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Getting around Bonaire: Bank Fee to use your card to pay for car rental
Bonaire Talk: Getting around Bonaire: Archives: Archives 2007- 2008: Archives - 2007-06-01 to 2008-12-31: Bank Fee to use your card to pay for car rental
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ann Phelan - www.bonairecaribbean.com (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3046) on Monday, January 21, 2008 - 6:32 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Has anyone been charged 5% to use your card to pay for your car rental please?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ron Myers (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #553) on Monday, January 21, 2008 - 6:48 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Not ever. We us Amex at A&B with no extra charge to date.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By pat murphy (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1378) on Monday, January 21, 2008 - 9:10 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

we haven't rented a truck in a few years but we were never charged anything extra by the credit card company when we did.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sparty (BonaireTalker - Post #92) on Monday, January 21, 2008 - 9:19 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I am assuming you are refering to an additional fee charged by the rental agency. If that is the case, the actual cost of using the card will likely be even higher when you factor in the percentages added by Mastercard, Visa, Etc. and then sometimes another percentage by the bank that issued the card for "foreign exchange fees".

I will continue to use my credit card to pay for vehicle rentals because, even with the "foreign transaction charges", it is less expensive than the rental company CDW charges. However, I plan on bringing lots of travelers checks for meals and etc. However, even that is not straight forward because if your credit card is giving you a percentage casg rebate or mileage credits, that offsets somewhat their "exchange fees".

It would be interesting to know which rental company, if any, is now charging the fee you are inquiring about. It is my understanding that is against the credit card company rules, but I have seen similar practices elsewhere. I think if anyone is trying to charge the extra fees, the public should be made aware of that so they can be fully informed when making reservations.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Babs (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #12067) on Monday, January 21, 2008 - 10:14 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ann, I ran into that situation on my last trip, same thing with the tank rentals. It was explained as the bank charge for using a credit card. I had never heard that before and wondered if it was a new fee or if it was just never noted in the past. The tank rental agency I used said it would be deferred if I paid cash and I was given the information before I signed up for the service.
I would like to know the actual reason that this is now being added.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jake Richter - NetTech/Bonaire Insider (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #6243) on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 7:36 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

The foreign transaction fees apply only when your card is charged in a currency which is not the native currency for your card. At present all CC transactions on Bonaire are charged in dollars, so there should be no foreign transaction fees charged by your CC company (I use my credit cards on Bonaire all the time).

However, my bank back in the U.S. just started charging foreign transaction fees for get NAF out of ATMs here on Bonaire, which really sucks.

The 5% some business are charging as a credit card fee is to allegedly cover their CC processing costs. The CC processing fees for merchants are higher on Bonaire than in the U.S., but I know from our own business here on Bonaire that we pay quite a bit less than 5% to the bank when someone gives us a credit card.

I know under U.S. CC merchant agreements you can lose your merchant status (and thus ability to accept credit cards) if you charge extra to customers who want to use their credit cards. I have not read our agreements here on Bonaire to see if that's the case with our bank here too.

Personally, I like to make things as easy and convenient as possible for customers to pay me and not give them a reason to go elsewhere or defer purchase because of the hassle of paying cash, which is why I think it's better to accept credit cards and absorb the fees, than to charge a 5% (or whatever) premium, and possibly lose the customer. But that's just me...

Jake

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sparty (BonaireTalker - Post #93) on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 10:53 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I think that if you research this site, you will find mention of the credit card companies now charging foreign fees even if the charges are in dollars. They are looking at the location of the charge, not the currency involved.

I think the only way around that is if the vendor has a US account that they run the charges thru.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sparty (BonaireTalker - Post #94) on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 10:59 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I am having a problem finding the edit function. I know it's possible but that you have a very short time frame to make changes. How do you access that function

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Smits (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #535) on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 11:08 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

The edit function is in the header of your message. Next to the printer icon.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sparty (BonaireTalker - Post #95) on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 11:48 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Kaye (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #188) on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 11:19 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

CapitolOne is one of the (few?) CC banks not charging foreign transaction fees for purchases made in US$ outside US. CitiBank charges 3% even if the transaction is made in US$ and even if (as in the British Virgin Islands) the US$ is actually the local legal tender! If it's outside the US, scr#w the customer.

(I have strong feelings about this, in case you were wondering.)

David

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By ron DeMink (BonaireTalker - Post #45) on Thursday, January 24, 2008 - 6:54 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I switched to cap 1 also, only because of NO foreign fee, they are the ONLY one that doesnt charge addl fees

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Peter Oliveira (LBR28) (BonaireTalker - Post #32) on Thursday, January 24, 2008 - 9:30 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I guess I've been lucky for all these years, I have citibank and never have been charged a foreign exchange fee in Bonaire. I have however been charged such fee "3%" when using same card in Canada. There the charges were in Canadian dollars then converted to USA currency.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By ron DeMink (BonaireTalker - Post #46) on Sunday, January 27, 2008 - 3:10 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

you wernt lucky, Citi didnt charge until this year. Nearly all banks started this year charging, wether it was in foreign or usa currency...thats why i am using my Crap-1 card this year...no fees!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By George Blanchard (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #295) on Monday, January 28, 2008 - 3:41 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

We rented from Hertz and used Amex and were not charged any additional fees. Most of the time we used Amex on the Island, however, a few merchants would only take Visa or Mastercard (including the government when paying departure tax). Since I have not received my statements yet I do not know if we will be charged any fees by the credit cards cos. or banks. If so, a strong letter of protest will follow payment and a Cap One Card will be sought.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By George Blanchard (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #299) on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - 2:43 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I just got my Visa bill from Citicard and there were no extra fees for foreign purchases.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By ron DeMink (BonaireTalker - Post #48) on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 - 6:03 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Your citicard bill was prob. for 2007 charges primarily, I have citi and amex and both had an insert(that usually gets thrown away)stating that fees will be charged for foreign goods and services in US and foreign currency

 


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