Thread by @kaarmann

1/ When the ATM or a card machine abroad offers to charge you in “home currency” - it’s not being nice, it is trying to take your money. This is a shady practice called DCC. We now warn when you're tricked into it.

2/ Our research across the European ATMs showed the average hidden fee of 8%. Top 3 DCC contributors:

- Santander: 8%
- Sabadell: 3.5%
- Cashzone: 13%

3/ It’s the same in central London, walked across to the corner of the Liverpool St station. Got hit with a £2.99 international fee + 12.5% markup.

4/ Our users are most conscious of exchange rates - yet we’re seeing close to 1000 transactions per day, where our cardholders fall victim to the conversion. The ATMs are making it ever harder to avoid DCC.

5/ Online is the same - airlines, eBay, even amazon will try to trick you into bad exchange rates. But these are impossible for the card issuer to detect.

https://twitter.com/kaarmann/status/1143227689890918400

6/ Here’s the launch post for the new warning feature with some of the research we did for it.
transferwise.com/gb/blog/notifi…