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Foreign Credit Cards users in HK : Be AWARE!

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  1. #1

    Wink Foreign Credit Cards users in HK : Be AWARE!

    Be very careful when paying at restaurants and bars as most of them offer DCC (Dynamic Currency Conversion). When they do you can see on the ticket that you can pay in either HKD or the currency your credit card is issued in (USD in my case as it’s a US card).

    Please keep the tickets and check your account a few days after. Too many times i was charged in USD even though I selected HKD on the ticket and that I also wrote the sum in HKD!!! DCC is infamous for taking outrageous fees out of the customer. Per my calculation on couple bills it’s between 4 and 5% they’re stealing from you!

    Not sure if waiters are getting a commission from their employers pushing and cheating the customer like this because it’s happened to me too many times already

    Last edited by TheRoadAhead; 06-07-2019 at 12:47 AM.

  2. #2

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    Quote Originally Posted by TheRoadAhead:
    Be very careful when paying at restaurants and bars as most of them offer DCC (Dynamic Currency Conversion). When they do you can see on the ticket that you can pay in either HKD or the currency your credit card is issued in (USD in my case as it’s a US card).

    Please keep the tickets and check your account a few days after. Too many times i was charged in USD even though I selected HKD on the ticket and that I also wrote the sum in HKD!!! DCC is infamous for taking outrageous fees out of the customer. Per my calculation on couple bills it’s between 4 and 5% they’re stealing from you!

    Not sure if waiters are getting a commission from their employers pushing and cheating the customer like this because it’s happened to me too many times already
    I have heard about this being a common occurence , but always choose the local currency rather than the country my cc's were issued, or the exchange rate differs to the worse. Hong Kong is pegged to the USD but this has nothing to do with the waiters. In fact, they do not even get that 'service charge' that is added to your bill. Check with your bank, and contact the restaurant with evidence. Most likely it is to do with their credit card companies rather than the restaurants themselves. They do get charges fees for CC transactions.. AMEX and VISA are the biggest culprits for this.

  3. #3

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    It’s a global scam. In Australia, on many credit card machines there is a green and red button and you press green for the DCC scam and red for the normal local currency. I have to remember to always select red. I can’t believe the Aussies are so bold to actually build the scam into the hardware of the terminals and actively persuading people who don’t know better to push the green button.

    TheRoadAhead likes this.

  4. #4

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    Add a lot of online vendors who ship to HK on that list. You get the option of paying in HKD (default) or paying in USD. The HKD rates that I've seen tend to be at 8.50 and up... some even $10 (and they entice customers with "free shipping").

    MandM! likes this.

  5. #5

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    Yeah Japan is fine and I use my HSBC card everywhere even in 7-11 and get 3.6%-5.6% cashback in HKD so makes up for any FX losses

    As a side note, don’t use the new 7pay app in Japan. It’s a major fuck up. It went live on 1st July and already shut down after only 4 days after Chinese hackers stole 55 million yen from Japanese credit card accounts using this app. The president of 7-11 on TV last night bowing very deeply. You can basically log in as anyone without two factor authentication (sms code to authorise a device) and even worse you ca reset peoples passwords without then knowing. Some Chinese guys caught last night buying car loads of cigarettes with innocent victims accounts that were linked to credit card (like Alipay). They only got caught because the amount of cigarettes they bought wouldn’t fit in the car so they had to come back for a second car load and then the cops were waiting for them.


  6. #6

    I had a hotel bill that came out much higher than expected due to this. Once you realize what they're doing, you quickly make sure it doesn't happen again...


  7. #7

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    I did the calculation myself and realized it wasn't a good rate. Firstly they aren't out there to help you, so I just keep that in the back of my mind. I only opt for local currency (HKD) if there is a likely chance I'll be getting a refund so it's one for one. Have had overseas purchases not in HKD refunded before and still out a bit of money on their FX scam both ways.

    Perhaps the shop gets a kickback or lower fees when the user opts for the FX.


  8. #8

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    This is hardly a Hong Kong scam.

    DCC is very common in many countries across the world. It's almost universally bad value too. It's unfair, but it can hardly be called a scam.

    You just have to remember to always pay in the local currency.

    If you get a receipt and it has been charged in another one, get the merchant to cancel the transaction and do it again in the local currency.

    Remember: Always pay in the local currency!!!


  9. #9

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    it is quite bad because on top of the 5% FX spread, they still charge you 2% by VISA because VISA will impose the additional charges for not paying in your local currency..

    overall, its quite a bad practise.. i am trying to get rid of that feature currently offered by my company's paying station... the feature supplier is actually not VISA themselves if i am not wrong... but they tie up with VISA and i guess everyone along the line gets a cut..


  10. #10

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    Original Post Deleted
    Sorry for the delayed reply.

    It's no different to Wellcome charging $7.5 for a bottle of Coke and 7/11 charging $12.5. That's a huge surcharge in percentage terms.
    So why do people buy at 7/11? Perhaps it's more convenient or the queue at the supermarket is too long or the many other reasons.

    With DCC, some people like to see exactly how much they are paying in their 'home currency' rather than the local one. Ok, it's bad value (much better than the Coke example), but that's what some people prefer.

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