Uber Adds ‘Preferred Currency Pricing’ For International Rides; How To Avoid 1.5% Fee

Uber recently added a default built-in 1.5% fee for international rides and purchases to be charged in U.S. dollar currency instead of the local currency of purchase.

Someone who is paying with a credit card which doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees will do better changing the default feature and saving the 1.5% fee.

It’s easy to change by going in the Uber app to Account > Wallet > Set Preferred Currency. By default you’ll see the ‘United States dollars’ option selected, and you’ll want to change that to the ‘No Preferred Currency’ option, and then ‘Confirm’.

People like dishing on Uber whenever they can; I’ve done so myself for their other misdeeds. With regards to the currency conversion fee, IMO, it’s honestly not a terrible default setting for your average Joe who doesn’t necessarily have a credit card without foreign transaction fees.

Regardless, most of us are careful to use cards without fees when traveling abroad, and would be wise to change the default Uber setting to the ‘No Preferred Currency’ setting.

Updates:

• Not everyone has the option to change the setting to No Currency Conversion. (Perhaps it’s currently only on iOS and not on Android?) I believe there’s a way to change it when you are actually ordering the ride.
• My assumption that when choosing the Uber currency conversion you won’t get charged a foreign transaction fee isn’t necessarily true as it might still be billed as a foreign trip. Let us know what happens if you try.