Credit Card Charges - Foreign Currency Transactions

Are you traveling abroad and want to do some shopping? Or you want to order something online from amazon, ebay, Ali Express etc. or pay your fees in dollars, euros or pounds? Well you can definitely use your credit card for that, foreign currency transaction is one of the best facilities provided by your credit card and also the rewards are double. Yes, if you make transactions in foreign currency, you bank provides double the reward points than that on PKR transactions.

Well, but there are a few charges that are applied on these transactions that you must know before deciding which credit will better suit your requirements. You should take a closer look at these charges applied by various banks in Pakistan and compare them well them before you make a decision. Some banks charge flat rate on foreign currency transactions but some banks also charge a conversion fee.

Following is detail of charges levied on foreign currency transactions by various banks in Pakistan:

BANKForeign Transaction ChargesHBL3% of transaction amountUBL4.5% of transaction amountAllied BankUp to 4% of transaction amountMCB3% of the transaction amountStandard CharteredRe 1 per USD and up to 3.5% of the transaction amountBank Alfalah3.5% of the transaction amount and Rs. 0.4 per US dollar conversionSilk Bank4% of the transaction amountFaysal BankUpto 4% of the transaction amount including cross border transaction fee as per MasterCard

Also remember that a With Holding Tax is also applied on these transactions, which is currently 1% for Filers & 2% for Non-Filers as per currently updated With Holding Tax rates by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). To know more about taxes, you should visit FBR's official website at www.fbr.gov.pk and visit related pages at the website.