JuvoPay in local currency or your own? Dynamic currency conversion explained
When a card terminal or ATM abroad asks whether to charge you in the local currency or in your home currency, choose the local currency. The home-currency option is called dynamic currency conversion (DCC). With it, the shop’s or ATM’s bank sets the exchange rate and adds its own markup. In the studies quoted below it cost between 2% and 12% more.
What dynamic currency conversion is
Mastercard defines DCC as “a service provided by acquirers and their merchants or ATM owners that allows a cardholder to choose to complete their cross-border transaction in either the local currency or their billing currency” (Mastercard DCC guide, 2025). The acquirer is the bank that processes cards for the shop or runs the ATM.
Your choice decides who converts the money:
| You choose | Who sets the exchange rate |
|---|---|
| Local currency | Your card issuer, at the card network’s rate plus whatever fee your card has |
| Your home currency (DCC) | The shop’s or ATM’s bank, at a rate that includes its markup |
The same Mastercard guide says the markup “is a commercial agreement between an acquirer and a merchant/ATM owner, and it does not necessarily reflect a comparison to market exchange rates”. The shop usually earns part of it: the consumer organisation BEUC quotes a DCC provider telling merchants that the service “grants you, the merchant, a commission on each transaction” (BEUC position paper, 2017).
What it costs
There is no single typical figure. These measurements can be traced to a source:
| Source | What was measured | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Stiftung Warentest, 2016, reported by BEUC | Withdrawals and payments by 20 testers in 13 non-euro countries | ATMs: 2.6% to 12% more with DCC. Shops: 2% to 5% more |
| A Norwegian bank, 2016, reported by BEUC | 1,500 transactions by Norwegian customers abroad | DCC was cheaper in 4 cases out of 1,500, and 7.6% more expensive on average |
| Which?, 2019 | Ten Ryanair fares priced in euros and paid from the UK | Paying in pounds cost more on all ten |
The first two come from the BEUC position paper and its 2018 press release, the third from Which?. The studies are old and cover European travelers, so read them as the size of the problem, not as today’s price list. BEUC is a consumer advocacy group and has campaigned for a ban on DCC.
DCC can also cost you twice. Australia’s competition regulator notes that even when you pay in your home currency, “your card issuer may still charge you an international transaction fee as the transaction occurred overseas” (ACCC, 2019).
What the terminal has to show you
The card networks set rules for how the offer is made.
Visa says that “merchants and ATMs should give you a choice to accept or decline currency conversion and must not choose on your behalf”. The screen and the receipt must show the amount in both currencies, the exchange rate and any fees or markup (Visa).
Mastercard does not allow either currency to be the default, and does not allow staff or screens to steer you toward DCC. If you do not explicitly choose your home currency, the payment must go through in the local currency. Its guide also bans screens that make you answer “yes” or “no” or “accept” or “decline”, and red and green buttons.
In the European Union, a regulation that has applied since 19 April 2020 requires anyone offering currency conversion at an ATM or at the point of sale to show the total charge as a percentage markup over the European Central Bank’s reference rate before you pay. They must also tell you that you can pay in the local currency and let your own bank convert (Regulation (EU) 2019/518).
What to do at the terminal
- Look for two amounts on the screen: one in the local currency and one in yours. That is a DCC offer.
- Choose the local currency. On an ATM it is the option without conversion.
- Read the screen before you confirm. Mastercard’s guide lists an ATM that only offers “accept” or “cancel” as a known breach of its rules. If you get one, cancel and use another machine.
- Check the receipt. It should show the currency you chose.
If the details are missing or you feel pushed toward one option, Visa’s advice is to “decline the currency conversion offer and report the incident to your card issuer”. Mastercard’s guide says a cardholder who “suffers a loss due to currency conversion” has a chargeback right for the loss, so tell your bank if DCC was applied without your consent.
When your home currency could be the better choice
Rarely. It happened in 4 of the 1,500 transactions in the Norwegian data. It can make sense when your own card charges a high foreign transaction fee and the markup on the screen is lower than that fee. To compare, you need three numbers: the rate on the screen, your card’s fee and the current exchange rate.
Juvo’s Real cost tool makes this comparison: it shows what accepting or declining DCC costs with your card’s markup.