DBS Multi-currency

[ynwa1990]

Hi, does anyone have experience using the DBS MCA in Japan? I've read online that many places in Japan do not accept debit card as a payment method and if I understand correctly, the card linked to the DBS MCA account is a debit card.
I'm mainly thinking of using the MCA to purchase pricier things such as Shinkansen tickets. It would be most greatly appreciated if anyone could provide me with any input. Thanks!

 

[dreant]

Hi, does anyone have experience using the DBS MCA in Japan? I've read online that many places in Japan do not accept debit card as a payment method and if I understand correctly, the card linked to the DBS MCA account is a debit card.
I'm mainly thinking of using the MCA to purchase pricier things such as Shinkansen tickets. It would be most greatly appreciated if anyone could provide me with any input. Thanks!

Specifically, many places in Japan are cash only. Regardless if it's a credit or debit card.

Whenever you travel, it's important to have a backup (second credit card, cash, etc) funding source.

Worst case if they cant accept it, just find an ATM and withdraw it as cash... Sure, there are fees, but it's not like you'll be stranded with no way to move on.

 

[kram62]

Hi, does anyone have experience using the DBS MCA in Japan? I've read online that many places in Japan do not accept debit card as a payment method and if I understand correctly, the card linked to the DBS MCA account is a debit card.
I'm mainly thinking of using the MCA to purchase pricier things such as Shinkansen tickets. It would be most greatly appreciated if anyone could provide me with any input. Thanks!

I used dbs mca a lot during my trip to Japan in November.

Mostly used the card to pay hotel stay and shinkansen tickets. For hotel, no problem to use debit card except when we stayed in a traditional ryokan that only took cash, but it was known in advance so no surprise.

For shinkansen there is the smartEx app that you can use to purchase your tickets, very convenient and in English. You can use the app to pay with your debit card, no issues at all.

Sometimes I converted from SGD to JPY in the MCA account with the digibank app at the moment of payment at hotel counter. The conversion on dbs side was instantaneous and I didn't have any issue paying immediately after with the debit card.

For daily payments we used mostly cash. Our strategy was that we converted a certain amount of cash from sgd to jpy at a money changer in Singapore (rates for doing so at money changers in Japan are Not good at all, don't do it!).
Our estimations about how mush cash we needed were quite accurate, only left jpy888 when flying back.

Make sure that the currency is set to jpy while paying by card.

 

[Gughie]

DBS MCA Rates

Hi Guys,

I am trying to see if it is more worth it to change NZD to SGD via DBS MCA or changing it via my brokerage and then wiring it to my DBS MCA. Has anyone done the math to see if it is only worth it if the amount transferred is above a certain value? A few queries:

1. There is an incoming fee of 10 NZD if I wire any amount to the DBS MCA right?
2. Anyone knows what is the fee if I withdraw NZD locally from DBS MCA? The last I heard was 1.5% of the money being withdrawn but can anyone confirm or point me to an official link.

 

[willgoh]

Hi Guys,

I am trying to see if it is more worth it to change NZD to SGD via DBS MCA or changing it via my brokerage and then wiring it to my DBS MCA. Has anyone done the math to see if it is only worth it if the amount transferred is above a certain value? A few queries:

1. There is an incoming fee of 10 NZD if I wire any amount to the DBS MCA right?
2. Anyone knows what is the fee if I withdraw NZD locally from DBS MCA? The last I heard was 1.5% of the money being withdrawn but can anyone confirm or point me to an official link.

1. Should be 10 SGD per inward remittance.

2. https://www.dbs.com.sg/iwov-resources/pdf/deposits/DBS_deposit_guide.pdf

 

[Gughie]

Thanks bro. Do you know of any foreign currency accounts that waive or do not have fees for both transferring foreign currency to it and also withdrawing cash? What i've seen so far that is available are Foreign deposit accounts...

 

[dreant]

Thanks bro. Do you know of any foreign currency accounts that waive or do not have fees for both transferring foreign currency to it and also withdrawing cash? What i've seen so far that is available are Foreign deposit accounts...

Incoming TT, CIMB and Citi are free. DBS charges SGD10.

Deposit and withdrawal of physical notes, locally, there are none. Previously, DBS MCA allowed you to at no charge, but they no longer offer that anymore.

 

[Gughie]

Incoming TT, CIMB and Citi are free. DBS charges SGD10.

Deposit and withdrawal of physical notes, locally, there are none. Previously, DBS MCA allowed you to at no charge, but they no longer offer that anymore.

Thanks Dreant. I opened an Interactive Broker account recently and would be buying foreign currency (since the forex rate is close to the online rates) using it to transfer to my bank account. Since incoming TT to Citibank is free, i'll just TT the foreign currency from IB to Citibank and use the Citibank debit card to make online purchases or overseas purchases. Is anyone doing something similar to this? I get to save on Forex fees using IB (not including the 3.29 sgd commision from IB for each forex transaction) and the incoming TT fees. In this sense...Citibank is much better than the other banks?

For comparison between Mighty FX (UOB), DBS MCA and Citibank, I tried searching for the forex rates for Citibank but the closest I got to FOREIGN EXCHANGE(FX) TRADING SERVICES before I had to login to create an account. Anyone knows where I can get the live rates for forex for Citibank? UOB and DBS displays it on their app and website respectively.

 

[foozgarden]

Thanks Dreant. I opened an Interactive Broker account recently and would be buying foreign currency (since the forex rate is close to the online rates) using it to transfer to my bank account. Since incoming TT to Citibank is free, i'll just TT the foreign currency from IB to Citibank and use the Citibank debit card to make online purchases or overseas purchases. Is anyone doing something similar to this? I get to save on Forex fees using IB (not including the 3.29 sgd commision from IB for each forex transaction) and the incoming TT fees. In this sense...Citibank is much better than the other banks?

For comparison between Mighty FX (UOB), DBS MCA and Citibank, I tried searching for the forex rates for Citibank but the closest I got to FOREIGN EXCHANGE(FX) TRADING SERVICES before I had to login to create an account. Anyone knows where I can get the live rates for forex for Citibank? UOB and DBS displays it on their app and website respectively.

i am planning to do something similar. but in another currency. - USD.
i have USD which i want to convert to SGD.
they are sitting in DBS MCA. i can use DBS remit to IB's USD acct
after converting in IB, then tx from IB to my DBS (SGD) account.
is this do-able?
what will be the cost involved?
also , how close is the spread on IB for USD.SGD?

 

[Gughie]

i am planning to do something similar. but in another currency. - USD.
i have USD which i want to convert to SGD.
they are sitting in DBS MCA. i can use DBS remit to IB's USD acct
after converting in IB, then tx from IB to my DBS (SGD) account.
is this do-able?
what will be the cost involved?
also , how close is the spread on IB for USD.SGD?

yep it is doable. Theres a 3.29 sgd commission fee when buying USD in IB. The forex rate is really close to the online rates. After that, there's a sgd 10 incoming fee when you transfer the USD back to your DBS MCA. So the amount of money you are changing have to overcome this 13.29 SGD differential for it to be worth it to change via IB.

 

[jess_sy]

Is DBS Multi-currency worth to use?

 

[tangent314]

Is DBS Multi-currency worth to use?

Depends on what you use it for. Generally, I would say it solves problems, but often there are better ways to solve those problems.

 

[jess_sy]

Depends on what you use it for. Generally, I would say it solves problems, but often there are better ways to solve those problems.

probably to use it for spending overseas?

 

[tangent314]

probably to use it for spending overseas?

For cash or credit card spending?

As cash it's still better to go to money changer for a lower spread+commission rates.

For credit card there are credit cards that give you rebates that more than cover forex rates, e.g. ICBC Global Travel.

 

[iantao99]

Hi guys, need expert advise here.

I deposited AUD in DBS e multi currency account. When in Australia, when I charged my debit card or tried to withdraw from Westpac ATM, it converts from my SGD to AUD.
Thought it should direct debit from foreign currency account.
Any idea why?

 

[sacredrays]

Hi guys, need expert advise here.

I deposited AUD in DBS e multi currency account. When in Australia, when I charged my debit card or tried to withdraw from Westpac ATM, it converts from my SGD to AUD.
Thought it should direct debit from foreign currency account.
Any idea why?

check your debit card linked to your mca or other account.

 

[Charlie_Zhan]

Hi guys, need expert advise here.

I deposited AUD in DBS e multi currency account. When in Australia, when I charged my debit card or tried to withdraw from Westpac ATM, it converts from my SGD to AUD.
Thought it should direct debit from foreign currency account.
Any idea why?

card number has to begin with 462845 and the multi currency linked to it as the primary account

Sent from Samsung SM-G965F using GAGT

 

[dreant]

card number has to begin with 462845 and the multi currency linked to it as the primary account

Sent from Samsung SM-G965F using GAGT

Is it a DBS debit card, or POSB debit card?

The MCA link only works for DBS debit cards. POSB cards linked to the MCA does not have the multi currency function, and will only draw from the SGD wallet.

The other time it draws from the SGD wallet, is if there is insufficent funds in the FCY wallet.

Eg, you only have AUD200, but you tried to charge AUD201; the entire balance will be taken from your SGD wallet (with fees).

Some merchants will also do a DCC (direct currency conversion), offering you the option to pay in your home currency (SGD) - some unscrupulous merchants will choose DCC for you automatically. When this happens, your card will be charged in SGD (at a significantly higher exchange rate). You can see if it's a DCC transaction by examining the receipt. It will indicate the transaction was processed in SGD, and the amount that was charged to your card.

In all cases, you should never use DCC, even if it's an SGD based debit/credit card; your bank's exchange rate will *always* be better than DCC.

 

[iantao99]

check your debit card linked to your mca or other account.

card number has to begin with 462845 and the multi currency linked to it as the primary account

Sent from Samsung SM-G965F using GAGT

Is it a DBS debit card, or POSB debit card?

The MCA link only works for DBS debit cards. POSB cards linked to the MCA does not have the multi currency function, and will only draw from the SGD wallet.

The other time it draws from the SGD wallet, is if there is insufficent funds in the FCY wallet.

Eg, you only have AUD200, but you tried to charge AUD201; the entire balance will be taken from your SGD wallet (with fees).

Some merchants will also do a DCC (direct currency conversion), offering you the option to pay in your home currency (SGD) - some unscrupulous merchants will choose DCC for you automatically. When this happens, your card will be charged in SGD (at a significantly higher exchange rate). You can see if it's a DCC transaction by examining the receipt. It will indicate the transaction was processed in SGD, and the amount that was charged to your card.

In all cases, you should never use DCC, even if it's an SGD based debit/credit card; your bank's exchange rate will *always* be better than DCC.

It is a POSB Debit Card linked to MCA account.
Went down to DBS VTM, it only provided POSB Debit option.

Wow! Applied for the debit card specifically for my overseas trip.
Didn’t realise POSB card don’t allow foreigners currency withdrawal.
Now I’m overseas and getting charged conversions all over...
Am I pissed now...

Thx for replies.

 

[dreant]

It is a POSB Debit Card linked to MCA account.
Went down to DBS VTM, it only provided POSB Debit option.

Wow! Applied for the debit card specifically for my overseas trip.
Didn’t realise POSB card don’t allow foreigners currency withdrawal.
Now I’m overseas and getting charged conversions all over...
Am I pissed now...

Thx for replies.

If you look over all the materials and websites, only DBS debit cards mention being able to 'enjoy direct direct foreign currency payments' from an MCA account; similarly, if you had asked any bank teller, they would have told you the same thing too.

Oh well, do still try to enjoy the rest of your trip.