Here in SIN, my wife and me paid the 2013 (then on GIRO) and 2014 taxes just before DBS shut down the mileage earn on those last year.

Got a call from the IRAS, who actually offered to refund in case I had paid in error, or wanted to pay lesser ('no need to pay right now..but upto you').

Had actually ended up overpaying 2014's bill and did get a refund right after the assessments were done earlier in the year.

Aster: much of the methods depend on local knowledge which I will definitely not be able to replicate in Singapore. Let's continue to monitor each other's threads, raising any concerns of common concern that may affect the other side eg changes to SCB/HSBC/Citi/DBS reward programs on either end, or topics like foreign transaction fee.

Cross Border Fee and DCC
 

Hey percysmith,

What's the main difference between Cross Border Fee and DCC?

I understand how DCC works but how does CBF works and why?

Lcpteck: we've just been discussing it over at the DCC master thread.

Cross border fee: assessed when you make a SGD payment to a non-SG merchant. The goods or services are priced in SGD and no conversion is performed.

So say, you use your SCB SG MasterCard to buy a S$400 ticket at cathaypacific.com in HK and assume cathaypacific.com charges SGD out of HK. cathaypacific.com will collect S$400 from its merchant bank in HK, but you will get charged $S400 plus the CBF (is it 0.8% ie S$3.20?)

DCC occurs when the goods and services were priced in foreign currencies but the merchant "usurps" the conversion and charges your home currency.

So in the case of cathaypacific.com supposed the ticket was priced in an equivalent amount of HKD (HK$2,433.20 using Yahoo HKDSGD rates) but cathaypacific.com offers to charge you S$416.8 (S$400 plus 4.2% typical DCC scalp).

If you accept, cathaypacific.com will receive S$416.8 in HK. But because you ended up paying SGD in HK, SCB SG will still claim its [0.8%] CBF, so you will eventually be charged S$420.13.

I can put it this way - a cross border transaction is not necessarily a DCC transaction, but a DCC transaction is always a cross border transaction and will attract a cross border fee if it is applicable for the card used.

That's why I wish you were here as I'm sure you would quickly get to know the market as a "resident" and streamline all our mileage excavation schemes. :)

Seems like this DCC thing is a plague nowadays. Can it be done behind your back, so that you only find out about it once the transactions posts?

Over in Europe it would display the currency choice on the terminal, so you could either agree to it or choose to finalise the transaction in the local currency. So basically there never were any surprises with DCC.

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

So for the below transactions am I right to say the following?

UBER BV BANGKOK TH THB700.00
Uber BKK = Quoted and charged in THB so no DCC or CBF

UBER BV VORDEN NLD SGD20.79
Uber SIN = Quoted in SGD but charged in NDL so there is CBF

EXPEDIA 18481046138 EXPEDIA SG SE SGD187.34
EXPEDIA COM SG 6568185635 SWE SGD707.92
Expedia.com.sg = Quoted in SGD but charged in SE (Sweden?) so there is CBF

VAYAMA COM READING GBR SGD317.52
Cheaptickets.sg = Quoted in SGD but charged in GBR so there is CBF

On the receipt, it will show the DCC verbage. The question is whether the terminal is locked or not and/or whether the cashier knows how to cancel DCC if need to.

Sometimes it's out of the merchant's control.

Lcpteck: yes correct on all four counts. The last case looks like 0.8% was collected.

Thanks for the verification. ^

Available to US citizens non resident in Singapore?
 

Any of these cards available for US resident US citizens?

It will be difficult to apply for them if you're not working in Singapore as they have certain requirements for foreigners (usually a higher income requirement).

Unless you can put a fixed deposit with the respective bank, I'm not sure how you can do it if you're not working here.

As an alternative in HK you might be able to do it if you open HSBC Premier or some similar wealth management account here and park the required relationship balance with them.

But this gives you access to the wealth management credit card - which may not necessarily be the best earning miles card (<-- normally those have moderate income requirements).

Answered a similar question belfore: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...hk-22.html#324

So little time to post on the forums but all I can say is

I love u guys thanks for sharing the knowledge it goes a long way.

I don't have a girlfriend or a wife... I guess that's why I'm here most of the time... :( Damn.. I better work on getting one soon... -_-;

They have their advantages, like you double your spending quota for promotions.

Of course they also result in 2X miles burning...