DCC (Dynamic Currency Conversion) - why you want to avoid it

Good points. I have the same experience but I didn't know that Amex was commonly accepted in Brazil so I haven't tried to use it. Maybe in the future I'll try to use it. I need to check to see if my AMEX card has foreign transaction fees. Normally I can press the right button to not convert it but sometimes it doesn't work or something happens.

@jasonlovesdogs I'm sure that VISA/MC are more universally accepted, but in my experience (Restaurants, Fast Food, Grocery Stores) both DISCOVER and AMEX are accepted.  DISCOVER has no FX fee, while with AMEX, it's mainly the Travel cards that earn Membership Rewards or Hotel points/FF Miles that don't have FX fees.  I do have several VISA/MC cards that also have no FX fee, but as I mentioned, I only use them as a last resort because I don't like having to deal with the DCC.

Glad you brought this up.

ATM screen action buttons are all on the lower right to proceed... so unless you read the screen showing the currency conversion scam  and look LEFT for the decline button it becomes super easy to fall for this obviously unnecessary function. Why would I want to pay a 12 -15% markup? Restaurants are even worse with those hand held devices.

@Gerard Nardini I agree, it's a SCAM.  I called both Chase and Capital One and they told me there was nothing they could do.  It's all processed in Brazil.  You are also right in the restaurants.  The servers get confused and sometimes pick the wrong button.  That's why I gave up and just use either AMEX or DISCOVER.  If I have to use VISA or MC, I give a big speech telling them to make sure the transaction is processed in REAIS.

I really can't think of any purpose of this other than it being just a money grab scam.  It does nothing to mitigate any FX fees on your credit card.  Those are based upon the country where the transaction is made, not the currency.  So you're paying double.

Has anyone had this issue with Amazon? At least that's what I think it is. They charge me one charge for the item it appears and then another charge for an unknown reason and this is every time. I tried to dispute it through Amazon Brazil and they don't understand why the charge is there but it's always there every time I order something. So I can only assume that it's a currency conversion charge. Both charges say Amazon but they say something different. I have my Amazon Visa card attached to Amazon Brazil for payments. I successfully disputed it a couple times with my Amazon credit card but it keeps happening every time I order something. It's always a separate charge that's about $2 or so extra.

07/16/24 @jasonlovesdogs.  That sounds like a charge to offset the fees that the (probably Brazilian) banks serving as go-betweens charge for honoring a transaction on a foreign credit card.  If so, the charges would be invisible to Amazon-BR Customer Service, but Amazon-US Customer Service should be able to identify them. 

It could be a currency conversion charge, but I would expect that to be somewhat higher, more in the $5 range.

@jasonlovesdogs It's definitely not DCC, because they have to give you some time of indication they are converting to dollars.  If it were some type of FX charge, it would be itemized on your credit card statement.

Are you sure it isn't some type of delivery charge?  I've purchased items from amazon.br and haven't experienced any mystery charges.

If you are concerned about the costs involved in Brazilian transactions, why not just send your dollars to your Brazilian bank with Wise (or whomever), then use a debit card or pix to make payments here from that account. It seems this would be the cheapest way...

    If you are concerned about the costs involved in Brazilian transactions, why not just send your dollars to your Brazilian bank with Wise (or whomever), then use a debit card or pix to make payments here from that account. It seems this would be the cheapest way...        -@Peter Itamaraca

1. Do Brazilian banks allow accounts in USD? 
2. Re: the US - Reais exchange rate and fees in the bank - how do they compare with credit card exchange rates / fees?

For credit card exchange rates, I am assuming a US based credit card with no international transaction fees and exchange rates from US - R$ at the middle of the range of fx exchanges.

Wise has a very good article on DCC: https://wise.com/us/blog/choose-local-c … oreign-atm

07/17/24 Do Brazilian banks allow accounts in USD? 
Re: the US - Reais exchange rate and fees in the bank - how do they compare with credit card exchange rates / fees?

For credit card exchange rates, I am assuming a US based credit card with no international transaction fees and exchange rates from US - R$ at the middle of the range of fx exchanges.
   
    -@Pablo888

The last time I checked, Brazilian banks were only permitted to open foreign currency accounts for currency traders regulated by the Banco Central.

The last time I made a SWIFT transfer (July 1) Banco do Brasil's rate was 1.6% lower than Wise's at the same time, so basically a mid-market rate.  There was no fee, but there was the IOF (Financial Operations Tax) at 0.38%. 

The few times that I've used a US credit card to make a BRL purchase, the exchange rate has always been worse than the bank rate, but not by a lot.

The last time I made a SWIFT transfer (July 1) Banco do Brasil's rate was 1.6% lower than Wise's at the same time, so basically a mid-market rate.  There was no fee, but there was the IOF (Financial Operations Tax) at 0.38%. 

Geez, that seems like a lightening strike.  LOL...  I have a BB Americas account so I'll check.  Are you referring to BB Remessa or something else?

07/17/24    The last time I made a SWIFT transfer (July 1) Banco do Brasil's rate was 1.6% lower than Wise's at the same time, so basically a mid-market rate.  There was no fee, but there was the IOF (Financial Operations Tax) at 0.38%. 
Geez, that seems like a lightening strike.  LOL...  I have a BB Americas account so I'll check.  Are you referring to BB Remessa or something else?   

    -@mikehunter

Just a regular SWIFT transfer ("Ordem do Exterior") from my bank account in the US to my BB account in Brazil.  Wise's rate at that day and hour was 5.5728, and the rate I got from BB was 5.4846.