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Currency converter: at the rate you actually getFold in the rate your bank or card shows and any FX markup, and see what a foreign-currency purchase really costs in your home currency

By Lu Heng　·　Updated 2026-09-28

The real home-currency cost of a foreign purchase is foreign amount × the rate you see × (1 + FX markup%). You type in the rate you saw on your bank page, card statement or checkout screen, and the tool just adds the markup cleanly, so you can see how far the "headline rate" sits from what actually lands.

Fill in the amount and rate above, tap "Work it out", and the converted figure and markup-included total appear here.

An estimate from the rate you entered; the final figure is the one on your card statement

Where to find the rate and your card's FX markup

The whole value here is in where your rate comes from. Put the wrong number in the wrong box and the result follows. Here's where to find the three numbers:

  1. Foreign amount. The original price on the checkout page, such as USD 100 or EUR 39. Type the number only; no currency symbol needed.
  2. The rate you see. Enter "1 unit of foreign currency equals how much home currency". You'll find it on your bank app's conversion screen, in the statement's conversion column, or in a checkout "approx." note. Different channels show different rates; whichever you type is the one it uses.
  3. FX markup %. Many cards add a currency-conversion fee on top of the rate (often called an FX fee or cross-border fee). If you know the percentage, enter it, for example 1.5 for 1.5; if you have no idea, leave it blank and the tool does the rate part only.

Beyond the FX markup, the "pay in your currency" (DCC) option at checkout, PayPal's conversion, and the foreign transaction fee that can apply even when you pay in your own currency are covered in foreign transaction fees on online purchases.

Check it yourself

To see where a card gets expensive, take the same amount and run it once for each channel's rate, then line up the "markup-included total". The gap jumps out. That beats memorising some average rate, because what you actually pay is your channel's tier, not the market mid-rate.

Questions people ask

Why not just pull today's live rate for me?
Because what you're actually charged is never the market mid-rate; it's the tier your bank or card gives you, usually with its markup already baked in. A tool that guesses a "live" value would only mislead you. Typing the number you see on the page is what makes the result your real cost.
I don't know the FX markup. What do I put?
Leave it blank and the tool uses the rate alone. To find the exact figure, check your card's fee terms or the "currency conversion fee / cross-border fee" line on your statement; cards vary a lot, so don't borrow someone else's number.
Can I treat the result as the exact amount I'll be charged?
No. The posted amount also depends on the rate on the day the charge settles, rounding, and whether the merchant converted the price for you (dynamic currency conversion, DCC). When a checkout or card terminal offers to charge you in your home currency, choose the local currency instead, so the conversion is done by your card and not by the merchant's payment provider. Once the charge posts, put the rate from your statement into this tool to see what the markup cost you.

Note: what you type is worked out on this page only; it isn't sent anywhere or saved. The rate and markup are yours, so the result is an estimate; the amount actually charged is on your card statement. Updated 2026-09-28.

L

Lu Heng. I spent years studying and working remotely abroad, getting tangled up in FX markups and "approximate rates", then took every cost apart and rebuilt it as these small tools, to save you the detours I took. About and editorial notes