Cheeky cross border HKD fees
As most people know credit card companies normally charge a fee when you use your credit card abroad (this is normally about 1% charged by Amex/Visa/Mastercard and another 0.95% charged by your credit card company) and you DON'T get charged when you use your credit card in your home country using your home currency.
Also, most credit card companies won't charge you for transactions made abroad in your home currency. This is often the case for example when buying something online, or when you end up paying via Dynamic Currency Conversion (something you should not be doing though, as although its for your "convenience" the exchange rate used is pretty high).
However it seems quite a few credit card companies in Hong Kong are bringing changes to their terms and conditions which impose a 0.8% charge for HKD transactions which did not occur in Hong Kong. For examples the terms of my Dah Sing credit card read: "Transaction Fee for Cross-border Transaction: (Applicable to Settling Foreign Currency Transaction in Hong Kong Dollars) 0.80% on the transaction amount in Hong Kong currency made outside of Hong Kong or at any merchants not registered in Hong Kong".
The major issue here is for online purchases, where you may not know if the merchant is not making the transaction from Hong Kong or not (even if the merchant is registered in Hong Kong). Good common examples include PayPal (transaction is booked in Singapore), Google Play (transactions is booked in the UK) and expedia.com.hk (transaction is booked in France).
Apart from Dah Sing bank, some other major credit card providers charge this 0.80% fee, including China Construction Bank, Citibank Mastercard and Fubon Bank Mastercard to name a few.
A forum post on HongkongCard.com has a useful list of credit card providers that have this handling charge, along with a list of popular online retailers that process the transaction outside of Hong Kong but charge in HKD: 0.8% Cross-border transaction in HKD handling charge w.e.f. 1 Jun 14 - online non-HK merchants
In any case, you should check the terms and conditions of your credit card, especially if you use it for online HKD transactions.
Also, most credit card companies won't charge you for transactions made abroad in your home currency. This is often the case for example when buying something online, or when you end up paying via Dynamic Currency Conversion (something you should not be doing though, as although its for your "convenience" the exchange rate used is pretty high).
However it seems quite a few credit card companies in Hong Kong are bringing changes to their terms and conditions which impose a 0.8% charge for HKD transactions which did not occur in Hong Kong. For examples the terms of my Dah Sing credit card read: "Transaction Fee for Cross-border Transaction: (Applicable to Settling Foreign Currency Transaction in Hong Kong Dollars) 0.80% on the transaction amount in Hong Kong currency made outside of Hong Kong or at any merchants not registered in Hong Kong".
The major issue here is for online purchases, where you may not know if the merchant is not making the transaction from Hong Kong or not (even if the merchant is registered in Hong Kong). Good common examples include PayPal (transaction is booked in Singapore), Google Play (transactions is booked in the UK) and expedia.com.hk (transaction is booked in France).
Apart from Dah Sing bank, some other major credit card providers charge this 0.80% fee, including China Construction Bank, Citibank Mastercard and Fubon Bank Mastercard to name a few.
A forum post on HongkongCard.com has a useful list of credit card providers that have this handling charge, along with a list of popular online retailers that process the transaction outside of Hong Kong but charge in HKD: 0.8% Cross-border transaction in HKD handling charge w.e.f. 1 Jun 14 - online non-HK merchants
In any case, you should check the terms and conditions of your credit card, especially if you use it for online HKD transactions.
via Blogger http://www.browngeek.net/2014/10/cheeky-cross-border-hkd-fees.html
