When a card machine offers your home currency, what must it tell you?

What is the 'home currency' option?

When you pay by card abroad or online, you may be offered the choice of paying in the local currency or in your home currency. If you choose the local currency, your own bank converts the amount and you see the cost in your currency on your statement. If you choose your home currency, the payment provider of the shop or cash machine converts it on the spot, for a fee. This is called dynamic currency conversion.¹

The Commission's consumer pages say that paying in the local currency is often the cheapest option, while paying in your home currency tells you the exact amount at once but its extra fees often make it more expensive.²

What must the shop or cash machine show me?

Under the EU's cross-border payments rules, now Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1230, whoever offers the conversion at the till or the cash machine must disclose the following, according to the Commission services' FAQ and the Regulation's text:¹⁵

• The total cost as a mark-up. All their charges for the conversion, including any fixed fee, expressed as a percentage mark-up over the latest available European Central Bank reference rate.¹
• Both amounts. The amount the shop or cash machine operator receives in its own currency, and the total you pay in the currency of your account.¹
• Your choice. That you are free to pay in the local currency.¹
• A neutral screen. The options must be shown neutrally, for example without different font sizes or colours that nudge you towards the conversion.¹

The Commission's consumer pages put it simply: a trader or website that offers payment in your home currency must tell you exactly how much extra it will cost, and you always have the right to say no and pay in the local currency.²

What must my own bank tell me?

Since 19 April 2020, card providers must state their own conversion charges for card payments as a percentage mark-up over the latest European Central Bank reference rate, in your card terms and on an easily reached electronic platform such as their website or app.¹

Since 19 April 2021, they must also send you an electronic message, such as a text, push notification or email, reminding you of those charges when they receive your first card payment involving a conversion between two EU currencies. If you keep paying in that currency, the reminder comes once a month, and you can opt out.¹

The Commission's example: someone living in Poland who pays in euro on a French website gets a reminder with the first payment, and further monthly reminders only if they keep paying in euro.¹

Does the rule limit what they can charge?

No. The Regulation does not limit currency conversion charges; their level is a commercial decision. It aims to make charges comparable, and mark-ups may change over time, for example daily.¹

Can a shop charge extra just because I pay by card?

In the EU, traders and banks cannot add a fee just for using a particular credit or debit card, in shops or online, at home or in another EU country. This does not cover cards from three-party schemes such as American Express and Diners Club, or business and corporate cards.³

For payments in euro across the EU, including card payments and cash machine withdrawals in other EU countries, your bank must charge you the same as it does for equivalent national transactions. If you pay in an EU currency other than the euro, your card provider may still charge a conversion fee, and you must be told the amount before you agree to the purchase.³ Your Europe also lists a fee charged by the owner of the cash machine among the extra costs of withdrawing cash in another currency.²

Where does the rule come from?

Regulation (EU) 2019/518 amended the EU's cross-border payments Regulation, (EC) No 924/2009, and added the currency conversion transparency rules described above.¹ Those texts have since been codified: Regulation (EU) 2021/1230 on cross-border payments in the Union, of 14 July 2021, repealed Regulation (EC) No 924/2009, lists Regulation (EU) 2019/518 among its amendments, and sets out the currency conversion duties in its Article 4.⁵

When the rules were agreed in December 2018, the Commission said they target opaque pricing of currency conversion, particularly dynamic currency conversion, meaning paying foreign shops or cash machine operators in your home currency.⁴

This is not legal advice. For your own card, check its terms or ask your bank.

What this page cannot tell you

• EU currencies only. The Commission services' FAQ says the transparency provisions apply to transactions in EU currencies only. If your card is in a currency from outside the EU, ask your bank what applies to you.
• An FAQ, not the law. The FAQ we rely on is by the Commission services and is not binding; only the Court of Justice of the EU can interpret EU law bindingly. It was written for the 2019 amendments; we checked the disclosure duties against the current codified text, Regulation (EU) 2021/1230, retrieved from the EU Publications Office.
• No product advice. We do not compare cards, banks or conversion providers; check your own card's terms.
• This is not legal advice. This page summarises official guidance and the Regulation, and links them so you can check them yourself.

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