KL International Marathon 2008

My running mate (Viki) and I will be taking part in this year's KL Marathon. OK, not the full marathon, but the 10k run. After our 21k in Singapore last December, we've decided to take the path of least resistance. Hopefully we will both dip below the 1-hour mark this time =)

Keen to to join us? It's only RM10 if you sign up by February 28. I believe there may be a free t-shirt too.

If you're adding a debit card to your PayPal account, READ THIS TOO!

Follow up to my last post.

A little bird over at Visa has helped to explain the missing $1 in my case with Standard Chartered:

You can definitely find a whole lot of explanation on what is credit cards vs debit cards on Wikipedia. Basically, a debit card is linked to your savings account which is your money while a credit card is like its name - everything is on credit and the bank waits for you to pay them.

I believe the $1 transaction is what we term as a status check transaction which is used to validate if the card number entered is valid and "alive". Because this is a debit card, the amount is generally deducted from your savings account immediately and should be reinstated if its a status check transaction and usually does not take up to 30-days (but this depends on the bank).

Suggest that you get the SCB ppl to check if they have paid Paypal or the bank behind Paypal. If they have not done so, then SCB should credit the amount back to you immediately. If they have paid PayPal, then they should get in touch with PayPal (or the bank behind PayPal) to reimburse back the amount to them. All in all, I do not believe that the cardholder should be punished for all these discrepancies. SCB should have followed up on these disputes and it be minimal inconvenience to you.

If you're adding a debit card to your PayPal account, READ THIS FIRST!

There may be a limitation to adding debit cards to your PayPal account. In my case, I was charged a fee of US$1 (MYR 3.27), and have to now go through a time consuming process to have it refunded.



It's been 30 days since I was charged that fee in error. With both the bank and PayPal shrugging their shoulders and unwilling to take ownership of the problem, I've been left in a lurch.

On January 10, 2008, I added my Standard Chartered debit card to my list on PayPal. A day later I realised I was billed for US$1 by PayPal. Here's what PayPal had to say after I sent them an email:

We noticed that you have concerns about the MYR 3.27 (around US$1) on your card ending with 1219. By checking, we found that you added this card on Jan 10, 2008.

Please note that for any cards you add to or edit on your PayPal account, our credit card processor will place a temporary charge USD1 on your account as part of the credit card authorization process. The authorization will stay only briefly on your card and will stay in a "hold" or "pending" status. The transaction will be removed from your account within a few minutes to 30 days depending on your bank. You may see an authorization even if the card was not approved. Please do not worry. You can contact PayPal customer service again if this charge remains after 30 days. Thank you.

As usual, Standard Chartered was not aware of this problem, and was also not able to provide more information on the "temporary charge" policy. They however, advised me to wait out the 30 days as specified by PayPal, and then contact PayPal if the reversal / refund was not made by that time. In typical Standard Chartered style, not very helpful.

I've waited for 30 days, and have now sent another email to PayPal to highlight this case.

Here's my guess as to what's happening: Unlike credit cards, most debit cards do not have the feature of making a temporary charge. This is similar to what "they" do to your card when you use it at a petrol station, i.e. the bank will block off RM150 irrespective of whether you are pumping less fuel. However, you never see this transaction on your statement, as it's just a temporary charge.

Come to think of it, a little bird at Visa tried explaining this to me over the weekend, but I've lost track of the exact terms and process flow. I'll try to get her to help with a brief explanation for everyone's benefit asap.

Till then, remember to check your statements!

Is Tune Card stealing your money? - Update (1)

It turns out that scamboy's missing RM1 isn't due to any Tune Money hiccup. It may however be related to a debit card limitation.



I faced a similar problem with PayPal and my Standard Chartered debit MasterCard recently. Will blog about that soon.

Kudos to the Tune Money team for their quick response to scamboy's enquiry. However, it's a pity that their email support response-time remains unreliable. The current path to a quick response is to email Tengku Zafrul directly (tengkuzafrul@tunemoney.com), but I sense that this feedback loop will have to be improved significantly, and soon!

Standard Chartered stole my money!

UPDATE: Got a call from the bank today (February 11). Turns out that the "chip card fee" is simply the ATM card fee. It is an annual fee, and NOT a one-time fee (that was what they told me over the phone yesterday!) While I understand that the fee is regulated by Bank Negara (capped at RM8), I am disappointed that it was not mentioned / communicated during the card activation process.

Yes, I've just been cheated by Standard Chartered, again. That's a harsh claim to make, but I believe it should stand that way.

My Standard Chartered eSavers account was billed twice for a "chip card fee" amounting to RM8 per transaction (RM16 in total). All this happened, the day before Chinese New Year.

Here are my points of contention:

1) What's up with the fees? Standard Chartered claims to be leading the pack with a savings account without any fees. That's what you see on their banners and billboards. This "chip card fee" is supposedly unlike the typical annual fee for ATM cards, as it is billed only once upon activation. I'll bet my bottom dollar that you won't find this fee advertised on the brochures or terms and conditions on their website. More importantly the bank officers never informed me of this additional fee. Again, it's not the amount that I am questioning but the way this fee has been stolen from my account.



2) Why was I charged twice? This is a serious error caused by your (Standard Chartered) banking infrastructure / systems. If I had not logged in (online) to check my transaction history, I would have missed this critical error. Your customer service officer informed me that this was an error on the part of the bank, and that the case would have to be escalated for a waiver. Another 3-5 working days before this is resolved. Terrible customer experience, don't you think?



I've had just about enough headaches with this free eSavers account. I guess you definitely get monkeys when you pay peanuts.

Standard Chartered, you better buck up if you want your presence felt here in Malaysia. As for now, I'll just stick with the local favourite. Enticing me with a 7% rebate on petrol, and 3x the interest rates just doesn't cut it anymore.

*p/s: It seems as though I've been having some bad luck with financial institutions as of late - is it just me?

• Standard Chartered debit MasterCard headache
• Tune Card stole my money!

Is Tune Card stealing your money?

I just received an alert from scamboy via the comment thread on 10 things I dislike about Tune Card.

It seems that his Tune Card is now mysteriously short of RM1.



I am still awaiting feedback on whether this case is genuine, and similar to the one I faced before. If it is, then this is more than just a one in a million glitch.

If you do have a Tune Card, I would urge you to check your account balance immediately. You could be missing more than just RM1.

Related posts:

• Tune Card stole my money!

Standard Chartered debit MasterCard headache - Update (1)

It took Standard Chartered over 16 days to resolve my disputed debit card transaction.

That's ridiculous considering that the usual process takes between 3-5 working days. While the officer handling my case was polite and patient, I do believe that there were serious miscommunication issues between the customer service team and product managers.

The questions I raised in my last blog post (and letter to the bank) have yet to be answered, but here's what I've gathered thus far:

1) RM100 refund: what is the status of this process, and exactly how long would I have to wait?

16 days. The process usually takes up to 5 business days if you're lucky.

2) Debit card limitations: can debit card transactions be voided? The information I have received from the Customer Service hotline has not been consistent.

Yes. Debit card disputes are treated just like credit card disputes.

3) Customer Service runaround: Why was I given the runaround? Mr.
Kunen indicated that the the fax was only received on Tuesday, the 22nd, when I had sent it 72 hours earlier. I am not aware of whether fax machines are available in most homes, but I had to go to a local copy centre and paid RM1.50 just to have my document faxed.

Still waiting for an official response.

4) Implications to interest earnings: I stand to incur losses to my interest calculation until the refund is made. What is the bank's stand on this matter, and will I be reimbursed?

Supposedly, yes. According to the officer I spoke to, the bank will calculate the interest for the days in question, and credit the interest into my account. Depending on the amount, you're unlikely to be able to decipher whether or not this happens as you won't see it until the end of the following month. It may just be small talk.

Related posts:

• Standard Chartered debit MasterCard headache