Should I use my AIB credit card or debit card in America?

[Brendan Burgess]

This is my understanding from reading their booklet "Schedule of International Transaction Charges" and from speaking to AIB on the phone.

(While this applies to AIB cards, I would guess that the principles are the same for the other banks. MoneyGuide Ireland has a good article ATM Charges for Non Euro Cash Withdrawals)

Top Tips

• Phone the number on the back of your card before you go, to let them know that you will be using your debit card and credit card in America. Otherwise the transaction may be blocked
• It's much cheaper to use your cards to pay for things, rather than withdrawing cash and paying in cash
• In general, use your debit card rather than your credit card for transactions over €20.
• In general, use your credit card for purchases under €20
• Don't withdraw small amounts of cash at ATMs, as there is a minimum charge of €2 from your bank, and around $4 from the American bank
• You will need both your credit card as well as your debit card for car hire and hotels - don't just rely on your debit card

Purchases including contactless transactions

Visa Debit Card - Currency Conversion Fee: 1.75% of euro value( Minimum €0.45 to maximum €11)
Visa Credit Card - Currency Conversion Fee: 2.75% of euro value - no minimum or maximum.

So pay for purchases with your debit card if you have cash in your account.

I assume that dollars are converted to euro at the mid rate and that I do not lose money on the buy/sell rate.

Example - buy something for €1,000 worth of dollars

Purchase price|Visa Debit|Visa Credit |Visa Credit Platinum
€1,000 equivalent |€11|€27.50|€22.50
€10 equivalent|€0.45|€0.25|€0.22

So for €20 or above, use your Debit Card

If you have a Platinum Visa card, you get back 0.5% of your spend.

Cash advance fees


Visa Debit Card
1) Currency Conversion Fee: 2.5% of euro value (no minimum or maximum, but daily limit is €250 or about €6)
+2) Cash Withdrawal Commission: 1% of euro value ( Minimum €2 ; max €6)
+3) A withdrawal fee from the American bank - varies c. $4 per transaction

Visa Credit Card
1) Cash Advance Fee: 1.5% of value ( Minimum €1.90)
+2) Currency Conversion Fee: 2.75% of euro value ((no minimum or maximum, but daily limit is €250 or about €6) )
+3) A withdrawal fee from the American bank - varies c. $4 per transaction

Cash advance fee for equivalent of €250 (the daily maximum)

|AIB Debit|AIB Credit
Currency Conversion| 2.5%|2.75%
Cash withdrawal|1%
Cash advance ||1.5%
Total|3.5% |4.25%

+$4 per transaction


So taking out €250 on a credit card costs €1.87 extra. If you clear your credit card balance in full by the due date, you pay no interest. If you don't pay your credit card balance in full, you pay interest from the date the transaction is posted to your account, so it would be a lot more expensive
If you pre-load your credit card before you go, you will save the 1.5% cash advance fee. However, if your card is stolen, and is used fraudulently, they are stealing your money, and not the bank's money, so you may have difficulty in getting it back. (According to the Visa Card phone person)

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Visa uses a mid-market rate for converting dollars into euro.

See their FAQ on the topic

You can see the rates here

For example, today AIB has a rate for selling US dollars of 1.2291 while the VISA rate was 1.262897

$100 in cash would cost you €81.36 before commissions and charges.
$100 on your visa card would cost you €79.18 before commissions and charges.

 

[michaelm]

I would use my credit card rather than my debit card. The difference in charges between the two seems marginal. If there is fraud on your credit card then that is primarily the bank's problem however fraud on your debit card is a world of personal pain. I've heard Frank Abagnale Jr. say similar in an interview also. And I wouldn't pre-load the credit card with my own cash as that defeats the purpose.

 

[michaelm]

€27.50 for a credit card instead of €11 for a debit card on expenditure of €1,000. I think that is worth having.

If one can afford to spend €1,000 in one transaction on a holiday/business trip then saving €16.50 (1.65%) doesn't seem huge to me. I end up paying an extra few euro to use my credit card rather than my debit card from time to time (with Ryanair for example).

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Just back from the states.

Amazing how slack they were with payments. You put the card in the machine and then take it out. They give you a piece of paper to sign. The amounts were always small, but they never checked the signature against the card. In a self service check out, I just put my card through the machine. I wasn't even asked to sign anything. If I had lost my card, anyone could have used it. They might be more careful about large amounts.

I made one cash withdrawal, for which a fee of €2 was shown separately on my bank statement. ATMs were everywhere - most convenience stores seemed to have them. For €2 this was more convenient than trying to find a bank which would not charge a fee.

Interestingly the credit card payments are all shown as just the euro amount, although I paid in dollars. The debit card payments are all detailed e.g. $100 @ 1.21 = €82.64

When a few more come through, I will see if there is any pattern in the charges and rates.

Brendan

 

[so-crates]

From memory - they aren't any better with larger amounts. Chip and pin is still the exception not the norm there so they simply do not have the same attitude to credit cards. Very unnerving when you go to a restaurant and they expect you to handover your card to them for them to walk away to deal with the transaction and all you get is a bit of paper to sign.

I did a similar exercise in 2012 and I found what AIB told you - smaller transactions use the credit card, larger use the debit card. I will try and dig up my results this evening.