Archive for the ‘visa’ tag
Paypal FX conversion rate, yay or nay?
I couldn’t find any concrete information on the web, especially in the Singapore context, so I decided to do my own research instead. And the answer is? It depends on which credit card you are using.
My total amount payable was US$311.04.
Paypal’s conversion
Credit/Debit Card : MasterCard XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-5230 $448.50 SGD
PayPal Conversion Rate as of Aug. 20, 2008: 1 Singapore Dollar = 0.688701 U.S. Dollars
Citibank
According to prevailing exchange rate, indicative exchange rate at $1 USD = $1.427 SGD or $1 SGD = $0.701 USD; $443.85 SGD.
UOB
Mastercard
Bank charge 1.5% + 0.8% on top of prevailing Visa exchange rate. Assuming the bank charges are not compounded (cos I forgot to ask):
Currencies fluctuate every day. The rate shown is effective for
transactions submitted to Visa on August 20, 2008, with a bank foreign transaction fee of 2.30%.
1 Singapore Dollar = 0.69 US Dollars
Total: $461.16 SGD
Visa
Bank charge 1.5% on top of prevailing Visa exchange rate.
Currencies fluctuate every day. The rate shown is effective for
transactions submitted to Visa on August 20, 2008, with a bank foreign transaction fee of 1.50%.
1 Singapore Dollar = 0.70 US Dollars
Total: $451.01 SGD
I’m going to pay with my Citibank credit card! 
