Currency conversion is never in your favor

Payment terminals, ATMs, Amazon, international transfers, currency exchange apps. Whenever you get the choice, never agree to an automatic currency conversion.

It's called Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC), and it works like an airport exchange booth bolted onto the payment. The terminal or ATM operator sets the rate, adds a markup, and keeps the difference. A Norwegian Consumer Council survey found Norwegians paid more 99.7% of the time, on average 7% extra.

The rule: always pay in the currency of the country you're standing in. Not your home currency. The terminal is betting you'll pick the familiar one.

Here's what that looks like in practice. You're a Norwegian buying a 4.50 EUR coffee in Germany. The terminal asks: NOK or EUR?

Pick EUR (correct). The charge goes through as 4.50 EUR. Your Norwegian bank converts it to NOK using the Visa or Mastercard wholesale rate, plus a small markup. You end up paying around 53 NOK.

Pick NOK (wrong). The terminal converts 4.50 EUR to NOK on the spot, at a rate it made up. You see something like 58 NOK on the screen and approve it. Your bank charges you that 58 NOK and does nothing else. The terminal already pocketed the 5 NOK difference.

Someone is converting your money either way. The one offering to do it on the spot is almost always the worse deal.