International Credit Card Fee

Do you recall a couple of years ago when the hot "spam" topic was e-mail postage fees? The threat was that congress would pass this tax secretly. That was combined with a threat that we were shortly going to be taxed for anything purchased over the Internet. Whatever happened to those spam messages?

I ask the question because, well, here is a little charge that has been created by one of the largest corporations worldwide (but still not a government) and passed through by our credit card companies and no one has raised a peep, a whimper.

You'll likely only see it if you've used any of your VISA cards to purchase something from overseas. Mine showed up on a couple of book purchases from England and a software program from the Netherlands, I think. The amounts are generally low so you might be prone to just pass over them. But I think it's a "foot in the door."

What you'll see on your statement is a charge to "International Txn Fee" When I googled that term I got the following:

GEMC Federal Credit Union

15. Foreign Transactions: Visa currently charges an International Assessment Fee of 1% for purchases and cash advances made in foreign countries and a 0.8% fee for purchases and cash advances made in U.S. dollars in foreign countries. The International Assessment Fee is not included in the transaction amount posted to your account; it will post as a separate transaction on your statement under the description “International Txn Fee”. The conversion rate to dollars will be determined in accordance with the operation regulations established by Visa International. Currently the currency conversion rate used to determine the transaction amount in U.S. dollars is a rate selected from a range of rates available in wholesale currency markets or the government-mandated rate in effect on day prior to the applicable central processing date.

(from https://www.gemc.org/forms_app/message2e.html)

Of course the card issuing companies will say it's just a charge like others they pass throw. But on another web site I found the following:

The ISA fee is assessed to issuers not cardholders. The issuer has sole discretion regarding whether or not to pass this fee on to cardholders. (http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:aTlyWMVzw2gJ:www.cucorp.com/files/cucorp/191/file/CULending%2520Monthly%2520Promotions/Memos/Visa%2520Single-Currency%2520and%2520Multi-Currency%2520International%2520Transaction%2520Fees%25203%25203%25202008.doc+international+txn+fee&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)

So we don't need to worry any more about government taxing us for Internet and email usage, big corporation has already done it for them.