Ahh i recall SCB has one of the higher exchange rates rivaling that of Amex. So is alliance bank visa.

Maybe in addition to the 'stated' exchange rates we can maintain a depository of actual exchange rates vs a common benchmark (xe.com, wawasansentosa.com etc.)

Transaction date : 26/10/11
Posted date : 28/10/11
Amount charged in foreign currency : TWD5000
Amount billed in MYR : RM528.84
Rate = 0.105768


Currencies fluctuate every day. The rate shown is effective for transactions submitted to Visa on October 28, 2011, with a bank foreign transaction fee of 1%.
1 New Taiwan Dollar = 0.105506 Malaysian Ringgit


Currencies fluctuate every day. The rate shown is effective for transactions submitted to Visa on October 26, 2011, with a bank foreign transaction fee of 1%.
1 New Taiwan Dollar = 0.105025 Malaysian Ringgit

Barring intra-day movements, Maybank may charging abt 1% now

for dates check both. some banks use trx date, some banks use posting date. It just a matter of comparison.

for rates, I usually use Visa or xe.com. Previously was wawasan sentosa but now not an option. Not sure abt the others

Actually I have detected an increase in rate on Maybank's part since Nov but only when Gen-X pointed out the fine print on the back of the MBB VI's statement did I jump into action.

I still need some MBB Visa (none VI) data to come to a conclusion of my analysis. Only rule is it must be a USD transaction.

Mod?TS.
please add the following links to the first post

Mastercard Global Forex Rates - Thanks jchong!

Old Amex US Forex Website (does not work) - outsourced to Oanda?

Amex AU Forex Rates - outsourced to fx4you (not safe to be taken as internal Amex rate)

This post has been edited by zenquix: Jan 10 2012, 07:24 PM

Thanks Miles. As a gesture, have a message for you in the MBB2Card thread

thanks! every little bit helps

yeah ... your transaction skewed my datapoints hahaha

for those expecting the analysis, my apologies for the delay. Swamped with work and personal errands lately. Hopefully will get to post it up soon.

just want to share the findings of my long overdue analysis.

Executive Summary:
MBB Visa - 1.25% admin charge based on Visa forex rates on posting date
MBB Mastercard - 1% admin charge based on Mastercard global forex rates on transaction date
MBB Amex - Close to 2% higher than Visa and Mastercard

Detailed analysis available on my blog. Do comment and highlight errors if any.

This post has been edited by zenquix: Mar 5 2012, 03:17 AM

Mixed. Have samples for all 3.

Reason for this is due to the fact that TWD is poorly traded in MY. So the money changers have higher margins, to make up for the lower volume.
This is documented in the Taiwan Travel thread (I did the MYR -> USD -> TWD comparison as well)

a new site to compare forex (and the replacement to wawasan sentosa money changer in midvalley)

http://www.moneymaster.com.my/index.php

I wouldn't suggest using Alliance Visa as the rate they charge is quite high in my experience.

---

Added on July 16, 2012, 5:57 pmyes, but it would not be visible (not stated). You will just see a lower exchange rate. i.e. maybe wehn refering to a site like XE.com should get RM100, but once you withdraw to your credit card it will be RM96 (pure example)

This post has been edited by zenquix: Jul 16 2012, 05:57 PM

anyone here have Alliance Bank Visa Infinite and used it for overseas transactions? As per MilesandMore's findings above, trying to find a card better than Maybank Visa Infinite (normal Maybank Visa/MC can throw already)

My experience with my cancelled Alliance Bank Visa (not infinite) was very high exchange rate rivalling Amex

This post has been edited by zenquix: Aug 15 2013, 05:22 PM

this is the spectre of DCC (direct curreny conversion). You are suppose to be able to say No but I have been a victim where we are not allowed to.

well documented on travel forums especially in China

concept is correct though you may not know the exact rate + surcharge.

Basically since Aug-01 it has been observed that MBB now charges much higher exchange rate fees and prior to that it was 1.25% above the rate @ posting date (modelled from data mining) and not 1%.

Visa rate on Sep-9 = 3.308000
MBB rate = 3.3826

Effective new MBB charge = 2.25%

Edit: Typo - rate should be 2.25%

=(3.38262360158787-3.308)/3.308

This post has been edited by zenquix: Sep 10 2013, 05:14 PM

@ the current high MBB exchange rate (sry no datapoints for MC yet). the points (0.4% value) will not cover it. Thus I would go for cash if you get a good rate for it.

Consider Amex on weekends with the 5% rebate if it is still available. Would only use CC for the convenience or if the USD rate dropped to below your cash rate.

some additional data points

July 2013 = 1.25%
Aug-2013 = 2.25%
Sep-1 2013 = 2.25%

Very clearly they bumped it up in August to 2.25%. Hope they did not just suddenly bumped it on Sep 9 onwards. If anyone have more datapoint, do share it. Need the posting date and rate.

Edit: had a typo in the previous rate

This post has been edited by zenquix: Sep 10 2013, 05:17 PM

thanks for the data point

Previous analysis showed Mastercard was based on transaction date rates with a 1% markup. However rates for 28/7 not available so we use 29/7. Base is MYR.

1 MYR = 9.625552THB ~ 1THB = 0.1038901457287852

The above transaction was 1 MYR = 9.551868506745232THB ~ 1THB = 0.104691556864047

Thus the rate charged is 0.1046916-0.103890 / 0.103890 = 0.7% (not 1% as it is not based on the rates of 28/7)

So the rate is still low in July for MC. If we can get datapoints for Aug onwards....

i won't be surprised if Amex has been marked up as well

I use the 0% rate on the visa website. One reason is because the admin fee input only takes one decimal point and skews calculations

The MBB rate is based on the posted values in our CC statement, not the TT rate (totally different side of the business). If they charged us TT rates, might as well not use CC overseas

So using your transaction snapshot

I take the 0% exchange rate for 7-Sep at 0%, My Card in MYR, My Transaction in THB:

1 Thai Baht = 0.102818 Malaysian Ringgit

So your transaction is THB3000 = MYR315.41
THB1 = 0.1051366666666667 Malaysian Ringgit

thus admin charge is (0.1051366666666667-0.102818 )/0.102818 = 0.0225511745673585 = 2.25% (or 2.26% to be more accurate)

Edit: my blog post from last year has details on the methodology. Had help from the community for datapoints then.

This post has been edited by zenquix: Sep 11 2013, 01:55 AM