expresses website, they allow me to pay in JMD or USD. Their conversion rate is $1USD to $126.30. So If I pay JMD$10,000 worth of bills I would pay:
USD $79.20 if I let VISA/Bank do the conversion.
JMD $79.18 if I let Bill Express bill me directly in USD.
Example 2 -
Card network: MasterCard
Card Currency: USD
I make a purchase today in JMD the conversion rate is 127.44. If I go to Bill Expresses website, they allow me to pay in JMD or USD. Their conversion rate is $1USD to $126.30. So If I pay JMD$10000 worth of bills I would pay:
USD $78.47 if I let VISA/Bank do the conversion.
USD $79.18 if I let Bill Express bill me directly in USD.
Keep in mind:
1.That the Card Networks set the currency rate for that your card uses, not the bank/issuer. Though a bank/issuer has the ability to ignore that.
2. That even letting your bank do the conversion can work against you for two reasons:
- Exchange rate rounding.
- When your transactions settled/posted.
- Your bank changes are currency conversion fee (aka foreign transaction fee) - this can be avoid by using cards that have no foreign transaction fees.
So Your final bill may be higher than you thought.
The rates the card networks set are changed once a day.
On the flip side -
VISA USD to JMD = 126.35/USD
MasterCard USD to JMD = 127.44/USD
Visa Calculator:
https://usa.visa.com/support/consume...alculator.html
MasterCard:
https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/cons...-currency.html