Credit Card Cash Advance Loop Hole....can It Work?

[coolxten]

From my understanding, when you use your credit card for a cash advance you get charged 18% or whatever interest rate is on your card until you pay it back the balance of your card. Plus the $1 banking fee your Canadian credit card company charges for cash advances......

So.....Say your credit card balance is $0, but you make a payment of $100 anyways, so that you have a $100 credit balance on your card. You then travel to Thailand and make a cash advance say for $100. In this case would the interest on your cash advance be $0. I know that credit cards give lower exchange rates. Do you still have to pay the 150 Baht ATM fee? Is this case correct/possible?

I ask because if you are withdrawing small amounts say $100 using the PLUS feature on your debit card, you get charged $5 plus 150Baht, plus a weak exchange rate, so really the cost is around 10%.

In the above case with the credit card, the cost would be about 1% ($1 your credit card company charges), plus a weak exchange rate which is unavoidable in both cases. It looks like using your credit card this way is more favourable.

Can someone comment??

Edited January 15, 2010 by coolxten

[473geo]

Not quite sure exactly where you are coming from but effectively a credit card withdrawal of say 3000 baht would simply show as 3150 baht then your credit card supplier would convert to your currency and add their cash advance charges.

[coolxten]

Thanks for the reply.

I guess what I'm trying to ask is by loading up your credit card with a negative balance, then using your credit card's cash advance feature is better then using your debit card.

With your comment on the $3150, it looks like you still get charged by the Thai bank for using the ATM.

I think there are more advances to using your credit card this way over your debit...

- You can withdraw larger amounts.

- Credit Card cash advance fees are lower than debit fees

- More ATMs in Thailand accept credit card than the different international debit features (eg. PLUS, Cirus,...)

[cdnvic]

You will still incur the 150bt fee. If saving that is important to you, get an Amex card, use their traveller's checks, and cash them commission free at any Amex office.

[pgs]

You will still incur the 150bt fee. If saving that is important to you, get an Amex card, use their traveller's checks, and cash them commission free at any Amex office.

AmEx don't have a great exchange rate. better to take cash and change it in a thai bank

[Curt1591]

I have tried all the "workarounds" I've read on numerous forums. Either they incur the fees, or the alternate transactions aren't done by the banks. I really think these are simply theories, stated as fact.

Then there are the "no fee" banks. I have found these have the fee, with no disclaimer, resulting in a really bad rate.

[dumball]

Using a Canadian credit card has some advantages so I obtained my first ever CC , using my convenience card it was always a plus/plus/plus and an undefined plus also , now I load my CC on internet banking(no charge) . The odd time I am able to make one of those advertised banks 'No charge' cash advances , my bank charges 1.1 % on top of the going exchange rate , no ATM fee because it is over the counter and no administration fee .

[richieudon]

I use my credit card (Post office UK) whenever I can as it doesn't charge you for transactions abroad and the exchange rate it gives me is better than any Thai bank.

I pay my bills online (always the whole amount) so by using my credit card I'm getting the best possible deal.

The only trouble being if you live in a small town or village, most places don't have credit card facilities...

[nakachalet]

speaking about loading up on your credit cards or debit cards....

it is my experience thru u.s. banking system that

you can not OVERPAY your limit or what you currently owe....

which means if you owe 10,000 usd, you can not cleverly repay 10,500 usd.... the system won't let you do it....

i tried it already.... lol

[Naam]

speaking about loading up on your credit cards or debit cards....

it is my experience thru u.s. banking system that you can not OVERPAY your limit or what you currently owe.... which means if you owe 10,000 usd, you can not cleverly repay 10,500 usd.... the system won't let you do it....

i tried it already.... lol

for many years (till i left the U.S. in 2004) i always kept a balance in my favour on two of my american credit cards.

reason: the archaic and anachronistic U.S. credit card system demands that payment is made by cheque after receipt of bill. as we were sometimes several months abroad there was no way to follow that procedure. after talking to the CC-companies and telling them "either... or you can shove up your cards!" my way was approved. i am following the same procedure with my European and Singapore cards and therefore don't pay any cash advance fees.

[aurelius]

Presumably you mean that you don't pay interest charges; however still pay the 150bt Thailand ATM charge?

[Naam]

Presumably you mean that you don't pay interest charges; however still pay the 150bt Thailand ATM charge?

i haven't used any of my foreign cards in years in Thailand to withdraw cash. they are only used to withdraw small amounts if i am (we are) are travelling abroad to a non-€ / non-$ area. living in Thailand i deem it mandatory to maintain a local account and pay all shopping expenses with a THB-card. all other necessary cash is withdrawn directly at the bank.

[bdenner]

I'm not sure if all credit cards are treated the same but I'm currently in a situation where my MasterCard has a AUD$2750 credit balance (long story). I asked my bank if I could just do a Internet banking transfer of this balance to my Debit Card account, they said yes BUT it would be treated as a Cash Advance and any transactions on my card taking it to debit balance up to $2750 would immediately attract the 18% interest. The bank is going to transfer it across for me manually and bypass the automated systems which treats it as a cash advance.

So IMO it will not be as easy as the OP was hoping for with his $100.

[JusMe]

Not sure if it still happens, but at one time if you didn't use your card for some length of time, without warning it was cancelled. I put some credit on it (just a hundred bucks or so), which meant that the card could not be cancelled.

Now, I just try to make sure I use my credit card occasionally as it's paid automatically by bank account debit, and stays active. Usually get a decent exchange rate on purchases, unless the company wants to add a percentage for using the card.

I'd never use it for cash advances.

[flying]

reason: the archaic and anachronistic U.S. credit card system demands that payment is made by cheque after receipt of bill. as we were sometimes several months abroad there was no way to follow that procedure. after talking to the CC-companies and telling them "either... or you can shove up your cards!" my way was approved. i am following the same procedure with my European and Singapore cards and therefore don't pay any cash advance fees.

That is odd I use my business cards but pay them in full each month...

But have not written a check in years. I do everything online via trans from my checking acct to pay what ever cards. ( These cards are not from the same bank either ) Most utilities too.... I can do so from anywhere in the world at anytime.

[hhgz]

"I guess what I'm trying to ask is by loading up your credit card with a negative balance..."

The proper term is CREDIT, not "negative balance".

[Naam]

That is odd I use my business cards but pay them in full each month...

But have not written a check in years. I do everything online via trans from my checking acct to pay what ever cards. ( These cards are not from the same bank either ) Most utilities too.... I can do so from anywhere in the world at anytime.

it might be odd but i don't do any transfers online and even if i wanted i couldn't have done them because in "olden times" neither bank nor credit card accounts were accessible via internet.

p.s. i got internet in 1991 when 99.999999999999999999999999999999% of the other inhabitants on this planet had never heard of it.

[bdenner]

p.s. i got internet in 1991 when 99.999999999999999999999999999999% of the other inhabitants on this planet had never heard of it.

Off Topic

In Aust, prior to the internet we had a system called Viatel, can't remember the baud rate for the telephone modem 4096 BPS comes to mind, I was online there prior to the WWW. The Commonwealth Bank introduced Telebank, a precursor to NetBank and I was the 815th customer so I'm sure your figure should read 99.99999995%.

Edited June 12, 2010 by bdenner

[Naam]

p.s. i got internet in 1991 when 99.999999999999999999999999999999% of the other inhabitants on this planet had never heard of it.

Off Topic

In Aust, prior to the internet we had a system called Viatel, can't remember the baud rate for the telephone modem 4096 BPS comes to mind, I was online there prior to the WWW. The Commonwealth Bank introduced Telebank, a precursor to NetBank and I was the 815th customer so I'm sure your figure should read 99.99999995%.

i stand corrected but for the record: i started in 1984 contacting bulletin boards with a 300 Baud modem. your 4096 modem was at that time a science fiction dream.

my first modem looked like this:

[flying]

it might be odd but i don't do any transfers online and even if i wanted i couldn't have done them because in "olden times" neither bank nor credit card accounts were accessible via internet.

Ahhh my bad...I didn't realize you were speaking of the pre-internet days

[Naam]

it might be odd but i don't do any transfers online and even if i wanted i couldn't have done them because in "olden times" neither bank nor credit card accounts were accessible via internet.

Ahhh my bad...I didn't realize you were speaking of the pre-internet days

not really Flying. i think it was in 2002 when my bank in Florida (Suntrust) made interness access available.