There have been quite a few great comments, emails and updates lately, but I want to draw attention to few that offer some valuable insights to this issues that have been popular here lately:

First off, there have been some rumors that Capital One either has increased (or will soon increase) the amount they charge for international transactions. Velvet Jones is keeping an eye on Capital One’s foreign transaction fees and has this to add:

I just called Capital One this morning and confirmed that:

1. They do not charge a foreign transaction fee; and
2. It is their policy not to pass on the fee from Visa.

It wasn’t hard to get that question answered. As a matter of fact the woman on the phone said I asked a very good question and asked that I hold while she investigated. She came back confirming my point #2. As a matter of fact it sounded like she was reading some kind of official statement on it. I plan to call again next month before I travel to make sure the policy hasn’t changed. Because I’m an anal dork like that.
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That’s good news.  Only the future will tell what Capital One might do with their fees, but it seems they’re still one of the most competitive credit cards for low foreign transaction fees on the market today.

Elsewhere, in response to this post, Joanne writes to tell us that the Canadian Government has reinstated rebates for some visitors:

From what I can tell, the Canadian government has reinstated some of the tax rebate but it’s only for conventions and tours. Forget about us lowly souls that populate hotels & motels, B&Bs, campgrounds, and cottages and bring in millions of tourist dollars. I didn’t even know about the elimination of the program until I was getting a receipt for a week’s lodging. This was the fourth time I’d been to Canada in the course of five years and I had filed twice. Once I did not file because a friend had the lodging in her name and I did not buy enough goods to qualify.

But two previous years that I went up, I spent significant amounts (for me, anyway) on schools supplies and school clothes for my school-aged child. After I was told about the end of the tax rebate I didn’t shop as much as I had planned. I still wasn’t sure about the rebate but when I looked it up I found that my B&B owner was indeed correct.

I’m not likely to take a tour or go to a convention, but I will return to Canada again. I won’t bother to head to the mall to spend much money unless the exchange rate gets better. Why should I pay 14% to 15% tax on something that I spend 5% tax on here? Since I live in Massachusetts I don’t even pay tax on clothing and I can easily go to New Hampshire if I want to save more taxes.

I don’t think I’m alone - we saw far fewer cars with US license plates at the mall, and fewer US cars in general. It’s too bad - between the new US rules on passports, and the Canadian near-elimination of the tax rebate, it will be hard for us to convince anyone they should travel to Canada.

And finally, in regards to HSBC increasing foreign transaction fees on their banking and ATM services, several readers have written comments or emails to confirm this reality.

Thanks eveyone who takes the time to send tips and updates  — they’re what keep this site trucking!