The DCC check

Pay in local currency or your own?

A terminal abroad just offered to charge your card in your own currency. Type its offer and compare it with what your bank would charge — using your bank's real card rate, not a guess.

What is DCC?

Dynamic currency conversion: a card terminal or ATM abroad offers to charge you in your home currency instead of the local one. Accept, and the conversion happens at the terminal's rate — not your bank's.

Who sets that rate?

The DCC provider or the merchant's acquirer chooses its own conversion margin; your bank is not involved. In the EU, card DCC offers must disclose their margin over the ECB reference rate on screen or on the receipt.

The rule of thumb

If your bank's card fee is 0% — check it here — paying in the local currency costs you a rate that tracks the mid-market reference. A DCC offer can then only match it by adding no margin at all. This tool does the exact math with the terminal's real offer.

Your country
Your bank
Currency on the terminal
Amount on the terminal
Terminal's offer in your currency EUR
Loading…

The local-currency cost uses your bank's own published card exchange rate as collected in our data; rates are indicative and can differ from the final rate applied at the moment of the transaction. The DCC total is exactly what you typed from the terminal's screen. Fixed per-transaction fees, if your bank charges any, are not included. Nothing here is financial advice.

How this check works

The local-currency side uses your bank's card exchange rate exactly as it appears in our data — the same live rate the comparison on the home page uses, refreshed on business days. The DCC side is the total you typed from the terminal's screen: no estimates, no assumed margins anywhere.

If we have no fresh card rate for your bank in that currency, the tool falls back to the mid-market reference rate and clearly says so — your bank's own rate may differ, but the terminal's margin over the reference is still a fact you can see.

Related: see what each bank's card charges abroad, compare live rates across banks, or browse the bank-by-bank pages and weekly reports.

Frequently asked questions

What is dynamic currency conversion (DCC)?

Dynamic currency conversion is when a card terminal or ATM abroad offers to charge you in your home currency instead of the local one. If you accept, the conversion happens at the terminal's own rate — not at your bank's rate.

Who sets the exchange rate in a DCC offer?

The DCC provider or the merchant's acquirer sets it, and they choose their own conversion margin — your bank is not involved in that conversion. In the EU, card DCC offers are required to disclose their margin over the ECB reference rate.

Should I pay in the local currency or in my own currency?

Compare the two totals: what your bank would charge for the local-currency amount at its card rate, versus the total the terminal offers in your currency. If your bank's card has a 0% foreign-transaction fee, its rate tracks the mid-market reference, so a DCC offer can only match it by adding no margin at all. This tool computes the comparison from the terminal's actual offer rather than assuming any typical margin.

Does DCC also happen at ATMs?

Yes. ATMs abroad often ask whether to withdraw 'with conversion' or 'without conversion'. It is the same choice: 'with conversion' means the ATM operator converts at its own rate; 'without conversion' means your own bank does the conversion.