Qantas cash - any way to opt out of currency conversion?

[opusman]

Annoyingly I just had a restaurant in Spain select the "pay in AUD" option without asking me when paying with my Qantas Cash card, which I'm expecting will add about $30-40 to the final bill (no doubt Qantas will charge a fee to convert my EUR balance back to AUD as well).

Does anyone know if there's any way to prevent this "service" from being offered in the first place? It seems a big flaw in the QC product that even though it has a balance in the local currency it's still treated as a foreign card.

 

[markis10]

Are you sure it will see it as a foreign transaction, dynamic currency conversion is a Mastercard/Visacard scheme so there would be no way out of it, but do believe it should be treated as a local transaction.

 

[opusman]

It's not a MasterCard conversion, it's something that's done by the payment processor as a "convenience" but at a worse exchange rate. You are meant to be asked which currency you want to pay in.

 

[markis10]

It's not a MasterCard conversion, it's something that's done by the payment processor as a "convenience" but at a worse exchange rate. You are meant to be asked which currency you want to pay in.

However its a Mastercard and Visacard Scheme, and according to the FAQs, if you have enough AUD to cover it, you wont get any Qantas Cash fees:

Some overseas merchants or ATM operators may give you the option of paying in the local currency or AUD (This is called Dynamic Currency Conversion or DCC).
If you make a purchase or ATM withdrawal in a country where the local currency is the same as a currency in your Qantas Cash facility (e.g. using your US Dollar funds in the USA) and you opt in to a DCC service, this may result in a foreign exchange transaction at additional cost to you as the card will seek to transact in Australian Dollars.
If you have funds loaded in your Qantas Cash facility in the currency of the country you are in, you should not opt in to DCC. If the merchant gives you the option of paying in AUD please note that they will be able to determine the exchange rate used to convert your AUD to the local currency.

 

[RooFlyer]

It's not a MasterCard conversion, it's something that's done by the payment processor as a "convenience" but at a worse exchange rate. You are meant to be asked which currency you want to pay in.

I've always wondered about the relative cost of having a cc transaction charged in A$ vs local currency.

Its an A$ charge at some then unspecified FX rate, OR a foreign currency charge, converted on your cc statement plus (in most cases) the FX fee.

Don't suppose anyone has actually compared which of the 2 evils might be cheaper? I do use 28 degrees overseas these days, but as opusman observes, it can happen on the QC Mcard as well.

 

[opusman]

I didn't opt in, as stated in the original post the restaurant opted me in without asking!

I know what DCC is, I am asking is there any way to prevent it happening.

 

[markis10]

I've always wondered about the relative cost of having a cc transaction charged in A$ vs local currency.

Its an A$ charge at some then unspecified FX rate, OR a foreign currency charge, converted on your cc statement plus (in most cases) the FX fee.

Don't suppose anyone has actually compared which of the 2 evils might be cheaper? I do use 28 degrees overseas these days, but as opusman observes, it can happen on the QC Mcard as well.

Dynamic Currency Conversion usually has around a 4-5% spread, they passback commission to the shop etc. A $24 purchase via my Citibank Plus account last year at a chemist in HKG was opted in to DCC by the Chemist without me noticing, it became a $28 charge.

 

[markis10]

I didn't opt in, as stated in the original post the restaurant opted me in without asking!

I know what DCC is, I am asking is there any way to prevent it happening.

You have the right to say no and ask it to be charged in local currency, ie dont sign the receipt. Mastercard and Visacard also have chargeback provisions if you were not given the option to say no. Spain was an early adopter of DCC and the restaurant trade have adopted it with open arms given the commissions they get.

 

[opusman]

Doesn't work that way though. I put my pin in - at that point the total shown was in EUR - and gave the terminal back to the waiter. When I got given the receipt it had changed to AUD. So obviously the option is displayed after the pin has been entered, and the waiter simply pressed the AUD button.

 

[markis10]

Doesn't work that way though. I put my pin in - at that point the total shown was in EUR - and gave the terminal back to the waiter. When I got given the receipt it had changed to AUD. So obviously the option is displayed after the pin has been entered, and the waiter simply pressed the AUD button.

I would still put in a chargeback if you feel its worth it, although DCC rates versus Qantas Cash spread would not differ to much.

 

[opusman]

DCC will charge to convert EUR-AUD, and QC will charge to convert my EUR balance to AUD. I do not have an AUD balance.

 

[ozkid]

Doesn't work that way though. I put my pin in - at that point the total shown was in EUR - and gave the terminal back to the waiter. When I got given the receipt it had changed to AUD. So obviously the option is displayed after the pin has been entered, and the waiter simply pressed the AUD button.

Not sure if it's a major flaw of QC specifically; exactly the same happened (in SGD) when I purchased using Amex. When I noticed it had changed currency after the PIN, I started to say something but decided (for my purchase) the amount difference was not going to be worth it

 

[markis10]

DCC will charge to convert EUR-AUD, and QC will charge to convert my EUR balance to AUD. I do not have an AUD balance.

A chargeback in that case will be the best course of action.

 

[DeKa]

I have done a chargeback (different card though) in this instance. I had specifically asked to be charged in local currency, and put a big X in the local currency box on the receipt.

I bet that shop won't override people's selection of DCC again as they got hit with a chargeback of the entire amount! I asked the bank to charge back only the 5 or 6% variance but they wanted to chargeback the entire amount.

 

[anat0l]

This kind of thing is not particular to Qantas Cash. It applies to almost any credit card.

As far as I know, there's no way to "opt out" of it, i.e. there isn't a way to impose on your card a condition that no transaction shall be allowed if it uses DCC. Certainly I can't think of a way to do it with my existing cards, which have all experienced some encounter of whether to apply DCC or not (and I always say 'no'). I'm not sure about Spain - seems they are notorious for it - but in China it is said they are the worst on this one, doing a similar thing as expressed by the OP, or simply not understanding you and going straight to DCC (or pleading ignorance).

If it were not possible at the store to sort things out, then a chargeback would be the best consideration.