What credit card offers the lowest usd rate for online shopping?

[stan]

What credit card offers the lowest usd rate for online shopping?
Anyone has experience in this?

[anthony.phua]

All cards are the same as the exchange rate is set by Visa/Master centrally. The only difference is in the admin fee that the bank charges. If you want to save that few dollars/cents, try those banks that charge 1% Admin Fee (eg OCBC, Maybank, Bank of China). Citibank, UOB, DBS, HSBC, SCB all charge 1.5% Admin Fee.

Basically, the exchange rate works like this :

Wholesale market rate set by Visa/Master + 1% Service Fee levied by Visa/Master + 1 to 2% Admin Charge levied by Cardholder's Bank = The amount you see on your statement.

What credit card offers the lowest usd rate for online shopping?
Anyone has experience in this?

[rAcEr]

tried n tested, ocbc exchange rate is reasonable and cheaper than uob, amex, citi

[cactusz]

All cards are the same as the exchange rate is set by Visa/Master centrally. The only difference is in the admin fee that the bank charges. If you want to save that few dollars/cents, try those banks that charge 1% Admin Fee (eg OCBC, Maybank, Bank of China). Citibank, UOB, DBS, HSBC, SCB all charge 1.5% Admin Fee.

Basically, the exchange rate works like this :

Wholesale market rate set by Visa/Master + 1% Service Fee levied by Visa/Master + 1 to 2% Admin Charge levied by Cardholder's Bank = The amount you see on your statement.

Useful, thx.

How about Amex card? I heard Amex is a different mechanism.

btw. heard Visa has lower service fee than mastercard, don't know it's true or not. anyone have idea?

[anthony.phua]

I know Amex's charge is 2%. But I'm not sure how much the bank charges for admin fee for Amex.

I'm not sure abt the lower service fee for Visa. Have not "tested" it before. To see the interbank rate for Visa (indicative), go to the website below :

http://corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_services/consumer_ex_rates.jsp

Useful, thx.

How about Amex card? I heard Amex is a different mechanism.

btw. heard Visa has lower service fee than mastercard, don't know it's true or not. anyone have idea?

[rAcEr]

All cards are the same as the exchange rate is set by Visa/Master centrally. The only difference is in the admin fee that the bank charges. If you want to save that few dollars/cents, try those banks that charge 1% Admin Fee (eg OCBC, Maybank, Bank of China). Citibank, UOB, DBS, HSBC, SCB all charge 1.5% Admin Fee.

Basically, the exchange rate works like this :

Wholesale market rate set by Visa/Master + 1% Service Fee levied by Visa/Master + 1 to 2% Admin Charge levied by Cardholder's Bank = The amount you see on your statement.

bro,

how did u get the information on the admin fee that the banks charge as above?

[anthony.phua]

Read the terms & Conditions or the back of your statement. The charges are listed very transparently. I know a lot of people don't read the fine print ;-)

[stan]

All cards are the same as the exchange rate is set by Visa/Master centrally. The only difference is in the admin fee that the bank charges. If you want to save that few dollars/cents, try those banks that charge 1% Admin Fee (eg OCBC, Maybank, Bank of China). Citibank, UOB, DBS, HSBC, SCB all charge 1.5% Admin Fee.

Basically, the exchange rate works like this :

Wholesale market rate set by Visa/Master + 1% Service Fee levied by Visa/Master + 1 to 2% Admin Charge levied by Cardholder's Bank = The amount you see on your statement.

Hi guys,

I just found the lowest admin fee by bank. It is ABN-AMRO. They charge 0.8% admin fee for my switch card.

[AndyS]

Hi guys,

I just found the lowest admin fee by bank. It is ABN-AMRO. They charge 0.8% admin fee for my switch card.

hmm...
noted !
been using Krisflyer AMEX all this while... use until the 50% more miles + 50% more miles promotion when you spend S$10k til end Dec'07 promotion is OVER first...

[Isomatrix]

Hi guys,

I just found the lowest admin fee by bank. It is ABN-AMRO. They charge 0.8% admin fee for my switch card.

Hi,
Where did you find this 0.8%? I only can find 1% on the personal card.

[stan]

Hi,
Where did you find this 0.8%? I only can find 1% on the personal card.

I called ABN and the officer told me they charge 0.8% processing fee for my platinum switch card.

[starbugs]

OCBC used to have one of the lowest fees for converting foreign currency spending to Singapore dollars.

Old fees from 2006: http://www.case.org.sg/downloads/central/comparison%20of%20credit%20card%20charges.xls

Recently, OCBC is increasing their admin fee for foreign currency transaction (from 0.85% I think).

Seems many of the other banks are quietly doing so and burying the info in their terms & conditions.

Since the CASE table is outdated, the latest foreign currency admin charges are summarised here..

OCBC: 1.5%
(https://www.ocbc.com/personal-banking/cards/Crd_Overview.shtm)

HSBC: up to 1.5%
(http://www.hsbc.com.sg/1/PA_1_4_S5/content/singapore/personal/cards/gold_cards/pdf/tnc.pdf)

UOB: 1.5%
(http://www.uobgroup.com/pages/personal/cards/credit/tnc.html)

DBS: 1.5% for Visa/MC, 2% for AMEX
(http://www.dbs.com/sg/personal/cards/additionalinfo/terms/highlights/)

SCB: 1.5%
(http://www.standardchartered.com.sg/**/credit_card/tnc/Cardmembers_Agreement.pdf)

Citibank: 1.5%

(http://www.citibank.com.sg/global_docs/prod/cc/visaplat/cardmember_agreement.pdf)

Maybank: 1%
(http://info.maybank2u.com.sg/site_functions/bank_charges_cards.htm#)

ABN: 1%
(http://www.abnamro.com.sg/sg/pages/downloads/pdfs/credit_cards_welcome_pack.pdf)

[Assimilator]

OCBC used to have one of the lowest fees for converting foreign currency spending to Singapore dollars.

Old fees from 2006: http://www.case.org.sg/downloads/central/comparison%20of%20credit%20card%20charges.xls

Recently, OCBC is increasing their admin fee for foreign currency transaction (from 0.85% I think).

Seems many of the other banks are quietly doing so and burying the info in their terms & conditions.

Since the CASE table is outdated, the latest foreign currency admin charges are summarised here..

OCBC: 1.5%
(https://www.ocbc.com/personal-banking/cards/Crd_Overview.shtm)

HSBC: up to 1.5%
(http://www.hsbc.com.sg/1/PA_1_4_S5/content/singapore/personal/cards/gold_cards/pdf/tnc.pdf)

UOB: 1.5%
(http://www.uobgroup.com/pages/personal/cards/credit/tnc.html)

DBS: 1.5% for Visa/MC, 2% for AMEX
(http://www.dbs.com/sg/personal/cards/additionalinfo/terms/highlights/)

SCB: 1.5%
(http://www.standardchartered.com.sg/**/credit_card/tnc/Cardmembers_Agreement.pdf)

Citibank: 1.5%

(http://www.citibank.com.sg/global_docs/prod/cc/visaplat/cardmember_agreement.pdf)

Maybank: 1%
(http://info.maybank2u.com.sg/site_functions/bank_charges_cards.htm#)

ABN: 1%
(http://www.abnamro.com.sg/sg/pages/downloads/pdfs/credit_cards_welcome_pack.pdf)
Great works! Thanks. :)

[feitz]

beri beri useful! thanks!

[voddie]

mastercard exchange rate is usually slightly higher than visa

[qishan]

OCBC used to have one of the lowest fees for converting foreign currency spending to Singapore dollars.

Old fees from 2006: http://www.case.org.sg/downloads/central/comparison%20of%20credit%20card%20charges.xls

Recently, OCBC is increasing their admin fee for foreign currency transaction (from 0.85% I think).

Seems many of the other banks are quietly doing so and burying the info in their terms & conditions.

Since the CASE table is outdated, the latest foreign currency admin charges are summarised here..

OCBC: 1.5%
(https://www.ocbc.com/personal-banking/cards/Crd_Overview.shtm)

HSBC: up to 1.5%
(http://www.hsbc.com.sg/1/PA_1_4_S5/content/singapore/personal/cards/gold_cards/pdf/tnc.pdf)

UOB: 1.5%
(http://www.uobgroup.com/pages/personal/cards/credit/tnc.html)

DBS: 1.5% for Visa/MC, 2% for AMEX
(http://www.dbs.com/sg/personal/cards/additionalinfo/terms/highlights/)

SCB: 1.5%
(http://www.standardchartered.com.sg/**/credit_card/tnc/Cardmembers_Agreement.pdf)

Citibank: 1.5%

(http://www.citibank.com.sg/global_docs/prod/cc/visaplat/cardmember_agreement.pdf)

Maybank: 1%
(http://info.maybank2u.com.sg/site_functions/bank_charges_cards.htm#)

ABN: 1%
(http://www.abnamro.com.sg/sg/pages/downloads/pdfs/credit_cards_welcome_pack.pdf)

this should be stickied