After reading about extra fees associated with using credit cards for overseas travel in both Budget Travel and Conde Nast Traveler this month, I decided to do some research into the subject. The simple story is this: when you use a U.S. credit card to pay for anything bought in another country or purchased from a company based in another country, you can expect to find a 1 to 3 percent surcharge added onto your purchase.

If you don’t care about a few extra dollars here and there, fine. Stop reading. If you do, here are some facts, resources and tips I’ve found that help explain what is, for many travelers, a totally confusing headache:

- To find out your credit card’s fees for international purchases, call and ask. It’s the quickest way to get all the information.

- According to Independent Traveler, Providian charges the highest fee for overseas transactions: 4 percent. The charge applies to about half of the company’s accounts.

- A typical scenario looks something like this one, described in a Bankrate.com article: Bank of America charges a 2-percent fee each time a customer uses an ATM card, debit card or credit card outside the country. Card customers pay the 1-percent conversion fee from Visa and MasterCard, as well. Bank of America also charges a $1.50 to $2.50 fee each time a customer uses an overseas ATM.

- Use Bankrate’s Currency Conversion Cost Chart to find out what fees your credit card company charges.

- According to Bankrate.com, Capitol One is the only major credit card company that does not charge its customers additional fees for using credit cards in other countries.

- Consumer Reports points out that Discover Card does not charge fees for purchases outside the U.S., but you can only use the Discover Card in parts of Mexico, the Caribbean and Canada.

If you hunt through the resources linked above, you’ll find everything you need to know to make the right decisions before your next trip.