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I get my income in euros. I need to pay for stuff in USD because I use shops like Dealextreme where the base currency is USD. I have a Visa Debit card (so not a real Visa) since I am a student but have stable income streams monthly. I get the following spread-costs with my card:

  • Dealextreme, 9.59%, when paying in euros - the payment is in euros and the base currency is USD [1]
  • Dealextreme, 2.06%, when paying in USD - the payment and the base currency are both USD [2]

I get the current course of one euro in USD from Google.

The spread-cost, 2.06%, is huge. I would like to get it even smaller. Which credit-card minimizes the given spread-cost even more?

2. Is there any other ways to minimize the given spread-cost even more?

I did not use Paypal in buying my merchandise. I am not sure about Paypal's spread-cost, but it's probably worse than paying directly with the given credit card.

Appendix 

[1]
>>> 24.10/18.74                  
1.2860192102454644
>>> de = 24.10/18.74                # one euro in USD when paying with euros
>>> right = 1.4155
>>> diff = right - de
>>> ave = (right + de)/2
>>> diff / ave
0.09585775978455527

[2] 
>>> 24.10/17.38
1.3866513233601843
>>> de = 24.10/17.38                     # one euro in USD when paying with dollars
>>> right = 1.4155
>>> diff = right - de
>>> ave = (right + de)/2
>>> diff / ave
0.020590377399905716
John Bensin
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Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
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1 Answers1

1

Simply, pay in the same currency as registered in the market - normally the native currency is the cheapest and options are with 2.5% spread cost. If you cannot do it, simply pay the standard 2.5% spread cost directly to your bank or to the shop if possible.

Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
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