Currency tool

Dynamic currency conversion checker

Offered a price in your home currency at a card terminal or ATM abroad? Enter both amounts to see the exchange rate you’d get and the markup over today’s mid-market rate.

Daily mid-market rates, fetched in your browser when the page loads. Rates By Exchange Rate API

Enter the amount the terminal or ATM offers in your home currency. Markup % = (offered ÷ (bill amount × mid-market rate) − 1) × 100. Mid-market rate: loading…

If the home-currency amount is higher than the converted local amount, the difference is the conversion markup. Your own card may also charge a foreign transaction fee, so check your card's terms.

How it works

Dynamic currency conversion (DCC) is when a terminal or ATM converts the amount into your home currency for you. The checker divides the amount offered in your currency by the bill amount to get the rate you’re being offered, and compares it with today’s mid-market rate: markup % = (offered ÷ (bill amount × mid-market rate) − 1) × 100.

Example: a bill of 10,000 JPY, an offer of 105.00 NZD and a mid-market rate of 0.0100 NZD per yen give a markup of 5.00%, because 10,000 JPY at the mid-market rate is 100.00 NZD.

This checker compares the offer with the daily mid-market rate from Exchange Rate API. In the EU, the mark-up a terminal or ATM must disclose is measured against the European Central Bank’s reference rates instead, so the two percentages can differ slightly.

The mid-market rate is a reference rate, not a rate you can trade at. Paying in the local currency means your card issuer does the conversion at its own rate and fees, so check your card’s terms too. For more, read should I pay in local currency or my home currency?

EU rules on currency conversion at ATMs and card terminals

For card payments and ATM withdrawals that involve a currency conversion, Regulation (EU) 2019/518 requires payment service providers, and anyone offering a currency conversion at an ATM or at the point of sale, to express their total conversion charges as a percentage mark-up over the latest euro foreign exchange reference rates published by the European Central Bank, and to disclose that mark-up before you pay. (Regulation)

Before the payment, that party must also show the amount to be paid to the merchant in the merchant’s currency and the amount you will pay in your account’s currency, and tell you that you can pay in the merchant’s currency and have your own bank do the conversion instead. The information must also be given to you on a durable medium afterwards. (Regulation)

These requirements have applied since 19 April 2020. Regulation (EU) 2021/1230 later consolidated the rules: they are now in its Article 4, which covers payments in euro or another EU national currency that involve a currency conversion service. (Regulation)

These rules apply to payments denominated in euro or another EU national currency that involve a currency conversion (Regulation (EU) 2021/1230, Article 1(2)). (Regulation) They’re EU law, so don’t expect the same disclosures when you pay in yen, baht or rupiah outside the EU.

General information, not financial advice. Rates are daily mid-market rates; your bank's rate will differ.

Sources and last checked