Uber passengers may be paying extra fees for their credit card payment

Although passengers pay for their rides here in Singapore dollars using locally issued credit cards, the payments are processed overseas, making them foreign transactions. The little-known procedure attracts additional fees that do not show up on the receipts that Uber e-mails to passengers after the rides, reported The Straits Times.

Instead, the extra charges - about 1 percent of fares - appear only on the credit-card statements passengers receive from their banks, sometimes a month later. Uber accepts only credit cards, not cash. The company and its payment processing facilities are based in the Netherlands.

"Some card-issuing banks may levy an additional fee on their customers for these international charges coming from Uber," according to Uber's spokesman. Asked if Uber passengers are told about the charges, he pointed to the fine print on receipts that reads, "Fare does not include fees that may be charged by your bank."

But local banks and major foreign banks told The Straits Times that they do not impose the extra fees. A DBS Bank spokesman said, "Credit-card processing networks charge around 1 percent for these transactions, and this fee is billed to customers."

But Visa country manager for Singapore and Brunei Ooi Huey Tyng pushed the responsibility back to the banks, saying that it does not set or collect cardholder fees, and that "pricing structure" for foreign transactions is a matter between cardholders and their banks.

Rival app-based taxi service GrabCar processes its payments in Singapore and accepts cash.

At least one credit-card company is reviewing its charges. Uber passengers in Singapore who use the American Express credit card issued by Citibank and Ez-Link now pay 0.4 percent in foreign transaction charges. An American Express spokesman said, "While the fee is part of the card issuer's terms and conditions, American Express now realises in some circumstances that it may not be clear and easily understood by consumers. We are in the process of removing this fee."