ATM withdrawal charge

[gamb00ler]

1 minute ago, spongeworthy said:

I may have to just test this myself with a few ATM/Debit cards at a local bank here to see which banks may charge a fee and what rate the local bank gives me. This could prove useful in some situations.

I think Capital One and Schwab are the only two large institutions that don't have foreign transaction fees on their debit cards.  There are also some credit unions that don't.

[spongeworthy]

4 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

Since we were talking about debit cards..... a teller withdrawal is not actually a "cash advance".... that's just what everyone calls it.  It is more accurately identified as an electronic debit with simultaneous foreign exchange.  The underlying bank account must already have the funds on deposit... so no "advance".

That makes sense. I assumed tellers were using the cash advance option to make the withdrawal.

 

So when going to a local bank, one must ask a teller for an electronic debit?

 

[Kalasin Jo]

On 2/9/2023 at 8:51 AM, Gottfrid said:

Then you WILL have to PAY! 

Alot for a foreign card. So do a large withdrawal. But then again you might be robbed.

[gamb00ler]

2 minutes ago, spongeworthy said:

So when going to a local bank, one must ask a teller for an electronic debit?

Close... but no cigar.  Even the bank staff refer to it as a "cash advance".

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

10 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

I think Capital One and Schwab are the only two large institutions that don't have foreign transaction fees on their debit cards.  There are also some credit unions that don't.

There are a few, with Schwab and Cap 1 being the most prominent, I'd say. I think Fidelity's cash management card may also have the same benefits, but you have to have a brokerage account with them to get it, AFAIK.

 

And then there are indeed a handful of smaller localized banks and credit unions that offer the same.

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[spongeworthy]

6 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

I think Capital One and Schwab are the only two large institutions that don't have foreign transaction fees on their debit cards.  There are also some credit unions that don't.

Ah, good to know the Capital One card offers that and there's a way to get money out of the account without an ATM fee.

 

With Schwab, is there any benefit to doing the teller debit vs ATM route, other than not having to check the statement to see that they refunded the ATM fee?

Edited April 8, 2023 by spongeworthy

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 minutes ago, spongeworthy said:

With Schwab, is there any benefit to doing the teller debit vs ATM route, other than not having to check the statement to see that they refunded the ATM fee?

With Schwab, the daily ATM limit typically is around $1000 US.

 

If doing a counter withdrawal/electronic debit, the daily limit could be much larger, assuming you have the funds available in the checking account and subject to whatever limits the Thai bank may impose.

 

[gamb00ler]

5 minutes ago, spongeworthy said:

With Schwab, is there any benefit to doing the teller debit vs ATM route, other than not having to check the statement to see that they refunded the ATM fee?

I think the ATM limits are $500 or $1000 at Schwab per day.  I think you can raise those by asking Schwab to do so.  The limit on teller withdrawals is 15K$ per day.

[Cake Monster]

On 2/9/2023 at 8:51 AM, Gottfrid said:

Then you WILL have to PAY! 

You also have to pay with some Thai Banks levying a charge when a withdrawal is made outside of the Province of issuance.

[spongeworthy]

5 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

I think the ATM limits are $500 or $1000 at Schwab per day.  I think you can raise those by asking Schwab to do so.  The limit on teller withdrawals is 15K$ per day.

15k USD per day with no SWIFT fees?  I'll have to test this on my next trip to the bank and check the rate. If the exchange rate is the same as an incoming wire then this would mean $0 in fees. Sounds almost too good to be true...

Edited April 8, 2023 by spongeworthy

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

8 minutes ago, spongeworthy said:

15k USD per day with no SWIFT fees?  I'll have to test this on my next trip to the bank and check the rate. If the exchange rate is the same as an incoming wire then this would mean $0 in fees. Sounds almost too good to be true...

--You need to use a debit card that has no foreign currency conversion fee.

 

--You need to find a Thai bank branch that actually will handle the counter withdrawal instead of refusing and pointing you to their ATMs.

 

--I'm not sure that there's a single, one-size-fits-all limit on the amount of counter withdrawals that Thai banks will handle... The actual maximum may vary from company to company.

 

--the exchange rate used should be whatever the VISA or MC network rate is for that day... although you might want to avoid SCB for that purpose, as they used to use their own lower rate instead.

 

Also, make sure to bring your passport, because it will be required as part of the transaction.

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[gamb00ler]

10 minutes ago, spongeworthy said:

15k USD per day with no SWIFT fees?  I'll have to test this on my next trip to the bank and check the rate. If the exchange rate is the same as an incoming wire then this would mean $0 in fees. Sounds almost too good to be true...

The only bummer is they insist I have the money in the account. ????

[spongeworthy]

22 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

--You need to use a debit card that has no foreign currency conversion fee.

 

--You need to find a Thai bank branch that actually will handle the counter withdrawal instead of refusing and pointing you to their ATMs.

 

--I'm not sure that there's a single, one-size-fits-all limit on the amount of counter withdrawals that Thai banks will handle... The actual maximum may vary from company to company.

 

--the exchange rate used should be whatever the VISA or MC network rate is for that day... although you might want to avoid SCB for that purpose, as they used to use their own lower rate instead.

 

Also, make sure to bring your passport, because it will be required as part of the transaction.

 

Ahh, if they're using the network rate that could be a significant hit. I'll have to test it out for a few hundred at whichever local Kasikorn offers this.

 

Actually I'll try both Capital One and Schwab cards to see if there's any difference in the network rate.

Edited April 8, 2023 by spongeworthy

[gamb00ler]

5 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I'm not sure that there's a single, one-size-fits-all limit on the amount of counter withdrawals that Thai banks will handle... The actual maximum may vary from company to company.

So far, I only know that Bangkok bank actually offer "cash advance" from the teller for free.  I think Pib said Krungthai does it for a small fee.  For convenience I just deposit the money directly into my Bangkok bank savings account.  When building our house, I often made a withdrawal from both Schwab and Cap one on the same visit to the bank.

[NextG]

8 minutes ago, spongeworthy said:

Ahh, if they're using the network rate that could be a significant hit. I'll have to test it out for a few hundred at whichever local Kasikorn offers this.

 

Actually I'll try both Capital One and Schwab cards to see if there's any difference in the network rate.

Nope. Network(MC) rate is usually better than the TT rate. 

[NextG]

10 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

So far, I only know that Bangkok bank actually offer "cash advance" from the teller for free.  I think Pib said Krungthai does it for a small fee.  For convenience I just deposit the money directly into my Bangkok bank savings account.  When building our house, I often made a withdrawal from both Schwab and Cap one on the same visit to the bank.

It used to be that most banks refuse Debit cards. I regularly take ‘cash advances’ using a credit card, over the counter. 

[spongeworthy]

1 minute ago, NextG said:

Nope. Network(MC) rate is usually better than the TT rate. 

What is a TT rate?

[NextG]

Just now, spongeworthy said:

What is a TT rate?

The rate the Thai bank uses when you send money from your country. 

[spongeworthy]

4 minutes ago, NextG said:

The rate the Thai bank uses when you send money from your country. 

Is this referring to the Telegraphic Transfer network as opposed to SWIFT?

 

The rate I last got at Kasikorn from a SWIFT transfer was basically the XE rate. Visa and MC offer better rates than that?

Edited April 8, 2023 by spongeworthy

[NextG]

1 hour ago, spongeworthy said:

No, I'm referring to a debit card as debit cards also offer the "cash advance" feature which is what people are using at bank tellers here in Thailand to avoid ATM fees, which appears to be what you have done, but with a Schwab card - and those tend to no have typical fees (I'd have to read the card agreement again to see what it states about cash advances).

 

I may have missed some definitive answer on the topic in this thread, but from looking online it appears many banks can and do charge a 3-5% transaction fee when doing a cash advance on a debit card, the same as they do with their credit cards.

 

I may have to just test this myself with a few ATM/Debit cards at a local bank here to see which banks may charge a fee and what rate the local bank gives me. This could prove useful in some situations.

Why don’t you actually name your cards, instead of going through this long winded rigmarole? Someone may already know exactly what they charge. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

16 minutes ago, spongeworthy said:

Ahh, if they're using the network rate that could be a significant hit. I'll have to test it out for a few hundred at whichever local Kasikorn offers this.

 

Actually I'll try both Capital One and Schwab cards to see if there's any difference in the network rate.

 

The network rate is the rate used by VISA or MC on that day...which is the rate that such a counter withdrawal transaction should go at...

 

The only reason there would be any variation between Cap 1 and Schwab is Visa vs MC... The Schwab debit card is a VISA card. I thought the Cap 1 debit card might be a MC, but I haven't had one for some time, so not sure anymore...

 

The only other reason there would be a difference would be if the bank was taking some cut via a fee... which I know for certain Schwab does not....  I can't speak as authoratatively re Cap One, because they have many different products and versions of things within their operation.

 

[spongeworthy]

1 minute ago, NextG said:

Why don’t you actually name your cards, instead of going through this long winded rigmarole? Someone may already know exactly what they charge. 

Mentioned in the last 10 or so posts. Schwab and Cap One are the 2 I have with no foreign transaction fees.

[NextG]

Just now, spongeworthy said:

Is this referring to the Telegraphic Transfer network as opposed to SWIFT?

 

The rate I last got from swift was basically the XE rate. Visa and MC offer better rates than that?

You got the TT rate, not the XE equivalent. Best you actually post dates and figures rather than hearsay. Show actual transaction figures of your SWIFT transfer. Perception and reality may differ somewhat. 

[NextG]

3 minutes ago, spongeworthy said:

Mentioned in the last 10 or so posts. Schwab and Cap One are the 2 I have with no foreign transaction fees.

So read the post above from TallGuy ????re. MC and VISA. You can compare their rates against the TT rate easily by going to the respective websites. No need to do test withdrawals to find out. 

Edited April 8, 2023 by NextG

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

9 minutes ago, NextG said:

It used to be that most banks refuse Debit cards.

Some still do, and others don't... And it isn't even down to one bank company vs another... It gets down to the branch level, where one branch will and another branch of the same banking company won't. Typical Thai banking shenanigans....

 

In my experience, it simply means having to shop around from branch to branch until you find one that will do what you wish.

 

 

[spongeworthy]

6 minutes ago, NextG said:

You got the TT rate, not the XE equivalent. Best you actually post dates and figures rather than hearsay. Show actual transaction figures of your SWIFT transfer. Perception and reality may differ somewhat. 

I received the TT rate posted on this Kasikorn page (a slight bit higher actually as they don't post the rate beyond 1 Satang). Kasikorns listed TT rate falls in line with the XE rate, which is why I'm surprised that Visa and MC offer better.

 

https://www.kasikornbank.com/en/rate/pages/foreign-exchange.aspx

 

Is there someplace to check the current Visa and MC network rates? That would make this easier as I wouldn't have to test at a bank.

 

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by spongeworthy

[NextG]

1 minute ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Some still do, and others don't... And it isn't even down to one bank company vs another... It gets down to the branch level, where one branch will and another branch of the same banking company won't. Typical Thai banking shenanigans....

 

In my experience, it simply means having to shop around from branch to branch until you find one that will do what you wish.

 

 

I can imagine. I had to do the same. Now I’ve used the same branch for many years. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 minutes ago, NextG said:

So read the post above from TallGuy ????re. MC and VISA. You can compare their rates against the TT rate easily by going to the respective websites. No need to do test withdrawals to find out. 

 

Both VISA and MC have corporate websites where you can calculate their foreign currency exchange rates for any given day, and they also include a feature that allows you to build in a bank foreign currency fee (x%) if the card you're using happens to have one.

 

 

[NextG]

Just now, spongeworthy said:

I received the TT rate posted on this Kasikorn page (a slight bit higher actually as they don't post the rate beyond 1 Satang).

 

https://www.kasikornbank.com/en/rate/pages/foreign-exchange.aspx

 

Is there someplace to check the current Visa and MC network rates? That would make this easier as I wouldn't have to test at a bank.

 

 

Yes. 
 

https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/personal/get-support/convert-currency.html

 

https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html

 

choose a weekday as opposed to a weekend and not today. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NextG]

1 minute ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Both VISA and MC have corporate websites where you can calculate their foreign currency exchange rates for any given day, and they also include a feature that allows you to build in a bank foreign currency fee (x%) if the card you're using happens to have one.

 

 

I know. Why are you telling me? I didn’t ask.