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Profiting From Ignorance About Currency Conversion
| September 21st, 2009 No commentsI was just reading Chris Elliott’s highly entertaining analysis of the schedule for the annual Ancillary Revenue Airline Conference, which is where nickel-and-diming is celebrated as a high art.
One of the seminars that Chris mentioned really caught my eye: “Profiting from Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) — Paul K. Ackermann, Vice President, Head of Sales – North America, Travelex”
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Dynamic Currency Conversion: Still A Scam
| March 9th, 2008 5 commentsI got nailed with a dynamic currency conversion charge at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam last weekend, although I had sworn I wouldn’t let that happen.
I’m talking about the practice of converting a transaction in a foreign currency to the customer’s native currency for a fee – usually 2 or 3 percent of the transaction amount. Unless you’re getting spectacularly ripped off by a bad credit card, this is always a raw deal. Your credit card will give you a better rate, and some cards have no surcharge at all.
Paying for dynamic currency conversion gets you absolutely nothing except the illusory comfort of paying in a familiar currency. In other words, it’s a rip-off.
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Another Warning On Dynamic Currency Conversion
| October 24th, 2007 1 commentCarol Pucci at the Seattle Times has raised afresh some warnings about dynamic currency conversion. This is the practice, which I’ve mentioned before, of converting a purchase in a foreign currency into your home currency.
Sounds handy, but the fees are a total rip-off.
Pucci’s column also mentioned another pet peeve of mine, the AAA Visa TravelMoney prepaid card, which charges an outrageous 7 percent fee on foreign currency transactions. She reports that AAA will be getting a new vendor and that fee will drop to 3 percent in February.
Better. Still not great.
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Don’t Fall For Dynamic Currency Conversion
| April 22nd, 2007 1 commentWe were annoyed by the poor service, lousy food and ridiculous prices at a restaurant in Toledo, Spain, but I would not have caused a scene if the management had not tried to finish it all off with a pernicious practice called dynamic currency conversion.
Jeanne Leblanc is a journalist, traveler and Web consultant. (
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