Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC)

When a foreign card is detected at the terminal or checkout, the DCC service shows the amount in the cardholder's home currency along with the exchange rate and markup, and asks the customer to choose. If they accept, the merchant's side carries out the conversion; if they decline, the card is charged in local currency and the card issuer converts it at its own rate, plus any foreign transaction fee.

For merchants, DCC can be a source of revenue, as providers typically share part of the conversion markup, and some customers like seeing a familiar currency. The risk is to customer trust: DCC rates are often less favourable than the card network's rate, and pushing customers towards them leads to complaints and disputes. Visa's rules require merchants to tell cardholders that DCC is optional, forbid pre-selecting it, and require the cardholder's express agreement.

In the EU, Regulation (EU) 2019/518 requires anyone offering currency conversion at a cash machine or point of sale to disclose the charges as a percentage markup over the latest euro reference rates published by the European Central Bank, so customers can compare the offer with their own bank's. DCC is different from multi-currency pricing, where the merchant sets prices in several currencies and the customer simply pays the currency shown.