I haven’t heard of Foreign Transaction Fee before, is that different than (and placed on top of) the Foreign Exchange Fee/Spread of anywhere between 1.5% and 5%?
My card has no Foreign Transaction Fees (I think), because I only am charged fees by ATMs, and when I by games off Steam I pay in CAD and the location is in Seattle (but my card is Canadian).
I’m not sure on the nomenclature in Canada, but there are generally three “fees” that could be charged:
Foreign Transaction Fee - fixed percent charged by credit card issuer (Chase or Wells Fargo), usually 2-3% for purchases in another country; this fee is charged regardless of listed currency
Currency Conversion Fee - often 1%, charged by the payment processing network (i.e. Visa or Mastercard)
currency spread - usually a small percentage of the currency quote, since currencies are often traded in bulk instead of at the point of purchase (i.e. the actual CAD <-> USD transaction may happen later that day) - it’s not exactly a “fee,” just a potentially non-advantageous quote for the currency conversion rate; currencies are always fluctuating, so the payment network may profit from the bid-ask spread in the currency markets; credit cards usually give you a better deal than a point-of-sale currency conversion
The first two are likely listed in your card’s plan description, the third is just a thing that happens anytime currencies (or other securities, like stocks) are traded on a market.
At least on my cards, I get charged a separate fee when I make a purchase, so if your statement matches your Steam invoice, you probably don’t have a foreign transaction fee on your card.
when I by games off Steam I pay in CAD and the location is in Seattle
Are you seeing this on your statement, or are you assuming that because Valve is based in Seattle, that the payment is processed there? Valve likely has payment processing handled in each country it operates in, so it’s likely your payment is being processed in Canada, unless you’re buying through a VPN or something. I don’t know that for certain, but I have made purchases by companies based in other countries, but my payments are processed locally, which is usually the case if they have significant business operations here.
Some examples from my banking app and a random statement of mine (the first one was when I bought BG3 lol)…
Steam charges in CAD but the reported location is in Hamburg (Germany) for one of the statements and SEATTLEDE for the other. A 2.5% fee the converted CAD amount applies for transactions in foreign currency, I confirmed with my bank.
Ok, so maybe there’s a currency conversion fee but no foreign transaction fee? You’d need to line up a steam purchase on Steam with bank records, because usually those fees are processed separately (i.e. not included in the price like VAT or sales tax are).
Yeah, no worries! I was a bit surprised too because I always assumed home currency meant home processing, but apparently Fanatical charges me in USD, but processes it in the UX, so I get charged the FTF.