I noticed that my HKD spends using Ambank WMC is charged approximately 2.25% Admin Fee compared to Mastercard's forex rate @ https://www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion/


This post has been edited by ronnie: Mar 24 2016, 02:00 PM

in everybody opinion, credit card or debit card can hav better rate or just same?

that's not good..all the while people reported that ambank wmc giving low rates

Can it be more than CC for Debit card admin fee?

Was told that bank rates are better than paypal rates, I ended up pay more than the rate set by paypal.

Bought something on Ebay on 23rd March totalling 11.5 USD. Paypal rate gave me rm47.55 somthing. Bank rate was 49.7/8(close to rm50). I am not sure whether is it paypal's fee or bank fee.

Am using Public bank debit card. Forex on that day was 4.06 for Selling TT

good job!! thanks for the compilation of latest data

what is the rate ocbc titanum and citibank cash back CC charge for oversea transaction? And how come so many people using AEON cc?

This post has been edited by labtec: Mar 24 2016, 03:33 PM

When I was there in HKG early December-2015, the rates were only 1% admin fee on top of MC's forex.
Something change in the last 3 months. Need to collect more fees to pay the RM600 cash back rebates

Have you check with Ambank?
Its terms and conditions written clearly only 1% markup.

Appendix 1 last row in page 23 of http://www.ambank.com.my/ambank/SiteAssets...AmBankTcEng.pdf

no idea

don't have those cards

but after use it and check statement

conclusion CIMB cheapest

If i am in japan and my cc was swiped in usd, later on the bank just convert it once to myr, correct? Since yen to myr is already converted by the store

Credit Card: HLB Mach
Transaction Date: 13 March 2016
Posting Date: 14 March 2016
Amount in NZD: 28.50
Amount billed in MYR: 81.33
Charged rate: 2.8537
Visa rate on transaction date: 2.7714
Difference: ~3%

This post has been edited by kyle_kl: Mar 29 2016, 12:15 AM

Credit Card: HLB Mach
Transaction Date: 14 March 2016
Posting Date: 15 March 2016
Amount in NZD: 36
Amount billed in MYR: 101.98
Charged rate: 2.8328
Visa rate on transaction date: 2.7714
Difference: ~2.2%

I've just send an inquiry to Ambank on this matter. Let's see what is the response.

not sure if the CIMB includes the cross border fee otherwise it is 0.8% higher

cross border only be charged if you ask the merchant in oversea to charge you in RM
this usually happen in online payment, cause you don't know where the merchant located

but if travel oversea swipe oversea
no cross border fee
my experience CIMB cheapest

Credit Card: CIMB cash back
Transaction Date: 25 March 2016
Posting Date: 27 March 2016
Amount in SGD: 23
Amount billed in MYR: 68.24
Charged rate: 2.967
Master rate on transaction date: 2.9433
Difference: ~0.81%

Transaction date : 19-March-2016
Posting Date: 22-March-2016

Based on https://www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion/
MasterCard Forex for HKD-MYR = 0.518115 for 22-March-2016

Transacted Amount : HKD$5,703.50
Posted Amount : RM3,018.71
Calculated Forex = 0.52927

Difference = 2.23% (1 - 0.52927/0.518115)

This post has been edited by ronnie: Mar 31 2016, 11:12 PM

Hi ronnie,

Based on my experience on MasterCard, transaction perform on Sat / Sun, usually get process on Monday (if the merchant settle on time), then posted to our bill on Tuesday. During the settlement (Monday), the rate used is actually taken from Friday's rate because Monday's rate is not yet available (This is the difference between MasterCard vs Visa, where MasterCard only determines the rate for the day at the end of day while Visa calculates the rate for the next day in advance).

So for your case, the rate used is Friday's rate: 1 MYR = 1.908270 HKD (MasterCard rate) -> Choose MYR as Base Currency

With 1% markup,
HKD 5,703.50 / 1.908270 * 1.01 = RM3018.72 (usually there is 1 or 2 cents rounding difference)

I just curios, does anyone try call to cs to ask why the rate they charge is higher than what we expect (master/visa rate + admin fee)? Will they tell the reason like we can't use the master/visa rate from the website as reference?

Thanks for your insight on the difference. That means Ambank WMC had maintain their 1% Admin Fee

Yeah.. I asked before. But different bank has different policy. The issues is the "admin fees", which is not clearly stated by most of the banks. Let's take an example from Alliance Bank, it's stated that there is a 1% foreign exchange conversion spread. However, in reality, they are charging 2% (by claiming 1% charged by the bank & another 1% charged by master/visa card network). For Public Bank, on the other hand, they stated clearly that the exchange will include foreign exchange spread of 1.25% (and yes, they are charging exactly 1.25%, with no other hidden administration fee unlike Alliance Bank). There are certain banks such as Maybank, which I don't prefer to use their card, because they are using their own internal rates instead of the Master/Visa rates (from my past experiences, not sure if they have changed). It's only worth to use if they give cashback.