Thai Banks To Start Charging For Atm Withdrawals ...

[jfchandler]

That seems to be the situation, regarding MasterCard logo cards, at present in Thailand.

GSB definitely doesn't accept MCs in their ATMs, neither does UOB ... And Ayudhya definitely is doing Dynamic Currency Conversion (meaning a bad exchange rate) on MC cards denominated in U.S. $ or Euros.

I had been using a U.S.checking account with a MC logo debit card for most of my finances here. But now, even though that account is a very good one in terms of service and features, I'm having to set it aside in favor of a Visa logo card/account.

But it's also hard to know what the future will be with GSB and Ayudhya.... Other posters here reported being told by Ayudhya bank staff that they also will begin charging the 150 baht fee soon... So who knows...

The main feature I'm looking for in new Visa based accounts is that they reimburse ATM fees worldwide...hoping that that will cover me even if the 150 baht fee comes to Ayudhya and GSB at some point....

[Mali1964]

What about going inside the bank with your Mastercard & doing the transaction over the counter.

[donx]

What about going inside the bank with your Mastercard & doing the transaction over the counter.

This won't work for me. The name on the card is my wife's name. My brother-in-law is using it thus the withdrawal needs to be done from an ATM. My wife and I are in the US and he is in Thailand.

[SurfRider]

"My wife and I are in the US and he is in Thailand."

Since you're in the US, if you have access to a US address, phone, and drivers license, my suggestion would be to open an E-Trade checking account and request their VISA Debit Card.

Depending on your financial situation, you may or may not be able to eliminate a monthly fee to maintain the account, but all transfer charges and fees on both the US and Thai end of an ATM transaction will disappear.

You should be able to have it in your hands in less than a week.

https://us.etrade.com/e/t/banking

[jfchandler]

SurfTrader, since I now qualify for a fee waiver with ETrade thru other accounts I have with them, I also applied for their Visa card and Max Rate checking account today...

However, it's not clear to me, and I don't recall hearing here, whether anyone has tested whether E*Trade will actually reimburse the 150 baht ATM fees here in LOS if incurred while using their debit card???

[Mali1964]

Looks like some good news for you yanks wish our government had the balls to do the same.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8058574.stm

[thaimythai]

drew 10000 from ayudhaya today 20th no charge.

[SurfRider]

"E*Trade will actually reimburse the 150 baht ATM fees here in LOS if incurred while using their debit card???"

A friend queried E-Trade on that subject when the 150 Baht fee became an issue -- ET said they specifically *WOULD NOT* cover the new fee.

In fact, if you read their WWW carefully, you'll see that they only guarantee to reimburse US "Nationwide" ATM fees and never have claimed that they would reimburse fees from foreign ATMs.

However, I've been using my card for almost 5 years and have never paid a fee, even when SCB started charging a 20 Baht fee -- It's not clear if ET swallowed it anyway, or if SCB simply never got paid, but I know that I was never charged for it.

It will be less convenient to remain completely fee-free, with the new 150 Baht ATM usury fee, but I plan to use GSB exclusively for ATM withdrawals unless they jump on the greedy fee bandwagon also.

I'll probably also set up a Bangkok Bank / New York account link as a back-up channel. It appears that Bangkok Bank's ACH rate ( best of the three possible exchange rates ) might even do better than negate the new fee by giving a better exchange rate than you can get at any ATM.

[barhopper]

Bump...The thread to.......

Anyone know if their is a GSB ATM at Suvarnabhumi airport(arrivals)???

[jgm005]

GSB ATM at Udon Thani Airport. 20/May at 10:14

NO FEE

Capital One Visa ATM and exchange rate of 34.42

[andyc2006]

In U.S. banking terms, Internet-based electronic funds transfers go by the name "ACH", which I believe stands for Automated Clearing House... Those are often free or small charge per transfer, depending on your bank. But, they require the receiving party/bank to have an ABA (American Bankers Assn.) routing number, usually 9 digits.

Since (with one exception being Bangkok Bank's New York branch) foreign banks (including other Thai banks) don't generally have ABA numbers, U.S. residents usually cannot directly ACH their funds from U.S. banks to foreign banks, to the best of my knowledge.

BKK Bank out of NY has ABA routing #026008691

Kasikorn out of LA has ABA routing #122037676

Krung Thai out of LA has ABA routing #122042124

Disclaimer: I've only tried to use the 1st 2 (from above), and only linking through my Fidelity account. Results:

1) BKK Bank refused to allow Fidelity to deposit money via an ACH txn into my BKK Bank account

2) Fidelity wouldn't allow me to setup the link to Kasikorn

Would be curious to hear if others have had success with any of the ABA #s above, and if so, which from US institution your funds were transferred.

[PawyiLee]

I mentioned in a prior post having done an ATM withdrawal from Government Savings Bank....

I declined a Yasothon Kasikorn ATM's offer to charge me ฿150 and went to the GSB next to the post office, instead. It was off line. So many TV farangs are hitting on GSB ATMs, we may have melted down their system. ): I didn't try the local Ayudhaya as it started to rain.

[Mali1964]

I mentioned in a prior post having done an ATM withdrawal from Government Savings Bank....

I declined a Yasothon Kasikorn ATM's offer to charge me ฿150 and went to the GSB next to the post office, instead. It was off line. So many TV farangs are hitting on GSB ATMs, we may have melted down their system. ): I didn't try the local Ayudhaya as it started to rain.

If your card is a Visa you can use BAAC bank i'm not sure where in Yasothon their branch is but they will have one as its mainly an Issarn bank for farmers they are not part of the cartel.

I have one down the road from you in Kaset Wisei-Roi Et but it doesn't take Mastercard the same as GSB, ask a friend where this bank is all farmers will know.

A link to see their logo.

http://www.baac.or.th/baac_en/index.php

[andyc2006]

Just to mention..it may be possible to transfer funds via paypal. Im trying it out now, but will take 7 days or more to see if it works. Maybe someone has already done it? Anyway..will post my findings later.

Yes, it's possible. And no, I'll never use Paypal internationally again.

I have a "business" Paypal account in the States.

I setup a "personal" Paypal account in Thailand, and linked that account to my Thai bank accounts at Kasikorn and BKK Bank.

I transferred money from my US Paypal account to my Thai Paypal account (free), then deposited the money into my Thai bank accounts -- there's a small flat fee for that (which for large txns would be reasonable), but the exchange rate was about 3% worse than the normal rate for that day... eke.

I did that with $10 (to each account), and forgot about it, and went on using my US Paypal account in the States. 3 weeks later, the 2 international transactions were flagged as potentially fraudulent, and EVERY transaction for BOTH Paypal accounts in the 3 weeks after the international transactions were REVERSED, and my Paypal funds were FROZEN.

It took them a full month to investigate and clear my accounts, all while my Paypal funds were frozen. And of course, the reversed transactions caused some issues in the States...

There are probably some profanity rules in this forum, so I don't want to say phuk Paypal, but... PHUK Paypal!

A year ago, there was a nice little mural where I live on Soi Langsuan that said it for me:

http://picasaweb.google.com/acassidy/20080...903771393794386

It's been replaced with a 7-11 (of course), but I now feel kinship with the artist.

[jfchandler]

Based on my experience today, I think folks can add UOB to their fee-free list, at least for the time being.... And they take both Visa and MC...at a decent exchange rate.

See the post of my experience today with a UOB ATM.

Any additional info, please chime in....

[SurfRider]

"Based on my experience today, I think folks can add UOB to their fee-free list, at least for the time being"

No doubt fee-free, but I suspect that UOB gave you the DCC rate, which is generally the worst of the three possible rates - that is also what has been reported with UOB in the past.

Based on a recent report of a UOB ATM transaction -- a 20,000 Baht withdrawal would be hit with a "hidden fee" of 180 Baht, due to the unfavorable exchange rate that UOB uses.

Since there is only one UOB example so far to indicate that, it would be interesting to compare the UOB test with a GSB or Ayudyha test-- both GSB and Ayudyha appear to be verified for giving the T/T, or 2nd best rate of the three possible rates --

Here are the rates as of 10:45pm, May 20

http://www.bloomberg.com/invest/calculators/currency.html -- ( International Standard )

1.00 US DOLLAR (USD) = 34.57 THAI BAHT (THB)

-------------

http://baht.thaivisa.com/ 34.5101

-------------

For some strange reason, X-Rates hasn't posted for May 20 yet

http://www.x-rates.com/d/THB/USD/data120.html

[SurfRider]

"Would be curious to hear if others have had success with any of the ABA #s above, and if so, which from US institution your funds were transferred"

It would be interesting if you could post info on the specific linking problem with Fidelity. ( or error message )

I have a friend who set up a link from ING to BKK Bank/NYC without problems and is currently setting up another link from E-Trade to BKK Bank/NYC --

There can be a minor glitch in the linked account verification process, where two amounts of a few US cents each are deposited to the linked account and you must verify the actual amounts and the deposit date with the sending bank.

Since the verification deposits arrive two days later in your local Thai BKK Bank account, already exchanged into Baht, it is impossible to guess what the original US$ amount was and what date it hit the NYC account.

One way around this problem appears to be setting up an option that BKK Bank offers to send an SMS message to your mobile phone whenever a transaction hits your account.

It's a free service and will give you the amount in US$, the exchange rate, and the amount of Baht that ended up in your Thai account.

You first need to set up their Bualang Banking ( Internet banking - no charge, but you have to fill out paperwork at the Bank Branch - they send to Bangkok, and you get your log-on password info by mail).

TiT

[citizen33]

[

If your card is a Visa you can use BAAC bank i'm not sure where in Yasothon their branch is but they will have one as its mainly an Issarn bank for farmers they are not part of the cartel.

I have one down the road from you in Kaset Wisei-Roi Et but it doesn't take Mastercard the same as GSB, ask a friend where this bank is all farmers will know.

A link to see their logo.

http://www.baac.or.th/baac_en/index.php

I got a relative to go to BAAC in Yang Talat with a NW Visa card. As I reported on one of the threads about a week ago he says they charge and that he verified this by asking a clerk inside. I don't know whether to believe him, because I thought aspects of his story were rather garbled, but he also said that Kasikorn had started charging, which turned out to be true. I would be very interested in reports from anybody who has used a Visa in BAAC

[donx]

"My wife and I are in the US and he is in Thailand."

Since you're in the US, if you have access to a US address, phone, and drivers license, my suggestion would be to open an E-Trade checking account and request their VISA Debit Card.

Depending on your financial situation, you may or may not be able to eliminate a monthly fee to maintain the account, but all transfer charges and fees on both the US and Thai end of an ATM transaction will disappear.

You should be able to have it in your hands in less than a week.

https://us.etrade.com/e/t/banking

The monthly fee prevents me from using E-Trade. I need an account that doesn't require a minimum balance. The account my brother-in-law uses has an average daily balance of less than $10. At the beginning of each month, I transfer only as much as my wife and I determine her family needs for the month. Therefore, I don't want them to have access to too much money. From time to time, I still find them withdrawing 500 or 1000 baht if they think there is that much available. Afterward, they always claim some sort of b.s. emergency need.

[alphason]

Anyone done an over the counter withdraw from Kasikorn using Nationwide Visa Debit?

Searched but can't see the answer, are there any K bank charges, is the exchange rate favourable/same as ATM?

Thanks, save me looking for a fee free Ayudhya / GSB. GBP is up over 54 today so good to get in before Nationwides 1% kicks in maybe.

[jfchandler]

Dealing with verifying U.S. trial deposits amount put into a BKK Bank account is easy.

Use your access to BKK Banks Internet banking to look into your BKK Bank account and see when the trial deposits (which will be listed online in Thai baht) have arrived. Then just call their main customer service number, go for the English language option, give them your account information and verify your ID, then they will look into your BKKB account history and tell you the U.S. $ amounts that were transferred into your Thai account for those two small baht deposits. I've done it numerous times, and never had any problem getting the correct information from them via telephone.

"Would be curious to hear if others have had success with any of the ABA #s above, and if so, which from US institution your funds were transferred"

It would be interesting if you could post info on the specific linking problem with Fidelity. ( or error message )

I have a friend who set up a link from ING to BKK Bank/NYC without problems and is currently setting up another link from E-Trade to BKK Bank/NYC --

There can be a minor glitch in the linked account verification process, where two amounts of a few US cents each are deposited to the linked account and you must verify the actual amounts and the deposit date with the sending bank.

Since the verification deposits arrive two days later in your local Thai BKK Bank account, already exchanged into Baht, it is impossible to guess what the original US$ amount was and what date it hit the NYC account.

One way around this problem appears to be setting up an option that BKK Bank offers to send an SMS message to your mobile phone whenever a transaction hits your account.

It's a free service and will give you the amount in US$, the exchange rate, and the amount of Baht that ended up in your Thai account.

You first need to set up their Bualang Banking ( Internet banking - no charge, but you have to fill out paperwork at the Bank Branch - they send to Bangkok, and you get your log-on password info by mail).

TiT

[kennkate]

drew 10000 from ayudhaya today 20th no charge.

Same here on 19th Ayudhaya Fee Free

Thought it may have been hidden in a poor Exchage rate But No 52.63 UK pound

Also on the 18th at OUB Or whatever it is No Fee 52.41 Uk Pound

[jgm005]

UOB ATM Pattaya > The Avenues > 21/May at 13:10. Using Capital One M/M Visa ATM

NO FEE

Exchange rate of 34.35084

[alphason]

Ayudhya Bank - Chaofa Road, Phuket, ATM withdrawl with Nationwide Visa Debit

NO FEE , Rate 53.530 14.45 21/05.

---

Kasikorn Bank - Chaofa Road, Tesco Lotus , Phuket (Where I hold a savings account)

Q -"Can I transfer from this *show my Nationwide Visa card* into my K account with no fee?"

A- " Sorry don't have machine - go to SCB Bank"

[cmjantje]

Aeon bank ATM... No fee!

[wimpy]

Aeon bank ATM... No fee!

Exchange rate? Visa or Mastercard?

[scotsman]

No Fee at Government savings bank today.

regards

scotsman

[Briggsy]

Excellent reports coming in of REAL experiences. Keep it up.

[Chaimai]

Anyone done an over the counter withdraw from Kasikorn using Nationwide Visa Debit?

Yep, I did a 20,000 over the counter withdrawal at K Bank, Prakhon Chai. No Charge and a decent rate.

[barhopper]

Anyone done an over the counter withdraw from Kasikorn using Nationwide Visa Debit?

Yep, I did a 20,000 over the counter withdrawal at K Bank, Prakhon Chai. No Charge and a decent rate.

I was of the understanding that The Nationwide Visa/Debit Card had a £300 Daily limit on withdrawals!!Has this changed now?Being as you drew out 20,000 Baht then i guess you have a higher limit!