AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Travel Varying Credit Card Charges

Well I use visa issued by a UK bank and visa issued by the bank of belize-neither of these has currency conversion charges which leads me to suspect that the American companies are run by a bunch of crooks and the English and Belizean ones are run by truly upright and honest people.
So how does the song go I would rather be a Belizean or an Englishman than an American(yah boo etc.)

London is full of fogs--and serious people. Whether the fogs produce the serious people or whether the serious people produce the fogs, I don't know, but the whole thing rather gets on my nerves.

I tried to point out that some might be unjustly accusing Belize merchants so in my efforts to be fair to all, let me point out that not all credit card companies are equal in what "perks" they provide. As an example, with the two US cards I have, the one that has the additional 2% charge on foreign only transactions, gives me a 5% cash rebate on all purchases. The other one gives me airline miles (with all the restrictions that come with those). I consider the 5% rebate to be worth the additional 2% charge. So when you all are analizing your choice of cards, keep all the facts in mine just like we needed to do with the merchants. You might say that when it comes to those credit card perks, there is no free lunch.

PS: Chloe, it is the 5% room service charge that I have a problem with.

The credit card...........The price of the convenience for not paying cash, and possibly indicating a cash flow problem to begin with, and a need to reassess travel plans.

True enough about the convenience factor, I've always appreciated the convenience over even traveler's checks when out of the country. It seems these % charges for international transactions by the CC issuing banks seem a relatively new thing... I don't remember seeing them in years past.

re: the cash flow issue, seems to me the revolving finance charges on a card w/ a balance would make the 2-3% per international transaction the minor end of the fees. In other words, one in that situation has bigger problems :rolleyes: . After all, as soon as one makes a new transaction when carying a balance, that transaction starts incurring finance charges btw. roughly 8% & 20% (or more), depending on the card... & that's on top of the finance charges on the prior balance ... Fortunately I have not had to subject myself to such usury

Dogmatic - may I point out that some of us travel freaks use cards like American Express solely for the miles... I put everything possible on my AmEx card - pay in full - and got to go to Thailand on Singapore Airlines - Business Class - for FREE!

evening, you da woman. You illustrated my point precisely, positive versus negative cash flow.