IMPORTANT NOTICE: Visa Changes International Fees

3/03/2008

Effective April 1, 2008, Visa is assessing a new fee for cardholders who use their cards in countries outside the United States where purchases can be made using the U.S. dollar.

The conditions under which Visa USA (Visa) charges financial institutions its International Service Assessment (ISA) fee are changing. Previously, Visa only charged the ISA fee on international transactions that involved currency conversion. With this change, however, Visa will now charge financial institutions an ISA fee on all international transactions regardless of whether there is a currency conversion.

If there is no currency conversion (a “single-currency transaction”) the ISA fee is 0.8% of the transaction amount; if there is a currency conversion (a “multi-currency transaction”) the ISA fee will continue to be 1% of the transaction amount. Visa defines an international transaction as a transaction where the card-issuing financial institution’s country is different from the merchant’s country. Thus, a transaction over the Internet could qualify as an international transaction.

Both the 1% and the .8% ISA fees will be reflected on your account statement as an International Transaction Fee. The Credit Union will not apply any additional fees for these international transactions.

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