But where do you earn your money? If you are earning in the US then it is fine. But if you earn in SG and transfer money to pay the US cards off, not much difference than a forex fee, is it?

The forex fee is a bit lower, but points earn can make up a difference. In my situation (with AU not US), on relatively small amounts I pay a little over 1% to transfer money back to AU from SG via DBS or ozforex. My Citibank PM card FX fee is around 2.8%. When throwing in double pts on overseas spend (and accounting for visa earn rates that are typical in AU these days of 0.5 pts per dollar for lower cost cards) it's a reasonable option. And if I'm spending in any other country, it's no contest - as the ER fees on my AU card are higher than the SG card, and points earn lower.

Each person will have their own factors to take into account on this, so I think the discussion is useful.

Slightly OT:
Just noticed AMEX SG has 30% bonus for Amex MR transfers to AVIOS

450 MR = 250 Avios + 30% = 325 AVIOS
Ratio = 1: 1.385

"Enjoy an additional 30% Avios when you transfer your Membership Rewards point between 1 October to 30 November 2013 to British Airways Avios. This 30% bonus will be credited directly into your British Airways Executive Account.

American Express Rewards Cardmembers will be charged a transfer fee of S$20 (GST inclusive) per conversion of points to Frequent Flyer and Guest Programmes.

Transfer your MR points to Avios points with the British Airways Executive Club. You can use your Avios on qualifying flights whenever you fly with British Airways or our oneworld® alliance partners.

The Club gives you a world of benefits, including an improved service when you travel featuring priority check-in (when you reach Bronze Tier) and lounge access (when you reach Silver Tier).

You can also choose to spend your Avios on flights, hotel accommodation and more."

Thanks for the suggestion. By sheer luck I was at Toa Payoh HDB Hub today and decided to pop by to pay my SPC bill.

In case anyone is interested, you can't pre-pay SPC as much as you like using a credit card. You can only pay current month's outstanding bill + 2 more months (latter is calculated based on your average monthly consumption).

I am not sure why people so worry about fx rate and fee when transact overseas.

Firstly, what you compare the fx rate to? Fx rate move every seconds. How can uou compare it?

Secondly, what is the alternative? Pay cash? Does it mean you have to exchange your money before hand, again what happen if the fx rate move against your favor. Not to mention what happen if you exchange too much money.

Thirdly, you will only pay the bill up to 50 days later which mean you will earn some interest. Well i know will be very marginal.

Lastly, you will not have risk to lose the money.

Just treat the fee as part as the cost of transaction and convinience fee

For SP Power you can apply for the auto deduction and still earn DBS points. No need for an AXS machine there. For tax payment that is where it really hurts.

btw, AMEX charges higher and UOB and Standard Chartered takes a bigger charge on forex than Citi, Maybank and DBS... 1% more. so for UOB PM card, u get high+high=very high overseas charge!

I think DBS cardholders should sit down and re-think if they should continue to use DBS cards. They have raised the blocks of miles to be transferred to KrisFlyer to 20,000 miles (UOB still at 10,000 miles block) and even for points to vouchers redemption, all have gone up and even higher than UOB!!

For example, a $50 Isetan voucher, DBS needs 3200 DBS points, up from 2850 DBS points in 2012/2013's catalogue. UOB needs 3085 points.

Now that they have stopped giving points and cashback (for POSB Everyday card) for AXS transactions, it is even harder to earn DBS points. I suspect its going to get even worse in 2014. Every year DBS has been raising the points for vouchers redemption and increasing the blocks of miles to transfer, from 500 miles in 2007 to 20,000 miles in 2013.

We should stay united and boycott DBS cards as a protest and slowly they will realise that we cardholders are unhappy with them. If we keep using DBS cards and redeeming and transferring points to miles, they will just keep increasing every year because they think that we do not have other alternative credit cards to use and do our homework!!

I think it is the FX fee, not the rate, that people are mostly concerned with.

Yes I'm for one doing my last bit of spending to round up my last 20,000 miles transfer to KF then canceling my Altitude Visa for good! It's useless without earning via AXS.

*LIKE*

The 'Best credit cards for KF miles accrual' master thread
 

Carrotjuice - in the same boat here (as well!)

People talk about fx fee, but I never "feel" about it. when I look at my overseas transaction, the conversion looks fair. are those bank i used (citi, hsbc) not charging fx fee?

*LIKE*

If you compare the rate with google, usually there is a 2.5%~3% difference. It can potentially be a quite good amount.