Currency Exchanges No Longer Accept Debit/credit Cards?

[KunMatt]

I couldn't find if this has already been posted.

For all year until now I always used to go to any currency exchange counter and use my UK bank card to withdraw THB to avoid paying the 150 Baht ATM fine. The last two occasions I've tried this all 9 or 10 counters in and around Pantip Plaza say that either their card machine is broken or they just don't have a machine, despite there being big Mastercard and Maestro signs on their banner, and each person told me I'd have to use their ATM instead. It's too much of a convenient coincidence that not one of them would accept my card.

Have I just been really unlucky? Has anyone been able to use a card in an exchange recently or are these counters stopping their free service on foreign cards?

It is more expensive than just the 150 baht fee to me as if I use my credit card my rate is rubbish and I have to pay interest starting from the day I withdraw the money from the ATM.

Thanks.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

I couldn't find if this has already been posted.

For all year until now I always used to go to any currency exchange counter and use my UK bank card to withdraw THB to avoid paying the 150 Baht ATM fine. The last two occasions I've tried this all 9 or 10 counters in and around Pantip Plaza say that either their card machine is broken or they just don't have a machine, despite there being big Mastercard and Maestro signs on their banner, and each person told me I'd have to use their ATM instead. It's too much of a convenient coincidence that not one of them would accept my card.

Have I just been really unlucky? Has anyone been able to use a card in an exchange recently or are these counters stopping their free service on foreign cards?

It is more expensive than just the 150 baht fee to me as if I use my credit card my rate is rubbish and I have to pay interest starting from the day I withdraw the money from the ATM.

Thanks.

Don't know. But yesterday I went to my local SCB branch at Klong 10 and tried my U.S. debit card at the counter. They did swipe it at the "credit card" machine to see if it was OK, no record or some such thing so didn't get beyond that point.

Then when I was down at Future Park Rangsit later, stopped in at the SCB branch there and tried the same thing. I watched the guy swipe the card, "invalid" was on the screen.

So no intentional errors created by the two SCB staffers.

Did I do something incorrectly in this process?

Mac

[david96]

You go to the bank and at the FX counter they will swipe your card, the bank will enter the amount in THB and then you press SAV, CHQ or CC button on the card reader. enter your PIN and OK. This is known as an EFT.

Most cards have a daily limit set by the home bank, so if you want more you have to go to a Thai bank.

You will be charged on your bank statement for the transaction. Some banks with CCs call Visa or Mastercard for verification.

The bank will most likely ask to see your passport and take a copy of the ID page. They may photocopy the CC.

Debit cards use a PIN, CCs a PIN or sign. CCs are a "cash advance" and interest is charged on this amount as soon as the transaction is completed.

This applies to cards with an Australian bank, US and UK cards may be different.

The transaction should be done in front of the customer, but many Thai banks have little understanding of security, especially with CCs.

Of course in an Australian bank the process takes less than a minute. Australia has one of the best banking systems in the world.

[KunMatt]

You go to the bank and at the FX counter they will swipe your card, the bank will enter the amount in THB and then you press SAV, CHQ or CC button on the card reader. enter your PIN and OK. This is known as an EFT.

Most cards have a daily limit set by the home bank, so if you want more you have to go to a Thai bank.

You will be charged on your bank statement for the transaction. Some banks with CCs call Visa or Mastercard for verification.

The bank will most likely ask to see your passport and take a copy of the ID page. They may photocopy the CC.

Debit cards use a PIN, CCs a PIN or sign. CCs are a "cash advance" and interest is charged on this amount as soon as the transaction is completed.

This applies to cards with an Australian bank, US and UK cards may be different.

The transaction should be done in front of the customer, but many Thai banks have little understanding of security, especially with CCs.

Of course in an Australian bank the process takes less than a minute. Australia has one of the best banking systems in the world.

Thanks for that but it didn't really answer anything anybody asked.

Has anybody been able to use a credit or debt card in a currency exchange in Bangkok in the last 10 days, and if so where?

Cheers.

[bartender100]

Just a point, i would never use my card anywhere near Panthip, the the center of the world for software counterfeit, if those guys could not scam ATM's no one can. Avoid

[KunMatt]

Thanks for all the advice ThaiVisa. NOT!

Ironically the most active threads on here these days are those answered by the Troll hunters.

To answer my own original post, I went to a TMB currency exchange last night (which I had used a couple of months ago) and they still accept a foreign card, no charge. I guess it is only the counters in and around Pantip Plaza which are deliberately declining the use of fee free card withdrawal over using their ATMs.