BigPay, the prepaid travel card under Capital A, has announced some changes to its fees and charges. Effective 30th August 2023, BigPay card holders who top up via credit card will be charged a fee regardless of the amount. In addition, there will be an extra fee that will be charged if you make a payment overseas using the Malaysian Ringgit.
According to an email sent to BigPay card holders, all transactions done with merchants outside Malaysia but charged in Malaysian Ringgit will be charged an extra 0.5% fee, in addition to any other charges imposed by the payment network. It added in most cases, this would total around 1.5%. This fee is applicable not only to physical payments but also to online transactions as well.
BigPay advises cardholders to pay using the local currency of the country they’re in for better rates. It says that you’re likely to get charged a higher foreign exchange rate if you choose to pay in MYR (Malaysian Ringgit). For example, if you’re travelling to Europe, you should select EUR instead of MYR on the card terminal.
If you often reload your BigPay card via credit card, BigPay will start charging a 1% fee for Malaysian-issued credit cards and 3% for non-Malaysian-issued credit cards, regardless of the top-up amount. This means if you reload RM1,000 with a local credit card, you’ll have to pay an RM10 fee.
At the moment, BigPay card holders can reload via credit card without any additional charges up to RM1,000 per month, and subsequent reloads will be charged a 1% fee. While the card has a maximum wallet size of RM20,000, BigPay card holders can only reload up to RM10,000 per month.
According to BigPay, you can still top up for free by using DuitNow on your preferred bank app. Just select DuitNow Transfer or Transfer and then choose BigPay and enter the DuitNow Account number for your BigPay card. You can get your BigPay DuitNow Account Number by going to your profile.
If you’re travelling to Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, you can make QR payments with no extra fees thanks to the DuitNow QR’s cross-border QR payment feature. To make a payment, just use the BigPay app to scan Singapore’s NETS QR, Thailand’s PromptPay and Indonesia’s QRIS QR codes.
Related reading
- Here are the best Visa prepaid cards for overseas travel
- Best Visa Prepaid Card for Travel: Wise vs BigPay, which is cheaper? How to top up? | Your Questions Answered
- BigPay users can scan Singapore and Thailand QR codes via DuitNow cross-border QR payment feature
- BigPay now lets you reload up to RM10,000 via credit card but you’ll have to pay a fee
