Thai Banks Asked To Cut Foreigners Atm Transaction Fees

[Oberkommando]

Here's Ayudhya's exchange rates chart as of 9:45 am Friday morning....

Interesting, it doesn't appear to show any reference to DCC rates....

Those are Thursday's rates. Banks closed on Friday.

[BODYholic]

There is one issue with Krungsri also known as Ayudhya (yellow) there's a thread running regard Dynamic Currency Conversion yes what's that i hear you say if there's not enough problems with getting at our own money.

Well i think it best you read the thread yourselves as it doesn't seem to involve my little pound at the moment its the Dollar & Euro thing via Mastercard only that its affecting.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Bank-Ayudhya...en-t262839.html

I am trying to get the perspective right. Does the 150B fees apply to only foreign Debit/Credit Cards?

The announcement made by Thanachart seems to suggest that overseas ATM cards are not affected. Anyone has first hand info on this?

Edited May 8, 2009 by BODYholic

[Chaimai]

I am trying to get the perspective right. Does the 150B fees apply to only foreign Debit/Credit Cards?

The announcement made by Thanachart seems to suggest that overseas ATM cards are not affected. Anyone has first hand info on this?

We are talking semantics or phraseology - ALL non-Thai ATM cards i.e. debit cards and credit are affected by this ruling. You take money out at the ATM on a 'foreign' card you are charged 150 baht (with a couple of notable exceptions).

[BODYholic]

ALL non-Thai ATM cards i.e. debit cards and credit are affected by this ruling.

I have a Bank card issued by a bank in my country. This is *not* a debit nor credit card. It is just an ATM card links to my bank's saving account.

So this is an non-Thai ATM card but it is also not a debit/credit card. Am I affected?

PS:

In Singapore,

Credit Card - Card with credit limit. Allow cash advance and purchases on credit whether local or overseas.

Debit Card - Same set of functions as CC but has no credit. How much one can spend depends on how much money one put in. It can be used to make purchases or withdraw money local and overseas.

ATM Cards - These are bank cards usually link to individual saving or current account. Although one can use this to withdraw cash local or overseas, these cards can't be used to make payment over the counter on a foreign land.

Edited May 9, 2009 by BODYholic

[Chaimai]

ALL non-Thai ATM cards i.e. debit cards and credit are affected by this ruling.

I have a Bank card issued by a bank in my country. This is *not* a debit nor credit card. It is just an ATM card links to my bank's saving account.

So this is an non-Thai ATM card but it is also not a debit/credit card. Am I affected?

You have a DEBIT card, Sir. The activity is limited to just ATM useage by your card provider, BUT, it is a debit card and, as a foreign card, will attract the 150 Baht charge by those Thai banks who choose to levy such charge.

See Wikipedia:-

A debit card (also known as a bank card or check card) is a plastic card which provides an alternative payment method to cash when making purchases. Functionally, it can be called an electronic check, as the funds are withdrawn directly from either the bank account (often referred to as a check card), or from the remaining balance on the card. In some cases, the cards are designed exclusively for use on the Internet, and so there is no physical card.^[1][2]

The use of debit cards has become widespread in many countries and has overtaken the cheque, and in some instances cash transactions by volume. Like credit cards, debit cards are used widely for telephone and Internet purchases.

Debit cards can also allow for instant withdrawal of cash, acting as the ATM card for withdrawing cash and as a cheque guarantee card. Merchants can also offer "cashback"/"cashout" facilities to customers, where a customer can withdraw cash along with their purchase.

Edited May 9, 2009 by Chaimai

[MaiThaiMai]

Here is what I do to cut all that crap out. You can do this if you have a Thai bank account. I have a Siam Commercial Bank account. I setup a Paypal account noting the country as Thailand during the setup. I added my Siam Commercial Bank account to it. It was listed as a bank in the drop down. I also have an American Paypal so what I do is transfer money from my Paypal American account to my Paypal Thailand account. If i do over 5000 baht there is no fee otherwise it's 50 baht. It takes about 7 days to transfer the money but I pay NOTHING. Even when I paypal myself to the Thailand Paypal, they take nothing. Then the money hits my SCB account. I know it might seem like a lot of steps but honestly it takes me 1 minute to do the transfer and I just wait. This is how I pay my rent and get my money here in Thailand because Wells Fargo in America charges a ATM fee, International Currency Fee and some other crap. So, i don't get charged all the fees. The only drawback could be the exchange rate on the baht but it's fairly decent right now.

You should compare the exchange rate you get with PayPal against the international rate. You might be in for a shock...

Live rates at 2009.05.04 06:37:38 UTC Notice: The THB rate shown below is the international rate. Rates used within Thailand may vary. <h2 class="XE">1.00 USD</h2> <h2 class="XE">=</h2> <h2 class="XE">35.1772 THB</h2> United States Dollars Thailand Baht 1 USD = 35.1772 THB 1 THB = 0.0284275 USD

You will find that PayPal is making a tidy profit by gouging you on the exchange rate... Remember PayPal is owned by GreedBay!

Avoid PayEnemy; PayThief; PayRip-off anything but a "Pal" they be, should be high-tailed away from at every turn possible in every way possible, they always have been and always will be the most f**ckt-up service avaiable on the web...

MaiThaiMai

[willyumcr]

I used at least six different ATMS around Bangkok last week and all of them charged the 150 baht and I could only take out 10,000 baht at a time ,on 1 machine it said it could only dispense 10 bills per transaction 10 x 1000 = 10,000

It doubled my atm fees because i usualy take out 20 000 at a time

Why are some members able to take out more then 10 000 at a time? I used to be able to last year but not now

I have an account in the States and the max withdrawal is $500 US which works out to about 17.600 baht a day. The charges so far are always $5 American and About 4.96 for the Thai Bank. Last week the charges were $5 for my US account and another $5 for the Thai bank I always use Kaiskorn or Farmers Bank did try 2 different banks and got the 150 warning so cancelled the transaction. I must pay for 4 transactions per month to get my pension money from America. If you use a wire transfer it still costs $45 american there is no way to get around these charges. The best post so far on how to avoid these charges is something like the E-Trade checking with free no atm charges. Also I was told that Washington Mutual has free or reduced charges for ATM usage. Hope this helps someone.

I posted this on a different forum a few days ago. "I also use a bank in the US. Charles Schwab debt card and they reimburse all ATM fees from all banks even Thai banks. Also I use Kasikorn and they have no fees. Yesterday 5/04 I took out 20,000 baht from Kasikorn ATM on Charles Schwab account and my checking was charged $567.62. 20,000/$567.62= 35.23 baht when note rate at the time was 34.87."

[BODYholic]

You have a DEBIT card, Sir. The activity is limited to just ATM useage by your card provider, BUT, it is a debit card and, as a foreign card, will attract the 150 Baht charge by those Thai banks who choose to levy such charge.

So much for the confusing nomenclature.

I got it now. Thanks monsieur.

[astral]

...he cautioned that any cuts would likely be marginal, as most of the fees represented charges imposed for international network access and simply passed on to end-users.

That is BS.

The banks already charge the customer, just look at your bank or CC statements................

Now they want to charge us twice??????????

[on-on]

Avoid PayEnemy; PayThief; PayRip-off anything but a "Pal" they be, should be high-tailed away from at every turn possible in every way possible, they always have been and always will be the most f**ckt-up service avaiable on the web...

MaiThaiMai

It's a bit of a derail, but I'll chime in to say that they've changed their attitude quite a bit in the last couple of years and are dam_n near consumer-friendly. I work in a line of business where I see accounts with tens of thousands a day going through them and not only have there been no more random account freezings as there used to be, but the services they offer to users have actually expanded. The built-in virtual mastercard numbers and such are pretty cool and the shipping integration is nifty as well. I hated them and avoided them as much as possible for years, but I've had to reconsider.

Still, yeah, I certainly wouldn't move money around through them when not necessary. They're in business to take a cut off of transactions. Not surprisingly, they do that quite effectively and in a myriad of ways. Ergo, don't move money through them if you don't have to.

[sunsetlover]

Bangkok Bank ATM did charge me 150bht on 25th April.

I amlooking ath e Baht, just kept so strong through all those bad news strories last month, even getting stronger in thel ast 4 days, with it being as export economy why does the Thai Central Bank hold it at an uncompetitive level. Effectivly, intl torism is also an export in a way.

Of course, LOS will keep bouncing on. I feel a little sorry for the innocent 'poor' worker being laid off though.

When are people going to realize that foreign exchange is controlled by International Currency Traders and Government Reserves/Central Banks? Currency traders and Central Banks look primarily at economic trends and regional trends (ie. Thailand vs. Malaysia vs. Philippines), not local social trends (ie. increase in death rates, some farangs getting killed, ASEAN summits cancelled etc.)

As long as tourism in Thailand doesn't nose-dive, and as long as the Thai Central Bank has enough $ reserves, the baht will stay in today's range of 33-36 bht / $1

[bf2002]

Thai Banks asked to cut foreigners' ATM transaction fees

BANGKOK: -- The Thai Bankers' Association will ask local banks to cut fee charges for foreign cardholders using local ATMs, according to association secretary-general Twatchai Yongkittikul.

He said the TBA would hold talks among its members about current fees.

But he cautioned that any cuts would likely be marginal, as most of the fees represented charges imposed for international network access and simply passed on to end-users.

Since mid-April, foreign cardholders withdrawing funds from local ATMs have been charged 150 baht per transaction.

Dr Twatchai said the fee largely came from new transaction charges imposed by international service providers MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Worldwide to cover interchange network costs.

Local banks, which had previously absorbed the expenses, are now looking to pass on their own operating expenses to customers, arguing that the fees charged in Thailand are in line with expenses charged for cross-border ATM transactions in other countries.

Dr Twatchai acknowledged that a number of foreign tourists and expatriates had complained about the added fees.

At a minimum, he said, local banks should communicate better with customers about the expenses banks incur for processing international transactions.

"Local banks should give more information about fees on the ATM screen, and then customers can make their own choice about whether to continue with the transaction," Dr Twatchai said.

"The TBA will try to raise awareness about the issue. Unfortunately, right now many foreign customers have a negative view of local banks due to the fee issue."

But a MasterCard spokesman denied that the 150-baht ATM access fee imposed by many Thai banks stemmed from any recent fee change or initiative by the company. The spokesman said MasterCard last notified member banks in October 2007 about a 0.2-percentage-point increase in fees effective from January 2008 under cross-border agreements. Since then, no other fee increases have been made related to ATM charges.

-- Bangkok Post 2009-05-04

The Thai source in the article is "spinning" the truth. I'm sure a fee is charged but, to avoid stating he is an outright liar, I will instead say he is is intentially misrepresenting the facts.

Does anyone actually think the 40-50 Baht they used to charge was all passed on to Visa or MasterCard.....honestly, they were making money already, and they are just reaching for an extra 100 Baht....they "absorbed" some cost and actually made money in the past.....no private bank was losing money or simply breaking even with our ATM withdrawls.

I'm guessing they will drop it to 100 baht or so and claim they were "flexible"....and most foreigners will think they "won"....but This is Thailand, and they still got money they never would have gotten otherwise.

Edited May 10, 2009 by bf2002

[bkk_mike]

Halifax online swift £9.50

Does the online form allow you to transfer in sterling so the exchange is handled off shore (don't want uk banks EX rates)

Yes. It lets you choose to transfer in Sterling.

[david555]

...he cautioned that any cuts would likely be marginal, as most of the fees represented charges imposed for international network access and simply passed on to end-users.

That is BS.

The banks already charge the customer, just look at your bank or CC statements................

Now they want to charge us twice??????????

i took small amount on unknown ATM and warning on screen for the extra 150 bth, so i changed to 10000 bth. By INTERNET i checked my "home account " and also my bank charged me transaction cost and provisional costs for foreign bank, so all together 150 bth and Approx 6 euro for a with drawl for 10000 bth (or less if chosen lower amount)

I know exactly what to do when flying home and return here.....

Ps it happened also that i send money in the past to GF account in bth and choose the transaction costs to pay by me, anyway later i saw the proof on paper that they ANYWAY charged my GF the costs , so next time i send little more and choose the option "costs payed by receiver"

And seeing now all governments pumping money in banks to stay alive.....international crisis scam;;;???

[TPI]

Pay attention...I'll only say this once!

When you transfer your money from your country of official residence, transfer it in the original currency into your Thai account, where the bank will gladly change into Thai Baht. The money will arrive within 24 hours.....You only pay the initial transfer cost usually $20-$30 regardless of the amount! Then you can take the Thai Baht out of any ATM and only pay the ฿20 standard fee! On the upside, your money is changed at the T\T rate (which is the best you can get!). OK?

So your saying that I can't access the money for 24 hours if you transfer from country of residence? If you take the money out of the bank you transfer it into say the Siam bank, if you withdraw from there ATM's you DON'T pay the 20 baht charge only if withdrawn from another bank i.e. Kasakorn or am I wrong again

No, what I am saying is that the money normally takes from "instant" to "24 hours" to transfer depending on what time you do the transfer from your home bank...You need to have the money transfered into a Thai account...then you pay the normal Thai charges for every withdrawel, you don't get slugged 150 baht for every withdrawel plus the home bank charge for an "another bank ATM" and the charge for transfering to a foreign bank! OK?

[SurfRider]

"Why are some members able to take out more then 10 000 at a time?"

The max amount per day is set by whatever bank hosts your account in your home country -- You need to ask them to increase the limit -- assuming you have a track-record with them without any past problems, it should not be a probelm to get your daily limit raised.

"The charges so far are always $5 American and About 4.96 for the Thai Bank . . . I must pay for 4 transactions per month to get my pension money from America."

There are several ThaiVisa threads on this subject -- the best information that has emerged is that there are four Thai banks that are not charging the new Thai 150 Baht usury fee at their ATMs if you use a DEBIT CARD from a foreign account. If you're using a CREDIT CARD, the situation is different and that may be why you're paying fees on the Thai side.

The best Thai ATM deal is Government Savings Bank ( GSB ) -- no fee and 30,000 Baht per transaction limit -- Ayudhya and Kasikorn also don't charge the new 150 Baht fee, but their limit is 20,000 Baht per transaction.

Below is data on one of the best deals you can get if you're a U.S. Citizen living abroad -- no fees on the U.S end and no fees on the Thai end if you use ATMs at one of the four no-fee banks:

( apologies to those who are sick of seeing this, but it seems that there are still some who could benefit from this information )

E-Trade has two divisions -- Brokerage and Banking -- You can open an E-Trade checking account on-line, and request a Visa Debit Card that can be used worldwide to withdraw cash from an ATM in the local currency without any transfer or currency conversion fees on the E-Trade end --AND-- you don't need to have a Brokerage account.

The account can be managed on-line from anywhere in the world.

Awhile back SCB started adding a 20 baht fee to ATM withdrawals from a foreign account, but that charge only showed up on the ATM receipt and was never deducted from the E-Trade account, so it isn't clear whether ET ate the charge, or SCB simply never got paid.

In response to a specific recent inquiry, ET said they WOULD NOT cover the new 150 Baht confiscatory charge that is unique to Thailand, but since it's possible to avoid this fee by using an ATM at one of four known Thai banks that are not charging the fee, that should not be a problem.

Last time I checked, you needed a U.S. Address, Phone, and Driver's License in order to open an ET checking account, but I know of an Expat here who used his brother's address, etc. in the U.S. and there was no problem opening the account.

I think you may need to keep a small cash balance in the account if you want to avoid a minor monthly service charge, but that does not affect anything associated with transfer of funds via a Debit Card ATM withdrawal.

I've been using their Debit Card for almost 5 years to move funds into Thailand and have never paid even one single Baht to do so.

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

[jfchandler]

There are several ThaiVisa threads on this subject -- the best information that has emerged is that there are four Thai banks that are not charging the new Thai 150 Baht usury fee at their ATMs if you use a DEBIT CARD from a foreign account. If you're using a CREDIT CARD, the situation is different and that may be why you're paying fees on the Thai side.

I'd expand on this a bit. The new 150 baht Thai fee applies to foreign cards used in ATMs here (except for the 4 or so Thai banks not yet charging it), including both foreign debit and credit cards.

So if someone is using a foreign credit card here in LOS to withdraw month from a Thai bank ATM, they'll either get or not get the 150 baht fee depending on which Thai bank company ATM they use. And then, then they'll usually get a 3% cash advance fee on the amount withdrawn from their home bank, plus possibly an additional % fee or flat amount fee for foreign currency, depending on their home bank's policy. All those fees really begin to add up, especially when pulling money with a credit card. Plus you usually begin getting charged interest from day 1... no grace period.

Regarding Etrade and their Max Rate checking account, as I believe I've also replied before...

E-Trade has a $15 monthly fee unless you meet any of several conditions to have it waived.

Those include:

* Maintain a minimum average balance of $5,000 in your Max-Rate Checking Account

* Set up and maintain a direct deposit of $200 or more per month (A combination of direct deposits totaling $200 does not satisfy this requirement)

* Maintain a combined balance of $50,000 or more in linked E*TRADE Securities, E*TRADE Bank, and employee stock plan accounts (including vested in-the-money options, stock option plan shares, ESPP shares, and released restricted stock) accounts

* Execute at least 30 stock or options trades during a calendar quarter in a linked E*TRADE Securities account

I like E-Trade and am a customer of theirs... But they've been really cutting their interest rates lately, even far below most of their competitors... So now their checking account pays only .4% (4/10s of one percent) interest on balances of $5,000 and above.

Unless you already have other accounts with E-Trade that cause the fee to be waived, it's a lot of money to leave around earning nothing in order to avoid a $15 per month fee. There are other similarly featured deals to be had without all the conditions, such as Schwab's accounts. But if you can avoid the E-Trade fee, it's a nice account to have, and their ACH transfers are quick.

[Milo]

Friendlyguy,

You reported:

"You can do this if you have a Thai bank account. I have a Siam Commercial Bank account. I setup a Paypal account noting the country as Thailand during the setup. I added my Siam Commercial Bank account to it. It was listed as a bank in the drop down. I also have an American Paypal so what I do is transfer money from my Paypal American account to my Paypal Thailand account. If i do over 5000 baht there is no fee otherwise it's 50 baht."

If you could post the US$ amount that was debited from your US account and the amount of Baht that was credited to your SBC account - as well as the date of the transaction - We could calculate the Exchange Rate that you received vs. the rate that you would have received from a Debit Card transaction at a local ATM.

You may have discovered the best kept secret in international money transfer, or - as someone suggested, PayPal may be giving you a very unfavorable rate that may be costing far more than the confiscatory 150 Baht ATM fee.

.

Sorry, it's late, couldn't be bothered to read all 10pages in case repeating an earlier post! Apologies if so.

Too true, we use PayPal a great deal, the exchange rate is absolutely abysmal, fair enough they advertise free transfers, but then charge anywhere up to 3% to withdraw from your PayPal a/c to bank a/c, you missed this? Was in fact so disgusted on the last transaction from an Aussie booking I emailed them. Usual story, 5 different emails from 5 different 'Advisors' denying it all. I sent them the SCB's rates for the day, proving we'd lost around 8% in total. Again, complete denial even with the evidence right in front of them.

Cash transfer, flat rate, have the Thai banks perform the currency conversion, lose buttons. We have a mid-market rate converter on the website, tell folk they'll have to pay maybe an extra 1% as our bank wants something out of the deal.

Alternatively ask their own bank how much the tour would cost if they performed the conversion at home, anywhere up to 10% extra! A bit more work for me doing the conversions for folk manually, then they have to get down to their bank sharpish before the rate changes too much, but all really appreciate the effort involved, nobody wants to give those grabbing barstewards a penny if can help it.

In conclusion, at least the Thai banks don't rob us quite as blind as their western counterparts? Hoping they don't catch on just how much money there really IS to be made!!

[Milo]

Pay attention...I'll only say this once!

When you transfer your money from your country of official residence, transfer it in the original currency into your Thai account, where the bank will gladly change into Thai Baht. The money will arrive within 24 hours.....You only pay the initial transfer cost usually $20-$30 regardless of the amount! Then you can take the Thai Baht out of any ATM and only pay the ฿20 standard fee! On the upside, your money is changed at the T\T rate (which is the best you can get!). OK?

So your saying that I can't access the money for 24 hours if you transfer from country of residence? If you take the money out of the bank you transfer it into say the Siam bank, if you withdraw from there ATM's you DON'T pay the 20 baht charge only if withdrawn from another bank i.e. Kasakorn or am I wrong again

No, what I am saying is that the money normally takes from "instant" to "24 hours" to transfer depending on what time you do the transfer from your home bank...You need to have the money transfered into a Thai account...then you pay the normal Thai charges for every withdrawel, you don't get slugged 150 baht for every withdrawel plus the home bank charge for an "another bank ATM" and the charge for transfering to a foreign bank! OK?

I wouldn't use the 24hr service either, our bank in the UK has 24hr, 5 working day and 7 working day transaction fees. Send the cash in plenty of time and save even more.

Cheers,

Milo

[Chayaphum]

today, i have tested each ATM around Koh Samui (one of each bank only )

and i can announce to all those who want to know about the ATM's limits.

With one exception every ATM gives you max. 20'000 THB in one day.

The GSB in Nathon also offered me a maximum amount of 20'000 THB (not 30'000 THB)

The exception is the Bangkok Bank, they will give 25'000 THB in one day.

Chayaphum

[SurfRider]

JfChandler,

"E-Trade has a $15 monthly fee unless you meet any of several conditions to have it waived."

"Those include: Set up and maintain a direct deposit of $200 or more per month"

"their checking account pays only .4% (4/10s of one percent) interest on balances of $5,000 and above."

Everything you pointed out is technically correct, but I hope you'll permit me the liberty of expanding a bit more on these issues

In the example I was responding to, the Expat was paying around US $40 per month to move funds into Thailand from the U.S -- So, I guess the difference between a $15 charge on the U.S. side vs. his current $40 in fees, speaks for itself.

Any U.S. retiree living abroad is most likely collecting Social Security in the U.S. -- If that monthly payment is automatically deposited to the E-Trade account ( as in my case ), that direct-deposit eliminates the $15 ET fee.

Not to split hairs -- but yes, the .4% stipend is a pittance-- however if that meager benefit is important, you could always open an ET Savings Account, link the two accounts -- collect .95% on funds in the Savings Account, and transfer funds on-line to Checking when you feel the urge to visit a Thai ATM.

[coastman]

Well, Visa issued a statement, that they did not initiate anything new and that they are negotiating with Thai banks to cancel this stupid 150 THB fee.

It is just another way to suck some money from those farangs. Now I have to go to a life tenner, line up with all those customers and get my Visa cash into my Thai account.

You can get 20.000THB at max out of those ATMs with +150THB each, so this will lead to another +pan bath every month in LOS...

Time to move to Laos

Ralf

Brit users of Nationwide (Banking) are now being charges a fee to withdraw money, as VISA have increased the fees to the UK banks for handling the money.

Must have so Thais working at VISA Head Office. "Err? Travel down, Spending down, Withdrawals down. LETS PUT UP THE PRICES!"

A friend of mine works for VISA in the U.S. According to him, when a vendor has a VISA terminal in their store, it is a violation of contract to charge more for credit/debit card transactions than for cash. Everyone does it though in Asia, I guess the banks thought they would climb on board that gravy train too...

Even back in the UK, you pay extra to use a Credit Card to buy your flights in the travel Agents, even though the rule there also says "No Surcharge"

Just to add my two peneth on this subject. Nationwide Debit card holders will need to pay a fee from 1st June. See below their explanation. Rest assured Thailand is listesd as one of the countries where there is a fee. However there are still lots of countries such as Turkey where the fee is not applied.

"Nationwide continues to offer commission-free foreign transactions. By commission-free we mean not adding any additional charge for the service of exchanging currency that generates profit for the Society.

When you use a Nationwide Visa debit card or credit card to make a transaction in certain currencies other than sterling, Visa charge a fee for each transaction and Nationwide currently pays that fee on your behalf.

We will start to pass this fee onto you from 6 May 2009 on credit card and from 1 June 2009 on debit card and it will be included in the sterling amount shown on your statement.

The fee is currently 0.84%. From 1 July 2009 this fee will increase to 1%.

The list below provides details of the countries for which Visa charge a fee. To check if you will be charged, please search for the country you are visiting by using the A-Z list. Unless stated otherwise a fee will be charged"

So it would seem that even if you use a Thai bank which does not charge the 150 baht you are still going to have to pay a Nationwide fee. My guess is that all UK banks, if they haven't already, will follow suit.

[david555]

Well, Visa issued a statement, that they did not initiate anything new and that they are negotiating with Thai banks to cancel this stupid 150 THB fee.

It is just another way to suck some money from those farangs. Now I have to go to a life tenner, line up with all those customers and get my Visa cash into my Thai account.

You can get 20.000THB at max out of those ATMs with +150THB each, so this will lead to another +pan bath every month in LOS...

Time to move to Laos

Ralf

Brit users of Nationwide (Banking) are now being charges a fee to withdraw money, as VISA have increased the fees to the UK banks for handling the money.

Must have so Thais working at VISA Head Office. "Err? Travel down, Spending down, Withdrawals down. LETS PUT UP THE PRICES!"

A friend of mine works for VISA in the U.S. According to him, when a vendor has a VISA terminal in their store, it is a violation of contract to charge more for credit/debit card transactions than for cash. Everyone does it though in Asia, I guess the banks thought they would climb on board that gravy train too...

Even back in the UK, you pay extra to use a Credit Card to buy your flights in the travel Agents, even though the rule there also says "No Surcharge"

Just to add my two peneth on this subject. Nationwide Debit card holders will need to pay a fee from 1st June. See below their explanation. Rest assured Thailand is listesd as one of the countries where there is a fee. However there are still lots of countries such as Turkey where the fee is not applied.

"Nationwide continues to offer commission-free foreign transactions. By commission-free we mean not adding any additional charge for the service of exchanging currency that generates profit for the Society.

When you use a Nationwide Visa debit card or credit card to make a transaction in certain currencies other than sterling, Visa charge a fee for each transaction and Nationwide currently pays that fee on your behalf.

We will start to pass this fee onto you from 6 May 2009 on credit card and from 1 June 2009 on debit card and it will be included in the sterling amount shown on your statement.

The fee is currently 0.84%. From 1 July 2009 this fee will increase to 1%.

The list below provides details of the countries for which Visa charge a fee. To check if you will be charged, please search for the country you are visiting by using the A-Z list. Unless stated otherwise a fee will be charged"

So it would seem that even if you use a Thai bank which does not charge the 150 baht you are still going to have to pay a Nationwide fee. My guess is that all UK banks, if they haven't already, will follow suit.

Took 2 days ago 3000 BTH at a Kasikorn ATM WITH MY FOREIGN DEBITCARD ,and NO charged with the 150 BTH, and checked today online my country bankstatement , and ONLY my usual transaction fee they charged SO KASIKORN DOES NOT CHARGE THE 150 BTH

[fxe1200]

I used at least six different ATMS around Bangkok last week and all of them charged the 150 baht and I could only take out 10,000 baht at a time ,on 1 machine it said it could only dispense 10 bills per transaction 10 x 1000 = 10,000

It doubled my atm fees because i usualy take out 20 000 at a time

Why are some members able to take out more then 10 000 at a time? I used to be able to last year but not now

I have an account in the States and the max withdrawal is $500 US which works out to about 17.600 baht a day. The charges so far are always $5 American and About 4.96 for the Thai Bank. Last week the charges were $5 for my US account and another $5 for the Thai bank I always use Kaiskorn or Farmers Bank did try 2 different banks and got the 150 warning so cancelled the transaction. I must pay for 4 transactions per month to get my pension money from America. If you use a wire transfer it still costs $45 american there is no way to get around these charges. The best post so far on how to avoid these charges is something like the E-Trade checking with free no atm charges. Also I was told that Washington Mutual has free or reduced charges for ATM usage. Hope this helps someone.

As I mentioned previously. Kasikorn and Ayudhya are not charging me anything until today. I am using a regular creditcard(MC) for my takings, which is issued by a Bank in Luxembourg.

Give it a shot!

[kirlian]

Tried Kasikorn ATM today in Bangkok and it asked for 150 THB fee. Canceled the transaction and used Bank Of Ayudhya - zero fee.

[jfchandler]

These are the first reports of Kasikorn beginning to charge the 150 baht ATM fee... one here above..and another today by a different poster in the other related thread on this subject. Can anyone else confirm from a transaction today/Saturday??

I used a Kasikorn ATM in BKK last night/Friday, and there was no fee then. But now is Saturday....

[mongoose]

If they do not get you on the fee, they will on the rate.

[david555]

These are the first reports of Kasikorn beginning to charge the 150 baht ATM fee... one here above..and another today by a different poster in the other related thread on this subject. Can anyone else confirm from a transaction today/Saturday??

I used a Kasikorn ATM in BKK last night/Friday, and there was no fee then. But now is Saturday....

YES they charged me too from today saterday the 150 bth, in contrary with my topic earlier that they did not charged me few days ago inside Big C center Kasikorn bank

[fxe1200]

If they do not get you on the fee, they will on the rate.

That is wrong. With my MC credit card I can deduct 100 to 25.000THB and I use it to get cash an average of 20 times a month. I.e I have our "Mae Baan" using the card and deduct 300 THB for her shopping at the "Talad sod" or fresh market.

The rate shown in my monthly statement differs 0.5 points from the actual middle rate as published by the ECB:

http://www.ecb.eu/stats/exchange/eurofxref...aph-thb.en.html.

I.e. when I deducted 100 THB by May 6th, the ECB rate is 46.857 THB/EURO. The charge in my settlement will be at a rate of 46,357 THB/EURO. There never has been a charge for the transaction within a foreign country nor a fee for taking cash. This still is cheaper than sending money from Germany into a Thai account on a monthly basis, as Thai banks still take a minimum of 300 THB in commission, even when you execute your payment as an "OUR" payment, which means, all expenses are being paid by the sender (compared to "BENEFICARY", all expenses paid by the recipient, or "SHARED", the expenses will be shared equally inbetween the sender and the recipient).

Actually the SCB started the whole scam charging 20 THB, and now almost all banks take 150THB per transaction

I just came back from Carrefour, Hat Yai, where I tried to deduct money from the machine. Kasikorn is now charging 150THB.

The Ayudhya ATM displayed a new window at my request, asking me if I would accept the exchange rate of 45,14 THB/EURO (ECB yesterday 46,718). Though denying the request, I could sucessfully complete my deduction of 5.200THB without no fees to be paid.

But I do not believe it stays that way.

[SurfRider]

"Tried Kasikorn ATM today in Bangkok and it asked for 150 THB fee. Canceled the transaction and used Bank Of Ayudhya - zero fee."

Well, it looks like the venerable old Kasikorn-- formerly the alleged "Farang Friendly Bank" has joined the ranks of the United-Usury-Alliance and begun charging the confiscatory 150 Baht fee for all ATM foreign account Debit Card withdrawals.

This apparently leaves Ayudhya and GSB still not charging the fee -- Presumably GSB ( Government Savings Bank ) will remain fee-free, since they're not a member of the cabal that conspired on this latest screw-the-farang escapade-- unless they also make the decision at some point to jump on the greed band-wagon.

Earlier reports had GSB with the highest per-transaction amount of 30,000 Baht, but one report from Samui with only a 20,000 limit.

UOB ( United Overseas Bank ) was also reported as fee-free, but only in one report, as I recall.

If anyone has recent updates on GSB and UOB, it would be nice to have them reported-- as well as the continuing reports on Ayudhya.

Edited May 16, 2009 by SurfTrader