DCS Ultimate Platinum Card

[sohguanh]

Holiday been researching on this DCS formerly known as Diners Club Spore. A local financial institution setup in 1973 so about 50 years history. They should be in the same league as Sing Investment, Singapura Finance etc category but not the bank category yet. Their new initiative to work with Mastercard and UnionPay is a good business strategy instead of pursuing their own local payment solutions seem to pay off as it at least attracted my attention.

My concern is they will not close shop anytime soon correct? 50 years not say long also not say short hmmm....

 

[crystalnox]

Holiday been researching on this DCS formerly known as Diners Club Spore. A local financial institution setup in 1973 so about 50 years history. They should be in the same league as Sing Investment, Singapura Finance etc category but not the bank category yet. Their new initiative to work with Mastercard and UnionPay is a good business strategy instead of pursuing their own local payment solutions seem to pay off as it at least attracted my attention.

My concern is they will not close shop anytime soon correct? 50 years not say long also not say short hmmm....

Why is that of any concern to you? It's a credit card you're applying for, not a bank account that you're depositing money into. If they suddenly close down and never collect your last bill, better still.

 

[sohguanh]

Why is that of any concern to you? It's a credit card you're applying for, not a bank account that you're depositing money into. If they suddenly close down and never collect your last bill, better still.

Actually I am asking on behalf of my spouse. Anything that is "new" say must check will close shop or not. I use your same reason but she insist check more thoroughly so I ask lor.

Maybe her Msia roots in childhood scare her as in that country close shop is norm in their culture.

 

[crystalnox]

Actually I am asking on behalf of my spouse. Anything that is "new" say must check will close shop or not. I use your same reason but she insist check more thoroughly so I ask lor.

Maybe her Msia roots in childhood scare her as in that country close shop is norm in their culture.

It's a credit card, so you owe them money, not they owe you money. No need to worry. Plus they are properly licensed, i wouldn't worry too much, anything goes wrong MAS will step in.

https://eservices.mas.gov.sg/fid/institution/detail/216-DCS-CARD-CENTRE-PTE-LTD

 

[CrashWire]

Holiday been researching on this DCS formerly known as Diners Club Spore. A local financial institution setup in 1973 so about 50 years history. They should be in the same league as Sing Investment, Singapura Finance etc category but not the bank category yet. Their new initiative to work with Mastercard and UnionPay is a good business strategy instead of pursuing their own local payment solutions seem to pay off as it at least attracted my attention.

My concern is they will not close shop anytime soon correct? 50 years not say long also not say short hmmm....

DCS had a change of ownership in 2021:

https://theedgemalaysia.com/article...ess-singapore-may-venture-glove-manufacturing
The new owner runs a merchant processor, so I guess their venture into UnionPay and Mastercard makes more sense now:

https://www.ezynet.sg/

 

[crystalnox]

DCS had a change of ownership in 2021:

https://theedgemalaysia.com/article...ess-singapore-may-venture-glove-manufacturing
The new owner runs a merchant processor, so I guess their venture into UnionPay and Mastercard makes more sense now:

https://www.ezynet.sg/

That’s a good find, I guessed something like this happened too since Diners is just franchising their foreign operations to someone but couldn’t find any news sources in sg talking about it.

 

[sohguanh]

The card arrive it is pinkish in color like lady color wow but can use. Exploring the dcs app notice two feature
1. VA virtual account to link your bank account to card so can temporary increase credit limit is needed
2. Pay4U is the other way round. You can transfer the card credit limit monies to your bank account. But this will incur charges? Imagine I transfer credit monies to my bank account then I use ATM card withdraw the cash out to use?

Anyone already using experiment how it works got any fees?

 

[crystalnox]

The card arrive it is pinkish in color like lady color wow but can use. Exploring the dcs app notice two feature
1. VA virtual account to link your bank account to card so can temporary increase credit limit is needed
2. Pay4U is the other way round. You can transfer the card credit limit monies to your bank account. But this will incur charges? Imagine I transfer credit monies to my bank account then I use ATM card withdraw the cash out to use?

Anyone already using experiment how it works got any fees?

2. 3% fee, due to be paid back by card statement date so it's a ~1 mth loan for 3% interest.
https://dcscc.com/cash-programme/pay4u

 

[sglandscape]

2. 3% fee, due to be paid back by card statement date so it's a ~1 mth loan for 3% interest.
https://dcscc.com/cash-programme/pay4u

That's a pretty hefty EIR since it's due at the next statement date

 

[sohguanh]

2. 3% fee, due to be paid back by card statement date so it's a ~1 mth loan for 3% interest.
https://dcscc.com/cash-programme/pay4u

Just got my first credit report all these monies and other form of balance transfer etc aka borrow monies in crude form maybe logged and may affect one chance for future credit card approval I think. So unless fist very tight desperate for monies don't think it is advisable even if you can pay the 3%

 

[sohguanh]

In case someone is looking to use this card to scan QR code to do payment like hawker center unfortunately it is not supported. From the FAQ url https://cards.dcscc.com/ultimate

Can I add I add my DCS Ultimate Platinum card to Diners SG Pay App to make QR Payments?
Unfortunately, Diners SG Pay App is currently only available to Diners Club Credit/Charge cards issued by DCS.

In fact the dcs app don't have this feature it is only available in Diners SG App (another app) which has that feature. Thought can I get more 2% rebate but I guess all cards come with pros and cons.

 

[crystalnox]

In case someone is looking to use this card to scan QR code to do payment like hawker center unfortunately it is not supported. From the FAQ url https://cards.dcscc.com/ultimate

Can I add I add my DCS Ultimate Platinum card to Diners SG Pay App to make QR Payments?
Unfortunately, Diners SG Pay App is currently only available to Diners Club Credit/Charge cards issued by DCS.

In fact the dcs app don't have this feature it is only available in Diners SG App (another app) which has that feature. Thought can I get more 2% rebate but I guess all cards come with pros and cons.

DCS is in a weird position of both running their own payment network, and issuing cards from a rival network.

 

[sohguanh]

DCS is in a weird position of both running their own payment network, and issuing cards from a rival network.

I believe they are exploring another revenue stream. If only depend on their own payment the sales number cannot explode. Hence partnering with Master or Visa or Unionpay allow them to tap on new group of customers. Unionpay alot of China customers I am quite sure. In fact I am their customer due to this new partnering.

 

[sohguanh]

Just sharing for the dcs app if the home screen card consolidated spending look a lot tap in and view the billed details. Sometimes you may find "duplicate" one txn $100 same txn $100 where one is pending one is posted. These duplicate shoot up the total consolidated spending a lot. But not to worry next day or two the duplicate will be removed.

 

[BBCWatcher]

UnionPay, Diners Club, and Discover cards should all be accepted interchangeably at the same merchants. If you see at least one of those card symbols then you should be able to use another card in that trio of brands.

Discover owns Diners Club International, so the Discover and classic Diners Club International networks should be at least reasonably unified by now. Singapore's Diners Club franchisee is DCS Card Centre. There are no Discover cards issued in Singapore as far as I know.

Discover and UnionPay struck a deal to accept each others' cards on their respective networks. UnionPay struck a deal with NETS in Singapore to handle card network processing here, so many merchants have to use a separate NETS terminal to process UnionPay (and Discover and Diners Club) card payments. Many sales clerks don't know that their NETS terminal accepts these cards (usually true), many don't know how to operate their NETS terminal this way, and many haven't configured their NETS terminals this way. So it's somewhat hit or miss in practice. Online acceptance can also be messy.

Network cross-acceptance doesn't really help with mobile payment systems (Apple, Google, Samsung). For example, Discover cards issued in the U.S. can be added to Apple Pay, but that doesn't mean DCS-issued cards work that way. (They don't.)

DCS Card Centre issues Diners Club and UnionPay logo cards (which are effectively the same in terms of merchant acceptance due to the Discover/Diners/UnionPay network federation). DCS Card Centre also issues one Mastercard logo card, accepted wherever Mastercard is accepted.

 

[CrashWire]

Discover and UnionPay struck a deal to accept each others' cards on their respective networks. UnionPay struck a deal with NETS in Singapore to handle card network processing here, so many merchants have to use a separate NETS terminal to process UnionPay (and Discover and Diners Club) card payments. Many sales clerks don't know that their NETS terminal accepts these cards (usually true), many don't know how to operate their NETS terminal this way, and many haven't configured their NETS terminals this way. So it's somewhat hit or miss in practice. Online acceptance can also be messy.

Just because NETS terminals can accept UnionPay doesn't mean that the merchants have it enabled, since the fees for credit card acceptance are much higher than the fees for standard NETS transactions.

Also, looking at the Wikipedia article, I think the UnionPay reciprocal agreement only applies to Discover and Diners Club in China:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_reciprocal_agreements

 

[BBCWatcher]

Just because NETS terminals can accept UnionPay doesn't mean that the merchants have it enabled, since the fees for credit card acceptance are much higher than the fees for standard NETS transactions.

Yes, that’s what “many haven't configured their NETS terminals this way” means. That’s the why.

Also, looking at the Wikipedia article, I think the UnionPay reciprocal agreement only applies to Discover and Diners Club in China:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_reciprocal_agreements

It’s up to UnionPay to decide whether to allow cross-network transactions for particular cards, card types, and issuers homed on its network. And what types of transactions (card present v. card not present, merchant codes). UnionPay has all sorts of extra oddities in these respects. A Diners Club branded card might actually do a little bit better across the loosely federated network, but YMMV.

In practice, if you want to use a UnionPay, Diners Club, or Discover card, try using it as if it were one of the other logo cards. For example, if you see a merchant that accepts Discover (and is silent about Diners Club) but have a Diners Club card try using it as if it were a Discover card. Chances are at least decent it’ll work. But if it doesn’t work be prepared to pull out your Mastercard, Visa, or American Express card.

I should mention that JCB is also part of the same loosely federated network. So if you see a merchant with a JCB logo then there’s a decent chance your Diners Club card will work. There are also some single country networks where your Diners Club card will probably work. Examples: RuPay accepting merchants in India, BC Card in South Korea. But I don’t pay too much attention to those because Diners Club cards issued in Singapore aren’t great cross-border cards in terms of fees. Cards like the Trust Bank credit card (a Visa card) are much better in that respect.

I’ve had the best luck with Diners Club cards issued in Singapore at card present merchants that have a Discover logo somewhere, such as on the merchant terminal itself. That combination seems to work pretty consistently even if you don’t see a Diners Club logo. Which makes sense because Discover and Diners Club International is now under one network operator (U.S. headquartered Discover Financial). Beyond that it’s more iffy since you’re dealing with the loosely federated network. YMMV.

 

[sohguanh]

Anyone using this card already chased payment after one month? For me over 1 month login app never chase payment a bit worry is it system mess up? Will they later charge me late payment? Or since this is first time get card the first month roll to second month pay together?

Mine recent SCB first time get card no leh very on time chase payment hmmm

 

[Trazora]

Anyone using this card already chased payment after one month? For me over 1 month login app never chase payment a bit worry is it system mess up? Will they later charge me late payment? Or since this is first time get card the first month roll to second month pay together?

Mine recent SCB first time get card no leh very on time chase payment hmmm

what is your statement date, due date?

 

[sohguanh]

what is your statement date, due date?

App show 27 Jul 2023 but no need pay as all is $0. I write in to their CS. Post this thread to ask other first timer is it same as me.