Withdrawing Money At An Atm Using Foreign Maestro...

[argonaut942]

It's general wisdom that withdrawing cash at ATMs using foreign Maestro or Cirrus compatible ATM cards is the most economic way to fill your wallet on a journey. That's also what I usually do when I travel to Thailand. During my last two stints to Bangkok the exchange rate that I was given through the ATMs made me question this though. I used my Austrian Maestro compatible bank card. The exchange rate Euro-Baht was hovering around 1 to 47. The rate I got through the machine was 42 Baht for a Euro plus the usual small amount of transaction fee (around 2 Euro). What's up with that? I tried it later at another bank's ATM and I got the same bad exchange rate. For all future money changing I resorted to changing cash at a money changer. A much better rate was had through them, and no transaction fee on top of it all either. Anybody have a good explanation for this ATM dilemma? I only ever experienced this in Thailand...TIT I guess...?!

[pilgrim2505]

It's general wisdom that withdrawing cash at ATMs using foreign Maestro or Cirrus compatible ATM cards is the most economic way to fill your wallet on a journey. That's also what I usually do when I travel to Thailand. During my last two stints to Bangkok the exchange rate that I was given through the ATMs made me question this though. I used my Austrian Maestro compatible bank card. The exchange rate Euro-Baht was hovering around 1 to 47. The rate I got through the machine was 42 Baht for a Euro plus the usual small amount of transaction fee (around 2 Euro). What's up with that? I tried it later at another bank's ATM and I got the same bad exchange rate. For all future money changing I resorted to changing cash at a money changer. A much better rate was had through them, and no transaction fee on top of it all either. Anybody have a good explanation for this ATM dilemma? I only ever experienced this in Thailand...TIT I guess...?!

I think the ultimate answer is carry wads of cash with you but thats hardly practical, i cant help too much but i can tell you that i use nationwide and they offer a higher rate than most exchange rate wise and they let u withdraw from an ATM machine for free...

[Trevor]

No choice on ATMs old boy. You pay for the convenience.

To save on fees, send your money in bulk by TT to a Thai account, or change cash at Siam Commercial Bank. Thai ATM withdrawals attract a 20/30 baht fee outside of opening province; even for deposits!

Trav chqs may give a slightly better rate.

Only consolation is the charts show the currency majors having bottomed-out against the baht.

Edited April 15, 2007 by Trevor

[bmanly]

It's general wisdom that withdrawing cash at ATMs using foreign Maestro or Cirrus compatible ATM cards is the most economic way to fill your wallet on a journey. That's also what I usually do when I travel to Thailand. During my last two stints to Bangkok the exchange rate that I was given through the ATMs made me question this though. I used my Austrian Maestro compatible bank card. The exchange rate Euro-Baht was hovering around 1 to 47. The rate I got through the machine was 42 Baht for a Euro plus the usual small amount of transaction fee (around 2 Euro). What's up with that? I tried it later at another bank's ATM and I got the same bad exchange rate. For all future money changing I resorted to changing cash at a money changer. A much better rate was had through them, and no transaction fee on top of it all either. Anybody have a good explanation for this ATM dilemma? I only ever experienced this in Thailand...TIT I guess...?!

Yes a lot of these cards charge a conversion fee on top of a withdrawal fee. It is usually hidden in the terms and conditions of the issuers product disclosure statement. I have a Mastercard from Australia that clearly says NO ATM fees and NO conversion fees and as a result I got the TT rate which was always better than cash rates, hope that helps.

[JR Texas]

No choice on ATMs old boy. You pay for the convenience.

To save on fees, send your money in bulk by TT to a Thai account, or change cash at Siam Commercial Bank. Thai ATM withdrawals attract a 20/30 baht fee outside of opening province; even for deposits!

Trav chqs may give a slightly better rate.

Only consolation is the charts show the currency majors having bottomed-out against the baht.

JR Texas: I think the banks in Thailand are charging to much for basis transactions.........I do not have a story about ATMs, but when I exchanged the equivalent of US3000 dollars in Chinese money to Thai baht (at Siam Commercial Bank), they took a whopping US$400 just to make the conversion.

[Trevor]

The Renminbi is a grey currency; hence the bad rate.

It's worth asking the gold shops in Yaowarat what they would offer as some have unofficial money exchange links to Hong Kong. Certainly they do instant transfers, but helps if you have a local Thai-Chinese to recommend.

[JR Texas]

The Renminbi is a grey currency; hence the bad rate.

It's worth asking the gold shops in Yaowarat what they would offer as some have unofficial money exchange links to Hong Kong. Certainly they do instant transfers, but helps if you have a local Thai-Chinese to recommend.

JR Texas: Thanks...........next time I will be wiser....hopefully. I wonder if most of the Chinese tourist know about this "grey currency" and bad exchange rate.

Maybe exchanging the money to US$ dollars prior to leaving China would have been a better option, or even Hong Kong dollars.

I did find out later (and to my dismay) that a money changer near Khao San road was offering a much better deal than Siam Commercial bank.

[Orangutan]

Guy's,

There are differences in the exchange rates from ATM's. To test this last month I withdrew 10,000 baht from a Siam Commercial Bank ATM, and exactly 2 minuets later (the times are on the ATM receipts) I withdrew 10,000 baht from Siam City Bank ATM.

When I got home I checked my U.S. bank withdrawals online. Siam Commercial Bank paid me at 33.2 baht, and my new favorite Siam City Bank paid me at 35.7 baht.

It pays to know what bank ATM has the better rates.

-O

[Gary A]

When I was just visiting, I never liked travelers checks because the ATM fees at that time were cheap or free. Now there are fees of approximately three percent plus you get the offshore rate for ATM transactions. If I were just visiting now, I would bring travelers checks. My US ATM card is for EXTREME emergencies and I have NOT had any extreme emergencies.

[PeaceBlondie]

I usually withdraw dollars from my US account and last time, at Bangkok Bank, I got 34.90. It has never gone below 34.5.

[stumonster]

The Renminbi is a grey currency; hence the bad rate.

It's worth asking the gold shops in Yaowarat what they would offer as some have unofficial money exchange links to Hong Kong. Certainly they do instant transfers, but helps if you have a local Thai-Chinese to recommend.

JR Texas: Thanks...........next time I will be wiser....hopefully. I wonder if most of the Chinese tourist know about this "grey currency" and bad exchange rate.

Maybe exchanging the money to US$ dollars prior to leaving China would have been a better option, or even Hong Kong dollars.

I did find out later (and to my dismay) that a money changer near Khao San road was offering a much better deal than Siam Commercial bank.

when buying or selling remimbi/yuan I use the exchange at the suk end of soi 7/1 , opposite the subway shop . they also have good rates for other currencies.

[willi2006]

Interesting related threads: Sending Money To Thailand, Ridiculous Forex Rates ... and More On Nationwide Debit Card

Interesting articles: Save thousands on foreign exchange and Credit/Debit/ATM Cards and Foreign Exchange - FlyerGuide Wiki.

[argonaut942]

Yes a lot of these cards charge a conversion fee on top of a withdrawal fee. It is usually hidden in the terms and conditions of the issuers product disclosure statement.

Fair enough. It's just odd as I never really noticed the conversion fee in the past. It's just been over the past few months I felt shortchanged at the ATMs. On my previous trips to Thailand over the last few years I believe I always got a good rate. Also, in pretty much every other place I traveled to I got really good rates in the past.

Actually a guy on another Forum (LP TT) came up with an interesting explanation...

Your home bank uses the rate it would pay to buy baht to charge your account for your ATM withdrawal. Because there's such a huge demand international currency markets these days, baht are in short supply and trading outside Thailand at a premium. I also got a rate of 42 buying baht in Europe recently. All the charges come from your home bank. Don't blame the Thai financial institution. The Thai money changer in Thailand is buying euros, which are not in high demand or short supply. Thus the better rate.

[bmanly]

argonaut942, that's exactly right, don't blame the Thai Banks. The thing is your home bank changes the rules all the time. OK, in my case I was using Citibank Australia for years. They had a flat rate of $4 for an overseas withdrawal, then out of the blue they sent a letter. Dear customer we are abolishing the $4 overseas withdrawal charge and are replacing it with a 2.5% conversion charge. A 30,000 baht withdrawal use to cost $4AUD but now it costs $28 AUD.

People overseas are not aware of the ever changing rules, this is only 1 example.

Another mate of mine disputed the better rates I was getting at ATM's, I said who are you using? When I checked it out they were charging a 2.5% conversion fee, many case like this. I think it's in your fine print my friend, good luck.

[lopburi3]

The last few months have seen a large difference between the exchange rate used in Thailand and the rate used overseas. This was not the case before so ATM use never raised any issues. These days most ATM exchanges seem to use the offshore rate which is often several baht lower than the local rate and tourists using cards are feeling the pinch. I have not used anything but local ATM cards for many years so can not compare myself.

[LaoPo]

Yes a lot of these cards charge a conversion fee on top of a withdrawal fee. It is usually hidden in the terms and conditions of the issuers product disclosure statement.

Fair enough. It's just odd as I never really noticed the conversion fee in the past. It's just been over the past few months I felt shortchanged at the ATMs. On my previous trips to Thailand over the last few years I believe I always got a good rate.

The point is that you didn't pay attention to the Baht rates in the past year or so:

Twelve month period Euro versus Baht:

You might want to go to this link to follow the Baht intra-day, one month, three months or twelve months periods (just click on the Baht in the lower left):

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/fds/hi/.../12/default.stm

LaoPo