Is using Wise better than using a no fee US debit card?

[zeekgarcia]

I see a lot of people saying they use wise and I am trying to see if it is better to use than using a visa or mastercard no fee US debit card that refunds atm fees, no over the counter withdraw fees etc?

 

Do you get better exchange rates than using a visa or mastercard no fee US debit card that refunds atm fees, no over the counter withdraw fees?

 

Thanks for any info you share

[CharlieKo]

I'm guessing the exchange rate from the Debit card will be worse than the rate from wise. You would need to know the rate the card will give to compare with wise's rate at time of exchange. Also depends on the amount you are exchanging.   

[scubascuba3]

You need to find out what exchange you get with a debit card and if commission charged, very unlikely to be better than Wise

[KhunLA]

That might change if you get taxed on you deposit come Jan 2024

[Chivas]

Out of interest I used my Wise Debit Card today for the first time in Pattaya.

Money was already sat in Baht within the account so cant really say what exchange rate was applied

 

I'd use Chase out of choice on purchases as its the flat Mastercard rate with no premium or loading but obviously never in an ATM machine with a 220 Baht charge

Edited November 8, 2023 by Chivas

[KannikaP]

6 minutes ago, Chivas said:

Out of interest I used my Wise Debit Card today for the first time in Pattaya.

Money was already sat in Baht within the account so cant really say what exchange rate was applied

 

I'd use Chase out of choice on purchases as its the flat Mastercard rate with no premium or loading but obviously never in an ATM machine with a 220 Baht charge

Same here. I keep a reasonable THB balance in my Wise account, converted obviously from my GBP balance. When the rate is up a bit, I convert, or an automatic conversion can be set up to take effect if the GBP/THB reaches a pre-determined level. And come the end of the month make sure there is sufficient THB to transfer for Mr IO.

The Wise card is very good, in that, if you do say a USD transaction and there is insufficient USD in your balance, they will automatically top up the USDs from your GBP account, at the current going rate, immediately, in order to fulfil the purchase. 

Cannot fault Wise at all.

[biervoormij]

I had an ATM eat my debt card this week. I was glad it was a Thai card and I could go down and get a replacement quickly.

 

I have a fee free US debt card but try not to use it often in Thailand. I have read on here in the past that someone had his US accounts closed because the bank said he as living in Thailand.

[Chivas]

8 hours ago, biervoormij said:

I had an ATM eat my debt card this week. I was glad it was a Thai card and I could go down and get a replacement quickly.

 

I have a fee free US debt card but try not to use it often in Thailand. I have read on here in the past that someone had his US accounts closed because the bank said he as living in Thailand.

 

Call me wise (no pun intended) but I would never use my Thai debit card from SCB in an ATM machine anywhere... Never !!

You get your account hacked card cloned whatever and find your account balance at zero one day then welcome to a world of issues about reinstatement

This aint the USA or UK

If I want 25.000 or whatever I'll walk to the branch and go inside (not practical for everyone I acknowledge)

[Chivas]

Whoever added the laughing Emoji kindly let all board members know how you get on should your thai account be hacked

 

My Halifax UK card was in the Kasikorn machine that was opposite Alcazar in 2015.....fortunately as I do with Chase all the main monies are in a side account and they were with the Halifax so the cloned card only ended up with £86 when it hit the account balance

 

I was literally on the way home at the time and it was no biggie and Halifax reinstated within 24 hours

 

Now imagine 250,000 Baht has just disappeared from your Thai account and think of whats coming thereafter as you walk into your branch to start the process

 

The questions will start and the opening one will be "who was staying with you" at which point you know nothing is being rectified

 

[biervoormij]

2 hours ago, Chivas said:

 

Call me wise (no pun intended) but I would never use my Thai debit card from SCB in an ATM machine anywhere... Never !!

You get your account hacked card cloned whatever and find your account balance at zero one day then welcome to a world of issues about reinstatement

This aint the USA or UK

If I want 25.000 or whatever I'll walk to the branch and go inside (not practical for everyone I acknowledge)

I think this is a valid point. I personally fear my US account being hacked or closed more than my Thai account but I should reduce my balance in my daily used Thai account so if I do get hacked I will lose less.

 

Do you think the ATM withdraws without using a card that Thai banks offer is safer? I have not used this but may start after losing my card this week.

[Digitalbanana]

2 hours ago, Chivas said:

but I would never use my Thai debit card from SCB in an ATM machine anywhere... Never !!

Most of us use QR card-less withdrawals these days at ATM machines.

[gargamon]

16 hours ago, zeekgarcia said:

 

Do you get better exchange rates than using a visa or mastercard no fee US debit card that refunds atm fees, no over the counter withdraw fees?

I used to use my Capital One atm card all the time for OTC withdrawals. It was difficult to find a bank that would do it, and the BKK bank I was using stopped doing it. I now use wise, and the cost difference between the two methods is negligible, at least up to a couple of thousand dollars.

 

Go with wise, much easier than going into some bank and queuing up. 

[Ben Zioner]

2 hours ago, Chivas said:

Whoever added the laughing Emoji kindly let all board members know how you get on should your thai account be hacked

 

My Halifax UK card was in the Kasikorn machine that was opposite Alcazar in 2015.....fortunately as I do with Chase all the main monies are in a side account and they were with the Halifax so the cloned card only ended up with £86 when it hit the account balance

 

I was literally on the way home at the time and it was no biggie and Halifax reinstated within 24 hours

 

Now imagine 250,000 Baht has just disappeared from your Thai account and think of whats coming thereafter as you walk into your branch to start the process

 

The questions will start and the opening one will be "who was staying with you" at which point you know nothing is being rectified

 

I see, I see...

[JimGant]

16 hours ago, zeekgarcia said:

I see a lot of people saying they use wise and I am trying to see if it is better to use than using a visa or mastercard no fee US debit card that refunds atm fees, no over the counter withdraw fees etc?

 

Right now the Visa rate and Wise rates for dollar to baht exchange are the same: 35.45 (MC is probably about the same, as it usually is). This has always been an attractive feature of using my fee free US credit card -- the Visa Fx rate approximates the interbank exchange rate, similar to Wise. So, I can enjoy the full exchange rate, like 35.45 -- and get a 2% cash reward in addition. And, if I used my fee free Schwab debit/ATM card in a Thai ATM, I'd also realize the 35.45 rate.

 

If I sent $1000 via Wise, after their fees, I'd get an effective exchange rate of 35.14 (slightly better for $10000, at 35.18).

 

Don't know what the over the counter fees are today, if any. Obviously, if no fees, this would beat Wise for getting cash into your hand.

[Chivas]

1 hour ago, Digitalbanana said:

Most of us use QR card-less withdrawals these days at ATM machines.

 

I am getting old lol

I have not a clue what you're talking about....(I will google)

[treetops]

2 hours ago, Digitalbanana said:

Most of us use QR card-less withdrawals these days at ATM machines.

And have the option to disable the card in the app should we fear cloning or other fraud might be attempted.

[bamnutsak]

Fairly easy to compare...

 

Get a quote from WISE  https://wise.com/us/send-money/send-money-to-thailand

 

500 USD = 17,573.20

 

 

 

Compare it to the Visa rate (I assume you are using a Visa debit card, if not compare to MC)  https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html

 

17573.20 THB = 496.137279 USD

 

 

 

you can add in the local fee of 150 ~ 220 THB, and then rebate it.

 

 

WISE allows for larger transfers, your card may have a transaction or daily limit.

 

WISE can be used to ret ext/inc; ATM withdrawals cannot.

 

Edited November 9, 2023 by bamnutsak

[zeekgarcia]

On 11/9/2023 at 1:35 PM, bamnutsak said:

Fairly easy to compare...

 

Get a quote from WISE  https://wise.com/us/send-money/send-money-to-thailand

 

500 USD = 17,573.20

 

 

 

Compare it to the Visa rate (I assume you are using a Visa debit card, if not compare to MC)  https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html

 

17573.20 THB = 496.137279 USD

 

 

 

you can add in the local fee of 150 ~ 220 THB, and then rebate it.

 

 

WISE allows for larger transfers, your card may have a transaction or daily limit.

 

WISE can be used to ret ext/inc; ATM withdrawals cannot.

 

 

Thanks so much for this, it confirms that I compared it correctly which shows wise is more expensive if you have a fee free debit card that rebates all atm fees.

[Chivas]

Heads up as its the first time I've seen it

Was checking live rate and noticed much bigger spread between Interbank and net landing rate in your Thai account

 

I was on laptop as always and the method of sending had defaulted to a higher fee as regards how Wise get your monies in the first place

 

It was showing £10 something rather than the normal £6 something for £1000

 

Easy to overlook that. Sneaky indeed