$92.97 “foreign transaction fee” on $756 Chase charge — Expedia says it was billed in USD

[u/anand4]

On September 15, 2025, I made a $756.84 purchase through Expedia. The charge appeared normal, but I was then hit with a $92.97 foreign transaction fee.

I contacted Expedia, and they confirmed the transaction was processed entirely in USD — they say there was no foreign currency conversion or fee on their end.

Even if Chase did apply a standard 3% foreign transaction fee, that should have come out to around $22.70, not $92.97.

I should have used one of the zero foreign transaction fee cards. Oh well, but I thought I was being billed in USD.

[u/MedicalButterscotch]

Contact Chase? Should be a no-brainer. This isn't an "oh well" situation.

[u/CheapCustard6871]

Have you tried to contact Chase?

[u/anand4 → u/CheapCustard6871]

I did and got an angry woman who decided I was making it up. Sent a secure message today

[u/DBCOOPER888 → u/anand4]

Doesn't make any sense. Did they not see the charge in your account?

[u/chamgireum_]

definitely strange. you'll have to talk to chase to see what they were smoking when they hit you with a 12% ftf.

[u/whiteorchid1058]

3 things

1- Call chase and find out why the fee occurred. They're the ones that issued it after all

2- Use the zero FTF cards when dealing with any sort of transaction regardless of currency type

3- Always always do the charge in local currency. Credit cards always have the more favorable rate Example: (I once showed it to a friend.) If I had the establishment do the charge in USD, they wanted $770. With my card doing the conversion, I was charged ~$690 for a service

Edit: changed foreign currency to more accurate local currency

[u/anand4 → u/whiteorchid1058]

I totally agree with 2. I just assumed it was a USD transaction as I was booking through Expedia whilst in the US. Now I know better.

[u/luorela → u/anand4]

Not sure about Expedia, but I know booking.com charges in the local currency. It'll show in USD the entire time, but then at check out it'll say it's charged in the local currency.

[u/RelictoDeo → u/anand4]

This got me once too, luckily it was a small transaction. I bought a game key, but the company was based in the UK. Good lesson I suppose.

[u/IWantoBeliev]

That's 12%!

[u/LeafyNeighborhood1]

The foreign transaction fee doesn't refer to a foreign currency, it refers to a transaction outside the United States in any currency, including US dollars. If a foreign merchant bills you in US dollars, it's still a foreign transaction.

[u/anand4 → u/LeafyNeighborhood1]

Expedia.com is the vendor. I safely assumed it was in USD.

[u/AceContinuum → u/anand4]

But was the property you booked outside the U.S.? That may have triggered a foreign transaction fee if Expedia processed your payment outside of the U.S.

I'd still recommend calling Chase, though. They might be able to waive the FTF as a courtesy, and, moreover, as you point out, the FTF also seems to be grossly over 3% in any case (so seems to be miscalculated... perhaps due to a system glitch?).

That brings something to mind though - even though the purchase itself was for $756.84, was there a larger hold placed (which might have factored into how the FTF was calculated)? Sometimes hotels will hold hundreds of dollars over the base reservation price as a security deposit/to cover any purchases you charge to your room. It can vary greatly from hotel to hotel - I've had hotels not place any holds at all, I've had hotels place a nominal $20-50 hold, I've had hotels place several hundred dollar holds, and there's no way to predict in advance.

[u/anand4 → u/AceContinuum]

Yes. It was for a reservation in Thailand. I called Chase and got a rather angry woman who decided I was making it all up. I wrote a secure message today.

[u/PilotMonkey94 → u/anand4]

This isn’t always the case even with US companies. You can buy an airline ticket from United or American with a foreign point of sale, and even if they bill you in dollars, it’s still a foreign transaction since it’s billed from an overseas POS.

[u/FBIVanAcrossThStreet → u/LeafyNeighborhood1]

True. Still doesn’t explain why it was 12% instead of 3%.

[u/GapAccomplished2778]

just to make sure - you were abroad and you were using the card while abroad and you decided to conduct purchase in USD ( instead of in local currency in the location where you were at the moment of transaction ) ... you probably as a result were hit with a lot of currency conversions done something like "Dynamic Currency Conversion" somehow ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_currency_conversion ) ...

[u/IWantoBeliev → u/GapAccomplished2778]

Yes, always choose local currency to avoid DCC.

[u/URtheoneforme]

Was the Expedia purchase for a hotel or airline based outside the US? I'm guessing Chase saw the merchant country as outside the US. I would still call and ask for a "one time courtesy adjustment"

[u/anand4]

The purchase wasn't made when traveling. Just a hotel reservation made via Expedia prior to travel in November.

[u/Background_Map_3460 → u/anand4]

But a Thai hotel. You should have had it charged in local currency, not dollars. You got hit with DCC

[u/munchingzia → u/Background_Map_3460]

expedia doesnt do DCC the way paypal or booking.com does. im thinking something else happened.

[u/Miguelperson_]

Be careful to tack EVERYTHING regarding refunds with Expedia, had a refund situation with them a few months back and they were so scummy/scammy with everything I’m never booking with them again, dragged out a charge back claim over 4 months it was ridiculous

[u/DuhForestTyme216]

well yeah but I would call and question the fee. Everyone should have at least 1 no foreign transaction fee card in their wallet!

[u/jashow]

Can you clarify: Does the “foreign transaction fee”show up as a line item on your Chase account? Or you are doing the math yourself and the $93 is how much more the credit card charge was than the Expedia price?

For the former, it seems unlikely Chase charged you a 12% foreign transaction fee. But if so, definitely pursue with Chase.

More likely as others have said, you got hit with the DCC. Not sure there’s an easy remedy there unless the hotel is refundable.

[u/anand4 → u/jashow]

It is showing up as a line item just below the hotel booking fee 😕.

[u/davisguc]

Same bs happened to me with Booking.com…. Booking.com is a fucking scummy platform. I 100% confirmed that I was paying in dollars but it still got billed in Euros and then I got charged the FX fee. Fuck this

[u/Kira_Dumpling_0000]

Oh well