"ATM scam" - myth or reality ?

[RandiRona]

10 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

"To show some Thai apologists some perspective..."

Ridiculous analogy.  To show some Thai-bashers some perspective, private retail banks' charges are not related to minimum wages!

Sorry you didnt get the point buddy, what I am trying to convey that it is criminal to charge 75% of minimum wage as ATM charges, I know they are not connected but was trying to draw an example based on logic and inference. 

Also I am not Thai Basher, I am Thai Elites , Thai goverment, Thai corrupt establishment basher. Common Thai is victim in their own country as witnessed by dozens of successful and unsuccessful coups. 

Edited June 2, 2022 by RandiRona

[Mac Mickmanus]

51 minutes ago, smutcakes said:

Each to their own. Neither has ever happened to me touch wood. With bank branches closing across the country you better get with the times gramps.

"Gramps" 

Rather ageist , how old are you BTW ?

If you want to pay the 220 Baht ATM fee and risk either losing your ATM card or getting your card skimmed and you bank account emptied , go right ahead , I prefer not taking those risks and not paying the ATM fees and get a bit of personal service .

   If a bank branch does close down , I just go to one that's open , if you cannot find a bank branch that's open, you can ask here where to find one.

Like, if its beyond your capability's to walk around and find one yourself  

[Mac Mickmanus]

16 minutes ago, RandiRona said:

Sorry you didnt get the point buddy, what I am trying to convey that it is criminal to charge 75% of minimum wage as ATM charges, I know they are not connected but was trying to draw an example based on logic and inference. 

Also I am not Thai Basher, I am Thai Elites , Thai goverment, Thai corrupt establishment basher. Common Thai is victim in their own country as witnessed by dozens of successful and unsuccessful coups. 

The charge is for Foreign  bank accounts , its not for Thais with Thai bank accounts , those charges don't apply to them and foreigners are expected to have an income of more than 400 Baht per week , or whenever they need to make a withdrawal , or they can avoid the ATM charges by not using ATM machines 

[dingdongrb]

10 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Do you have any sensible reasons why your Thai bank should do the same as your US bank?

I sure do....

[CraigInBangkok]

10 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Such as?

 Kasikorn atms charging me 10/20 bht for a withdrawal if I am out of bkk ... Its really not the 10/20bht but that is just a <deleted> take if you ask me

[RandiRona]

1 hour ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

The charge is for Foreign  bank accounts , its not for Thais with Thai bank accounts , those charges don't apply to them and foreigners are expected to have an income of more than 400 Baht per week , or whenever they need to make a withdrawal , or they can avoid the ATM charges by not using ATM machines 

I know it and that is why in my post I suggested not to pay that discriminatory institutionalized fraud against foreigners who is a fair game in LOS!

[mvdf]

I remember going to the yellow bank's exchange outlet at MBK. The lone fat lady with a perpetual scowl on her face wasn't happy with me interrupting whatever she was engrossed in (looked like Line when she put the phone next to her keyboard). I told her I wanted a cash advance (thinking it might be cheaper than two ATM withdrawals of 20k + 10k) and if she could please tell me the fee for 30k baht. "PASSPORT!!!" she shouted back after I handed her my card. Ignoring my question about the fee, she checked my name on my card and on the passport. "NO HEB MIDDLE NAME ON CARD!! CANNOT!!!" and she returned my card and passport with the same ineffaceable death stare and quickly resumed her Line chat. Next to the counter (literally next to it) was the bank's ATM so I proceeded to withdraw the 30k baht. She saw me take the cash and gave me another tee-hee derisive look. 

Edited June 2, 2022 by mvdf

[Bluespunk]

 

On 5/29/2022 at 7:29 PM, FritsSikkink said:

The rate has been in place for a very long time and advertised, so how is it a scam? They want rich tourists who don't moan about a couple of hundred THB.

True enough, agree there.

 

 

On 5/29/2022 at 7:31 PM, Chris.B said:

Sorry, it is 220 THB.  ☹️

 

WHAT!!!! It's 220...well now that's a different story.

 

????

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, CraigInBangkok said:

13 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Such as?

 Kasikorn atms charging me 10/20 bht for a withdrawal if I am out of bkk ... Its really not the 10/20bht but that is just a <deleted> take if you ask me

B10 is not a "rip off" for that standard ATM service charge.

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, dingdongrb said:

13 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Do you have any sensible reasons why your Thai bank should do the same as your US bank?

I sure do....

I didn't think that you'd have anything.

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, RandiRona said:

I know they are not connected but was trying to draw an example based on logic and inference. 

But you didn't!  There was nothing logical about your analogy.

[bbko]

14 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

If you don't like paying a commercial bank for the benefit of giving you access to a foreign bank, don't use it.

  

[CraigInBangkok]

30 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

B10 is not a "rip off" for that standard ATM service charge.

A service charge, so why is it free in bangers  ? And really, they dont make enough with the billions of customers money they invest with ?

[Liverpool Lou]

9 minutes ago, CraigInBangkok said:

41 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

B10 is not a "rip off" for that standard ATM service charge.

A service charge, so why is it free in bangers  ?

If you're talking about Bangkok, it's free in the province of the branch that holds your account, there's a transparent miniscule fee for out-of-province transactions.  There is no rip off.

[BudRight]

4 hours ago, CraigInBangkok said:

 Kasikorn atms charging me 10/20 bht for a withdrawal if I am out of bkk ... Its really not the 10/20bht but that is just a <deleted> take if you ask me

Use the mobile banking app to do a cardless withdrawal and there is no provincial ATM fee.

[dingdongrb]

3 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

I didn't think that you'd have anything.

Why should I spoon-feed you something you should already know?

[smutcakes]

7 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

"Gramps" 

Rather ageist , how old are you BTW ?

If you want to pay the 220 Baht ATM fee and risk either losing your ATM card or getting your card skimmed and you bank account emptied , go right ahead , I prefer not taking those risks and not paying the ATM fees and get a bit of personal service .

   If a bank branch does close down , I just go to one that's open , if you cannot find a bank branch that's open, you can ask here where to find one.

Like, if its beyond your capability's to walk around and find one yourself  

38, i dont pay any fee as i use a local bank card in a local bank.

[JimmyJ]

I meant to post the following when the thread was new but I think I didn't so...

 

Someone said there is always a cost.

No.

I use ATM cards which refund foreign ATM fees, have no ATM fees of their own, no monthly service charges.

So I just use ATMs for cash from USA bank(s).

 

ALSO - I don't think the charges I listed earlier in the thread are scams, they are ripoffs.

[Mac Mickmanus]

1 hour ago, smutcakes said:

38, i dont pay any fee as i use a local bank card in a local bank.

How do you  get your money from a UK/Foreign bank account to a Thai bank account without paying any fees ?

[bbko]

10 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

How do you  get your money from a UK/Foreign bank account to a Thai bank account without paying any fees ?

Maybe he flys in with a chunk of cash, converts it to Thai currency then deposits it.  Not a hard thing to do.

[Mac Mickmanus]

13 minutes ago, bbko said:

Maybe he flys in with a chunk of cash, converts it to Thai currency then deposits it.  Not a hard thing to do.

That wouldnt be an option for people who don't regularly fly home and also for those that get their income on a monthly basis into their foreign account 

[smutcakes]

11 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

How do you  get your money from a UK/Foreign bank account to a Thai bank account without paying any fees ?

I dont. I work here and paid here.

[BudRight]

14 hours ago, bbko said:

Maybe he flys in with a chunk of cash, converts it to Thai currency then deposits it.  Not a hard thing to do.

It's not difficult, but I'm still not sure why people do this. There are fees hidden in the exchange rate.

[Mac Mickmanus]

2 hours ago, smutcakes said:

I dont. I work here and paid here.

So "Getting with the times Gramps" means working in Thailand ?

I worked in the UK and therefore have no need to work in Thailand .

Each to their own though , at your age , you should be in your prime and earning big wages and buying houses and things .

  I hope that you're not wasting your life, son 

[smutcakes]

2 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

So "Getting with the times Gramps" means working in Thailand ?

I worked in the UK and therefore have no need to work in Thailand .

Each to their own though , at your age , you should be in your prime and earning big wages and buying houses and things .

  I hope that you're not wasting your life, son 

No gramps was reference to going into the bank to see a teller. My Dad does that but no one under the age of 60 does. 

[Guest truthman]

13 hours ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

so the lesson is repeated until its learned--we are all adults here---and I went inside to get a large amount--thus making this not a monthly visit----it was over 30k so it lasted me months--and why cant one go in and ask?...worst case they say no and you thank them and leave...

 

why is the debit scanner at the counter if one cant do this----and if one is taking out a large amount (30k++) isnt that money going into the thai economy?? why is this such and issue---im not telling anyone to lie and even what i said to them?  will they call the cops?? smh......

 

You will be pleased to know I hold an account there now--should i go make amends????

 

Why does everyone have to police each other here and working solutions i offer--the OP can decide to try this or not--again-adults--we all wake daily and make life choices----(sighs)

I have an account here as well. The original question was whether the high fees are a "scam" -- that is, are they unjustifiably high and not how to avoid the high fees.  Perhaps scam isn't the right word but they are exploitative and the reason is that the BOT regulates what thai banks can charge domestic customers but let's them charge foreigners anything they want. And the banks in violation of the anti-trust law all act in concert. So in the broadest sense, yes they are a scam.

[Guest truthman]

I should add by the way that it isn't only thai banks that use the fee structure to soak unwitting users. American banks are notorious for their high fees, including non-network ATM fees, and nonbanks are even worse. In the beginning, there were no ATM fees, either on domestic or international transactions, but the banks, like the airlines, soon discovered how easy it is to increase profits by implenting a broad array of fees that can be continually increased. Thus, we see that in a few short years Thai banks have increased international ATM fees from 150 baht to 220 baht.

[BudRight]

On 6/3/2022 at 12:54 PM, truthman said:

I should add by the way that it isn't only thai banks that use the fee structure to soak unwitting users. American banks are notorious for their high fees, including non-network ATM fees, and nonbanks are even worse. In the beginning, there were no ATM fees, either on domestic or international transactions, but the banks, like the airlines, soon discovered how easy it is to increase profits by implenting a broad array of fees that can be continually increased. Thus, we see that in a few short years Thai banks have increased international ATM fees from 150 baht to 220 baht.

I remember that the Thai ATM fees started at 80 baht, but it was like 15 or 16 years ago so I'm not totally sure. 

[Mac Mickmanus]

6 minutes ago, BudRight said:

I remember that the Thai ATM fees started at 80 baht, but it was like 15 or 16 years ago so I'm not totally sure. 

I think that the ATM fees began about ten years ago