Commonwealth bank and PayPal

[uad782]

Hi everyone,

I have been buying a fair bit of gear from the US and GB. Sites such as Merlin give me a price in AUD which I then pay with PayPal. I believe PayPal were doing the conversion so the international transfer fee was covered by them. It looks like then the CBA also puts their fees on some of these transactions. They put ##GB merchant etc on ones they charge the fee on.

Anyone else come across this?

[Patt0]

Yes. Get yerself a CC that does fee free int. transactions.

Overseas companies use paypal dot com etc and not dot com dot au. Hence the fees.

[Neddysmith]

Just another way the banks are screwing more money out of the average punter

[queequeg]

Hi everyone,

I have been buying a fair bit of gear from the US and GB. Sites such as Merlin give me a price in AUD which I then pay with PayPal. I believe PayPal were doing the conversion so the international transfer fee was covered by them. It looks like then the CBA also puts their fees on some of these transactions. They put ##GB merchant etc on ones they charge the fee on.

Anyone else come across this?

They screw you both ways. One way is a currency conversion fee, which you avoid by having it billed by PayPal in local currency. Then, because you tried to outsmart them, they hit you with an Overseas Transaction Fee instead.

Get yourself a Credit Card like the 28degrees Mastercard, which has no annual fee, no currency conversion fees and no overseas transactions fees. This is what I use for all online shopping.

[RonK]

Get yourself a Credit Card like the 28degrees Mastercard, which has no annual fee, no currency conversion fees and no overseas transactions fees.

Perhaps, but be sure pay it off in full each month - it has one on the highest interest rates at 21.99%

[BJL]

Yes. Get yerself a CC that does fee free int. transactions.

Overseas companies use paypal dot com etc and not dot com dot au. Hence the fees.

This is what I did. A few years ago when I traveled overseas, I got a 28 Degrees Mastercard as they don't charge fees for foreign transactions. I used it again ordering from Bike24 today as their prices are in Euros and I wanted to avoid any Westpac fees. Then I immediately used BPay to pay 28 degrees to avoid interest. I also like that this card is not linked to any of my bank accounts.


^^ Beat me to it queequeg

[BJL]

Get yourself a Credit Card like the 28degrees Mastercard, which has no annual fee, no currency conversion fees and no overseas transactions fees.

Perhaps, but be sure pay it off in full each month - it has one on the highest interest rates at 21.99%

I'm not sure if you can still do this as they changed their terms and conditions a few months after I went overseas, but back then you could transfer money from your bank account to the 28 degrees card and use it like a debit card, avoiding interest and transaction fees. Until the balance drops below the credit limit that is. I was putting a few grand on it whenever the balance got near the credit limit to stop it from going into credit and incurring interest.

[uad782]

Thanks everyone,

I actually have a CBA travel card which is a free MasterCard. I just convert into the currency I want then place the order. It can be hit and miss though as the card has no name on it.

I had a look at 28 days so other than the high interest rate are there any other catches you have found?

[queequeg]

Get yourself a Credit Card like the 28degrees Mastercard, which has no annual fee, no currency conversion fees and no overseas transactions fees.

Perhaps, but be sure pay it off in full each month - it has one on the highest interest rates at 21.99%

I have had a credit card for 23 years, and I have never paid interest. I don't even know what the interest rate is on my cards as it has no meaning to me

[queequeg]

Thanks everyone,

I actually have a CBA travel card which is a free MasterCard. I just convert into the currency I want then place the order. It can be hit and miss though as the card has no name on it.

I had a look at 28 days so other than the high interest rate are there any other catches you have found?

The only catch is the recent change where if you pay the balance via BPay, they charge you 95 cents for making an online payment. Supposedly you can avoid the fee by setting up a direct debit from a bank account, which I refuse to do.
Also, over time they have quietly increased the "minimum credit limit", so if you already have a number of cards, and you are planning on applying for a loan in the near future, be aware that the credit limit will potentially reduce what the bank will lend you. My credit limit is well below what they say they is the minimum limit

[trailgumby]

Also, over time they have quietly increased the "minimum credit limit", so if you already have a number of cards, and you are planning on applying for a loan in the near future, be aware that the credit limit will potentially reduce what the bank will lend you. My credit limit is well below what they say they is the minimum limit

Yep, well known issue. I always say no to increased credit limit offers for that reason, and I have barred them from offering it to me.

The confusion of the bank employee at the other end of the phone when I did that was delicious. The buggers still sent me an Amex card even though I said I didn't want it. Apparently I had to take it. It sits on my dresser. I've never activated it. I suppose I should cut it in half.

I'm negotiating at the moment on an investment property with an agent that is annoying me by trying to engineer a silent auction between myself and another interested buyer (who may or may not exist as far as I know). Maybe I should see if I can use the Amex card for that. $279k interest free for a month.

[ValleyForge]

I have been using the QANTASCash debit card for a while now. The loading via BPay is clumsy and takes ~24hrs, but the exchange rate is better than my CBA Travel Money Card. And I get points for the QANTAS purchases.

[Aushiker]

The only catch is the recent change where if you pay the balance via BPay, they charge you 95 cents for making an online payment.

Choice Australia are keen to hear from folks about this. You can complete a quick report on the issue at https://campaigns.choice.com.au/royalcommissionbanks/

[caneye]

The only catch is the recent change where if you pay the balance via BPay, they charge you 95 cents for making an online payment. Supposedly you can avoid the fee by setting up a direct debit from a bank account, which I refuse to do.

One other alternative is to request payment from your Savings account.
(I'm not sure what this payment method is called as it is neither a direct debit nor BPay. Money transfer? But you are initiating the transaction from Payee rather than Payer.)

go to
> 28Degrees - Pay my account
> choose "FROM my bank account"
> put in your Savings acct details and the amount you would like to pay

It will take them a day or 2 to deduct the money from your Savings account. This saves some money on their end as it avoids going through the BPay channel.

[queequeg]

The only catch is the recent change where if you pay the balance via BPay, they charge you 95 cents for making an online payment. Supposedly you can avoid the fee by setting up a direct debit from a bank account, which I refuse to do.

One other alternative is to request payment from your Savings account.
(I'm not sure what this payment method is called as it is neither a direct debit nor BPay. Money transfer? But you are initiating the transaction from Payee rather than Payer.)

go to
> 28Degrees - Pay my account
> choose "FROM my bank account"
> put in your Savings acct details and the amount you would like to pay

It will take them a day or 2 to deduct the money from your Savings account. This saves some money on their end as it avoids going through the BPay channel.

Cool, I had never seen that option in there before. I might use that next time and see how it goes. I usually just have everything set up as payments from one point, but this should work as the due date is a few weeks after my pay date. Once all the banks are in with the new Payments systems, this kind of transfer will be instant, not 3 days.

[BJL]

The only catch is the recent change where if you pay the balance via BPay, they charge you 95 cents for making an online payment.

One other alternative is to request payment from your Savings account.
(I'm not sure what this payment method is called as it is neither a direct debit nor BPay. Money transfer? But you are initiating the transaction from Payee rather than Payer.)

go to
> 28Degrees - Pay my account
> choose "FROM my bank account"
> put in your Savings acct details and the amount you would like to pay

It will take them a day or 2 to deduct the money from your Savings account. This saves some money on their end as it avoids going through the BPay channel.

caneye - I saw this option when I paid my account yesterday but decided against giving 28 Degrees my bank account details, despite it being a one off payment.

queequeg - Thank you for mentioning what the charge is. I did see on the BPay option that fees apply, but couldn't actually find what the fees were on the website. It's probably in a email somewhere which they might have sent to me with the new terms and conditions but it's something that should be easily found on the website. I could have overlooked it though.

Sorry OP for helping to hijack your Uncommon-wealth bank / PayPal thread.

[AUbicycles]

Paypal are fairly convenient but has two significant problems. Firstly, their currency exchange rate is much higher than the standard rate. Even if the seller (merchant) is responsible for the transaction fees - you are paying more than you should.

The second problem with paypal is that their service is horrendous. When they want something from you (like to up-sell you) then the will hassle you. When there is a problem with a transaction or is their system is broken (again) they are quite pathetic really.

They lost me as a business customer through incompetence... but as a private customer, if there is a problem with a transaction then their 'truehand' function is worthless if they fail to resolve a dispute.


From the bank, a debit card with a credit card function is good - set it that you can't overdraw and that payments are immediately settled (if they spit to debit and credit).


--

For a retail purchase and option to pay directly from your bank account, be wary of the fees. I always noticed that at some point - this apparent convenient solution always came with at a cost of a fixed + % based transaction fee.

Once this starts to change and the retailers integrate this like they do with credit cards and absorb the fees rather than passing to the customer, they are a good solution - though for currency exchange you are at the mercy of the banks XC rates and potentially get the international transaction fee as well).

[queequeg]

queequeg - Thank you for mentioning what the charge is. I did see on the BPay option that fees apply, but couldn't actually find what the fees were on the website. It's probably in a email somewhere which they might have sent to me with the new terms and conditions but it's something that should be easily found on the website. I could have overlooked it though.

Sorry OP for helping to hijack your Uncommon-wealth bank / PayPal thread.

https://www.28degreescard.com.au/credit ... rates-fees

[BJL]

https://www.28degreescard.com.au/credit ... rates-fees

I've found it now. I did see that page yesterday when I was looking but it's listed as a 'payment handling fee', with the 0.95c being for '(online)'. I didn't put the two and two together. It would have been more clear if they had clearly specified that this fee was charged for BPay transactions.