To: University Business Managers
University pCard Holders
From: Dale Poole, Assistant Director of Purchasing Services
Effective April 1, 2008, the conditions under which Visa charges financial institutions its International Service Assessment (ISA) fee are changing. Previously, Visa only charged the ISA fee on international transactions that involved currency conversion. With this change, however, Visa will now charge financial institutions an ISA fee on all international transactions regardless of whether there is a currency conversion.
If there is no currency conversion (a “single-currency transaction”) the ISA fee is 0.8% of the transaction amount; if there is a currency conversion (a “multi-currency transaction”) the ISA fee will continue to be 1% of the transaction amount. Visa defines an international transaction as a transaction where the card-issuing financial institution’s country is different than the merchant’s country. Thus, a transaction over the Internet could qualify as an international transaction.
Both the 1% and the 0.8% ISA fees will be reflected on your account statement as an International Transaction Fee. Bank of America will not apply any additional fees for these international transactions.
If you have any questions, please contact Hua Shen (919-962-2255) or Dale Poole (919-962-3477).