Choosing the right Uniopey card: rubles, yuan, dollars or euros

What you need to know about Unionpay before applying for a card

At the moment, of the major banks of the Russian Federation, only one working version of Unionpay cards remains – this is RSHB (Rosselkhoznadzor). All other Unionpay cards issued earlier, including Gazprombank, Russian Standard and Tinkoff no longer work.

If you have a choice in which currency it is better to open a Unionpay card, then in this article we give our recommendations with accurate calculation and real figures from our own experience of using this card in different countries.

However, do not immediately expect a quick and magical answer about which currency the card is more profitable in, since it does not exist. In reality, it turns out that it is impossible to choose the most profitable currency for the card unambiguously and unmistakably, because it depends on how and where you intend to use it, and also because of the complex system of charging commissions for transactions. To understand all this, you will have to read everything below and delve into the logic of these cards and our calculations.

What are the current commissions for Unionpay RSHB cards

Unfortunately, information about commissions for currency conversion operations within banks, including those already included in the rates, is not disclosed by the bank. Therefore, we had to find out everything on our own experience, and we tabulated everything with calculations at the end of the article.

If you choose a ruble card

• Advantages: easy to use, no need to make unnecessary movements and learn something.
• Cons: less profitable than yuan.

This is the easiest and most convenient option if you want to use the cards for one or two trips abroad for a vacation on a tour and you do not plan large expenses. Its advantage is that you do not need to rack your brains and delve into the ways of replenishing the card, currency conversion rates in the application or on the stock exchange. That is, everything is simple: you have replenished the card in rubles, and just pay or withdraw money. But the downside is that in most cases it is less profitable compared to the yuan by about 2% due to double conversion and bank fees.

To give you an even better understanding of how it works, here's how the conversion happens when buying or withdrawing cash abroad:

The purchase/withdrawal currency is converted to yuan -> yuan is converted to rubles -> rubles are debited from your card.

That is, there is a double conversion, so the costs (hidden in the conversion rates of the commission) for it will be higher.

If you choose a yuan card

• Advantages: more profitable than a ruble card.
• Cons: you will have to learn how to convert currencies in the application and monitor the rates.

Obviously, yuan should be in the account of the yuan card. And in order for them to get there, you will need to exchange rubles for yuan in the bank's application or buy them at a more favorable exchange rate in the RSHBbroker application, then transfer them to the card account, and after that you can pay or withdraw. Yes, it all looks more complicated, but when you get used to it, you will do everything once or twice. Therefore, such a card is suitable for advanced users of financial services and independent travelers for large expenses.

In this case, there is only one conversion when buying or withdrawing:

The purchase/withdrawal currency is converted to yuan -> yuan is debited from your card.

Yes, here you can say that we still convert rubles to yuan in the application and lose on commission. But, in fact, the very commissions about which the bank does not disclose full information, in this case go below. And we found out all this empirically and disclose it in our calculations below.

By the way, as for the ways of replenishment, there are also some subtleties about which we we will tell you below.

If you choose a dollar or euro card

• Advantages: -
• Cons: less profitable than yuan and ruble; you will have to learn how to convert currencies in the application and monitor the rates.

We do not recommend considering this option at all. The fact is that this way you get to triple conversion in general and the corresponding losses.

First you need to buy dollars or euros in the app. And although formally this happens without a commission, in fact the commission is already included in the higher purchase rate. I.e. for every dollar or euro you already initially spend more rubles. And when paying, double conversion occurs again:

The purchase/withdrawal currency is converted to yuan -> yuan is converted to dollars or euros -> dollars or euros are debited from your card.

How to top up a yuan card

• Online in the bank's app at the bank's internal rate

  This is an instant and simple operation, and it is convenient to do it even right before buying or withdrawing money. We even sometimes make a replenishment, already standing in front of the supermarket checkout in the queue, it's very convenient. The exchange rate in the bank is higher than the exchange rate, but it is still more profitable than buying directly from a ruble card.

• Online in the exchange application of RSHBbroker Bank

  This is already more difficult and longer, but more profitable, since the exchange purchase rate is lower than in a bank. Yes, there is also an exchange commission, but it is very small (depends on the brokerage service rate you choose). The opening of the brokerage account itself takes place online, but not instantly, it took us about a day to wait for the broker to sign the documents. Opening a brokerage account is free of charge; there is no fee for its maintenance either (unless you choose a tariff with a subscription fee and lower commissions); entering and withdrawing rubles and currency to your accounts in the RSHB is also free. And, of course, you will have to install the additional RSHBbroker application.

  But the problem here is that you need to buy on the stock exchange in lots of 1000 yuan (at a lower rate) or 1 yuan, but the rate will already be slightly higher. In addition, there is a time of currency delivery and the withdrawal to the bank account itself does not happen instantly. Therefore, you need to put a couple of days before purchases for purchase and replenishment. This is the insidiousness of this method: you can buy currency at a lower exchange rate, but until you put it on the card for use, a couple of days will pass, and the rate may change. And well, if he grows up, then you will be kind of in the black. And if the rate drops, then you will be, as it were, already in the red.

In general, it's up to you to choose which method to use. But no matter which replenishment option you choose, there is still a small "bonus" from RSHB that you can use. If you bought yuan and did not use them, then you can put them on deposit until the next trip. This is done online.

And here is information for you, for example, about the difference in rates at the moment in the application and in the online bank:

• YUAN exchange rate when buying in the bank's app: 11.58 rubles/yuan
• Yuan exchange rate when buying through a brokerage account: 11.425 rubles/yuan
• The rate in the application is higher than the exchange rate: 1,356%

But you can check it yourself and recalculate the difference at any time if you have both applications installed.

Accurate calculation and what is more profitable

And now keep our calculation for shopping in stores and withdrawing money for all options within one day for a ruble card and a yuan card with different ways of replenishment. For ease of understanding, the calculations were "adjusted" to round amounts in rubles to make it easier to understand the output result.

Important! This calculation is made in Sri Lanka in rupees. But we also did such calculations in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand for additional verification, and the result is the same everywhere plus/minus.

For comparison, the calculation of dollars and euros at real exchange rates on the same day was also included in the table. But these figures should be treated with caution, as the result of the exchange through cash can be very different from the place and time of purchase and sale of currency.

Let's comment on the results a little:

• The most profitable option is to pay with a yuan card with replenishment through a brokerage account, but you need to take into account the delivery and withdrawal time, during which the exchange rate may change both up (beneficial for you) and decrease (your losses).
• The most unprofitable option is to withdraw cash through an ATM from a ruble card. But if you do not have a withdrawal fee from the RSHB, provided that you spent more than 30t.p. in the previous month, then this option will immediately become a little more profitable (in fact, then you will save at least 200 rubles for each withdrawal).
• The second most profitable and the best option (this is our choice) is to pay with a yuan card with a deposit in an online bank before buying.
• It is also important to take into account that the calculations do not take into account the commission of the ATM where you withdraw money. What it will be depends on the country and the specific ATM, so it is impossible to take it into account in the calculations. But we can definitely say that due to this commission when withdrawing (important! not when paying) you will lose some more money.
• If you need cash, then buying euros and dollars in cash is still "in charge", but a lot still depends on what rate you bought them at and which one you will sell at some point in time due to changes in exchange rates, and this is an unpredictable issue.

Conclusion: what should I choose anyway

• If you need a card for small expenses in the range of a couple hundred dollars for a one-time trip per year, then you don't have to bother and choose any of the options. After all, even in the worst case scenario, when you have to withdraw cash from a ruble card, you will lose about 700 rubles on commissions from every 10,000 rubles, even compared to the most profitable option.
• If you plan to spend a lot and often, then this difference will be serious. For such cases, we confirm our initial idea that it is best to open a yuan card and pay for purchases to the maximum, and contact the withdrawal of cash at a minimum. If there is no way to do without cash, then either change cash dollars / euros, or withdraw from a yuan card replenished through a brokerage account.

That's it. We hope our work will help you decide on a choice. But if you still have questions or have something to add from your experience, then leave comments below or come to our chat, we'll talk there.