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How to Avoid Credit Card Fees for Google Ads in UAE?

V

visive

New member
Jun 11, 2021
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#1
Hi everyone,

I'm planning to run campaigns on Google Ads. It seems every bank charges a 2-3% fee for international transactions on business credit cards made in AED. This could significantly impact the budget for my campaigns. Does anyone have suggestions or workarounds to avoid these fees? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
 
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#3
visive said:
Hi everyone,

I'm planning to run campaigns on Google Ads. It seems every bank charges a 2-3% fee for international transactions on business credit cards made in AED. This could significantly impact the budget for my campaigns. Does anyone have suggestions or workarounds to avoid these fees? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
I think Visa charges about 1.15%. The banks charge the rest. There are banks which do not charge anything apart from the Visa fee:
https://www.emiratesnbd.com/-/media/enbd/files/bub/2023/emiratesnbd_bb_schedule_of_charges.pdf
Alternatively, you have to use a debit card from an EMI or a bank abroad, I guess.
 
#4
aniglo22 said:
Some crypto exchanges offer vccs or you can buy them from other vendors and top them up with crypto.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your advice, but when you take into consideration the spending fee plus the fee for acquiring the crypto, it will be roughly 2%, and I'm not even mentioning that the card is not a business card.

daniels27 said:
I think Visa charges about 1.15%. The banks charge the rest. There are banks which do not charge anything apart from the Visa fee:
https://www.emiratesnbd.com/-/media/enbd/files/bub/2023/emiratesnbd_bb_schedule_of_charges.pdf
Alternatively, you have to use a debit card from an EMI or a bank abroad, I guess.
Click to expand...
I saw ENDB fees and I see 2% as usual. Do you know any EMI that would take on a UAE business and provide a card?
 
#5
visive said:
Thank you for your advice, but when you take into consideration the spending fee plus the fee for acquiring the crypto, it will be roughly 2%, and I'm not even mentioning that the card is not a business card.
Click to expand...
They only charge for non AED billing.

visive said:
I saw ENDB fees and I see 2% as usual. Do you know any EMI that would take on a UAE business and provide a card?
Click to expand...
What currency are your assets in and what currency do you want to use on Google Ads? Depending on the currency you can use debit direct etc. too.
 
#7
If both are AED, you probably one have the bad exchange is visa with the 1.15%. The fees of most of the banks I checked in UAE. mention a foreign currency free. If the transaction is in UAE, it is not a foreign currency.

The markets are highly fragmented, EU an US is almost always foreign transaction, while the smaller markets like UK, Canada, etc. have foreign currency. The the former, you pay even if a foreign merchant charged in you card currency, while in the latter you don't.
 
#8
daniels27 said:
If both are AED, you probably one have the bad exchange is visa with the 1.15%. The fees of most of the banks I checked in UAE. mention a foreign currency free. If the transaction is in UAE, it is not a foreign currency.

The markets are highly fragmented, EU an US is almost always foreign transaction, while the smaller markets like UK, Canada, etc. have foreign currency. The the former, you pay even if a foreign merchant charged in you card currency, while in the latter you don't.
Click to expand...
I'm going to be honest, Daniels, I don't know if you are farming posts or who you are answering to, but read my first post. You are not helping nor addressing my question, just babbling a bunch of nonsense. Google Ads Ireland charges a UAE company in AED via debit card. Yes, it's a foreign transaction, therefore 2%.
 
#9
visive said:
I'm going to be honest, Daniels, I don't know if you are farming posts or who you are answering to, but read my first post. You are not helping nor addressing my question, just babbling a bunch of nonsense. Google Ads Ireland charges a UAE company in AED via debit card. Yes, it's a foreign transaction, therefore 2%.
Click to expand...
Why would I take my time to look into banks for you if you then talk to me like this? But yes, the bank I posted also charges for AED abroad two lines later. I must have overseen this.

Have you checked those:

HSBC only charges 0.65% on foreign AED transactions:
https://www.business.hsbc.ae/-/medi...on/hsbc-uae-corporate-tariff-july-2023-en.pdf
Dubai Islamic Bank mentions only foreign currency fees:
https://dib.ae/docs/default-source/cpr/soc/business-banking-soc-eng.pdf?sfvrsn=fe9a06cb_30Is this true or do they also charge this fee on foreign AED transactions?

If you can use a personal card to pay and reimburse you, you probably have more options. Have you checked those? I think alhilalbank.ae for example only charges on foreign currency but not on foreign AED:
https://www.alhilalbank.ae/en/Images/schedule-of-fees-accounts-en_tcm50-247051.pdf
 
#12
daniels27 said:
I think they do not offer this in UAE
https://wise.com/ae/pricing/business
I think they are also very limited due to the fines they received in 2022
https://www.reuters.com/technology/fintech-firm-wise-fined-360000-by-abu-dhabi-regulator-2022-08-30/
Click to expand...
Sorry about my earlier response. I wasn't in a good mood when I wrote that and it came out harsher than I intended. I didn't actually expect you to look up banks for me; my question was more aimed at anyone on the forum who might already have the solution. Anyway, thanks for trying to help out.
 
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