Mastercard bans Dynamic Currency Conversion on prepaid cards

Your travel life gets a tiny bit easier from Friday.  Anyone with a prepaid Mastercard will no longer be offered Dynamic Currency Conversion.

Dynamic Currency Conversion is when a shop or hotel offers you ‘the convenience’ of paying in your home currency, whilst failing to mention that a charge of 5% or so will apply. 

To add insult to injury, your credit card will often add an additional 3% foreign currency surcharge – even though you paid in Sterling – because the transaction originated outside the UK.

From Friday, prepaid Mastercard products – which includes loadable cards such as WeSwap – will be blocked from DCC.  The card terminal will block it at the point of payment.  This may also include the Miles & More Mastercard which is technically a prepaid product.

The easiest way to avoid DCC is to pay with an American Express, since Amex bans the practice entirely.  Unfortunately, UK American Express cards charge 2.99% foreign exchange fees so it makes more sense to pay with a specialist Mastercard or Visa which waives this.

moneysavingexpert.com has more details on this story here.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus. 

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending:

Barclaycard Select Cashback Credit Card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review