Cashing a US check in Thailand

[Juan B Tong]

Personal check with my name (and wifey too -a joint account).  I write the checks to myself, endorse twice on the back as requested by SCB and I also write 'deposit only SCB'.

 

Photocopy of passport and signature on a couple of their forms.

Forms show exchange rate and Bhat equivalent.

 

Not from the State or any government, from my personal account.

 

Checks from other sources made out to me as payee, get endorsed, and scanned using my bank's (Rabobank NA) mobile app

[Juan B Tong]

20 hours ago, watcharacters said:

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations, you have a pretty decent pension compared to most.    

 

I'm surprised to see your willingness to  spend 3200 Baht unnecessarily.

 

By depositing your check in a US bank your would avoid that cost.     It would only require googling to find out which bank will  issue you  a fee refunded debit card.   I think Capitol One was a bank that at least used to do that.

 

You're looking at saving  roughly  a third of a month's  pension check annually by doing this.

 

Good luck.

No!

Please read carefully!

I can spend 500 Bhat to deposit into SCB  or I can withdraw from an ATM (max $500 equivalent) and pay 220 Bhat plus flat fee and 1%.

 

So to get my $9k into Bhat I can spend 500 Bhat or I can make 15 ATM withdraws.

 

Maybe have someone help you with the math

[Pib]

13 hours ago, Rhys said:

Sorry do you mean SCB?

No, as in my post I said Service Credit Union (SCU) since I was talking US banks/credit unions which I think you asked about.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

16 hours ago, Pib said:

If you mean US banks/credit unions that do not charge a foreign transaction and reimburse ATMs fees, Schwab Bank, St Farm Bank, and Service Credit Union at three.  Well, SCU does charge a 1% foreign transaction fee, but reimburses that so when the monthly statement dust settles no fee for your foreign ATM withdrawal.

 

Pib, et al...

 

Unfortunately, as of the start of the new year, Service Credit Union is changing their entire accounts setup-details-rules, and not for the good.

 

In the past, you could qualify for their foreign ATM fee and FCF reimbursements either with a direct deposit OR with a minimum average monthly balance in the account, I think, at least $1500. But from the start of the new year, having a direct deposit into their checking account alone will NO LONGER qualify a checking account with them to receive foreign ATM/FCF reimbursements. Instead, they're now going to require the minimum average monthly balance in order to receive those fee reimbursements.

 

 

[Rhys]

2 hours ago, Pib said:

No, as in my post I said Service Credit Union (SCU) since I was talking US banks/credit unions which I think you asked about.

 

 

Thanks for the information..

[Pib]

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Pib, et al...

 

Unfortunately, as of the start of the new year, Service Credit Union is changing their entire accounts setup-details-rules, and not for the good.

 

In the past, you could qualify for their foreign ATM fee and FCF reimbursements either with a direct deposit OR with a minimum average monthly balance in the account, I think, at least $1500. But from the start of the new year, having a direct deposit into their checking account alone will NO LONGER qualify a checking account with them to receive foreign ATM/FCF reimbursements. Instead, they're now going to require the minimum average monthly balance in order to receive those fee reimbursements.

 

Yea, I got that summary change notice via email on 30 Nov....but the pending changes were somewhat unclear to me due to their brevity, but the changes did sound like some new executive bankster was reducing benefits/increasing fees associated with SCU accounts.   Maybe this year's Christmas executive bonus was too low and they need to increase fees/profits so the 2018 executive bonuses can be higher.

 

I had an online chat session with SCU over the last hour asking for some clarification on their ServicePlus Checking (being renamed to Five Star Service Checking) changes, but basically a Direct Deposit is no longer a requirement for ATM/ISA fee reimbursement.  Instead, you must maintain an average daily balance of $1500 where before it was just a "positive" balance and having a Direct Deposit.  Also, if you don't maintain an average daily balance of $1500 a $10 maintenance fee will apply for that month.  

 

I also asked is the max ATM withdrawal amount per day/transaction remaining at $1000 and got a Yes answer. 

 

I also asked the rep were there any benefits now to having a Direct Deposit and the rep said it will just get you a lower loan rate.    I just may stop my Direct Deposit to them and instead top-up the account periodically via manual/automatic ACH transfer from one of my other banks to keep the SCU checking amount over $1500.

 

But hey, the ATM/ISA fee reimbursement is still there....a person just needs to maintain an average daily balance of at least $1500.

 

Yeap, banksters at work....slipping in some higher fees/reduced benefits over the holidays period.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I haven't used SCU's foreign fee reimbursements for the past year or so, as they've always been just one of several cards in my wallet providing the same benefits when used abroad. So, I've already canceled my DD with them, and probably will revert my account to just a regular, non-fee reimbursing, no monthly fee checking account with them (to preserve the easy opportunity to upgrade should I ever need their higher level, foreign fee reimbursing checking in the future).

 

But FWIW, if I recall correctly, one other GOOD change they're making as of Jan. 1 is to cancel what had been their ridiculous $7.50 or so fee for outbound domestic ACH transfers to other U.S. institutions. Those transfers will become free with the new year, which pretty much is mirroring what a lot of non-MEGA U.S. banks are already doing. SCU was trailing/failing badly with their ACH fee policy up until now.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

BTW, Service Credit Union is one of those U.S. institutions that offers its customers online remote check deposit using either their website with a scanner or their mobile app.

 

https://servicecu.org/personal-banking/banking-services/#tabs-digital-services

 

PS -- For those who may be new to discussion about SCU, one thing to note is opening accounts with them is NOT available to the general public. You have to have some U.S. military connection (current or past) in your family to qualify for membership.

 

Edited December 27, 2017 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Rhys]

Keep the information updated..

[Pib]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I haven't used SCU's foreign fee reimbursements for the past year or so, as they've always been just one of several cards in my wallet providing the same benefits when used abroad. So, I've already canceled my DD with them, and probably will revert my account to just a regular, non-fee reimbursing, no monthly fee checking account with them (to preserve the easy opportunity to upgrade should I ever need their higher level, foreign fee reimbursing checking in the future).

 

But FWIW, if I recall correctly, one other GOOD change they're making as of Jan. 1 is to cancel what had been their ridiculous $7.50 or so fee for outbound domestic ACH transfers to other U.S. institutions. Those transfers will become free with the new year, which pretty much is mirroring what a lot of non-MEGA U.S. banks are already doing. SCU was trailing/failing badly with their ACH fee policy up until now.

 

After having the account for about a year I've used their card twice in Thailand...first time to get Bt30K and when that charge hit my account I saw the Thai ATM fee and Visa ISA fee hit the account... I had forgot they initially charge the 1% Visa foreign transaction fee...I was thinking What the Heck!!   Then I remembered they do charge a 1% ISA fee but reimburse that fee along with the Thai ATM User Fee at the beginning of the next month which was reimbursed.  Second time was just this week to Bt30K....so I'll get reimbursed the first few days in Jan. 

 

But for those looking for a US bank/credit union that reimburses ATM fees it is one along with the other ones I mentioned  earlier....preaching to the choir I know since you've had your SCU account a lot longer than me.

[Rawairat]

SCB 6 weeks to clear and around B500

[watcharacters]

On 12/27/2017 at 9:46 AM, Juan B Tong said:

No!

Please read carefully!

I can spend 500 Bhat to deposit into SCB  or I can withdraw from an ATM (max $500 equivalent) and pay 220 Bhat plus flat fee and 1%.

 

So to get my $9k into Bhat I can spend 500 Bhat or I can make 15 ATM withdraws.

 

Maybe have someone help you with the math

 

 

You are so correct.

 

I am the idiot.

 

I saId you can deposit your pension checks in a ( ATM free expense) bank (USA) and then withdraw those funds at an ATM in Thailand. 

 

Your withdrawals with such a bank would be fee free!

 

 

YOU read carefully if you want..

 

 

Finished but it's your  wasted money and not mine thankfully.

 

Good luck

Edited December 28, 2017 by watcharacters

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Quote

 

On 12/26/2017 at 1:26 PM, watcharacters said:

 

It would only require googling to find out which bank will  issue you  a fee refunded debit card.   I think Capitol One was a bank that at least used to do that.

 

 

Capital One typically has CREDIT CARDS that charge no foreign currency fee on foreign purchases, but DO charge cash advance fees if you try to make ATM withdrawals with them.

 

But AFAIK, Cap One's DEBIT CARDS do NOT reimburse foreign bank ATM fees and DO charge a small foreign currency fee, or to be exact, pass along a VISA or MC imposed FCF. The bank used to claim they did not charge such a fee, which may be technically true since they're just passing along the card network's FC fee.

 

AFAIK, Cap One is not really any kind of ATM use solution in Thailand.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 12/27/2017 at 9:46 AM, Juan B Tong said:

I can spend 500 Bhat to deposit into SCB  or I can withdraw from an ATM (max $500 equivalent) and pay 220 Bhat plus flat fee and 1%.

 

So to get my $9k into Bhat I can spend 500 Bhat or I can make 15 ATM withdraws.

 

 

If Juan really means $9000 U.S., AFAIK, there's no real good ATM solution for that in Thailand. Even with the best U.S. debit card -- one that allows $1000 per day withdrawals, no foreign currency fees and reimburses foreign ATM fees -- that's going to take probably 10 ATM withdrawals to get the desired amount. Because, the maximum ATM withdrawal on the Thai end these days is 30,000 baht from Krungsri and TMB, regardless of your home bank's daily ATM withdrawal limit.

 

For $9K U.S., I'd look to deposit the check into a U.S. bank account using remote deposit and then use Bangkok Bank's NY ACH transfer method to get the funds into Thailand at relatively low expense. A person also could use Transferwise, but they're going to be a bit more expensive than BKK Bank for a $9K U.S. amount.

 

The slow way, of course, is to try to deposit the check directly into a Thai bank account, pay their fees, and then wait weeks for the funds to be credited.

 

[Juan B Tong]

2 hours ago, watcharacters said:

 

 

You are so correct.

 

I am the idiot.

 

I saId you can deposit your pension checks in a ( ATM free expense) bank (USA) and then withdraw those funds at an ATM in Thailand. 

 

Your withdrawals with such a bank would be fee free!

 

 

YOU read carefully if you want..

 

 

Finished but it's your  wasted money and not mine thankfully.

 

Good luck

As I reside in this kingdom, please tell me where in Thailand I can deposit my checks in a ATM free expense bank USA.  And at which bank I can make free ATM withdraws.

 

Specifics OK?

 

 

Edited December 28, 2017 by Juan B Tong

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I think he meant, somehow arrange to deposit the check into a U.S. bank like Charles Schwab, which has a debit card with no foreign currency fee and reimburses other banks' ATM fees, including those in Thailand. But even at that rate with their $1000 per day withdrawal limit and the Thai ATMs' maximum 30,000 baht per withdrawal limit, it's going to take A LOT of Thai ATM withdrawals to get the equivalent of $9K U.S.

 

There are other better ways to go for that kind of amount.

 

[watcharacters]

22 minutes ago, Juan B Tong said:

As I reside in this kingdom, please tell me where in Thailand I can deposit my checks in a ATM free expense bank USA.  And at which bank I can make free ATM withdraws.

 

Specifics OK?

 

 

 

 

My tail is between my legs.

 

Apologies..

 

I clearly moved forward with the mistaken assumption you were from the USA.    

 

Never heard of many Juan's coming from the UK.   (including Spain)

 

I fully agree with you that your situation is  fuk d.   

 

I know banks in the UK are not especially generous to customers.    Unfortunate that is.

 

Immigrate?   

[Juan B Tong]

19 hours ago, watcharacters said:

 

 

My tail is between my legs.

 

Apologies..

 

I clearly moved forward with the mistaken assumption you were from the USA.    

 

Never heard of many Juan's coming from the UK.   (including Spain)

 

I fully agree with you that your situation is  fuk d.   

 

I know banks in the UK are not especially generous to customers.    Unfortunate that is.

 

Immigrate?   

Well, OK.  

My situation is about as far from fuk d as one can get.

Obviously avatar and name are for my amusement, but surprised no Juan in UK.  (Pun)

 

Hey, call me, lets hang out