NAB Velocity Platinum Card - Foreign Exchange Fees on PayPal

[Renato1]

What could be better - buy something on Ebay through the Qantas portal and earn one Frequent Flyer point per dollar, and then pay for the purchase on PayPal using the NAB Amex Platinum Card and earn one and a half Velocity points per dollar on the same purchase?

Just one snag - when I pay Paypal for stuff bought overseas using my Westpac bank account I have never ever been charged foreign exchange fees. But when I pay Paypal for stuff bought overseas with my NAB Velocity Amex card - I get hit with 3% foreign exchange fees. This is despite the fact that when I check out on PayPal it gives an Aussie Dollar figure that I have to pay to PayPal Australia.

Does anyone understand why this should be the case? Has it happened on other banks' credit cards?

Anyhow, I have asked NAB what goes on, and am awaiting their reply.
Regards,
Renato

 

[Renato1]

First Response from NAB,
Hi Renato,

Thanks for writing to us about the International Transaction fee that has
been charged to your credit card account 4530<redacted>.

I've looked into this for you and can see that you've been charged some
International transaction fees for e.g. one on 14/07/2016 for $2.47 it was
charged for the transaction of $82.40 made under the description of
PAYPAL*PAYPAL *RM EBAY.

This transaction was charged in Australian dollars; however, it was
processed and sent through to NAB by PayPal's bank as an international
transaction.

When a transaction on your credit card is initiated by an internationally
based merchant, a fee of 3% (of the transaction amount, in Australian
dollars) will be charged to your credit card; this fee is consistent
between all our credit cards (Visa, MasterCard and American Express).

If you'd like to read more about this fee, please visit the following link:

Personal banking fees and charges - NAB


If you need any further help, please reply to this message directly or call
us on 13 22 65 from 8am-7pm Mon-Fri, or 9am-6pm on weekends (AEST/AEDT). If
you're overseas, the number to call is +61 3 8641 9083.

Sincerely,


My response to NAB
Hi Vivek,
Thank you for your prompt response.
I note that the fees you linked me to states,
"The NAB International Transaction Fee includes a fee charged by the Card Scheme to NAB (and on charged by NAB to you), calculated on the converted AUD amount shown on your statement(excluding American Express Multi Currency)."

My first point is that there was no converted currency amount shown on my statement, as payment was in Australian dollars i.e. nothing to convert.

Was NAB actually charged the overseas fee on the NAB card that the statement claims was made?

Second point is that I also make Paypal payments using a Westpac account and they have never charged me overseas transaction fees for payments to Paypal Australia, nor have I ever been charged this fee on other credit cards I have used with Paypal.

Why is NAB so different from other banks in this respect?
Regards,
Renato.

 

[madrooster]

You might want to remove your credit card number from your 2nd post...

 

[Isochronous]

Threaten FOS action.

 

[Renato1]

You might want to remove your credit card number from your 2nd post...

Good point thanks - though I can't do it now.
Still - no pin and no three digit number from the back of the card and no knowledge of the name on the card should make it pretty hard to use the number.
Cheers,
Renato

Threaten FOS action.

I don't know what FOS action means.

Anyhow, the response to my message was
"Hi Renato,
Thanks for writing to us about International Transaction fee charged on
account.

Your enquiry has been forwarded to a Specialist Servicing Team for further
investigation.

Your enquiry is important to us and a representative of this team will be
responding to your enquiry as soon as possible.

Alternatively, you can call us directly on 13 66 22 from 8am-7pm Mon-Fri,
or 9am-6pm on weekends (AEST/AEDT). If you're overseas, the number to call is +61 3 8641 9083."

So I still await an answer.

Meanwhile, I have avoided using this card for Paypal payments.
Regards,
Renato

 

[serfty]

You might want to remove your credit card number from your 2nd post...

Good point thanks - though I can't do it now.

Fixed ... ....

 

[Renato1]

Fixed ... ....

Thank you for that.
Cheers,
Renato

 

[coriander]

I have both my ANZ Black and 28 degrees Mastercard linked to my Paypal account. Whilst still using the QF portal when entering Ebay, I elect to pay for all overseas purchases with my 28 degrees card in Paypal in the currency of country of origin. That way I get 28 degrees' best exchange rate and no conversion fee. I'll forgo the points to avoid the 3% fee.

 

[basso]

NAB call it a 'Single Currency Transaction'

Single Currency Transaction: A transaction made in Australian dollars with an internationally-designated merchant.

It's 3%. Westpac Amex cards don't have an equivalent fee.

 

[Renato1]

I have both my ANZ Black and 28 degrees Mastercard linked to my Paypal account. Whilst still using the QF portal when entering Ebay, I elect to pay for all overseas purchases with my 28 degrees card in Paypal in the currency of country of origin. That way I get 28 degrees' best exchange rate and no conversion fee. I'll forgo the points to avoid the 3% fee.

Yes - but I am being charged foreign exchange fees by NAB on "Buy IT Now"s listed in Aussie Dollars.
There isn't a Paypal conversion fee involved like when I buy something in US dollars or UK pounds.
Renato

NAB call it a 'Single Currency Transaction'It's 3%. Westpac Amex cards don't have an equivalent fee.

Thanks. I've used ANZ Amex, Westpac Visa, Bankwest Mastercard, Platinum Edge, Qantas Cash Mastercard on Ebay/Paypal Aussie dollar purchases - and I don't recollect any of them charging that 3% fee. I'm pretty sure I would have noticed.

I liked these NAB cards till this showed up. Now my enthusiasm is dampened.
Regards,
Renato

 

[Renato1]

Oops - I forgot about this thread, so this is just an update.
This issue was never resolved to my satisfaction. NAB insist on charging foreign exchange fees when using PayPal, and said they wouldn't comment on other banks' policies of not doing so on this issue.

So for many months now I've been using the Citibank Signature Card for Paypal Purchases on Ebay, getting one Qantas FF point per dollar. Like every other bank I've used except for NAB, Citibank haven't been charging the overseas transaction fee that NAB does on Paypal Australia usage.
Regards,
Renato

 

[Renato1]

I closed the Amex and Visa card today, despite being offered an annual fee waiver for the next year.

I made it clear to the person from NAB that the foreign exchange fees on Paypal I was not willing to wear and that, for example, i had recently bought a $600 watch on Ebay and that it would have cost me an extra $18 in foreign exchange fees using the NAB card, relative to paying no such fee with any other bank's card.

She said that she could see my point and promised to pass my feedback up the line.
Regards,
Renato

 

[theblank]

All of the major banks are applying the same terms and conditions to these paypal transactions, you wil find many online discussions about it, but how they are going about it is a mystery. I suspect they are manually applying the fee to transactions that they can identify.

International transactions are transactions where the merchant, financial institution, or entity processing the transaction is located outside Australia

They are telling us we are charged because the Merchant is outside of australia. Thus its futile to change banks, because they will all catch up eventually, except for the credit cards that promise no international fees. and NAB lied to you when they said Paypal processed it as a international transaction.

I did 5 purchases through ebay in AUD on the same day and paid with paypal. Only one of these transactions attracted the international fee by NAB. Coincidentally a google search on the Merchants name easily showed that merchant as an oversears online retailer, the other 4 were too obscure (chinese names)

I have engaged in an online communication and asked NAB to explain themselves, and after 7x back and forth they are still throwing canned responses back it me. and the kicker is, they only charged me a 2% fee, when its supposed to be a 3% fee. How can a system make that kind of mistake? It has to be a typo, right?

I am still hounding NAB for an explanation. I smell a rat and will be taking it to APRA. My guess is they are recovering lost revenue to paypal who is a direct competitor to banks international payment processing.