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Comment by imp0cat | Hacker News Reader

Nowadays banks usually allow you to block DCC (dynamic currency conversion) and it is definitely worth it if you travel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_currency_conversion

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Thank you for telling me what it's called!

On the positive side, it seems that Wise must block it because I never see the DCC "choice" when using a Wise card.

As a negative point, I've noticed that AirBnB, which used to use reasonable conversion rates, has just recently started to use exorbitant currency conversion and not allow you to pay in the local currency of the country you're traveling to (so you can let your own credit card do the conversion at a lower rate). I.e., if you try to book a property in Brazil in BRL (literally clicking on the price to pay in BRL), the charge will nevertheless go through in USD (or whatever currency is your own) with AirBnb doing the conversion at the rate they choose.

Aliexpress also shows prices in one currency but then refuses to take payment in that currency and does their own conversion with an unfavourable rate... Seems to be allowed with some combinations of delivery country and currency but not others.

I have a European currency (not Euro) and I think being charged their USD price is better than my local currency's.. I pay with Revolut and what Revolut charges me (taking my local currency and converting it to USD), is lower than what AliExpress would charge me if I had chosen to pay them in my currency.

So they charge you for an amount different to advertised? Tell your bank. You might get a refund and at least they'll have the complaint on file so the next victim might get a refund. If enough people complain and AirBNB don't fix it, AirBNB gets banned from accepting cards.

Where do you block it? I don’t see an obvious option at any of my banks or that article.

It is usually an option in your bank's app. It depends on the bank though, obviously. If it's not there, you have to be vigilant while using your card (always select the local currency when given the option).

I checked and it doesn't look like any UK banks have this option - at least I looked at about 5 different banks websites and all have pages suggesting you always select to pay in local currency but none of them have any information on disabling this behaviour

Gemini confirms it's not a thing, and not really possible (the terminals just detect the country from the card number)

I don’t know a single bank in Europe that provides this option

Edit: Perplexity says this:

> cards cannot block DCC offers because the merchant terminal identifies your card’s country of origin from the card number and offers DCC accordingly. Always manually decline at payment to let the card handle conversion at better rates

My bank (mBank in Poland) has per card options for declining various types of transactions, among others: made using the magnetic strip, with DCC, with added ATM surcharges. The bank probably cannot disable the "service" offered by the terminal but seems to get enough information to be able to decline the transaction.

A charge in zloty from outside Poland probably shows DCC has been used.

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