CCs decline in NAf but work in USD

[NovaCane]

Twice now my credit cards have been declined by the mobile readers when charged in NAG but once they convert to USD it works fine. The merchants & card cos both seem to be stumped. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[AndrewBoyd78]

Twice now my credit cards have been declined by the mobile readers when charged in NAG but once they convert to USD it works fine. The merchants & card cos both seem to be stumped. Has anyone else experienced this?

Whenever I use an American CC I tell them to swipe dollars.

 

[AdivingBel]

I've had Visa not scan but MasterCard would...weird and probably related to the specific business. I don't worry too much about it in Curacao as Naf is pinned to the dollar so not much difference (unlike the Mexican peso). YMMV

 

[xan]

Whenever I use an American CC I tell them to swipe dollars.

Not sure if you mean doing the conversion at the payment terminal i.e., sometimes there's an option to use USD or the local currency. In those cases, that's usually very disadvantageous to you as the customer, as the terminal processor adds a conversion fee (I've seen it around 3%) and picks the exchange rate as well. Even if you travel with a debit/credit card that has foreign exchange (forex) fees—and don't, there are many excellent options to avoid that nonsense—it will still be cheaper for you to deal with your bank's forex rate than do the conversion at the terminal.

I don't know how it is in Curaçao, admittedly (going there in a ~month for the first time) and perhaps with enough tourists they might have a less customer-adverse system in place, e.g., some vendors can directly deal in USD (no exchange). I'd be wary in most cases when presented with those in-terminal conversions, however, and strongly recommend traveling with a debit and credit card that (respectively)reimburse ATM withdrawal fees and have no forex fees.

 

[morecowbells]

We had one incident at a dive shop where our credit card was declined several times sue to 'insufficient funds.' We were paying in USD. I have no idea what triggered this rebuff, but the next day we brought a different card and had no problems.

 

[NovaCane]

In those cases, that's usually very disadvantageous to you as the customer, as the terminal processor adds a conversion fee (I've seen it around 3%) and picks the exchange rate as well.

Exactly, that's what I'm trying to avoid but so far I'm 0/3 with multiple cards & locations.