Atm Withdraw Limit

[Pakaty]

Today I went to Bangkok Bank at the Jungceylon mall in Patong. I tried to get 25000 Baht from my overseas account as I have done for several years and I could not. On my second attempt I paid more attention to the screen and it said the max withdraw amount was 12500 Baht. Not wanting a fat wallet of Bt500 notes I opted for withdrawing Bt12000 expecting to get 12 Bt1000 notes. I still got Bt500 notes. I like to take out the max amount of Baht out per transaction to save on ATM fees. I use Bankok Bank ATMs because they let me take out Bt25000 where as other banks seem to limit me to Bt20000 (though I haven't used other banks in a long time).

Is this policy new for this branch, this bank or Thai banks in general?

Has anyone had a similar experience?

I wanted to ask someone there and then, however there were many customers and I do not have an account. I will try to call the bank tomorrow.

(Not related) I have browsed this forum for years and have have found much useful information, thanks. So it's about time I started participating. This is my first post.

[RAZZELL]

Sometimes I've had 25,000, sometimes 15,000, sometimes 10,000 available to withdraw (using foreign cards)

Someone once told me that Thai ATM machines "limit" the amount of money given out to an individual customer when they are "running low"...It wouldn't surprise me as there seems to be no logic whatsoever behind these amounts.

Enjoy your spending

RAZZ

[onethailand]

Today I went to Bangkok Bank at the Jungceylon mall in Patong. I tried to get 25000 Baht from my overseas account as I have done for several years and I could not. On my second attempt I paid more attention to the screen and it said the max withdraw amount was 12500 Baht. Not wanting a fat wallet of Bt500 notes I opted for withdrawing Bt12000 expecting to get 12 Bt1000 notes. I still got Bt500 notes. I like to take out the max amount of Baht out per transaction to save on ATM fees. I use Bankok Bank ATMs because they let me take out Bt25000 where as other banks seem to limit me to Bt20000 (though I haven't used other banks in a long time).

The reason is because that particular ATM only had 500 baht notes. You can only withdraw 25 banknotes at a time. If the machine had 1000 baht notes in, you could have gotten the full 25,000.

Since you were at Jungceylon, you could have tried another machine - there is one at the Bangkok Bank, and at least one more nearby.

All other banks in Thailand have a limit of 20,000 if I recall correctly, though at one time Bank of Asia allowed 30,000.

[farangene]

Today I went to Bangkok Bank at the Jungceylon mall in Patong. I tried to get 25000 Baht from my overseas account as I .... I like to take out the max amount of Baht out per transaction to save on ATM fees.

Go into the bank itself and ask for as much as your home bank withdrawal allows. This will save fees.

[johnnyk]

I'm allowed 50K a day from K-Bank.

But the way their machines are loaded I have to w/d 2X20K and 1X10K.

No pompem as its rare that I need 50K at one time.

[lopburi3]

As onethailand said - when you get the max 12,500 screen it is an indication only 500 baht and below bills are available. When you get the max 2,500 only 100 baht bills are available.

[britmaveric]

Depends on limit of your overseas account. Mine has limit of 150quid per day.

[Digitalbanana]

Has anyone had a similar experience?

As mentioned before you can usually only withdraw 25 notes at a time be they 100, 500 or 1000 baht notes. So if you need more and YOUR ATM card allows it withdraw multiple times. The amount of withdrawal is limited by your own bank and card not the ATM in use, provided the ATM has enough cash inside it. If you are worried about accumulating ATM fees, try changing your own bank to that which charges differently. eg, my bank charges 1% fee so the amount of withdrawals doesn't matter.

Edited November 2, 2007 by Digitalbanana

[lopburi3]

The 12,500 and 2,500 limits that you see on Bangkok Bank ATMs have nothing to do with your home bank limits - they are the local limits of the ATM machine at the time you are using it and everyone will get that screen if they attempt to withdraw more than the indicated amounts.

[onethailand]

A bank may have a higher daily withdrawal limit than 25,000 baht - but that is the maximum a Bangkok Bank ATM will spit out at one time.

Your daily limit in Thailand is usually set by the bank at between 100-150K (for Thai banks). Don't know why this is but Thai banks don't seem to be overly concerned about ATM usage, unlike US and UK banks which are ostensibly trying to limit your possible loss in case of theft or loss of ATM card. My limit is actually set (by interactive phone) at 500K.

Edited November 2, 2007 by onethailand

[Pakaty]

Thanks for the input folks. The ATM having only Bt500 notes sounds likely. It is the first time in 3 years that has happened to me.

[Pakaty]

Go into the bank itself and ask for as much as your home bank withdrawal allows. This will save fees.

I did not realise they would do this. I pay about $15 per ATM transaction. Do you know what a Thai bank would charge for this service? It might be a good option as long as it is not too much of a hassle.

[croftrobin]

Today I went to Bangkok Bank at the Jungceylon mall in Patong. I tried to get 25000 Baht from my overseas account as I have done for several years and I could not. On my second attempt I paid more attention to the screen and it said the max withdraw amount was 12500 Baht.

If you actually read the screen it would inform you that only 500 baht and 100 baht notes were available

All the Thai banks ATMS do this.

I remember 4 years ago trying to withdraw 20K from a Kasikorn ATM at Songkran time and I had to make 10 withdrawals of 2k baht - 20 x100 baht. The machine had no 500 & 1000s left! Fortunatly it was from a Kasikorn account and not one of my UK accounts so no ATM charge!

My wallet could not cope and I had 100 baht notes stuffed in all available pockets!

[farangene]

Go into the bank itself and ask for as much as your home bank withdrawal allows. This will save fees.

I did not realise they would do this. I pay about $15 per ATM transaction. Do you know what a Thai bank would charge for this service? It might be a good option as long as it is not too much of a hassle.

I have taken out as much as $10,000 via a bank clerk at Bangkok Bank. You need to get pre-approval from your bank before doing this for large sums.

However, when an ATM machine isn't working, I have got 10,000 or 20,000 B from inside the bank. I have never been charged a fee by Bkk Bank or my US bank. Probably takes 10 minutes if no problems.

[pnustedt]

Don't depend on getting cash out of Thai ATMs on the last day of the month! This is when many monthly paid Thais' salaries are paid into their accounts - and they rush to the ATMs. By Wed. pm every ATM in Sisaket was empty.

[Pakaty]

Go into the bank itself and ask for as much as your home bank withdrawal allows. This will save fees.

I did not realise they would do this. I pay about $15 per ATM transaction. Do you know what a Thai bank would charge for this service? It might be a good option as long as it is not too much of a hassle.

I have taken out as much as $10,000 via a bank clerk at Bangkok Bank. You need to get pre-approval from your bank before doing this for large sums.

However, when an ATM machine isn't working, I have got 10,000 or 20,000 B from inside the bank. I have never been charged a fee by Bkk Bank or my US bank. Probably takes 10 minutes if no problems.

That is good info! Thanks.

[Digitalbanana]

pay about $15 per ATM transaction.

That is ludicrous. Consider banking with someone else. My foreign ATM charges a fraction of that.

[torrenova]

My limits via ATM are around Bt200,000 to Bt500,000 per day from each account with various banks. I can transfer Bt1,000,000 via the internet or pay someone else Bt500,000 via the internet each day. With Siam Bank, you can change the limit at the machine (up to 200k I think) using your passport number.

I've taken out over 100k before at one time but the bank's limit per transaction is 20 or 25 notes and thus, 20k or 25k max.

[Rinrada]

pay about $15 per ATM transaction.

That is ludicrous. Consider banking with someone else. My foreign ATM charges a fraction of that.

I had a chat with the laddie at Nationwide and they recon that they changed the rules a bit and (money laundering-fraud etc) they Now limit each withdrawel to a Max of £300 or the nearest round figure so I find with the rate at @ Bt 70 to the £ I get my 20K...whenever it drops back under 66.66 then we just gotta see wot happens.

All transactions are of course still FREE with no loadings,inter B rates or "Considerations" like wot the others rip you off with to pay for the shareholders "bubbly.........glug..glug....."

[jfchandler]

I recently opened new savings accounts with both Siam Commercial Bank and Bangkok Bank, and obtained ATM/Debit cards for each using my American passport and business visa (no work permit yet).

As to the limits on daily ATM withdrawals, the standard setting on my Bangkok Bank account when established (which I found by checking the settings in online banking) was a whopping 500,000 baht per day and the same for debit card purchases. (And no, I didn't put a ton of money into the account). I had the bank pull that limit way down to a more reasonable amount. I could choose any daily amount under that limit (of course, subject to the amount of available funds in my account).

At Siam Commercial Bank, the original daily ATM withdrawal limit setting was 50,000 baht per day, but they said they were willing to increase that up to 200,000 baht per day upon request.

I believe what others have said is correct in that, regardless of those limits, Thai ATM machines will only dispense 25 notes per transaction. So if the machine has 1,000 baht notes, and your limit and account balance allows it, you can pull 25,000 baht in one transaction. If you need more than that and your daily acccount limit permits it, it's just a matter of starting again with another (2nd transaction).

BBK Bank has a 500 baht minimum savings account balance, whereas SCB says their minimum is 2000 baht. But in talking with an agent there, they said that only becomes a problem if your account remains below that amount for a very extended period of time.

Both banks have free (no surcharge) ATM withdrawals in the BKK area from their own ATMs, and both give several free withdrawals per month from other Thai banks' ATMs in the BKK area, before they start adding small surcharges for additional non-home ATM use per month. However, SCB also has free SCB ATM use everywhere in Thailand (including areas outside of BKK), while BKK has more transaction surcharges when you're outside BKK and starting using either BKK Bank ATMs or those of other Thai banks.

Interestingly, I've never yet had a Thai bank charge a direct transaction charge when I'm using my American ATM cards to pull money here. That's in contrast to some of the major U.S. banks, which on their end are charging anywhere from 1 to 3 percent foreign currency transaction fees on ATM use abroad, plus a couple bucks per transaction fee. (Bank of America is particularly bad about this).

By avoiding those and using non-VISA system bank ATMs, I've been getting a net exchange from ATMS here of about 33.7 lately (though dropping with the dollar). There are a range of smaller U.S. banks that have free ATM use linked to their accounts and no foreign currency transaction fees, thus they are great to use here in LOS.

John, formerly from Los Angeles

[mortenaa]

I never managed to get more than 20,000 from an ATM with either Thai of foreign cards.

What I usually do now, is to use the VISA terminal inside the bank. They can withdraw 150,000 daily at any Krungsri Audthaya Bank. Do it on a day when u see the currency rate is good. My bank doesn't charge anything for this transaction, since its not an ATM withdrawal. I feel much more comfortable have the cash in an accountant here, and can withdraw smaller amounts when needed, and not have to carry around 20,000 in my pocket.