Beermonster

I have just had a really nasty surprise with my HSBC SIngapore credit cards. On a trip back to Oz, I put about $2300 on the card, and then found I could only pay off $2000 at the local 7-11 using Nets. (no option for paying on-line from DBS either, and when I opened my account I mistakenly chose not to get an account with a cheque book)

Oh well, $300 wont attract much interest I thought, right up till I received the statement, and found the interest charged was $70!!!!

I take it the interest was charged on the money I had paid as well as the outstanding balance. In other words, if you dont pay off the full bill, you may as well just make the minimum payment,

Is this typical with all cards here or just HSBC?

Just in case, I have decided to try and get a DBS card, and bin the HSBC ones

ptlabs

BM

Most credit cards worldwide will slap you with interest on:

1. any amount outstanding which has not been paid after the due date (in your case $300).

plus

2. any amount from further purchases (i.e. regular usage of your credit card for purchases etc from the due date).

This means if you do not pay in full on the due date, your credit card becomes a daily interest-bearing liability for any outstanding balance including any further purchases you make on that credit card.

This is standard practice for most credit cards in Singapore, and probably worldwide.

Not sure if you were caught out by the 2nd point above.

Peter

Beermonster

I was caught by point 2.

Definitely a nasty feature of Sing cards! That, and the limited abilities of online banking here and NETS makes for an interesting life!