> Yes, I'm not from USA, and we don't have any cards with real cash-back. Typically exchange rate for all banks in my country is like xe.com + 3-5%. It is terrible.
Ahh, now I understand where the disagreement is coming from. For US cards, it's not cash-back rewards which make them a good value for foreign exchange. It's that the networks (eg, VISA, or Mastercard) offer currency conversion rates which are much closer to par than local retail services. (or, your bank, apparently.)
This article has a few good example charts for the networks:
Typically there is a 1% fee for the service. However, many premium cards will waive this fee as a privilege. If you have access to a card like this, it's a no-brainer.
Our banks adds their commission over Visa/MC one. Always. And additional commission for "foreign" ATM, typical. Even if your Visa is in USD / MC is in Euro and not native currency.
I don't know how is it work, but I see such transactions in bank's online service as "Transaction Amount: xxx.yy AMD, In account currency: zzz.qq USD" and when you divide one by the other you get something like 5-7% difference with FOREX exchange rate (of course, not to you side!).
If your card is in native currency, it is even worse, as there is double-conversion via system currency (USD in case of Visa, EUR in case of MC).
I don't know, why our banks have their own exchange rates and not Visa/MC rates and how Visa/MC allows this.
Ahh, now I understand where the disagreement is coming from. For US cards, it's not cash-back rewards which make them a good value for foreign exchange. It's that the networks (eg, VISA, or Mastercard) offer currency conversion rates which are much closer to par than local retail services. (or, your bank, apparently.)
This article has a few good example charts for the networks:
https://www.thinmargin.com/blogs/visa-vs-mastercard-who-give...
Typically there is a 1% fee for the service. However, many premium cards will waive this fee as a privilege. If you have access to a card like this, it's a no-brainer.