Warning:July must inform bank if using Credit Card outside Spore

[Narong Wongwan]

i agree with you.Whatever their aims, i think they should be able to achieve it without doing this.

passing the buck again as usual........the alternative option probably is a more costly one.

 

[johnny333]

If its credit card or credit line than its not considered own money.
Agree on the money laundering but only for foreigners...sinkies want to launder is harder.

Problem is that this policy affects overseas ATM withdrawals :(
Many of the skimming cases that I've heard about was carried out in Spore. The failure is with a local banking i.e. DBS Now the everyone has to face inconvenience for their mistakes.

Banks have always faced credit card fraud & you don't see them restricting CC use. They in fact keep quiet about such cases because the profits they get from CC exceed the loses the fraud. I remember a few months ago reporting an unauthorised charge to my CC. The bank simply de-activated the card & issued me a new one. I followed up with a form to challenge the unauthorised charge & they simply cancelled the charge & I haven't heard from the bank since.

Maybe it's a good thing as many Sporeans have too much credit card debt. Maybe they'll think twice before using their CC

 

[erection2015]

they have a problem...whatever the problem is i dont really know.....but their solution seems to be the standard one....use the fucking cannon to kill the fly.

passing the buck again as usual........the alternative option probably is a more costly one.

 

[halsey02]

Just talked to a citibank rep again, on the phone & he told me that the new policy applies to both atm & credit cards. People will have the option to turn-on their cards for worldwide use by informing the banks. They can also chose to turn-on these cards during the duration of their travel.

If you want to turn-on the cards for the duration of their cards you will have to provide the banks with the following info:

For ATM cards, which country you will be & the duration of your travel.
For Credit Cards, the duration of your travel

This is what I got from Citibank. You'll probably want to check with your bank on the details of how they are going to implement this policy.

What had happened to the Regional & even Global Banking boast? where you have to inconvenient your customers?? I though after so many years I don't need to carry cash when I travel impromtu out of SINgapore, like the past; where I was caught without cash at SUBANG or even KLI and have to go all the way to KL City to withdraw from an UOB ATM machine & find out it was sunday & it is not working!! later years I was pleased as cheese, when UOB had a couple of ATM's around the city & some place, & OCBC HSBC too etc. In Phuket, way back then, you have to cash your travellers cheques...I was happy many years later, I saw an ATM near to the beach, slotted in my UOB card I could withraw 3,000BHTS...or Bnagkok, right outside the hotel, down the road, there was UOB ATM machines, with a large sign too.

Now, we are regressing..back to bring cash along when you travel...your ATM is useless if you suddenly make a trip & forgot to call your bank....I have a backup in Malayisa I have a Malaysian Bank ATM, have MESP can withdraw any ATM througout Malaysia...

We as a financial centre or so called world class banking, can not even solve this problem of skimming?? I though they implemented the chip in the card?? to deter this...but the ATM cards have no chip...save money & punish the consumers...carry cash, less hassle!

 

[jw5]

Problem is that this policy affects overseas ATM withdrawals :(
Many of the skimming cases that I've heard about was carried out in Spore. The failure is with a local banking i.e. DBS Now the everyone has to face inconvenience for their mistakes.

The skimming was done in SG but the withdrawals were initially done in Malaysia.
You are right that one bank's mistakes has caused inconvenience for everyone.
Don't forget that when other banks were questioned after the incident, most of them had the anti skimming devices in place, like jitter technology.
DBS claimed that they had not implemeted jitter technology at some of their atms because of time constraints for the users.

Btw, I still think that for most banks, this is only for atm withdrawals. For credit cards, it is for those cards that can be used as atm cards.
You should go and look at the citibank website to be sure.

 

[halsey02]

The skimming was done in SG but the withdrawals were initially done in Malaysia.
You are right that one bank's mistakes has caused inconvenience for everyone.
Don't forget that when other banks were questioned after the incident, most of them had the anti skimming devices in place, like jitter technology.
DBS claimed that they had not implemeted jitter technology at some of their atms because of time constraints for the users.

Btw, I still think that for most banks, this is only for atm withdrawals. For credit cards, it is for those cards that can be used as atm cards.
You should go and look at the citibank website to be sure.

What time constraint?? those machines have a high incident of "ah long" and their clients using them? where in 2 minutes I don't see money come out, I chop your "kuku cheo'?

Save cost, say save cost...excuses, time constraints...this is what you get, when you have too many FT's working for you.:p

 

[johnny333]

Btw, I still think that for most banks, this is only for atm withdrawals. For credit cards, it is for those cards that can be used as atm cards.
You should go and look at the citibank website to be sure.

Looks like MAS is going to let the banks decide on how they are going to carry out the finer details of the policy. This probably means there's going to be some chaos with different banks implementing their own procedures :p
What's even worse is that when I asked the Citi rep whether they are going to send a clarification to their customers. His reply was if they have the customers contact info

I think DBS credit card customers will have a long wait

 

[johnny333]

Now, we are regressing..back to bring cash along when you travel...your ATM is useless if you suddenly make a trip & forgot to call your bank....I have a backup in Malayisa I have a Malaysian Bank ATM, have MESP can withdraw any ATM througout Malaysia...

I have a tin can at home filled with $$$. I refill it whenever it's empty, every 2 to 3 months. This is much easier than going to an ATM :o

For travelling I've bought myself a nice money belt from Pac Safe,
http://www.amazon.com/Outpac-Design...1340287447&sr=8-1&keywords=pacsafe+money+belt
Maybe you might want to consider getting one just in case In the past I only carried $100 to $200 in the money belt, but I will have to consider carrying more in the future.

I've already got a Malaysian & Indonesian bank account. Probably look at getting one from LOS. In the past it was to get the higher interest rate being offered in these countries but now I think it is the smart thing to do.

 

[jw5]

Looks like MAS is going to let the banks decide on how they are going to carry out the finer details of the policy. This probably means there's going to be some chaos with different banks implementing their own procedures :p
What's even worse is that when I asked the Citi rep whether they are going to send a clarification to their customers. His reply was if they have the customers contact info

I think DBS credit card customers will have a long wait

I think Citi may be the only bank with an activation/deactivation policy for credit cards.
I'm a Citi customer too and got their letter but still don't understand whether you need to activate or deactivate the credit card, i.e. which is the deafult.
Lucky I seldom use my citi credit card, will use it even less now, hahaha.
For ATM cards, it's definitely you have to activate it to be able to use it overseas, i.e. the default is it is deactivated.
This is not only for Citi but for other banks as well.

 

[johnny333]

I'm a Citi customer too and got their letter but still don't understand whether you need to activate or deactivate the credit card, i.e. which is the deafult.

I ignore all the junk mail the banks send me except for the bills :o

Unfortunately sometimes the important stuff is mistaken for junk mail. Wish the banks offered an opt out options to exclude unnecessary communications like their promotions.

 

[ginfreely]

I have a tin can at home filled with $$$. I refill it whenever it's empty, every 2 to 3 months. This is much easier than going to an ATM :o

For travelling I've bought myself a nice money belt from Pac Safe,
http://www.amazon.com/Outpac-Design...1340287447&sr=8-1&keywords=pacsafe+money+belt
Maybe you might want to consider getting one just in case In the past I only carried $100 to $200 in the money belt, but I will have to consider carrying more in the future.

I've already got a Malaysian & Indonesian bank account. Probably look at getting one from LOS. In the past it was to get the higher interest rate being offered in these countries but now I think it is the smart thing to do.

Hi, was it easy to open an Indonesian bank account? need to go Jakarta to open one? What is their interest rate like? How about LOS?

 

[johnny333]

Hi, was it easy to open an Indonesian bank account? need to go Jakarta to open one? What is their interest rate like? How about LOS?

The indonesian bank account was opened in Jakarta under someone else's name. I don't know how easy it is for a non-Indonesian to open an account because I never looked into it I only have a small amount in there & haven't used it because the rupiah has been depreciating:( I think you get more interest in Indonesia by keeping money in a US$ account The banking system in Indo seems to be a little under developed & it's more convenient to use CASH.

I've tried unsuccessfully to open a thai bank account. I approached some banks at MBK & Sukhumvit. However I know that it is possible for a non-local to open an account, it's just that you have to approach the right person I can always open an account with Citibank in Bangkok but I wanted to have an account with a local bank with branches outside of Bangkok.

I notice that the Sing $ is quite strong recently(2.46+) & it may be a good time to get some to invest in the Malaysian stock market.

 

[halsey02]

I have a tin can at home filled with $$$. I refill it whenever it's empty, every 2 to 3 months. This is much easier than going to an ATM :o

For travelling I've bought myself a nice money belt from Pac Safe,
http://www.amazon.com/Outpac-Design...1340287447&sr=8-1&keywords=pacsafe+money+belt
Maybe you might want to consider getting one just in case In the past I only carried $100 to $200 in the money belt, but I will have to consider carrying more in the future.

I've already got a Malaysian & Indonesian bank account. Probably look at getting one from LOS. In the past it was to get the higher interest rate being offered in these countries but now I think it is the smart thing to do.

the Malaysian Bank Card was a smart thing to do, before Air Asia, travelling to KL was by coach, anywherre along the NS highway...where there are ATM with the MEPS sign on the banks' ATM, I can withdraw money...and outside with the PLUS sign anywhere in the world, any ATM one can withdraw cash in native currencies. Now, due to one Bank Group ineffeciency, we are moving backwards, where SINgapore bank card, cannot be used on an ad hoc basis anymore.I remember a while bcak, merchants in Malaysia, stopped accepting our credit or debit cards for it did no have the chip on the card; Whereas the Malaysian banks have implemented theirs a long time ago.

This meant that, if suddenly you make that trip to JB one forget to withdraw cash in SINgapore and needed to withdraw from OCBC or UOB ATM machines, like now, we can; from July 1, we have to inform the bankc in advance, we won't be able to withdarw any money. Aren't we going back to the 1980's or the 1990's where we cannot use our local bank ATM card in Malaysia??

 

[singveld]

WTF? MAS is gestapo?

I just found out that from July onwards people who intend to use their Spore credit cards outside Spore must inform the banks in advance

Seems like this is a new regulation from MAS. So if you are a frequent traveller you must remember to inform your bank of your itinery i.e. how long you intend to be out of Spore.
For those who go to JB often I suggest you bring CASH, unless you intend to inform the bank.

If you don't inform the bank, don't be surprised if you can't use the cards

 

[ginfreely]

The indonesian bank account was opened in Jakarta under someone else's name. I don't know how easy it is for a non-Indonesian to open an account because I never looked into it I only have a small amount in there & haven't used it because the rupiah has been depreciating:( I think you get more interest in Indonesia by keeping money in a US$ account The banking system in Indo seems to be a little under developed & it's more convenient to use CASH.

I've tried unsuccessfully to open a thai bank account. I approached some banks at MBK & Sukhumvit. However I know that it is possible for a non-local to open an account, it's just that you have to approach the right person I can always open an account with Citibank in Bangkok but I wanted to have an account with a local bank with branches outside of Bangkok.

I notice that the Sing $ is quite strong recently(2.46+) & it may be a good time to get some to invest in the Malaysian stock market.

Hi Johnny333, thanks for your advice. Yeah the ringgit has weakened recently before their election, I intend to get some to invest in Malaysia shares.

 

[johnny333]

.I remember a while bcak, merchants in Malaysia, stopped accepting our credit or debit cards for it did no have the chip on the card; Whereas the Malaysian banks have implemented theirs a long time ago.

This meant that, if suddenly you make that trip to JB one forget to withdraw cash in SINgapore and needed to withdraw from OCBC or UOB ATM machines, like now, we can; from July 1, we have to inform the bankc in advance, we won't be able to withdarw any money. Aren't we going back to the 1980's or the 1990's where we cannot use our local bank ATM card in Malaysia??

On one of my trips to KL, one Malaysian merchant was surprised that my CC didn't have one of those chips but he did accepted it, probably because it was a Maybank credit card

As someone who regularly goes to JB I find it convenient to have a Malaysian bank account because whenever the exchange rate is favourable I buy ringgit & store it in my Malaysian account. Other than the interest rates I also use the $$ in the account to invest online in Malaysian stocks which do provides a healthy dividen.

In the past the reason I was looking at overseas bank accounts was for the better interest rates. Now with this new MAS policy there are more reasons to have an overseas bank account i.e. it will provide a back up source of funds.

 

[johnny333]

Hi Johnny333, thanks for your advice. Yeah the ringgit has weakened recently before their election, I intend to get some to invest in Malaysia shares.

Todays rate at the money changer was 2.47+

 

[johnny333]

WTF? MAS is gestapo?

As a Sporean we shouldn't be surprised at how we are treated by the gov't. Just have to look at the on going changes to the CPF I can think of better places to invest those funds than Temasek

 

[ginfreely]

Todays rate at the money changer was 2.47+

Yeah looks like staying weak. The thing is I already have some ringgit FD before the ringgit weakened recently haha.

 

[johnny333]

Yeah looks like staying weak. The thing is I already have some ringgit FD before the ringgit weakened recently haha.

I started to get ringgit when it hit 2.45, and the some more when it was 2.46. May get even more because it all goes to my Malaysian account & into my trading account. Been thinking of getting some Telekom shares