I got a refund on a foreign purchase and less money came back. Why?
Why is a refund not just the purchase reversed?
The credit is a separate card transaction from the purchase it is undoing, and it is converted on its own date.
CIBC, an issuer that puts this in writing, says a foreign-currency credit is converted using the exchange rate in effect on the date the refund is applied, which may differ from the rate in effect on the purchase date.
Say you paid 4,000 CZK at 24.50 CZK per euro, so 163.27 EUR left your account. Three weeks later the shop refunds you in full, the rate that day is 25.20, and the credit is 158.73 EUR. You are 4.54 EUR short on a full refund, a gap of 2.8%.
Those rates are an illustration, not a measurement. Nobody broke a rule in that example. The rate moved, and it can move in either direction, so sometimes the credit comes back larger than the charge.
Whether your original purchase was converted at the terminal at all is a separate check, and it is the one to run first: how to tell if you were charged DCC.
What is the guidance supposed to deliver on a DCC refund?
Mastercard's DCC Performance Guide for merchants states that "in the case of any refunds, the refunds must be processed in the same currency used in the original transaction". Its case study names three permitted ways to give the money back: a reversal, a credit in the DCC currency and amount matching the original transaction, or a credit with DCC applied at the exact exchange rate as the original.
An earlier Mastercard compliance guide, undated in the document but dated 20 February 2017 by its filename, goes further: the same currency conversion method and the same conversion rate used for the original transaction must also be used for the refund.
Neither document is the binding rule. Both are guidance about Mastercard's Standards, and the 2017 guide states on its own face that it does not contain Standards.
Reusing the original rate is technically routine on at least one set of rails. Visa Acceptance's integration guide for the online, offer-based DCC flow tells merchants to apply the exchange rate used at the time of payment authorisation when processing a refund, and to use the rate received in the DCC response for partial refunds. That is the card-not-present path. On the terminal path an acquirer documents different behaviour on follow-on messages, where the rate is the one in effect on the date the later message is performed and delayed or amended charges take the rate in force when they are put through.
What Visa's public rulebook does not contain
The Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, edition of 18 April 2026, contain no DCC refund-currency rule. The document was text-extracted and searched for one, and nothing on point is there.
Visa's DCC detail, including the mandated on-screen disclosure content and the evidentiary test for express agreement, is delegated to a separate DCC Guide that Visa does not publish. If a Visa DCC refund comes back short, there is no published Visa rule to point at. That is a documented gap in what a cardholder can verify.
EU law does not fill that gap. The markup-disclosure duty introduced by Regulation (EU) 2019/518, which was repealed on 18 August 2021 and codified as Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1230, requires payment service providers and parties providing currency conversion at an ATM or point of sale to express the total currency conversion charges as a percentage markup over the latest available euro reference rates issued by the European Central Bank, and to disclose that markup to the payer before the payment transaction is initiated.
It is a disclosure duty attached to the payment. It creates no refund mechanism and no chargeback right.
Articles 4 and 5 also reach only national and cross-border payments denominated in euro or in a national currency of a Member State other than the euro, so a euro cardholder offered euros in New York, Istanbul or Bangkok is outside them entirely.
Why does the guidance so often fail in practice?
The same-rate instruction carries its condition in the same breath: it applies where merchant technology allows for the storage of rates. Where the till never kept the rate, there is nothing to reapply.
An acquirer's own terms show what that means once it reaches a contract. Fiserv's published DCC terms of service, re-checked on 22 August 2026, treat refunds on a converted transaction as separate card transactions from the original, and require the merchant to provide the acquirer with the Rate ID associated with the original card transaction when seeking to process a refund.
Where the merchant fails to provide that Rate ID, the same terms convert the credit using the then-prevailing DCC transaction rate at the time and date the refund is submitted, and allocate the resulting exchange risk to the cardholder. Supplying the Rate ID is the merchant's contractual duty, not a favour you are asking for, and the record itself is theirs rather than yours.
The asymmetry inside that single document is worth seeing. A chargeback there settles using the DCC rate applied on the date of the original conversion, not the rate in effect on the date of the chargeback. A refund does not, unless the Rate ID comes with it.
One limit on that source: those are one US processor's terms, with no version number or effective date printed on the page, and no source here establishes what other acquirers do.
Three situations, three answers to the question of which rate converts your credit.
| Situation | What converts the credit | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| You paid in local currency | The rate in effect on the day the refund is applied, with your issuer's conversion fee possibly applying again | No published network rule addresses this. The gap is movement between two dates, not a rule breach. |
| You accepted DCC and the merchant's system stored the rate | The same currency as the original; one of the permitted forms credits at the exact original rate | Expect the same figure in your own currency that you paid. |
| You accepted DCC and no rate reference is supplied | Under one major US processor's published DCC terms, the rate prevailing on the day the refund is submitted | Ask the merchant to send the Rate ID from the original sale with the refund. |
Is the markup itself ever refunded?
Not as a line you can see, because it was never a line. The exchange rate used for DCC is a wholesale rate with the markup already included, so you paid it inside the rate rather than as a fee beside it.
Handled the way Mastercard's guidance describes, the question does not arise. A reversal, a credit in the DCC currency and amount matching the original, or a credit at the exact original rate all return the figure you paid in your own currency.
What that guidance is protecting against is a second conversion rather than a second markup. Mastercard's own case study describes a refund that was not made in the same currency as the original and so produced a second conversion loss, and says its Standards exist so that cardholders are properly reimbursed and do not suffer a loss due to a second currency conversion expense. That is the expensive failure: you paid the terminal's markup on the way in, and something else converts on the way out.
Where the credit does go back through the same DCC provider at that provider's prevailing rate, both legs use the same marked-up rate table on different dates. If the rate has not moved you get your figure back; what you are exposed to is movement in that rate between the two dates. None of the documents cited here describes the markup being charged twice on a single currency leg, and none describes the markup being credited back as a separate amount. What they govern is the currency and the rate the credit is converted at.
The ordinary foreign purchase has its own leak in the same place. CIBC states in writing that its foreign currency conversion fee applies to the refund as well as to the purchase, so with that issuer a fully refunded foreign purchase still costs the fee twice. Whether yours behaves the same way is in your card terms, and Visa's rules require an issuer to give complete written disclosure of any fees that may be charged for an international transaction. The four separate charges inside one withdrawal is where that fee sits.
How much of a shortfall is normal, and when is it worth disputing?
There is no published figure for normal. No source behind this page measures how far a DCC refund rate drifts from the DCC purchase rate, or how far ordinary market rates move between a purchase and its credit. Anyone quoting you a typical shortfall is guessing.
Two numbers do exist, and both are worth looking up. The first is your own card's foreign transaction fee: issuers must disclose international transaction fees in writing, so your card terms will state yours.
The second is the measured size of a DCC markup, which speaks to whether the original purchase was converted at the terminal rather than to what the credit should have been. Each measurement belongs to a population, so read the label. BEUC, reporting a Stiftung Warentest field test, put in-store DCC at 2% to 5% and ATM DCC at 2.6% to 12%, and separately contrasts a DCC fee of around 10% in certain cases with a typical markup of 0% to 3%.
The double-digit figures are ATM measurements. Stiftung Warentest's own 2019 test, 30 testers across 23 non-euro countries running 330 withdrawals and 132 card payments, found that accepting DCC would usually have cost more than 5%, peaking at 13.7%. A Czech test by Mesec.cz in April 2026, benchmarked against the ECB reference rate on the transaction date, found 6.51% to 19.00% across ten ATM operators on a EUR-billed card.
Those figures measure the gap between a DCC rate and a reference rate at one moment. A refund shortfall is a different quantity: the gap between two conversions on two dates. They do not calibrate each other, which is why this page will not hand you a threshold.
Mastercard's merchant guide does state that a cardholder who suffers a loss due to currency conversion has a chargeback right for the loss amount. That is guidance written for merchants rather than the binding Standard.
The dispute conditions the networks publish are about consent and about amount, not about refund rates. Visa's Dispute Condition 12.3, Incorrect Currency, covers DCC that occurred where the cardholder did not expressly agree or was refused the choice of paying in local currency; it applies for the entire transaction amount at the chargeback stage and runs for 120 calendar days from the transaction processing date, which is the clearing date rather than the day you paid.
Mastercard's route is the Currency Errors condition inside Point-of-Interaction Error, message reason code 4834 on the Dual Message System or code 34 for Debit Mastercard on the Single Message System, where the issuer must charge back only the difference, within 90 calendar days of the Central Site Business Date for all other non-ATM Dual Message System transactions.
ATM cases are narrower than that sounds. Mastercard's 4834 chargeback covers an ATM transaction only where a Europe-issued card was used at an ATM located in Europe, within 120 calendar days. Every other ATM case, meaning a non-European card anywhere or a European card at a non-European ATM, goes to a pre-compliance case and then a compliance case, with heavier evidence and the same 120-day bar.
Those are the networks' clocks, run by your issuer, and both start at the original transaction, so a refund arriving six weeks later has already eaten a large part of either window. Your own clock may be shorter and may start somewhere else. In the United States the Fair Credit Billing Act route requires a written billing-error inquiry within 60 days of the first bill containing the error, measured from the statement rather than from the transaction, and Regulation Z's listed billing-error categories do not expressly cover being charged in the wrong currency, so treat it as a parallel and imperfect route rather than a clean remedy.
None of it is a right you hold. Chargeback is a scheme process your issuer runs. The UK's Financial Ombudsman Service puts it plainly: a bank or lender does not have to raise a chargeback, scheme rules differ, and chargebacks can fail. That is a UK regulator, but what it describes is the card schemes' own rules, which are what your bank operates under wherever you are. The full route, with the evidence each network wants, is on the page about being charged in your own currency without being asked.
What to do about it
<ol><li>Work out both rates yourself. Divide the amount your bank charged by the local-currency figure on the receipt, then do the same with the credit. Exact mode on the <a href="/">calculator</a> does that arithmetic for you.</li><li>If the original purchase was converted at the terminal, ask the merchant to send the Rate ID from the original sale with the refund. Under at least one major processor's published terms that is what makes the original rate apply, and providing it is the merchant's own contractual duty.</li><li>Keep the receipt, and know which network you are on. Under Visa's rules a DCC receipt must show both amounts with currency symbols, the conversion rate, and the commission, fees, markup or margin over a wholesale or government-mandated rate, so a Visa receipt missing the markup line is itself non-compliant. Mastercard's receipt rule requires the rate but not a printed markup, so a Mastercard receipt without one proves nothing.</li><li>If the credit has not been processed yet, ask whether the original transaction can be reversed instead. A reversal is the first of the three refund forms Mastercard's guidance names, and it puts the original transaction back rather than converting anything new.</li><li>Decide which complaint you actually have before you call the bank: movement between two dates, or a conversion you never agreed to. Only the second has a documented dispute route, and it is about the original purchase rather than the refund.</li></ol><p>If the shortfall you are chasing is a deposit release rather than a shop refund, start with <a href="/questions/dcc-on-deposits-and-holds/">DCC on deposits and holds</a>. If you would rather this never happened again, the <a href="/mastering-atm-fees-and-dcc-refusal/">screen-by-screen refusal playbook</a> has the counter moves, and declining costs nothing on any card in any country.</p>Sources
Every factual claim above is checked against a published source. Links go to the document itself, not to a summary of it.
- Fiserv, Dynamic Currency Conversion Terms of Service (no version number or effective date printed). Refunds on a converted transaction treated as separate card transactions; the merchant must provide the Rate ID from the original transaction; where it is not provided the credit converts at the then-prevailing DCC transaction rate at submission and the exchange risk is allocated to the cardholder; chargebacks always settle at the original conversion date's rate. Register grade secondary-credible because the researcher's direct request was bot-blocked. Re-checked 22 August 2026 through a fetch tool on two separate prompts, both returning the clause text verbatim. merchants.fiserv.com ↗
- CIBC, Credit Card Foreign Currency Transaction Fees (Tips and Advice). One issuer's written statement that a credit converts at the rate in effect on the date the refund is applied and that its foreign currency conversion fee applies to the refund as well. Does not mention DCC, and establishes CIBC's behaviour only. cibc.com ↗
- Mastercard, Dynamic Currency Conversion Performance Guide, Merchant Edition (2025), section 2.5. Refunds must be processed in the same currency used in the original transaction. The case study names the three permitted forms verbatim: a reversal; a credit in the DCC currency and amount, matching the original transaction; a credit with DCC applied at the exact exchange rate as the original transaction. Also the second-conversion-loss scenario and the chargeback right for a currency conversion loss. Guidance about the Standards, not the Standards. mastercard.com ↗
- Mastercard, Dynamic Currency Conversion Compliance Guide (undated in the document; filename indicates 20 February 2017). Same conversion method and rate as the original must also be used for the refund, qualified by whether merchant technology allows for the storage of rates. States on its face that it does not contain Standards. mastercard.com ↗
- Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, 18 April 2026. Text-extracted and searched for this page. No DCC refund-currency rule is present; Visa's DCC detail is delegated to a non-public DCC Guide. usa.visa.com ↗
- Visa Acceptance Solutions / Cybersource, Visa Currency Conversion DCC merchant integration guide (card-not-present, offer-based flow). Captures and refunds reuse the authorisation's exchange rate; partial refunds use the rate received in the DCC response; the DCC rate is a wholesale rate including a DCC markup. An API integration guide for online checkouts, not terminal behaviour. developer.visaacceptance.com ↗
- Moneris, Dynamic Currency Conversion Program Guide for Hospitality Merchants (03/17). The terminal path: follow-on messages take the conversion rate in effect on the date the message is performed, and delayed or amended charges take the rate in force when they are put through. moneris.com ↗
- Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, 18 April 2026, s.5.8.9.2 (p.456, rule ID 0003100). The detailed screen-disclosure content and the evidentiary standard for express agreement are delegated to a separate DCC Guide that is not part of the public document and could not be obtained. usa.visa.com ↗
- Regulation (EU) 2021/1230 on cross-border payments in the Union (codification), Articles 1(2) and 4. The currently applicable text. Percentage markup over ECB euro reference rates disclosed before the payment is initiated, and the scope limit: Articles 4 and 5 apply to national and cross-border payments denominated in euro or in a national currency of a non-euro Member State involving a currency conversion service. eur-lex.europa.eu ↗
- Regulation (EU) 2021/1230, Articles 4 and 5 (register entry covering the operative article). Same instrument. Carries the quotes naming payment service providers and parties providing currency conversion at an ATM or at the point of sale, and the percentage-markup wording. eur-lex.europa.eu ↗
- EUR-Lex metadata record for Regulation (EU) 2019/518 (CELEX 32019R0518). No longer in force, date of end of validity 18 August 2021, repealed by Regulation (EU) 2021/1230. Cited only for the repeal. eur-lex.europa.eu ↗
- Regulation (EU) 2019/518 amending Regulation (EC) No 924/2009, Article 3a. The original markup-disclosure duty, now codified as Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1230. Repealed 18 August 2021, so it is not live law; cited for the historical origin and for the fact that the duty is a disclosure duty rather than a refund or chargeback mechanism. eur-lex.europa.eu ↗
- Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, 18 April 2026, s.1.4.3.2 (p.95, rule ID 0000387). An issuer must provide complete written disclosure of any fees that may be charged to a cardholder for an international transaction. usa.visa.com ↗
- BEUC, Dynamic Currency Conversion: When paying abroad costs you more than it should, 30 October 2017. Reports the 2016 Stiftung Warentest test: 2.6% to 12% at ATMs, 2% to 5% in stores. Also the UK figure contrasting a DCC fee of around 10% with a typical markup of 0% to 3%. The 2016 test is no longer available at source, so those ranges are citable only via BEUC. beuc.eu ↗
- Stiftung Warentest / Finanztest 6/2019, Geldabheben im Ausland, 13 May 2019. 30 testers, 23 non-euro countries, 330 withdrawals and 132 card payments; DCC usually cost more than 5%, peaking at 13.7%. Withdrawal-weighted. test.de ↗
- Mesec.cz, Czech ATM DCC field test, 4 May 2026 (test conducted April 2026). Ten Czech ATM operators benchmarked against the ECB reference rate on the transaction date: 6.51% to 19.00% on a EUR-billed card. Single city, single visit per operator, ATMs only. mesec.cz ↗
- Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, 18 April 2026, s.11.9.2 Dispute Condition 12.3 Incorrect Currency. Entire transaction amount at chargeback stage; 120 calendar days from the Transaction Processing Date, which the glossary defines as the date Visa accepted interchange data. usa.visa.com ↗
- Mastercard Chargeback Guide, Merchant Edition, 19 May 2026, Point-of-Interaction Error, Currency Errors. Message reason code 4834 on the Dual Message System, or 34 for Debit Mastercard on the Single Message System; the issuer must charge back only the difference; within 90 calendar days of the Central Site Business Date for all other non-ATM Dual Message System transactions, 120 for intra-European and inter-European ATM and Maestro. Read via an archived copy of Mastercard's own URL, because the live host returns 403 to non-browser clients. mastercard.com ↗
- Mastercard Chargeback Guide, Merchant Edition, 19 May 2026, Chapter 7, ATM Dynamic Currency Conversion and Currency Errors. The 4834 chargeback covers ATM transactions only where a Europe-issued card was used at an ATM located in Europe; every other ATM case goes to pre-compliance and compliance, before 120 calendar days of the Central Site Business Date have passed. mastercard.com ↗
- Chase, How to Dispute a Credit Card Charge. US issuer guidance stating the Fair Credit Billing Act inquiry window of 60 days from the first bill containing the error, and warning that this is a different clock from the network limits. chase.com ↗
- 12 CFR 1026.13, Billing error resolution (Regulation Z). The 60-day written billing-error right runs from the first periodic statement reflecting the error, and the enumerated billing-error categories do not expressly cover being charged in the wrong currency. law.cornell.edu ↗
- Financial Ombudsman Service, Problems with goods and services: section 75 and chargeback. A bank or lender does not have to raise a chargeback, each scheme has different chargeback rules, and chargebacks can fail. The page is about goods and services generally and does not mention dynamic currency conversion. financial-ombudsman.org.uk ↗
- Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, 18 April 2026, s.5.9.2.3 / Table 5-34, DCC receipt row (p.494). Required DCC receipt content: both amounts with currency symbols, the currency conversion rate, and the commission, fees, markup or margin on the exchange rate over a wholesale rate or government-mandated rate. usa.visa.com ↗
- Mastercard Transaction Processing Rules, 9 December 2025, s.3.13.1 and 3.13.2 receipt requirements. A DCC receipt must show the local-currency amount, the converted amount, the currency symbol or code of each, and the conversion rate used. It does not require the markup to be printed on the receipt, unlike Visa. Read via an archived copy of Mastercard's own URL. mastercard.com ↗