New Bank Policy and International Transaction Fees

NeoX on 04/06/2018 - 10:43
Last edited 04/06/2018 - 10:52 by 1 other user

Hi all,

Just thought I post it here that apparently some banks have updated their policy now and are now charging international transaction fee EVEN if the merchant is charging you in Aussie Dollar.

The reason behind this is that banks are now looking at where the merchant is doing the processing and if it's location not in Australia then we'll be hit with the 3% fee. This is very annoying as you are now relying on the merchant to state that they are processing offshore instead of just charging Aussie dollar.

This had happened with me on citibank and CBA recently just in May. So sites I've bought from is like ebay, blizzard etc using paypal and charged in AUD etc but then bank hit me with a fee as well.

Buyer's beware. There may be more banks and it seems like it could be across the board getting ready for the GST on everything import I guess?

Cheers

Financial

Comments

  • Ocker on 04/06/2018 - 10:49

    The annoying part is that you get no prior notice - you only find out when they charge your credit card account.
    Personally I would have thought such sneaky tactics would be illegal?
    FWIW, Vistaprint Australia is a company that will incur the extra charge

  • retiredfeline on 04/06/2018 - 10:59
    +1

    Just thought I post it here that apparently some banks have updated their policy now and are now charging international transaction fee EVEN if the merchant is charging you in Aussie Dollar.

    This is nothing new. It's always been based on where the transaction is initiated not the currency. But of course one usually isn't expecting an Aussie company, or rather a company with an .au domain, to charge from overseas.

    To show that an AUD amount proves nothing, there is a trap for holiday makers where the vendor's bank may offer to charge your card in AUD. You should refuse and request to be charged in € or whatever because the vendor's bank will convert at a poorer rate than 28deg or whatever.

  • Settero on 04/06/2018 - 11:19
    +1

    as stated above this is not new , they are just making it clearer as people keep using the argument , "but they charged in aud they must have been a aus company". bank has no way of telling you before hand , the dodgy is on the company pretending to be aussie :)

  • skinner on 04/06/2018 - 11:25

    Yes I've unfortunately found the same recently with my ANZ card for some of my business charges. International places that charge in AUD haven't had the fee in the past but more and more have steadily been attracting the fee in the past few months. eBay seller fees has been the most recent one just last month.

    I've found if you use funds held in a PayPal account you will still actually get charged in AUD without any extra fees.

    • tomclancy on 04/06/2018 - 12:15
      +1

      I've found if you use funds held in a PayPal account you will still actually get charged in AUD without any extra fees.

      That's because PayPal incorporate the FX fee into their converted amount, rather than list it separately. Their FX conversion is done rates far worse than any bank - you should never use PayPal to convert currencies. As Baysew mentions above, the only way to avoid FX fees altogether is to get an account with no overseas transaction fees

      • skinner on 04/06/2018 - 12:39

        I'm specifically talking about places that charge in AUD where there is no converted amount, as per the original post. Not the ones that have a price in AUD on their website but are just using a generic currency converter, then when you pay online PayPal does all the calculations and you pay heaps more blah blah blah (eg. most international ebay purchases).

        If they are an international company (mostly the big ones) but they actually charge in AUD, use funds held in a PayPal account to be charged the actual exact amount, no extra fees.

  • potm on 04/06/2018 - 12:35
    +1

    Use a direct issued Amex card for overseas Australian dollar transactions. They do not charge a fee.

  • NeoX on 04/06/2018 - 12:54

    Nah I know about banks stating that etc. But even paypal? NEVER happened to me before and I always know if there's going to be transaction fees but recently buying from ebay australia, listed item in Australia, paying in Aussie dollar, I was charged a fee cos the 'merchant' location on paypal is not aussie.

  • FloatingPoint on 04/06/2018 - 13:04

    Annoying but nothing new. They hit you the fee even you buy from a '.au' site with 'AUD'.
    This rorting scheme has been going on for years. All you can do is keep complain to your local FairTrade /ACCC about this. The banks do not actually provide any extra services at all. I'd love to see this practice becoming illegal sometime in the future.

  • NeoX on 04/06/2018 - 13:06

    I know it's not new but this never happened before until recently (May 2018) because the 2 banks I've mentioned had updated their policy. Crap really because you don't know when you'll be hit with the fees or not :(

  • JimmyF on 04/06/2018 - 13:40

    are now charging international transaction fee EVEN if the merchant is charging you in Aussie

    Not new…. always been this way if the MERCHANT is based outside of OZ.

    • NeoX on 04/06/2018 - 14:05

      Yeah not new but new for citibank and CBA who used to NOT charge fees for all these stuff and only started charging fee now.

      Talking especially with paypal cos I always use paypal when doing international. Suddenly it's getting charged now.

      • JimmyF on 04/06/2018 - 14:16

        Hmm ok. Well unlucky me as been with one that always charges. One way to not get slugged for paypal is to transfer money into you paypal account, so you're using funds from there, and not your linked credit card.

        But even that is a bit :/ as I dislike leaving too much cash in scampal.

  • peterpeterpumpkin on 04/06/2018 - 15:24

    Just to clarify, this is the 3.4% charge for Citibank Credit cards. I assume Citibank Plus Debit cards won't be changing anytime soon.

    • NeoX on 05/06/2018 - 10:13

      Yea the credit cards. Very very annoying with the policy update :(

  • CecillyL on 04/04/2019 - 07:50

    Thanks for suppliers of previous comments on this forum topic. You’ve been most helpful. This week I joined Spotify Family Premium and paid my first subscription using my NAB (bank) VISA. I was then charged a further $0.54 by NAB for an international transaction ($0.54 being 3% of $18).

  • cerealz on 04/04/2019 - 10:41

    Does this still apply if you're using a card that offers no international fees?

    • tonyduffe on 04/04/2019 - 11:13

      Correct it shouldn't apply if your card doesn't charge international fees.

      • cerealz on 04/04/2019 - 13:31

        Awesome and thanks for the clarification. Guess I'll be using Bankwest/28 degrees for overseas purchases then

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