Credit card refunds in foreign currency - hit with the conversion rate

Hi folks,

I have a bit of a problem here and my credit card company is saying they can't do anything about it.

I placed an order online for some computer items last month which was cancelled by the retailer two days later and they've refunded the full amount. Unfortunately the transaction is in british pounds.

In both cases (of the initial order and the refund) the credit card company (it's a visa card) applied the exchange rate and the 2.99% conversion fee into euro, and between the order and the refund I'm down almost 100 euro.

I've contacted the credit card company and they're saying these are visa rules and they can't do anything to refund the rest of the amount. It's quite obvious I won't get anywhere with them, so I'm wondering should I just take the hit or is there another option to pursue this?

The retailer said they've refunded the order in full as far as they are concerned, which is correct.

The credit card company have applied the 1.15 eur/gbp conversion on the 31st of march and then given 1.09 eur/gbp conversion rate on the 2nd of april for the refund.

Any help/suggestions are more than welcome.

nope not much you can do, if you buy in foreign currency and then do a return you have to suffer the FX I'm afraid

If you'd bought in cash you'd have the same problem with the different rates and having to pay commission on the exchange. it's unfortunate, and thankfully i've never had it happen to me with a large amount, but c'est la vie!

Right, I guess I'll take the hit then and just stop thinking about it.

If the exchange had worked in your favour, would you have paid the extra refund over to the retailer ?

jpd said:

If the exchange had worked in your favour, would you have paid the extra refund over to the retailer ?

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OP's issue is not with the retailer, but with the credit-card company, who like other commercial financial institution, operate a differential on the rates at which they buy currencies and the rates at which they sell them.

Don't taake the hit i used to work with a credit card provider if your ask for the disputes department they will resolve it for you. Your entitled to the difference as its the credit card currency exchange thats causign the issue as its built into all foreign transactions.

Before you contact them get all your facts straight such as that the retailer refunded the whole amount you should see this on your statement if its out by the Foreign currency transactions commission fee say 2.65% the bank owes you - the majority of the information will be on your printed statement.

Out of curriocity which bank or credit card provider is it?

It's MBNA and I already spoke to their disputes department and they're having none of it. They're saying it's out of their hands and that VISA is charging them the commission fee (2.99%) and they have no choice but to pass it on to me.

They told me VISA would only allow them to refund the exchange rate if the transaction was fraudulent, ie if my card was charged for some reason but I didn't actually place an order.

In my case I placed an order and the retailer cancelled it.

Retailed did refund the whole amount. I was thinking of taking this to the financial regulator but MBNA are regulated by the UK regulator. Don't really know what to do, I was resigned to just taking the hit until I saw your response. Now I'm back to thinking that it's really not fair - I didn't get my money back, retailer didn't get anything out of it, it's just the bank making money twice out of a refund!

DannyBoy said:

... They're saying it's out of their hands and that VISA is charging them the commission fee (2.99%) and they have no choice but to pass it on to me....

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No choice? Ah the poor pets. Truth is of course they have a choice. What they mean is that they don't want to pay it on your behalf.

Well, I'm just trying to find out what my options are. I was in this situation before years ago with a transaction in US$ and back then I was with AIB. They made no fuss about refunding the exact euro amount. It's obvious MBNA aren't going to do any such thing.