Using UK debit card in Thailand...

[RickG16]

When I pay with it in some stores they give me the option of paying in GBP or THB. Am I right in thinking GBP will work out better as there is no conversion fee? 

 

Cheers

[CharlieH]

MOVED TO BANKING

[soi3eddie]

No. That "no currency conversion" is a scam by the Thai bank/store. You may be billed in GBP to your card but the foreign exchange rate will be far, far worse than what your UK bank will charge. Same goes for ATMs. ALWAYS select charge in local currency and let your home bank do the conversion. I went to withdraw 20,000 Baht from an ATM a few years ago and compared the rates. If I had of chosen GBP for the withdrawal I would have been about £27 worse off. Always select local currency for charges when overseas and let your home bank do the exchange. Better still, get a Wise card and use that which gives even lower rates than most home country banks ever will.

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by soi3eddie

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

9 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

Same goes for ATMs. ALWAYS select charge in local currency and let your home bank do the conversion.

Same with Paypal payments. The default is to let Paypal do the conversion. Plough through the warnings, I always get a better exchange rate with my Thai bank doing the conversion rather than Paypal.

[RickG16]

11 minutes ago, Led Lolly Yellow Lolly said:

Same with Paypal payments. The default is to let Paypal do the conversion. Plough through the warnings, I always get a better exchange rate with my Thai bank doing the conversion rather than Paypal.

So when you pay with Paypal you should always do in your native currency, or the other way around?

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

Your native currency. Paypal are skimming from you if you let them do the conversion.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by Led Lolly Yellow Lolly

[MixPiano]

When using a CC always choose the local currency (THB). If they convert for you, the fee is much higher (eg. Kasikorn uses 5% for conversion in EUR).

 

BTW, there are more and more online shops that won't accept foreign cards. I've tried buying a phone via the Thai Samsung store, no chance. After calling them, they confirmed that Samsung online doesn't accept overseas credit or debit cards.

[scubascuba3]

It's a scam really, catches people out at ATMs also, even a golf course tried it once. Always take local, no conversion.

 

I binned Paypal years ago because of their constant skimming, many people didn't realise

Edited November 30, 2021 by scubascuba3

[dsj]

17 hours ago, MixPiano said:

When using a CC always choose the local currency (THB). If they convert for you, the fee is much higher (eg. Kasikorn uses 5% for conversion in EUR).

 

BTW, there are more and more online shops that won't accept foreign cards. I've tried buying a phone via the Thai Samsung store, no chance. After calling them, they confirmed that Samsung online doesn't accept overseas credit or debit cards.

If using a international CC and they give you the option to pay in Baht or your currency always chose Baht, as you get much better conversion rate as Visa and MasterCard only charges 2.5% conversion fee (Bank Fee).
https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html?amount=1000&fee=2.5&exchangedate=01%2F15%2F2020&fromCurr=CAD&toCurr=THB&submitButton=Calculate+exchange+rate

https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/personal/get-support/convert-currency.html
I agree with you that online shops won't accept foreign cards, like AIS, Tops, Central, but they do accept them in the stores, as that is what I do. Also if you are ordering online from Tops and you get to the payment page option, just chose pay on delivery with credit card, as they bring a machine with them and works all the time.

[Chongalulu]

The official name is "Dynamic currency conversion ". Dynamic certainly for the scamming retailer skimming off the interbank transfer rate you’d otherwise get as posters have already advised. There are credit cards (certainly uk ones) that also don’t apply the 2.5 - 3% international fee many apply 

[MrJ2U]

21 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

No. That "no currency conversion" is a scam by the Thai bank/store. You may be billed in GBP to your card but the foreign exchange rate will be far, far worse than what your UK bank will charge. Same goes for ATMs. ALWAYS select charge in local currency and let your home bank do the conversion. I went to withdraw 20,000 Baht from an ATM a few years ago and compared the rates. If I had of chosen GBP for the withdrawal I would have been about £27 worse off. Always select local currency for charges when overseas and let your home bank do the exchange. Better still, get a Wise card and use that which gives even lower rates than most home country banks ever will.

 

Yes, you need to say, "Thai baht".

 

 

[MixPiano]

3 hours ago, dsj said:

If using a international CC and they give you the option to pay in Baht or your currency always chose Baht, as you get much better conversion rate as Visa and MasterCard only charges 2.5% conversion fee (Bank Fee).
 

I use my Singapore debit Mastercard. No conversion fee and exchange rate usually not more than 0.5-0.8% markup from interbank rate. That's a fair conversion. 

 

Quote

I agree with you that online shops won't accept foreign cards, like AIS, Tops, Central, but they do accept them in the stores, as that is what I do. 

Interestingly some do, like DTAC. You can top-up your prepaid SIM with an international CC. 

 

The problem with the shops is that they don't give you the same price like online. At least Samsung doesn't. Even if you walk into an official Samsung Experience Store, they explain you that online is a different thing and they can't give you the same price. 

[Scouse123]

22 hours ago, MixPiano said:

When using a CC always choose the local currency (THB). If they convert for you, the fee is much higher (eg. Kasikorn uses 5% for conversion in EUR).

 

BTW, there are more and more online shops that won't accept foreign cards. I've tried buying a phone via the Thai Samsung store, no chance. After calling them, they confirmed that Samsung online doesn't accept overseas credit or debit cards.

I tried paying for a set of glasses whilst in the UK for 350GBP with my Thai credit card, no chance!

 

When I used Thai debit card it sailed through.

[The Hammer2021]

Yes you are correct. Do not convert

[sjd123]

Use the Wise debit card and pay in the local currency always ie Thai Baht in Thailand. No fees and about a 0.35% off midrate conversion.I haven't found anything better

[TropicalGuy]

Use WISE to get THB to your THB account. Avoid using Foreign Bank Cards here. If using them at ATM select No Conversion.

[theoldgit]

21 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

I tried paying for a set of glasses whilst in the UK for 350GBP with my Thai credit card, no chance!

 

Was that online when you were in the UK or in a store, I've certainly not had a problem using my Thai CC in the UK and, as you say, the debit cards also work fine, even accepting the six digit PIN.

[Scouse123]

3 hours ago, theoldgit said:

 

Was that online when you were in the UK or in a store, I've certainly not had a problem using my Thai CC in the UK and, as you say, the debit cards also work fine, even accepting the six digit PIN.

It was in store at Vision Express.

 

It kept coming up with card error. I used my Thai debit card with no problem 

 

I then went to another store and bought after shave with my Thai credit card just to ensure there was no problem with the card.

[rickudon]

Debit card or credit card, always check what the home bank will charge for overseas use. Visa and Mastercard actually do the currency conversion in most cases, and the rate is normally a lot less than 2.5% (i find that for me it is about 1 - 1.5%) but the home bank may also charge up to about 3% on top AND a flat fee of several GBP. 

 

But there are many cards which do not charge a foreign exchange fee for purchases, or even for cash withdrawals - (like the Halifax Clarity Credit card), just search for them.

[ukrules]

This is true and it's designed to entice you into using the card, when you look at the exchange rate you get you will likely be a little annoyed as they generally bear no resemblance to reality.

They make them up as they go with these cards, it's never in your favour and that's how they make their money.