interested16

Im based in Australia but work for Singapore oil and gas agency working all over the world.
I have a HSBC Multi Currency account which i get my wages paid into and can transfer to my Australian account or any account and there is no limit set on the amount i can transfer but i dont want the money in my Oz account for several reasons.
I then thought i could get a Singapore HSBC Mastercard but was told....
The Debit Card is a MasterCard Electronic card that allows you to sign for your purchases around the world so long as the merchant's machine supports the MasterCard Electronic card. Please note that you will only be able to sign for your purchases up to a maximum of S$2000 daily regardless of the balance in your account.
I need Singapore account with a Debit Card or similar but without a silly limit of $S2000.
Does anybody know a way around this as i plan to buy Car/Motorbike/Deposit on house etc in Australia.??
I would ideally like a card like the Mastercard Electronic one above but without a limit but i can only spend what i have in account.
Any information on this would be greatly appreciated..

katongkaren

A Singapore Amex chargecard (not credit card) perhaps?? I think the limit is probably variable according to your circumstances/income etc but you'd need to contact Amex Singapore direct.

interested16

Hi,
thank you for that..i have googled but cant find.if you have a spare minute can you find and post the link here for me please...thank you

katongkaren

Here's the Amex Singapore website

https://home.americanexpress.com/home/sg/home_p.shtml?

and chargecard link is

https://www201.americanexpress.com/i...cpgreen_charge

They do various credit cards too - the higher the level, the more you pay for your card fee or at least that's what it seemed to us.

I think the criteria, charges mentioned on the chargecard may be a little flexible. We certainly haven't paid a card fee yet after 7 months, though we did "downgrade" from a Platinum card after "retiring" to Thailand so maybe that was taken into consideration. Anyway, take a look.

Kooky.

I don't know anything about Amex charge cards but IME Amex credit cards are not widely accepted here in Oz. If they are, you are often charged a premium.

(All those lost opportunities for Krisflyer miles... )

katongkaren

Mmm maybe that's going to be a problem then. For us in Thailand, we only use it for online purchases like from Amazon. Wouldn't dare use it in Thailand

Kooky.

They are pretty hot on security and querying unusual spending patterns, as we've found out to our embarrassment a few times. (Trying to buy a phone in HK being one of those.)

interested16

Cool,good to know.Do you have any suggestions for a singapore card i can use in oz for purchases.?I was going to get one with my HSBC but max sign for limit of 1500 Ozzi dollars a day and no good to me as want to buy car etc!

Kooky.

Sorry, I don't know anything about Singapore debit cards other than Nets. We've moved lock stock and barrel and get paid here, so use EFTPOS.

For major purchases such as a car, I would have thought transferring funds to be the best way. How do people pay for cars in Australia - isn't it done by banker's draft? Apologies I don't know the answer but it's something to check out. Ask in the Aussie forum, perhaps.

Sorry I can''t be of more help but I'm a relative newbie myself.

(Do I understand correctly that you are employed outside of Australia, so there's no way you could get a car by salary sacrificing? It saves quite a bit in tax if you do enough miles.)

Geelong Gent

Remember Australian tax is not just on distributions so playing silly games is not saving you any money.

interested16

Distributions?
Silly Games?
Not quite sure what you meaning,can you explain in more detail?