Standard Chartered credit card foreign transaction fee Singapore

Paying extra fees when you travel or shop with international retailers is costly, and frustrating - especially if it’s a surprise. This guide covers all you need to know about overseas transaction costs if you use Standard Chartered Singapore. We’ll even cover a smart way to avoid foreign transaction charges, with Wise. Let’s dive right in.

Standard Chartered Singapore overseas transaction fees

Spending money in a foreign currency, or with a retailer based abroad can mean you pay one or two extra fees. Here are the key Standard Chartered foreign purchase fees to consider.

Foreign transaction fee

A foreign transaction fee may apply if you spend while you travel or if you're shopping online, and you buy something from an international retailer. This may happen even if you’re paying in Singapore dollars and so don’t realise the merchant is based overseas. If you’re not sure the retailer is local, you’re best to double check before you confirm your purchase, just to avoid any surprises down the line.

You’ll want to understand the Standard Chartered foreign transaction fees any time you:

• Buy something while you’re abroad using your card
• Spend online with a retailer based overseas - or any retailer which processes payments overseas
• Get a refund or payment reversal for any foreign purchase

Here are the different foreign transaction fee levels for Standard Chartered customers:¹

Want to save on international purchases? Try Wise

It’s so common to shop globally and have goods shipped to us - or to spend while we travel - that it might come as a surprise that your bank or card issuer may penalise you for doing so. However, it’s not inevitable.

If you want to be able to spend in foreign currencies without foreign transaction fees, check out the Wise account and linked card. You can open a Wise multi-currency account online, and top it up from your Singapore bank account in SGD. Then convert your balance to whichever currency you need using the mid-market exchange rate - or let the auto-convert technology do this for you. You’ll only ever pay a low, transparent fee, which can be much cheaper than paying your regular card issuer’s foreign transaction charges.

With Wise you’ll also be able to hold, spend and send multiple currencies all from the same account - and receive payments fee free just like a local in major world currencies.

See if you could save with Wise

Dynamic Currency Conversion

It’s not only foreign transaction fees you need to know about when shopping or making cash withdrawals in a foreign currency.

Dynamic currency conversion - DCC - is where you’re asked by a merchant or when you’re at the ATM if you’d rather pay in the local currency where you are, or your home currency. The problem here is that if you choose to pay in your home currency you’re signing up to terms you’ve never seen before - which usually means a bad exchange rate and higher fees than your bank would normally apply.

On top of all of this, Standard Chartered also charges an additional 1% fee for any purchase made through DCC - which can push your costs up even further.

Don’t get caught out by unexpected costs when you’re spending in a foreign currency. Read your account and card terms and conditions carefully - or choose a modern alternative like Wise to spend in dozens of different currencies with no foreign transaction fees.