Foreign transaction fees by bank
By Karla CastroUpdated October 31, 2026
A foreign transaction fee is extra, on top of the exchange rate. The percent is the one that bank prints for that card. This page links the bank documents opened on 31 October 2026. A card that is not named here is not given a percent.
Canada
Opened 31 October 2026. The Canadian rows are credit card documents. A debit card percent is included only when that bank's page printed one.
TD prints 2.5% on the First Class Travel Visa Infinite application, including on a refund. The U.S. Dollar Visa avoids that 2.5% on purchases in the U.S.
RBC RateAdvantage Visa prints 2.5% over the benchmark rate. RBC Bank, the U.S. card, is a different product: Signature Black Plus has no foreign transaction fee, and Signature Black has none on a U.S. dollar purchase.
Scotiabank prints 2.5%. Passport Visa Infinite +, Passport Visa Infinite Privilege, Gold American Express, and Platinum American Express have no foreign currency conversion fee.
BMO prints 2.50% added on a purchase and 2.50% taken off a refund. The cost of borrowing PDF does not name a BMO card that skips that percent.
CIBC prints 2.5% of the converted amount on debits and credits. That summary does not apply to Simplii Financial credit cards.
United States
Chase says purchases outside the U.S. with the cards on its no foreign transaction fee page are not charged that fee. Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, and Freedom Flex are on that page.
Wells Fargo prints a 3% international purchase fee on the debit card. The Autograph credit card page says that card has no foreign transaction fee.
Capital One says it does not charge foreign transaction fees on any of its credit cards.
Citi says the AAdvantage Globe Mastercard does not charge foreign transaction fees. This page does not copy a percent onto a Citi card that was not opened.
Bank of America already has its own page, Bank of America foreign transaction fee.
Upload the statement on Expenvo. The PDF stays on your device. Expenvo lists the lines. It does not sign in to the bank, and it does not move the money.
Questions
- Is 2.5% the fee at every bank?
- No. The Canadian card documents opened on 31 October 2026 print 2.5% or 2.50% for the cards named. Scotiabank names four cards with no conversion fee. The US pages opened name cards with no foreign transaction fee.
- Does the fee show as its own line?
- Often the percent is inside the converted amount, not a second line with the words foreign transaction fee. Match the purchase, the date, and the amount on the statement to the receipt.
- How do I avoid the fee?
- Use a card the bank says has no foreign transaction fee or no currency conversion fee. Paying in the card's own currency can also skip a conversion. A merchant that converts the price for you is a different charge, on the dynamic currency conversion page.