MBNA recently decided to surcharge foreign transactions on some of their
Mastercard and Visa credit cards. Previously, MBNA was one of the very
few banks that did not add their own surchage on top of the M-C/Visa
network exchange 1% fee.

I received a notice that one of my MBNA credit cards (not AOPA) would be
subject to the new 2% MBNA bank foreign transaction fee (plus the old 1%
network conversion fee for a total of 3%). However I never received a
notice for my AOPA card. Is this a fluke--have others received a fee
notice for their AOPA card? I know that MBNA's AAA (american automobile
association) does not have this charge due to an agreement AAA has with
MBNA, so I'm hopeful maybe AOPA has the same agreement and no extra fee.

Credit cards are still one of the cheapest way to convert money, but
banks adding their own fees after the network converts it to US dollars
is something I'd rather avoid. (Many credit unions do not do this,
although I don't want another credit card at this time.) Some of the
new fees apply for all foreign transactions, even if it was already in
US Dollars.