Cash advance with no fees?

[KhunLA]

Reading is correct, and agree with those stating possible ... depending ... on your bank & card, and which Thai bank & branch used. 

 

I've done (inside advances) in the past, and I do now with ATM withdrawals, fee free on both ends.  No hidden fee or different exchange rate as 1 poster implied.

 

USA citizen though, and read many non Yanks, don't have that option.

 

Good Luck

Edited February 16, 2022 by KhunLA

[Bruno123]

4 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

I believe you are confusing that with a debit card, as far as I recall CC attract a 3% fee at Krungsri, i.e. unless you can provide a link to this, no fee on CC transactions.

 

I did an over the counter transaction with my debit card, took out 150k Baht, not fee, although the staff did try to charge me 3% before I confirmed there was no fee, and showed them the link a while back.

 

Have not ever seen a Thai bank charge a % for over the counter withdrawals this decade; unless you are referring to DCC.

The only bank that charged, of which I saw, was the Siam Commercial Bank; which charged a 180 baht 'Admin Fee'. Whether they still do is unknown to me.

[4MyEgo]

24 minutes ago, Bruno123 said:

unless you are referring to DCC

?

[gamb00ler]

1 hour ago, Bruno123 said:

Mastercard and VISA rates lag a day behind the spot rate, but for travel money it's not really an issue unless rates are really volatile.

On a US$1000 equivalent advance right now, you'll get the Mastercard rate from the 15th perhaps; 32263 baht. With WISE you'll get the rate from today; 32,159.12

 

In this case, credit card wins.

I am not certain that the Visa/Mastercard rates lag by a day.  However when they set the rate, it is used for the following 24 hours.

 

I don't track Mastercard's rate, but Visa sets their exchange rate at midnight GMT (7AM in LOS).  I have an automated script which gets the Visa rate and Wise rate at 7:05AM every week day.  The Wise rate is always slightly better by 5-8 satang per US$.  That is equivalent to 50-80฿ per 1,000$ transferred.  Don't forget that Wise also charges .536 % in fees or about $5.36 (174฿) per 1,000$.

[Mavideol]

19 hours ago, JoseThailand said:

All in all, a cash advance is the cheapest way to get cash in Thailand, if you don't have a Thai bank account.

but not free, correct ? the 3 S's apply--- someone, somewhere and somehow has to pay something

[JoseThailand]

6 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

but not free, correct ? the 3 S's apply--- someone, somewhere and somehow has to pay something

There is no fee charged by the Thai bank. In that sense, it is free. All the rest depends on the issuing bank.

[Thaibeach]

I have a "no foreign transaction fee" VISA (no annual fee), so the exchange rate is VERY close to the one on XE.com

 

No fees for cash advance if you can get a back teller to do it. Even factoring in the B220 ATM charge, the rate is still better than the cash rate at SuperRich.

 

You just have to prepay the VISA so that there's enough of a credit/balance so that the cash advance doesn't trigger instant interest.

[timendres]

20 hours ago, SheikYabodyline said:

Using a credit card for a cash advance over the counter will usually get you i). a lousy exchange rate; ii) a possible service fee the credit card end, if not the Thai end, depending on where the CC was issued; iii) extortionate interest rates of the cash advance from the day it was made.

There are exceptions to this, depending which credit card, where it was issued, its T&Cs etc, but in general this is true.

Adding to the above pain, the CC company will apply all of your payments to the "purchases" balance before they apply one penny to "cash advance" balance, ensuring that you pay the usurious interest for as long as possible.

[Bruno123]

28 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

I am not certain that the Visa/Mastercard rates lag by a day.  However when they set the rate, it is used for the following 24 hours.

 

I don't track Mastercard's rate, but Visa sets their exchange rate at midnight GMT (7AM in LOS).  I have an automated script which gets the Visa rate and Wise rate at 7:05AM every week day.  The Wise rate is always slightly better by 5-8 satang per US$.  That is equivalent to 50-80฿ per 1,000$ transferred.  Don't forget that Wise also charges .536 % in fees or about $5.36 (174฿) per 1,000$.

When I posted the conversion rate in the earlier post, the Mastercard conversion tool shows only the 15th.

 

[Bruno123]

3 minutes ago, timendres said:

Adding to the above pain, the CC company will apply all of your payments to the "purchases" balance before they apply one penny to "cash advance" balance, ensuring that you pay the usurious interest for as long as possible.

 

To my knowledge payments are set against the transaction carrying the highest interest. That would usually be cash advances. YMMV. 

[Bruno123]

59 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

?

Dynamic Currency Conversion. Something in which Krungsri dabbled. Whether they still do is unknown to me.

[timendres]

1 minute ago, Bruno123 said:

 

To my knowledge payments are set against the transaction carrying the highest interest. That would usually be cash advances. YMMV. 

It obviously depends on the bank, but my agreement clearly states that payments will be applied to purchases first. It actually shocked me to discover, which is why I remember it so clearly. That said, this was at least 10 years ago, so maybe a change was required because of new regulations.

[Bruno123]

2 minutes ago, timendres said:

It obviously depends on the bank, but my agreement clearly states that payments will be applied to purchases first. It actually shocked me to discover, which is why I remember it so clearly. That said, this was at least 10 years ago, so maybe a change was required because of new regulations.

 

Not every country has the same method. It could be just your card.

[gamb00ler]

57 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

but not free, correct ? the 3 S's apply--- someone, somewhere and somehow has to pay something

When you find a free method, don't tell ANYONE.