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jfchandler
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Posts posted by jfchandler
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In U.S. banking terms, Internet-based electronic funds transfers go by the name "ACH", which I believe stands for Automated Clearing House... Those are often free or small charge per transfer, depending on your bank. But, they require the receiving party/bank to have an ABA (American Bankers Assn.) routing number, usually 9 digits.
Since (with one exception being Bangkok Bank's New York branch) foreign banks (including other Thai banks) don't generally have ABA numbers, U.S. residents usually cannot directly ACH their funds from U.S. banks to foreign banks, to the best of my knowledge.
The other route is international wire transfers, which use banks' SWIFT codes. Generally, those involve filling out paperwork and often having to physically go into the U.S. bank to make the request. There are a few banks, I believe Citi is one of them, where certain privileged-status account holders may have the ability to use their online banking access to initiate international wire transfers, but I don't know the fee on those. And I think those kinds of instances are relatively rare among U.S. banks.
In contrast to the ACH method, which is primarily domestic and predominantly online, U.S. banks often charge pretty high fees for international wire transfers/SWIFT, averaging probably in the $40 to $60 per wire range.
I can't speak to whether non-U.S. banks are allowing online, free or little charge international funds transfers. But with the exception of the BKK Bank-New York case, I don't know of any other ability to ACH funds from a U.S. bank directly to a Thai bank.
I just noticed today that E*Trade is $25 for domestic or international wire transfers. That's a pretty decent wires price for U.S. banks, but it's hardly free. And it's not clear to me that you can initiate that with E*Trade online, though I suspect you can at least by telephone, since E*Trade doesn't have physical branches.
If anyone knows of a generally available U.S. bank account that includes free or very low cost international wire transfers, particularly with the ability to initiate them online (since many of us are here in Thailand and not the U.S.) please speak up!!!
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Bigger problem nowdays is rigged meters in taxis driving from Swampy. This year got two already and both times the drivers are complaining as i did not leave any tip but demanded my change back to the baht.
Rigged how... MJo... Not sure what you mean about that...in regards to meter taxis.
My experience, otherwise, has been the same as yours... Sometimes get requests for fixed fares.... in town or at the airport. Always say NO...meter... Rarely has any taxi driver ever declined.
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Re Bank of Ayudhya, I'd doubt very much their ATM fee situation is varying by ATM location.
If they do start charging the ATM fee, all their ATMs will go at once... Such is the world of computer programming...
The weight of the TV reports seems to be that Ayudhya is NOT yet charging the 150 baht...
However, only use Ayudhya for now with VISA cards...Otherwise, you'll get clipped by their MasterCard dynamic currency conversion scam....
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I mentioned in a prior post having done an ATM withdrawal from Government Savings Bank using my U.S. MasterCard logo debit card. Finally got the exchange results today. Here's the detail.
This what happens when one stays out too late the night before posting...
I should have correctly said... used my VISA logo card at GSB.... GSB doesn't take MasterCards.
This whole subject, and 6 different running TV threads on basically the same topic, is giving me a headache!!!
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I too have a Visa debit card checking account in the U.S. that rebates all the VISA 1% fees at the end of each statement cycle (whether they be on purchases or ATM withdrawals, and the 1% amounts do show up as separate line items in my online banking ledger).
I've yet to use that VISA card at any Thai ATM that's charging the 150 baht fee. I haven't heard if anyone else has either. It will be interesting to see, if someone tries that, whether the 150 baht amounts will be covered in their reimbursements.
If they were covered, that would make using Thai ATMs much easier, because you could basically use any Thai bank's ATM and not have to worry about the 150 baht fee, because you'll get it back.
If it turns out the 150 baht amounts are not getting reimbursed by our home banks, and not showing up separately in our home banking ledgers, then that narrows the field a bit to using Government Savings Bank ATMs and only VISA cards. (I'm assuming, based on various reports here, that Bank of Ayudhya will soon start charging the 150 baht fee, if they haven't done so already...)
Separately, I mentioned in another post in a related thread here. I withdraw funds from a BKK Bank ATM the other day with a U.S. MasterCard logo debit card, knowing I'd get hit with the 150 baht ATM fee. When the transaction showed up in my U.S. bank's online banking ledger, it was listed only as a single amount reflecting the total of my W/D and the 150 baht fee combined. The fee was not listed separately in my banking ledger.
This particular bank is one that reimburses for ATM fees up to $25 per month. But in order for them to do it automatically, the fee has to show up at their end as a separate listing/charge. When it doesn't show up as a separate charge, they'll still reimburse me for the fee up to the monthly limit. But I'd have to mail copy/copies of the Thai bank ATM receipts to them showing the fee listed. That's not the path I want to take, needless to say.
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sorry... my bad... the 34.10 wasn't a dollar amount. I inadvertently added the "$" by mistake. the 34.10 reference was the baht to dollar exchange rate, if adding in (including) the extra 1% fee (which I get reimbursed for). So in my case, the 34.10 rate is not applicable. But it would be if I didn't get reimbursed for the 1% fee. I corrected my post above to fix that. Thanks.
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I mentioned in a prior post having done an ATM withdrawal from Government Savings Bank using my U.S. MasterCard logo debit card. Finally got the exchange results today. Here's the detail.
1000 baht withdrawal on Sunday, May 17, about 2 pm Thai time
1st charge to my U.S. account: $29.03
2nd charge to my U.S. account: 29 cents (which I believe is the 1% VISA fee my bank always shows separately)
Exchange rate based only on $29.03: 34.44 baht to the $, which was good for that day.
Exchange rate based on $29.32 (the $29.03 + 29 cents): $34.10, which is not so good.
For this particular U.S. bank account, because they reimburse for all those 1% fees at the end of the month, my real rate is the 34.44, which was/is pretty good for the recent exchange figures...
And...as yet, of course, no 150 baht withdrawal fee from GSB...
But...as previously mentioned, their ATMs DO NOT accept MasterCard logo cards.
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I mentioned in a prior post having done an ATM withdrawal from Government Savings Bank using my U.S. MasterCard logo debit card. Finally got the exchange results today. Here's the detail.
1000 baht withdrawal on Sunday, May 17, about 2 pm Thai time
1st charge to my U.S. account: $29.03
2nd charge to my U.S. account: 29 cents (which I believe is the 1% VISA fee this bank always shows separately)
Exchange rate based only on $29.03: 34.44 baht to the $, which was good for that day.
Exchange rate based on $29.32: 34.10 baht to the $, which is not so good.
For this particular U.S. bank account, because they reimburse for all those 1% fees at the end of the month, my real rate is the 34.44, which was/is pretty good for the recent exchange figures...
And...as yet, of course, no 150 baht withdrawal fee from GSB...
But...as previously mentioned, their ATMs DO NOT accept MasterCard logo cards.
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"I've yet to see any poster here indicate that the 150 baht ATM fee showed up as a separate, identified fee in their home bank's ledger. . . . a fee ought to be listed/posted as a fee!!!"
I agree, but I suspect you can thank the gang of bandits that perpetrated this scam in the first place - "The Thai Bankers Association"
If they displayed it as a separate fee, they would invite the wrath of MANY people who use their ATMs.
If they hide it in the overall debit, most people would not even notice-- nor would they take the time to run the numbers and learn that they're being screwed.
Surftrader, I agree with your comments. But I want to clarify something for the record.
I believe most of the Thai banks that are now charging the 150 baht fee, but maybe not all, are showing it as a fee or separate charge on the paper receipts their ATMs spit out. I can't complain about that in terms of disclosure.
However, the charge apparently is NOT showing up separately when it's being posted to people's home bank accounts, which may complicate the prospect of getting reimbursed for the fee by people's home banks.
However, I like another poster mentioned have a different bank account with a VISA debit card that also reimburses me for the 1% VISA foreign currency exchange fee, and those amounts do show up as separate ledger items in my online banking. But at the end of every month, I get a credit for the sum of all those items. So it will be interesting to see how my other bank handles the 150 baht fee, if I ever decide to test it there.
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Bendejo, I got the same ATM message when I tried to use my MasterCard logo debit card in the GSB ATM in BKK...
Presumably, GSB ATMs only take Visa logo cards, not MC... On the GSB ATM I used, there was a sticker saying...Visa Electron. There was no sticker for MC/Cirrus.
But, also, there was no 150 baht fee.
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Right. All banks but Bank of Ayudhaya (which is using DCC for Cirrus transactions) are using the networks' exchange rates (which approximate the Interbank Exchange Rates).
Jim, I believe the correct info is, Ayudhya is using DCC for MasterCard transactions on accounts based in U.S. $ or Euros. That is what the signs on their ATMs say.
I've seen no indication they're using DCC for Visa cards or MasterCards denominated in other currencies.
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Out of the sake of public spirit-ness, I wanted to try an experiment today, so I withdrew some money from BKK Bank via ATM and my U.S. MasterCard logo debit card, and consented to pay the 150 baht fee for ONE TIME to give everyone this answer.
I wanted to see if the 150 baht fee would show up separately in my online banking, as a fee, or would be rolled into a single withdrawal amount.
Much to the chagrin of everyone who has bank accounts that reimburse for others ATM fees, I can report that the 150 baht ATM fee was not posted separately, and instead was rolled into the overall withdrawal amount. That means it will be much more difficult to obtain reimbursement for this fee, because it's not being posted as a fee.
In those kinds of cases, I had broached this subject once before with my same U.S. bank, when SCB started charging their 20 baht withdrawal fee, and it also was not showing up as a separate charge. Even in those cases, my U.S. bank advised if I send them the ATM slips showing the fee listed, which it is for both BKK Bank and SCB on their ATM receipts, they will reimburse my account. But I have to mail them the receipts to the U.S. to accomplish that.
That's the situation with just one U.S. bank, the one I happen to use often. Other banks may handle things differently. But I've yet to see any poster here indicate that the 150 baht ATM fee showed up as a separate, identified fee in their home bank's ledger. That really stinks, and I don't know why it's getting handled that way. But a fee ought to be listed/posted as a fee!!!
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The noteworthy additional thing to mention about this is, that at this point, using these THREE different transit systems would require three different fare payments or passes.
There is no common ticketing, as yet, between the BTS (SkyTrain). MRT (subway), or Airport Link (SRT-State Railway of Thailand).
After all, TIT....
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Something that really appears very wrong to me, however, is US banks charging their customers 40-60 USD for a simple SWIFT transfer. My non-US bank charges me 5 USD for that identical service!
/ Priceless
Can't argue with that statement... By and large, the major U.S. banks rip people off blind for international wires... And that didn't just start lately with the banking crisis... Bank of America has had extortionate rates for international wires for years... For most U.S. banks, the process of sending one appears to still be a paper based one where you have to fill out a very long form with lots of details, and then the bank sends it somewhere... It seems like they're still in the dark ages for these kinds of transactions.
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Do you remember if the GSB and UOB machines had the "Cirrus" logo on them -- or maybe a brand new empty spot ?
Funny u should mention that, Jim. Because the GSB and UOB atms wouldn't accept my U.S. MC logo debit card, and I'd never tried using either of those banks ATMs before, I made particular note of looking for their ATM network symbols.
At the UOB ATM on Silom Road, there were no stickers at all on the ATM or the location sign indicating what ATM networks it was a participant in.
At the GSB ATM at Asoke BTS, there were only two network labels. One for "Visa Electron," and the other jusyt a graphic image with red and blue paint slashes opposite each other...but no wording... I don't know what that symbol represents.
And as I mentioned earlier, the GSB ATM took my U.S. Visa debit card without any problem. I didn't try my Visa card at the UOB location yesterday...
No Cirrus or MC logo to be seen anywhere at either the GSB or UOB locations.
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Surftrader, I understand the desire to know the exchange rate... I share that... Unfortunately, the U.S. bank whose card I use doesn't update their online banking over the weekends, so it will be Monday morning U.S. time/Monday night here before the transaction will show up for me to know the $ amount debit. I'll update the post then...
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Not exactly the way you say... above...
The airport rail line is NOT BTS, but it does run past the NASA Vegas Hotel.
Once the airport line opens, the closest connection to that area will be taking the airport line to the Ratchadapisek-area station, where you can transfer to the MRT (subway) line's Petchburi station. From there, it's one station down to the Sukhumvit MRT-Asoke BTS joint station.
Or, for a direct connection from the airport line to the BTS (SkyTrain) system, you need to take the airport line to the end station at Phayathai, which is located near the BTS's Phayathai Station.
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I have a friend who works for the BTS system. She says they've been "talking" about implementing a joint ticketing system for the MRT and BTS systems for years.... but so far... nothing's come of it, and seemingly nothing on the horizon soon.
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fyi, I made a fee-free ATM withdrawal today from the Government Savings Bank ATM at the Asoke BTS station (the ATM is located on the 2nd floor platform on the way toward the escalator down to the MRT station).
The GSB ATM was happy to take my U.S. VISA debit card. However, the GSB machine would NOT accept my U.S. MasterCard logo debit card.
Separately, I tried to use the same U.S. MasterCard logo debit card at a UOB Bank ATM, and it likewise was not accepted. (The card itself is fine, I used to use it all the time at Bangkok Bank, Siam Commer Bank and others, before they began charging the 150 baht fees).
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fyi, I made a fee-free ATM withdrawal today from the Government Savings Bank ATM at the Asoke BTS station (the ATM is located on the 2nd floor platform on the way toward the escalator down to the adjoining MRT station).
The GSB ATM was happy to take my U.S. VISA debit card. However, the GSB machine would NOT accept my U.S. MasterCard logo debit card.
Separately, I tried to use the same U.S. MasterCard logo debit card at a UOB Bank ATM, and it likewise was not accepted. (The card itself is fine, I used to use it all the time at Bangkok Bank, Siam Commer Bank and others, before they began charging the 150 baht fees).
Separately, re the question above, one of the recent posters in one of these related ATM threads just in the past day or so posted the location of a couple different GSB locations in Pattaya.
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fyi, I made a fee-free ATM withdrawal today from the Government Savings Bank ATM at the Asoke BTS station (the ATM is located on the 2nd floor platform on the way toward the escalator down to the MRT station).
The GSB ATM was happy to take my U.S. VISA debit card. However, the GSB machine would NOT accept my U.S. MasterCard logo debit card.
Separately, I tried to use the same U.S. MasterCard logo debit card at a UOB Bank ATM, and it likewise was not accepted. (The card itself is fine, I used to use it all the time at Bangkok Bank, Siam Commer Bank and others, before they began charging the 150 baht fees).
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Government Savings Bank (pink color sign) still is NOT charging the 150 baht ATM fee on foreign cards.
However, in using their GSB ATM at the Asoke BTS station today, their ATM machine would NOT accept my U.S. MasterCard-logo (Cirrus) debit card. It did, however, accept a U.S. Visa debit card.
Separately, Thai Farmers Bank, otherwise known as Kasikorn (green color sign), began charging the 150 baht fee for the first time yesterday (Saturday). So Kasikorn is no longer fee free.
Bank of Ayudhya appears to still be fee free. However, Ayudhya has begun using something called Dynamic Currency Conversion for MasterCard logo cards from U.S. $ or Euro accounts. That method is not a fee, but it does result in Ayudhya giving those transactions a very bad exchange rate.
So at present, using Visa logo cards at Ayudhya would seem the better approach. Using MasterCards at Ayudhya can end up being more expensive that the other banks' 150 baht fee.
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In looking at the Aden web site, there is no indication there they deal in herbal medicines....
Around BKK, there are quite a few GNC outlets that stock various vitamins and supplements, and they can be found on the web... Unfortunately, their prices seem very high, much higher than for comparable products at GNC stores in the U.S.
As for natural foods, it depends on what things you might be looking for. Villa Markets do pretty good in terms of offering a variety of organic and/or natural food products.
PS. - You might also want to check with any of the larger Thai pharmacies around you, since they tend to stock medicines as well as herbal products. The prices there, for sure, are going to be much better than GNC...
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Jim, I'm not dissing the notion of discussion and comment on the best ways for people to handle their money.
I am, however, dissing the repeated claims by some posters here that people who use/have foreign ATM cards aren't customers/account holders with Thai banks, so in essence saying, they have no right to complain about the 150 baht ATM fee.
I think the vast majority of expats who live in Thailand, such as myself, will have BOTH... Thai and foreign accounts.
I get tired of some people here telling me and other expats that we're not Thai bank customers, when in fact we are.
Kasikorn Now Charging 150 Baht Atm Fee
in Jobs, Economy, Banking, Business, Investments
Posted
Read the several other running posts on the ATM fees subject...
In short, Government Savings Bank (pink signs) and Bank of Ayudhya (yellow signs) reportedly remain fee free. But GSB only accepts Visa logo cards, and you should only use Visa cards at Ayudhya, because using MasterCards with them produces a very bad exchange rate.
Re your BKK Bank transfer, you can call BKKB general customer service, choose the English language option, then give them the transaction involved, and they will give you a breakdown of the details of your transfer: exchange rate, fees, etc. BKK Bank New York charges a small, flat handling fee, if I recall, while the Thai home branch charges a small amount as well, a few hundred baht, depending on how much you have transferred. Your U.S. bank may have charged you also, but only they can tell you re that charge.