How much is a typical foreign transaction fee?

Most foreign transaction fees fall between 1% and 3% of the transaction amount, with 2.7% to 3% being the most common range on standard business credit cards. A growing number of premium and fintech-issued cards waive the fee entirely.

Does a foreign transaction fee apply if I'm not traveling?

Yes. The fee is based on where the transaction is processed, not where the cardholder is located. A domestic purchase from an online vendor that processes payments outside the cardholder's home country can still trigger a foreign transaction fee.

Does Navan charge foreign transaction fees on its corporate cards?

Navan corporate cards do not charge foreign transaction fees, so employees paying vendors or booking travel abroad are not charged an added percentage on top of the purchase amount. This removes the need for finance teams to track and reconcile a separate fee line across international transactions.

How can a business avoid foreign transaction fees on international spend?

The most direct way is to issue cards, including virtual cards, that carry no foreign transaction fee for any employee or vendor payment involving foreign currency. Platforms like Navan build this in by default on their corporate cards, so finance teams do not need to audit fee terms across a mixed card fleet. Companies with high international spend volume, whether from travel or recurring vendor payments, typically see the switch pay for itself quickly.

What is a Foreign Transaction Fee? Definition

Foreign Transaction Fee

A surcharge, typically 1% to 3% of the purchase amount, that a card issuer charges when a cardholder makes a purchase in a foreign currency or through a merchant that processes payments outside the cardholder's home country.

Victoria Landsmann

•July 27, 2026•

4 minute read

Key Takeaways

A foreign transaction fee is a surcharge, typically 1% to 3% of the purchase amount, that a card issuer charges when a cardholder makes a purchase in a foreign currency or through a merchant that processes payments outside the cardholder's home country. The fee applies to every qualifying purchase individually, whether the cardholder is traveling abroad or buying online from an international vendor while at home.

A 2025 WalletHub survey found that 32% of Americans do not know whether their credit card charges a foreign transaction fee, and only 12% correctly identified every scenario in which the fee applies [1].
The same survey found that 84% of respondents consider foreign transaction fees a "rip-off," and 55% said they would consider switching card providers the next time they get charged one [1].
Standard business credit cards typically charge 2.7% to 3% per foreign transaction, while a growing number of premium and fintech-issued cards, including Navan corporate cards, waive the fee entirely [2][3].
On $50,000 in annual international card spend, a 3% foreign transaction fee adds up to $1,500 a year, a cost finance teams can eliminate by switching to a no-fee card [3].

What is a foreign transaction fee?

A foreign transaction fee is a surcharge that a card issuer applies to a purchase made in a foreign currency or processed through a merchant located outside the cardholder's home country. Most issuers set the fee between 1% and 3% of the transaction amount, with premium travel cards more often waiving it and standard business cards more often charging it [2][3].

The fee triggers based on where a transaction processes, not where the cardholder is physically located. A U.S.-based employee working from a home office can still incur a foreign transaction fee by paying a European software vendor or booking a hotel through a non-U.S. merchant, even without leaving the country. That distinction catches many finance teams off guard when reviewing corporate card statements, since the fee shows up on domestic purchases from foreign-processed vendors just as often as on trips abroad.

Transform Your T&E Management with Navan

Make business travel work for everyone.

Get started

Foreign transaction fee vs. currency conversion fee

The two charges get confused constantly, but they come from different sources. A foreign transaction fee is charged by the card issuer, such as the bank or fintech that issued the card, as a flat percentage of the purchase. A currency conversion fee is charged separately by the payment network, such as Visa or Mastercard, for converting one currency into another during processing.

Some transactions incur both charges, stacking a currency conversion fee on top of a foreign transaction fee on the same purchase. Cards that advertise "no foreign transaction fees" typically eliminate the issuer-level charge, but travelers should confirm whether the underlying network conversion fee still applies, since the two are not automatically bundled into the same waiver.

How foreign transaction fees add up for business travelers

The cost scales directly with international spend volume, which is why the fee matters more to some travel programs than others.

Annual International Spend	Fee Rate	Annual Cost
$10,000	3%	$300
$50,000	3%	$1,500
$250,000	3%	$7,500

A single business traveler on an occasional international trip may never notice a 3% fee on a few thousand dollars of spend. A finance team managing card programs for a distributed sales team or a company with recurring vendor payments abroad sees the same percentage compound into a real budget line. Reconciling corporate card transactions at scale is also where foreign transaction fees become visible as a pattern rather than a one-off surprise, since they show up consistently across every foreign-processed charge rather than as an isolated line item.

Best practices for reducing foreign transaction fee costs

Finance teams that keep foreign transaction fees under control share a few habits.

Audit which cards in the program still charge the fee. Not every card in a mixed fleet carries the same terms. A company issuing cards through a single payments infrastructure can confirm fee terms across the entire program at once, rather than checking each card type separately.

Route recurring international vendor payments through a no-fee card. Software subscriptions, contractor payments, and other recurring charges from foreign vendors accumulate fee costs quietly over a year. Moving these payments to a card without a foreign transaction fee removes a recurring cost without changing any other part of the payment process.

Calculate the breakeven point before choosing a premium card. Some no-fee cards carry an annual fee that only pays for itself above a certain volume of international spend. Dividing the annual fee by the fee rate a standard card would charge gives a quick threshold: below that volume, the standard card may still be cheaper overall [3].

Compare fee structures before renewing a card program. A side-by-side review of business credit card terms at renewal time, rather than defaulting to the existing card, catches fee changes that issuers do not always flag proactively.

When should you consider a card with no foreign transaction fee?

Not every company needs to prioritize foreign transaction fee elimination when selecting a corporate card program, and knowing when it matters avoids over-optimizing for a cost that is not significant.

Frequent international travel or vendor payments. Once international card spend exceeds a few thousand dollars a month, the fee savings from switching cards typically outweigh any annual fee difference within the first year.

Distributed or remote teams paying overseas vendors. Companies with contractors, software subscriptions, or suppliers billed in foreign currencies accumulate fee costs even without anyone traveling, making a no-fee card worth evaluating regardless of travel volume.

Minimal or occasional international spend. A company with only rare, small international purchases may find the fee immaterial to its overall card costs, and switching card programs solely to avoid it may not be worth the administrative effort.

As international spend grows, whether from travel, vendor payments, or both, the case for eliminating the fee strengthens. The right time to switch is when the annual dollar cost of the fee, calculated against actual spend, exceeds the cost or friction of changing card programs.

Sources

[1] WalletHub, "International Credit Card Survey," May 2025. https://wallethub.com/blog/foreign-transaction-fee-survey/59757

[2] American Express, "Blue Business Cash Card Member Agreement," 2026. https://www.americanexpress.com/content/dam/amex/en-us/company/legal/cardmember-agreements/public-site-2026-q1-pdf-cmas/sbs-small-business/blue-business-cash-03-31-2026.pdf

[3] Brex, "No Foreign Transaction Fee Business Credit Cards," 2026. https://www.brex.com/spend-trends/corporate-credit-cards/no-foreign-transaction-fee-business-credit-cards

Virtual Card: A digital, single-use or limited-use card number issued for a specific purchase or vendor, often carrying different fee terms than a company's physical corporate cards.
P-Card: A purchasing card used for procurement transactions, which can carry its own foreign transaction fee terms separate from travel-focused corporate cards.
Expense Policy: The documented rules governing allowable spend and card usage, which can specify which cards employees should use for international purchases to minimize fee exposure.

Frequently Asked Questions About Foreign Transaction Fee

A foreign transaction fee is a surcharge, typically 1% to 3% of the purchase amount, that a card issuer charges when a cardholder makes a purchase in a foreign currency or through a merchant that processes payments outside the cardholder's home country. It applies to both in-person international purchases and online purchases from foreign vendors.
Most foreign transaction fees fall between 1% and 3% of the transaction amount, with 2.7% to 3% being the most common range on standard business credit cards. A growing number of premium and fintech-issued cards waive the fee entirely.
Yes. The fee is based on where the transaction is processed, not where the cardholder is located. A domestic purchase from an online vendor that processes payments outside the cardholder's home country can still trigger a foreign transaction fee.
A foreign transaction fee is charged by the card issuer as a flat percentage of the purchase. A currency conversion fee is charged separately by the payment network for converting one currency into another. Some transactions incur both charges on the same purchase.
Navan corporate cards do not charge foreign transaction fees, so employees paying vendors or booking travel abroad are not charged an added percentage on top of the purchase amount. This removes the need for finance teams to track and reconcile a separate fee line across international transactions.
The most direct way is to issue cards, including virtual cards, that carry no foreign transaction fee for any employee or vendor payment involving foreign currency. Platforms like Navan build this in by default on their corporate cards, so finance teams do not need to audit fee terms across a mixed card fleet. Companies with high international spend volume, whether from travel or recurring vendor payments, typically see the switch pay for itself quickly.