Any Thai bank offering a Visa/Mastercard without foreign exchange rate fee?

[jackdd]

I'm looking for a Thai bank which issues a Visa/Mastercard debit card (maybe credit card) which doesn't apply a foreign exchange rate fee.

Does anybody know of any? Afaik they usually charge 2.5%.

 

Theoretically this card would be suitable (they told me no foreign exchange rate fee): https://www.superrich1965.com/visitThailand.html

But i don't live in Bangkok and to buy or topup this card i would have to go to Bangkok, so not really convenient.

Edited November 30, 2019 by jackdd

[BestB]

If you have WP, citibank seems not to have any fees for credit cards and also kbank.

 

I have citibank premier card and kbank platinum and neither charges fees when i make international purchases

[tom in bangkok]

On 11/30/2019 at 11:53 PM, BestB said:

If you have WP, citibank seems not to have any fees for credit cards and also kbank.

 

I have citibank premier card and kbank platinum and neither charges fees when i make international purchases

Are you sure about that? My citi prestige still charges the standard 2.5% on foreign transactions. How did you manage to have the fee dropped?

[BestB]

1 hour ago, tom in bangkok said:

Are you sure about that? My citi prestige still charges the standard 2.5% on foreign transactions. How did you manage to have the fee dropped?

No idea but do not see any fee added, unless it’s incorporated into total showing . Mine is premier 

 

see attached transaction and no fees 

Edited December 2, 2019 by BestB

[tom in bangkok]

Oh interesting, thanks for that. I'm not seeing any fees show up either but I've got a preauth that mentions FX fees haven't been applied "yet". I'll check in a few days and see.

 

[PDPA2024]

Major Thai banks waive FX fee for credit cards but I don't know any debit card option without 2-3% FX charge.

 

Visit Thailand card you can now top-up online via the app if you have a Thai bank account. But they told me I can only use this card in Thailand contrary to what's written on their website. Not sure if this has changed.

[BestB]

30 minutes ago, tom in bangkok said:

Oh interesting, thanks for that. I'm not seeing any fees show up either but I've got a preauth that mentions FX fees haven't been applied "yet". I'll check in a few days and see.

 

I can only think of 2 things 

1 different type of card

2. fee possibly incorporated into total charge , may not show exactly how much fee is

[treetops]

Deleted - error.

Edited December 2, 2019 by treetops

[4MyEgo]

On 12/1/2019 at 3:19 AM, jackdd said:

I'm looking for a Thai bank which issues a Visa/Mastercard debit card (maybe credit card) which doesn't apply a foreign exchange rate fee.

Not sure about that, however there is a bank that allows you to make an "over the counter withdrawal" of up to 150,000 baht per transaction for 200 baht.

 

The bank is Krungsri bank, not many people know of this, including the bank, as they have tried to charge me 300 baht a few times, thinking my overseas Visa debit card was a credit card when I told them clearly that it was a debit card, go figure....

 

I cannot recall if my overseas bank charged me a fee, but wouldn't be surprised if they did as they would if I used an overseas ATM.

 

The other alternative is if your transferring money from overseas to Thailand, open an account and use Transferwise, naturally they have a fee, but their rate is very good, and your bank doesn't apply a foreign exchange rate fee as its considered a transfer to your account, even though Transferwise applies a fee for the transfer, the rate you get basically covers the fee and is within your account within 24 hours most days.

 

Hope this assists.

[saengd]

My UOB Gold credit Card doesn't charge a foreign currency transaction fee on purchases (dunno about cash advances) plus their ex.rate is very good.

[jackdd]

I have been looking arround a bit and came across this card: https://www.scb.co.th/th/personal-banking/cards/prepaid-cards/planet-scb-card.html

A SCB debit card without 2.5% foreign exchange fee. Currently no sign up fee and also no monthly fee. So actually a quite nice offer.

The only problem is that it's SCB and they even write directly on their website that opening a savings account as a foreigner requires a work permit.

If anybody knows any other cards let me know.

[Pib]

1 hour ago, jackdd said:

I have been looking arround a bit and came across this card: https://www.scb.co.th/th/personal-banking/cards/prepaid-cards/planet-scb-card.html

A SCB debit card without 2.5% foreign exchange fee. Currently no sign up fee and also no monthly fee. So actually a quite nice offer.

The only problem is that it's SCB and they even write directly on their website that opening a savings account as a foreigner requires a work permit.

If anybody knows any other cards let me know.

It's product sheet says it "does" have the 2.5% foreign transaction fee....but they call it a currency conversion fee....also has the 100 baht fee if using it to withdraw cash.

[jackdd]

2 hours ago, Pib said:

It's product sheet says it "does" have the 2.5% foreign transaction fee....but they call it a currency conversion fee....also has the 100 baht fee if using it to withdraw cash.

I didn't look at the PDF previously, just saw the "no 2.5% fee" on the landing page and believed them.

 

But after a brief look at the terms and conditions (which are of course written in quite difficult Thai, so i might be wrong), i think it works this way:

This is a prepaid card, so you have to top it up with money from the savings account before you can spend anything, so a bit different from the usual debit card which is directly tied to a bank account.

It sounds like that it's possible to store money in different currencies on this card (maybe somehow similar to the Transferwise card)

If we would have for example only Thai baht on this card and we would pay something in Euro, they would charge an extra 2.5% conversion fee.

But if we had top upped the card with Euro beforehand, then we would not be charged this 2.5% conversion fee.

 

One question remains: When topping up this card with Euro, which exchange rate does one get and is there any fee involved.

 

The 100THB fee for cash withdrawel applies only at ATMs in other countries.

[BestB]

1 minute ago, jackdd said:

I didn't look at the PDF previously, just saw the "no 2.5% fee" on the landing page and believed them.

 

But after a brief look at the terms and conditions (which are of course written in quite difficult Thai, so i might be wrong), i think it works this way:

This is a prepaid card, so you have to top it up with money from the savings account before you can spend anything, so a bit different from the usual debit card which is directly tied to a bank account.

It sounds like that it's possible to store money in different currencies on this card (maybe somehow similar to the Transferwise card)

If we would have for example only Thai baht on this card and we would pay something in Euro, they would charge an extra 2.5% conversion fee.

But if we had top upped the card with Euro beforehand, then we would not be charged this 2.5% conversion fee.

 

One question remains: When topping up this card with Euro, which exchange rate does one get and is there any fee involved.

 

The 100THB fee for cash withdrawel applies only at ATMs in other countries.

How about KBank webcard?https://kasikornbank.com/k-web-shopping

[mrjanuary]

Would these "travel cards" work?

 

• Planet SCB
• Krungthai Travel Card
• YouTrip powered by KBANK
• TMB All Free
• Kbank Journey

 

comparisons (in thai): https://droidsans.com/travel-card-comparison/

 

[Caldera]

20 hours ago, mrjanuary said:

Would these "travel cards" work?

 

• Planet SCB
• Krungthai Travel Card
• YouTrip powered by KBANK
• TMB All Free
• Kbank Journey

Last time I checked out YouTrip, you needed a Thai ID card to apply. Has that changed?