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)

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.

Hi ronnie, may I know how do you get the Forex value? Your transactions were performed on 16 March 2016, settled on 17 March 2016 then posted to your bill on 18 March 2016. For MasterCard, settlement on 17 March 2016 will use the rate on 16 March 2016 (since the 17th rate has not available yet).

So this is the rate used by the bank: 1 MYR = 1.873225 HKD (MasterCard rate on 16 March) -> MYR as Base Currency

With 1% markup,

Transaction Amount: HK$54.00
HK$54.00 / 1.873225 * 1.01 = RM29.12
Posted Amount: RM29.12 (Match - OK)

Transaction Amount: HK$78.00
HK$78.00 / 1.873225 * 1.01 = RM42.06
Posted Amount: RM42.05 (1 cent rounding difference)

Transaction Amount: HK$207.00
HK$78.00 / 1.873225 * 1.01 = RM111.61
Posted Amount: RM111.62 (1 cent rounding difference)

Transaction Amount: HK$29.90
HK$29.90 / 1.873225 * 1.01 = RM16.12
Posted Amount: RM16.11 (1 cent rounding difference)

Transaction Amount: HK$21.40
HK$21.40 / 1.873225 * 1.01 = RM11.54
Posted Amount: RM11.54 (Match - OK)

Ahh.. Okay okay. I understand how you get the Forex value. I think the difference is due to the rounding. That's why you notice the difference when comparing in that way.

This post has been edited by my_store: Apr 1 2016, 02:11 PM

You're most welcome. By the way, I learnt a lot from all of you.. I should call you sifu instead.

Past 7 days of Visa vs MasterCard Conversion Rate: USD to MYR

Settlement Date	Visa Rate	MasterCard Rate
01-Apr-16	3.939606	3.891005
02-Apr-16	3.914609	3.887995
03-Apr-16	3.914609	N/A
04-Apr-16	3.914609	3.887995
05-Apr-16	3.909109	3.877998
06-Apr-16	3.938606	3.917006
07-Apr-16	3.934107	3.903003

Yes, MasterCard rate is usually better than Visa. However, if the purchase is less than RM100, I believe you won't bother about the difference. In the case above, I believe you can conclude that Ambank MasterCard is having a better rate than Ambank Visa card.

Actually from my experience, settlement date is either a day before posting date or the posting date itself (this vary depends on the bank).

In fact, I think settlement date can be transaction date itself especially for local transaction. For example, we perform a local transaction today and the bank settle the payment to the merchant’s acquirer at the same day before the cut off time, hence the transaction get posted to our statement tomorrow. In this case, settlement date = transaction date.

But for overseas, probably because of the time difference, I notice the settlement date is usually one day after the transaction date. So, I think we can't conclude the settlement date is the transaction date or the posting date.

If we take a scenario like below:
Transaction Date: 1-Apr-16
Posting Date: 6-Apr-16
Then the settlement date is most probably 5-Apr-16 or 6 Apr-16. Anyway, this is based on what I observe so far.

Your transactions were performed on 11 April 2016, settled on 12 April 2016 then posted to your bill on 13 April 2016.

So this is the rate used by the bank: 1 MYR = 0.225114 EUR (MasterCard rate on 11 April) -> MYR as Base Currency

My experience with CIMB is that, they charges 2% markup,

Your Transaction Amount: EUR 112
€ 112 / 0.225114 * 1.02 = RM507.48
Your Posted Amount: RM507.5 (2 cent rounding difference)

Actually quite hard to determine which is better because the bank might use their own rates instead of Visa / MasterCard rates to calculate the conversion. If you want a 0% conversion charge, go for AmBank TRUE Visa Credit Card. It calculates based on Visa rates with no extra markup / conversion fee.

Your transactions were performed on 10 July 2016 (Sun), settled on 11 July 2016 (Mon) then posted to your account on 12 July 2016 (Tue).

During the settlement (Monday), the rate used is actually taken from last Friday's rate because Monday's rate not yet available. So this is the rate used by the bank: 1 MYR = 0.222699 EUR (MasterCard rate on 8 July) -> MYR as Base Currency

With 2% markup,

Your Transaction Amount: EUR 107
€ 107 / 0.222699 * 1.02 = RM490.08
Your Posted Amount: RM490.07 (1 cent rounding difference)

Obviously, the CIMB call center had given you the wrong information.