NAB incorrectly converting currency exchange

[I love to travel]

Have a weird problem at the moment and would be interested in people's thoughts. On Friday 29/7, I bought USD $1050 and the pending transaction amount was $1511 plus the 3.3% overseascredit card surcharge which is a separate line item with NAB. On Sunday 31/7, I bought another USD $1050 and the pending transaction amount was $1497 plus the credit card surcharge. No problem so far, different days have different currency rates.

Overnight both transactions are now showing as completed transactions, and both transactions have changed to an amount of $1522.08

Firstly the AUD went up on Friday night in the US markets (markets for currency close 7am Saturday morning) so it is complete nonsense that transactions done two days apart could come out exactly the same to the cent. Secondly, how can they artibiartily change the pending amount when the overseas credit card surcharge is a separate line item?

Any thoughts/ideas? NAB didn't care when I called to query.

 

[deejo77]

Citibank Transaction account - Just saying

have a look at the product disclosure statement to see how it is calculated.

 

[I love to travel]

Citibank Transaction account - Just saying

have a look at the product disclosure statement to see how it is calculated.

What is the relevance of Citibank?

 

[TomVexille]

What is the relevance of Citibank?

I think they are recommending that you get one.

 

[blueythecat]

Have a weird problem at the moment and would be interested in people's thoughts. On Friday 29/7, I bought USD $1050 and the pending transaction amount was $1511 plus the 3.3% overseascredit card surcharge which is a separate line item with NAB. On Sunday 31/7, I bought another USD $1050 and the pending transaction amount was $1497 plus the credit card surcharge. No problem so far, different days have different currency rates.

Overnight both transactions are now showing as completed transactions, and both transactions have changed to an amount of $1522.08

Firstly the AUD went up on Friday night in the US markets (markets for currency close 7am Saturday morning) so it is complete nonsense that transactions done two days apart could come out exactly the same to the cent. Secondly, how can they artibiartily change the pending amount when the overseas credit card surcharge is a separate line item?

Any thoughts/ideas? NAB didn't care when I called to query.

Hmmm. Does sound a little strange.

I assume you are purchasing USD's using a NAB visa or mastercard credit card? As cash out via an ATM or are you doing this via another method - not that it should matter too much how you are doing it.

Either way, my understanding is that Visa / MC (or AMEX) should convert the USD amount to AUD based on their exchange rate for the day the transaction was processed. NAB will then add their 3.3% surcharge (nasty!) on top of that. It would seem unlikely that the exchange rate on both days would be exactly the same, but perhaps both transactions had the same "date of processing" as far as MasterCard / VISA / AMEX is concerned.

 

[Pleb Status]

Have a weird problem at the moment and would be interested in people's thoughts. On Friday 29/7, I bought USD $1050 and the pending transaction amount was $1511 plus the 3.3% overseascredit card surcharge which is a separate line item with NAB. On Sunday 31/7, I bought another USD $1050 and the pending transaction amount was $1497 plus the credit card surcharge. No problem so far, different days have different currency rates.

Overnight both transactions are now showing as completed transactions, and both transactions have changed to an amount of $1522.08

Firstly the AUD went up on Friday night in the US markets (markets for currency close 7am Saturday morning) so it is complete nonsense that transactions done two days apart could come out exactly the same to the cent. Secondly, how can they artibiartily change the pending amount when the overseas credit card surcharge is a separate line item?

Any thoughts/ideas? NAB didn't care when I called to query.

The pending amount is really only a place holder and cannot be relied upon.

Having said that, the conversion rates applied are woeful and I will make sure I will not use my NAB cards for FX.

 

[tizey]

I'm reasonably sure that Foreign Currency amounts are the rate at the point the transaction settles, rather than at the time of purchase.

I've had transactions increase in cost as the AUD/USD has dropped. Conversely, I've had transactions reduce in cost when the AUD/USD has increased over the period from purchase to settlement of the transaction.

 

[BAM1748]

Let me guess, NAB gets more out of it this way, a surprise for all I'm sure.

 

[opusman]

Visa and Mastercard do FX differently. From memory, M/C guarantee the rate on the date of the transaction whereas for Visa the rate is determined when the transaction settles. Or it could be the other way around, I'm not 100% sure which is which. But for the one where the rate can change, the amount shown on your statement for pending transactions is only an approximation.