User-definable conversion source for Visa, Mastercard, etc.

[DJLax5]

Hi!

firstly, thanks to the great plugin! Love it!
I just wanted to know, where the app fetches its conversion rates from. I've noticed the conversion rate in the app is different from the one I see in my credit card balance. The app matches the conversion rate from the european central bank quite well, so i guess the data source is linked to the EZB?

Would it be possible, to switch for example to the conversion rates Visa or Mastercard uses? Those are 1-2 % different to the rates from the EZB.
Additionally, some credit cards exhibit a fee for payments in a different currency. Would it be possible to add a Currency like "$ (Alice's Visa)", which incoperates Visas exchange rates and the fee for Alice's credit card?

Is that already doable? If not, maybe a feature idea ;)

Thanks and appreciate the work!

[chenasraf]

Hi @DJLax5, thanks for the kind comments :)

We currently use fawazahmed0/exchange-api for the API that fetches the currency rates. I'm not sure what their sources are but I think they gather multiple sources for different kinds of rates.

The reason I chose this API is because it's freely available, whereas most other options I found were paid options and/or closed source. This option is more in-line with the general FOSS approach of Nextcloud and also would not cost neither me nor the users anything to use.

If you are aware of an API that has the same capabilities but with better rate conversions I'd definitely be willing to take a look at it and either replace the existing API or add it as an alternative option. I'm not sure what Visa and Mastercard use, but it's a safe assumption that they have more official sources that are backed by banks, aren't easily reachable and much more fitting to corporate use.

As for your second question, that would be a suggestion that can be more applicable if we actually have multiple sources in the future.

Take note that if you have an API that you prefer, you can always add a custom currency in the admin settings - you would be able to set up a name and symbol and that would let the app use whatever arbitrary source you prefer for whatever arbitrary currency you would set-up. If you would like to try it out I'd be happy to help you set it up properly.

I'm sorry if that's not the answer you are expecting and I would be happy to further discuss it and find solutions together. :)

Let me know if you have any further comments or questions regarding this or another topic.