LETTERS Misleading card
Sir: In March 1995, I queried the rate of exchange used on a large foreign transac- tion on my NatWest Visa card. Because the rate they had used was outside the high and the low range on the date the transaction was posted, they credited my account with £118.20. During the conversation, they con- firmed that their policy was to use the best exchange rate obtainable on the date of the posting of the transaction.
In August 1995, I looked at 13 foreign currency transactions since March 1995 and found that nine out of the 13 were below the lowest exchange rate on the day the transactions were posted. This time I failed to obtain either recompense or an apology from NatWest Visa.
Since August 1995, I have paid many overseas bills, using either my NatWest Visa card or a Samuel Montagu Mastercard or on occasions both. Almost without exception, the NatWest Visa card exchange rate used was below the range on the day, while the rate used by the Samuel Montagu Mastercard was above the mean on the day.
On all their cards, NatWest Visa are probably at least £10m a year richer and I cannot find a regulator interested in what I can only describe as commercial robbery.
Andrew H. Scott
6 Sloane Court East, London SW3
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