Do Thai Banks Not Want Our Business?

[NancyL]

We found the easiest and cheapest way to get money into Thailand is to have the monthly check from our U.S. corporate pension directly deposited into the New York branch of Bangkok Bank. BKK bank credits it to our BKK savings account immediately, in Thai baht at a great exchange rate with no additional fees.

We have wire transferred money in from our U.S. credit union, but the credit union charges $25 per transaction. However, BKK doesn't charge a fee for an incoming wire transfer and they make the funds available within 12 hours of us calling our U.S. credit union.

We use our U.S. Visa card for major purchases in situations we think are secure. Obviously, you don't want to give up your Visa card to a waiter in a restaurant, but we think it's safe to use at Central/Robinson's Dept store, Tops and Rimping. (Places where you can keep an eye on it and watch if anyone is using a cell phone to photograph it.) We get the best exchange rate with the Visa card.

We've never had any charges or problems in getting up to 10,000 baht per transaction from our BKK ATM. Admittedly, we're using the one right in our branch bank, but one reason we chose the branch is because it's so convenient. BKK at KSK seems very interested in serving the needs of expats living in Chiang Mai. I always feel welcomed there.

To answer the OP's question "Yes, I feel like my Thai bank wants my business."

Edited March 5, 2009 by NancyL

[el jefe]

I usually use my US-based ATM card at Bangkok Bank, because SCB charges me 20 baht per transaction. But the other day I tried and got the same problem as the OP--a limit of 2500 baht. So swallowed my pride and went to the SCB machine right next to it and withdrew 20,000 baht. I was also confused as to the change, as it never happened before.

As for banks that don't charge an ATM fee: USAA (though you have to be military or retired military) doesn't charge; and my HSBC, internet-only savings account as well. Both these banks also refund the charges levied by the other bank's ATM, though HSBC recently told me it would not refund a charge from a bank in Kuwait because it is overseas.

Charles Schwab does not charge a fee and rebates all fees for using any ATM.

TD Bank (formerly Commerce Bank) does not charge any fees for using an ATM card anywhere in the world. They will also rebate all fees, just like Schwab, if you keep a minimum balance of $1,000.

Bangkok Bank charges a 200 baht per year fee for having an ATM card whether you use it or not. There are no other fees for w/d's at any Bangkok Bank branch.

I have a US$500 per day w/d limit (currently 18,000baht) on my cards, but I've never had a problem withdrawing the full amount up to the limit. Same with Bangkok Bank.

That's enough banks for me.

Edited March 5, 2009 by el jefe

[JuniorExPat]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll take your advice and hope for the best.

Maybe it was just a one day thing; I hope so. But, the bank WAS open at the time and there SHOULD have been enough 1000 baht notes in the machine. The Thai banks don't like you withdrawing funds from the teller. They WANT you to use the ATM card... and the 20 baht fee.

I DO have an account at the Siam Commercial bank, but I only keep 30,000 baht in there for emergencies. I've heard a bunch of horror stories about Thai banks withdrawing your funds unauthorized and there's not much you can do about it. I don't mind the $5 fee by my Canadian bank on $360, but I don't want it charged on only $73.

And, we DO get ripped off by the Canadian banks for wire transfers. It costs $35 per transaction. I usually bring over about $3000 Canadian cash and stick most of it in my Siam Commercial bank. Then I use my ATM card to keep enough money for my weekly purposes. I don't withdraw funds through VISA. I only use my personal banks ATM card.

Ian,

I'd question the veracity of the stories you have been told about unauthorised withdrawals made by the banks from personal accounts. I have been using Kasikornbank for almost 10 years now so I must have had many millions of baht go through the account, I have never had an unauthorised withdrawal and I can't say that I have ever heard of one from anyone else at any other bank in Thailand. Yes this is Thailand but these are not exactly Wild West banks! Okay there has been the odd cock up but no more so (probably less in fact) than with banks in the West and getting a cock up fixed here is much less painful than being bounced around UK banks' call centres with employees who have no experience, no discretion and quite often no idea of customer service.

It looks like you are spending quite a bit of time here these days, it may be worth your while asking around a bit more so that you gain some confidence in the Thai banks, a single lump sum transfer may save you some hassle.

Also the Jobs, economy, banking, business, investment in Thailand forum on ThaiVisa has a lot of threads that may prove useful to you.

For what it's worth my experience with various ATM cards is that: a Kasikornbank ATM card in a Kasikornbank ATM can make a withdrawal of 20 notes per transaction and the number of transactions is limited by your daily withdrawal limit set by Kasikornbank (easily raised by making a phone call to the call centre); a UK Nationwide ATM card limits you to GBP300 equivalent per day with no withdrawal fees (this is set to change later this year); a Swiss PostFinance ATM card is limited only by the 20 note local ATM rule and charges CHF4.00 per transaction.

It certainly seems from your experience and from other posts that SCB may be one to avoid. I have had good experiences with Kasikornbank and with Bangkok Bank; the Bangkok Bank branch in KSK seems to be gearing up to be more foreigner friendly than most if that is of interest to you.

I guess my point is that the Thai banking system is, I believe, somewhat more trustworthy than you have been made to believe and shopping around back home combined with a little research here may save you some blood pressure issues when you next make a withdrawal!

Just adding my experiences to the pot as it looks like this may become a useful thread for others.

JxP

[IanForbes]

Today when I tried to take out 10,000 baht at the Siam Commercial bank, the ATM machine says it now has a limit of 2000 baht!!! What's up with that? I

ATM stands for "Automated Teller Machine". Therefore, saying "ATM machine" is redundant. bahaha.

Jeff

Manager, Department of Redundancy Department

True! I meant to say "outlet" instead of "machine". Glad to see the correctness gremlins still have something to do.

This thread DID bring up a variety of banking topics, though.

Today, I went to a different ATM "outlet" of a different bank and was able to withdraw the 10,000 baht I wanted. I also wanted to top up my Siam Commercial bank account, and I like to do that by withdrawing funds from my Canadian bank (via the ATM card) and deposit them in the Siam bank. I don't want to do that at 2000 baht a time. I have a small monthly pension and I like to take out what I need rather than taking a whole lot of cash with me at the start of my 5 month stay in Thailand.

[Sparkles]

It seems odd to me why you don't actually have an account here in Thailand. Imagine how much money you are wasting in fees by doing it 10,000 baht at a time. If you just transferred money every 3 or 6 months, then you could visit the atm with your local account as many times as you wanted without fees & you wouldnt have to risk walking around with a wallet full of baht for days at a time either.

Perhaps its a visa thing?

The reason a lot of people use their overeas bank is because the interest rate paid by Thai banks is a huge joke. My Building Society in Aus pays me 5.5%. My Thai bank account 1.75%. I am only charged A$5 for withdrawal ,20,000 baht each time,and the exchange rate is fair. This is a Seniors Pension account and there are no monthly fees. I dont have a Thai income.

Finally if the economic downturn gets worse I think there is a far greater chance of my Aus Bank still being there.

[thaimiller]

I thought it was ATM policy in Thailand that a maximum of 20 notes can be withdrawn per transaction, so if there's no 1000 or 500's in the machine then 2000 in 100's it is.

[sendbaht]

"Charles Schwab's bank (PNC Bank) does not charge a fee and refunds any fees charged by using a non-PNC bank."

Yep, CS always refunds any chargers. I also use Bank of California and have never been charged a fee.

[StevieH]

have nothing but good things to say about kasikorn bank here, they are great.

[think_too_mut]

Maybe it was just a one day thing; I hope so.

It was most likely not 1 day thing, it was between ATM replenishments thing.

But, the bank WAS open at the time and there SHOULD have been enough 1000 baht notes in the machine. The Thai banks don't like you withdrawing funds from the teller. They WANT you to use the ATM card... and the 20 baht fee.

Not true. The unit that replenishes the ATMs has nothing to do with the branch, open or closed. Often it is even an external security company, like Brambles, they report nothing to any branch nor even tell them their schedule. They monitor state of ATMs from their own offices.

I DO have an account at the Siam Commercial bank, but I only keep 30,000 baht in there for emergencies.

Let's use this to explain the title of this thread: Do Thai banks want our business...".

No, they don't.

Getting rid of people with 30K baht accounts is every bank's dream. They cause only hassles and main money is not made on account keeping. It's made on home loans and commercial loans.

Fees are there to make life as miserable as it can get and drive away as many account-only holders as possible. All banks, the world over.

(After public outcry in Australia 15 years ago about the fees, the banks were forced to wave the ATM fees if the account holder has a homeloan with them).

Another example, I was involved in technical side of Bank of Nova Scotia back in 1994. They closed as many branches as they deemed possible, replaced them with clusters of ATMs instead.

Pensioners, blue collar workers and migrants deserted the bank in droves, over 20% of customers lost. Did the bank get concerned? Of course not, they were dancing in the streets: the profitability went up 17%!.

Edited March 6, 2009 by think_too_mut

[samran]

I must live in a parallel universe to the OP....especially the bit about banks taking money unauthorised. Too much barstool chat on that particular point.

[Neeranam]

I just paid 2500 baht for a camera battery and memory stick.

I just paid 2900 baht for a new digital Kodak camera - 8 M pix with batteries and a GigB memory stick.

I don't know about Thai banks but I would certainly want your business.

[sabaijai]

Maybe it was just a one day thing; I hope so.

It was most likely not 1 day thing, it was between ATM replenishments thing.

But, the bank WAS open at the time and there SHOULD have been enough 1000 baht notes in the machine. The Thai banks don't like you withdrawing funds from the teller. They WANT you to use the ATM card... and the 20 baht fee.

Not true. The unit that replenishes the ATMs has nothing to do with the branch, open or closed. Often it is even an external security company, like Brambles, they report nothing to any branch nor even tell them their schedule. They monitor state of ATMs from their own offices.

I DO have an account at the Siam Commercial bank, but I only keep 30,000 baht in there for emergencies.

Let's use this to explain the title of this thread: Do Thai banks want our business...".

No, they don't.

Getting rid of people with 30K baht accounts is every bank's dream. They cause only hassles and main money is not made on account keeping. It's made on home loans and commercial loans.

Fees are there to make life as miserable as it can get and drive away as many account-only holders as possible. All banks, the world over.

(After public outcry in Australia 15 years ago about the fees, the banks were forced to wave the ATM fees if the account holder has a homeloan with them).

Another example, I was involved in technical side of Bank of Nova Scotia back in 1994. They closed as many branches as they deemed possible, replaced them with clusters of ATMs instead.

Pensioners, blue collar workers and migrants deserted the bank in droves, over 20% of customers lost. Did the bank get concerned? Of course not, they were dancing in the streets: the profitability went up 17%!.

Enlightening background, thanks.

[henryalleman]

Likewise, my bank in Europe does not charge anything to transfer any amount of the currency of my choice into my account in Thailand. USA banks way over-charge with their $40-50 USD fees for a wire transfer.

Kasikorn Bank does not charge a fee to use one of its own ATM's.

I'm interested in which bank you have an account in Europe, can you tell me.

[Yoyo777]

We use Siam Commercial Bank, too. So far never really had any problem with ATMs...

By the way, slightly off the topic (sorry), but I was surprised to hear that they don't offer any online banking. is it still an uncommon practice in Thailand? Would certainly fascilitate banking transactions...

[basjke]

Likewise, my bank in Europe does not charge anything to transfer any amount of the currency of my choice into my account in Thailand. USA banks way over-charge with their $40-50 USD fees for a wire transfer.

Kasikorn Bank does not charge a fee to use one of its own ATM's.

I'm interested in which bank you have an account in Europe, can you tell me.

I noticed you are from Belgium,same as me,try argenta bank.No costs on atm withdraws with visa card and a better exchange rate as any bank in thailand will give you for an electronic transfer.Also no transfer fee when you transfer money to an international account.

Edited March 6, 2009 by basjke

[basjke]

Let's use this to explain the title of this thread: Do Thai banks want our business...".

No, they don't.

Getting rid of people with 30K baht accounts is every bank's dream. They cause only hassles and main money is not made on account keeping. It's made on home loans and commercial loans.

Of course all those banks want us to put all our money in their accounts,on which they pay us close to 0% interest,so they can use it to borrow it to unsecured people at a very high interest.And if those loans fail they just tell us they are broke and we can get part of our hard earned money back from the government.

[PattayaParent]

[

Ian,

I'd question the veracity of the stories you have been told about unauthorised withdrawals made by the banks from personal accounts. I have been using Kasikornbank for almost 10 years now so I must have had many millions of baht go through the account, I have never had an unauthorised withdrawal and I can't say that I have ever heard of one from anyone else at any other bank in Thailand. Yes this is Thailand but these are not exactly Wild West banks! Okay there has been the odd cock up but no more so (probably less in fact) than with banks in the West and getting a cock up fixed here is much less painful than being bounced around UK banks' call centres with employees who have no experience, no discretion and quite often no idea of customer service.

I can vouch from personal experience to money going missing from MY account and have a friend who has also had the same personal experience in a differnt bank.

It does happen.

[Chaimai]

We use Siam Commercial Bank, too. So far never really had any problem with ATMs...

By the way, slightly off the topic (sorry), but I was surprised to hear that they don't offer any online banking. is it still an uncommon practice in Thailand? Would certainly fascilitate banking transactions...

They do.

It is OK for viewing the accounts and great for topping up your phone. Not so easy to create 3rd party beneficiaries if you want to pay a friend online.

[topdogdk]

I was quite happy with my Siam Commercial bank up until today. As a person who needs cash on a regular basis (most small Thai businessed don't deal in credit cards) I like to take out about 10,000 baht at a time. It saves on going to an ATM machine all the time and it saves on the charges. The more times you visit an ATM the more chance there is of running into the credit card crooks. I get charged $5 every time I use my Canadian ATM card... no matter how much I take out, so the fewer times I have to use it the better.

Today when I tried to take out 10,000 baht at the Siam Commercial bank, the ATM machine says it now has a limit of 2000 baht!!! What's up with that? I can spend 2000 baht in less than an hour if I shop for anything worthwhile. I just paid 2500 baht for a camera battery and memory stick.

I find it irritating that banks seem to set their own rules and you are stuck with their policy. Having a limit of more than 5000 baht was the one thing that kept me happy with Siam Commercial when compared to other banks. Now they are even lower!

Sorry for the vent, but I'm pizzed off!

Sometimes you get a small withdrawal limit, but it is usually because the machine is about to run out of money (has not been topped up).

Witk my SCB, I can normally get 20k a day.