Charles Schwab Debit Card/Checking/Brokerage Acct

[jfchandler]

I had the occasion the other day to do something I've almost never done, and that was to make use of the Schwab Checking account's foreign ATM fee refund benefit, even though I've had the account for several years now.

Normally, as others here know, I almost never use Thai bank ATMs that charge the 150 baht withdrawal fee on foreign cards, even though I have various home accounts that will refund those. I don't want to patronize Thai banks that engage in what I consider to be a blatant customer ripoff. And I don't want my U.S. banks to be paying to subsidize the Thai banks' ripoff policies.

But on this one recent occasion, I needed to grab some cash quickly and didn't have the time/opportunity to use either an AEON ATM or the CitiBank ATMs at Asoke and Sukhumvit Roads, both of which charge no foreign card ATM fee. Thus, I had a rare opportunity, at least for me, to see in practice just how Schwab handled the transaction.

The withdrawal involved occurred in the last week of March, and it showed up in my Schwab account as a single combined debit (my withdrawal plus the Thai ATM fee), with the Thai ATM fee amount not broken out or listed separately.

I already knew Schwab doesn't reimburse the ATM fee at the time of the withdrawal...unlike E*Trade...but rather at month's end... But I was curious, because I'd seen some different comments on this, whether the Schwab credit would occur automatically, or whether I'd have to call or email Schwab in order to get the ATM fee refund. And, of course, I'd saved the Thai bank ATM withdrawal slip that did separately list the fee, just in case I needed to produce any documentation.

Well, the end of the month arrived and sure enough, without me having had to do anything, the almost $5 fee amount was automatically credited back to my account by Schwab with the credit posting on the last day of the month. No muss... No fuss...

As I've said before, the Schwab checking account is a great deal, no foreign currency fee on purchases or ATM cash withdrawals, and foreign banks' ATM fees refunded automatically.

The ATM refunds benefit is one I avoid using almost all of the time because, to borrow a phrase, I don't want to help kill the goose that laid the golden egg. But it's a great feature to have when those unusual circumstances arise.

[SurfRider]

.

It's beginning to look like the Thai Bankers Assn, usury/greed disease is going viral:

"Get ready for big fee increases at your nearest ATM. Some of the nation's largest banks are boosting fees on their automated teller machine networks."

http://www.credit.co...me-regulations/

.

[jgm005]

Back in February I had mentioned that State Farm Bank (in USA) indicated that they reimburse all ATM fees** and that there was no other exchange or transactional fee. Upon getting back to the States I did sign up for both State Farm (Checking Only)and Charles Schwab (Brokerage, Checking, Saving). We know that Schwab does reimburse the ATM fee at month end. Which I learned first hand while back in the States.

With State Farm Bank their literature indicated no transactional/exchange fees but seeing is believing to me. Now that I am back in Thailand I have now used the State Farm Visa Debit Card twice. Each time in doing so I also used the Schwab Visa Debit card. Once at Citibank at Asoke and again at the AEON ATM in the basement of Paragon. In both instances the amount deducted, in USD, out of my State Farm Bank account was spot on with the same amount deducted out of my Schwab Checking account and with no other line items. Both transactions had cleared without any changes to the exchange rate nor additional fees. I will do a Thai bank ATM withdrawal, one time, using the State Farm Visa Debit card to verify the re-imburse of the 150 bt Thai fee and will report same back in May. The one thing I like about S/F over Schwab is you do not have to do download and print out a form and mail same in to add an external account. Not that is a big deal for once you have them added (speaking of Schwab) you will not have to mess with same again. With S/F it was done online (adding an external account). One thing I really did not like about S/F is that when I did the verification of deposits there website bit the dust leaving my account in a half ass state. And it took a number of calls to them to rectify same. Though that probably is not a normal event (their website hiccuping at verification of deposit time). The use of the S/F website to schedule money transfers is straight forward and you can set up alerts to be notified, via email, when the money is deposited into one's S/F Checking account.

** I believe, from memory, that State Farm will re-imburse up to $10 in fees in any given month if you do "not" have a ACH deposit within the month of the ATM fees. If you do have an ACH deposit than ALL ATM fees are re-imbursed, regardless of the total of same for a specific month. In fairness to S/F and Schwab I shall concentrate on using AEON and Citibank (Asoke) ATM's when ever possible.

[Pib]

jgm,

Good report....big thanks. Your report has convinced me to give SF Banking a very close look.

Cheers,

Pib

[jfchandler]

I agree... Very good info re SF...

Here's some other things that would be useful to know about SF:

--What is the speed (or lack thereof) of their ACH transfer system?

--What length of "hold time" do they place on incoming ACH funds?

--What are the daily and monthly $ limits on using their ACH system for incoming and outgoing ACHs.

--What if any limit do they have on the number of external accounts that you can use their system to link to.

[jgm005]

One other point to mention about State Farm Banking is the external ACH transfer time.

The ACH transfer time is just one day. I scheduled an external transfer for 07/April. The funds where deposited and are now available on 08/ April (seems to always be around 7pm EDT).

Just saw your post JFC.

I know I have pulled 20,000bt in a single ATM pull. I do not know the answers to your 3rd and 4th questions. I'll see if I can get answers.

Edited April 9, 2011 by jgm005

[jfchandler]

JGM, do you mean you used SF's ACH system to pull funds from an outside bank into your SF account... And that the funds arrived into your SF account the next day and were immediately available, meaning no hold time applied by SF?

One other point to mention about State Farm Banking is the external ACH transfer time.

The ACH transfer time is just one day. I scheduled an external transfer for 07/April. The funds where deposited and are now available on 08/ April (seems to always be around 7pm EDT).

[jgm005]

Yes, that is correct. I went into my SF account and scheduled an external transfer on 07/April and the funds where available the next day, 08/April, around 7pm. I have only done two external transfers, so far, and both fell into the same time frame. The first one was on a Friday and availability was the following Monday around 7pm. SF's disclosures indicate next day availability.

JGM, do you mean you used SF's ACH system to pull funds from an outside bank into your SF account... And that the funds arrived into your SF account the next day and were immediately available, meaning no hold time applied by SF?

One other point to mention about State Farm Banking is the external ACH transfer time.

The ACH transfer time is just one day. I scheduled an external transfer for 07/April. The funds where deposited and are now available on 08/ April (seems to always be around 7pm EDT).

[jgm005]

Duplicate Post. Site went down

Edited April 9, 2011 by jgm005

[Pib]

Yes, that is correct. I went into my SF account and scheduled an external transfer on 07/April and the funds where available the next day, 08/April, around 7pm. I have only done two external transfers, so far, and both fell into the same time frame. The first one was on a Friday and availability was the following Monday around 7pm. SF's disclosures indicate next day availability.

JGM, do you mean you used SF's ACH system to pull funds from an outside bank into your SF account... And that the funds arrived into your SF account the next day and were immediately available, meaning no hold time applied by SF?

One other point to mention about State Farm Banking is the external ACH transfer time.

The ACH transfer time is just one day. I scheduled an external transfer for 07/April. The funds where deposited and are now available on 08/ April (seems to always be around 7pm EDT).

When I do USAA Bank ACH pulls from another bank the funds being pulled appear in my "Available Balance" immediately. But that didn't start occurring until after my sixth transfer. During my first six transfers increasing amounts/percentages of a transfer were immediately made available but not the whole amount. I think the first couple of transfers made 10% or $500 of the transferring amount immediately available and then that value started increasing. And on/about the 7th transfer and to this day, whenever I pull money into my USAA accounts via ACH transfer (up to $5000 limit although I could get that raised by faxed, signed request) that money immediately appears in my Available Balance....I mean immediately after pressing the Submit Transfer button and then going back to my Accounts Balance screen. Usually I transfer anywhere from a little less than $500 up to $5000. But I can go to the Transfers section and see the ACH transfer is underway and will completed date of so-and-so days down the road....but as mentioned, the funds are Available for immediate withdrawal/transfer out. Maybe the first six transfers is like a probationary period with USAA; after six successful transfers they place a person in a more trusted category....I don't know....just guessing. Now if I dropped down to having very little in the USAA account, say $100, then did a $5000 transfer in, I would be surprised if USAA made all of the $5000 immediately available for withdrawal/transfer-out...all I know is right now all of my ACH transfer-ins are put in my "Available Balance" immediately. It may vary from customer to customer, depends on total account balance, etc..etc....etc...as to how this works and I'm fairly sure USAA wouldn't volunteer all the details that goes into this decision process (not that I want to know).

[jgm005]

I could not find anywhere in the disclosure agreement that came with the State Farm Visa Debit Check card as to the number of external accounts one may have. SO I asked a question back to them.

The question was:

Is there a limit to the number of external accounts one can have to fund the S/F

account? Thank You

Their answer was:

You can fund an account only one external account. You can however set

up multiple external accounts after the account is activated to initiate

transfers to and from.

Personally I find the answer less than clear. But maybe it is just me.

I also asked the daily limit that one can withdraw for the disclosure agreement, to me, was not clear.

The answer was:

The ATM withdrawal limit is set to $500.00.

Yet I withdrew 20,000 bt the first time I used the Check Card which was $600+. So go figure. In the online disclosure it indicates a daily limit of 1,000usd but under the Business ATM Visa Check Card heading.

I have not found State Farms' Customer Support to be all that informative, to date.

[jfchandler]

The question was:

Is there a limit to the number of external accounts one can have to fund the S/F

account? Thank You

Their answer was:

You can fund an account only one external account. You can however set

up multiple external accounts after the account is activated to initiate

transfers to and from.

Personally I find the answer less than clear. But maybe it is just me.

No, I'd say that guidance from SF is pretty much unclear to everyone and anyone...

So yes, a SF account holder can set up online banking links to "multiple external accounts." But just how many they'll permit remains a mystery.

It's not that big a deal, unless the account holder is trying to use the SF account as a so-called "hub" account that connects to and moves fund to and from a variety of other accounts.

[gk10002000]

Interesting posts. My primary bank is Etrade bank, the online firm. I have a decent amount in there. Combined in all my accounts it is over $350k, USD. Etrade automatically and instantly refunds any ATM charges if you have over $50,000 USD on deposit between your accounts there, brokerage, checking, IRA, etc. This has been great in the USA. However, I think they recently started charging an overseas or non-US fee. I will have to query them specifically on the non-US transactions. I haven't done any in a while. I am very satisfied with Etrade, but I also don't want too many of my eggs in one basket so I am thinking of where to roll over this latest $70k. As far as Charles, I am looking to roll over my current employer's 401-k soon to my own IRA.

Thanks for the informative posts.

[Pib]

I could not find anywhere in the disclosure agreement that came with the State Farm Visa Debit Check card as to the number of external accounts one may have. SO I asked a question back to them.

The question was:

Is there a limit to the number of external accounts one can have to fund the S/F

account? Thank You

Their answer was:

You can fund an account only one external account. You can however set

up multiple external accounts after the account is activated to initiate

transfers to and from.

Personally I find the answer less than clear. But maybe it is just me.

I expect the question was kinda confusing to the SF customer service. To me the rep is saying to initially fund a checking/savings account (activate the account) the money can transfer from "one" external account/source. Kinda like using one key to open the door to the house. But after initial transfer funds/full activation of the account/entry to the house, a person can setup multiple transfer links to external banks/sources. And to my knowledge any debit/ATM card is always linked to one primary account, although some banks allow backup links like my Schwab debit card which per the disclosure agreement first/automatically draws from the checking account, but if the checking account doesn't have enough funds it will draw the funds from the savings account.

I should also have some feedback on setting up a SF bank account because actually just before I made my # 214 post I had just finished applying for a joint SF checking account via phone. You excellent #213 post had spurred me to make the call since I had remained interested in a SF account since your earlier posts. I called instead of during the online application due to a variety of reasons, such as wanting to stress I have an U.S. APO address in Thailand along with a regular US address, overseas internet IP, etc. Per a SF website Q&A it states: "If I live outside the United States, can I open an account? A valid U.S. address is required to open a State Farm Bank account. If you have two residences, one inside the United States and one outside the United States, you can open a State Farm Bank account."

Anyway, the call seemed to go well, I was even issued a checking account number and supposedly checks and debit cards ordered, but there seemed to be the caveat that there would still be a verification process to satisfy US banking laws. This weekend when trying to register online using my issued checking account, it says it can't find any such account so I couldn't complete the registration process. So, maybe the account is not fully activated yet, verification still undergoing on the wife and I, etc. Since I didn't apply online which I think would have allowed me to also do an online account funding via ACH (I think), SF was instead going to mail me signature cards and an ACH funding form to fax/mail back. A similar verification thing also happened when opening the Scbwab account which seem to have it put on hold for a week or so until I got that cleared up with Schwab. I'll give some more feedback once I get some more firm details as it's still early in the process from a business day application/activation standpoint.

[jfchandler]

Interesting posts. My primary bank is Etrade bank, the online firm. I have a decent amount in there. Combined in all my accounts it is over $350k, USD. Etrade automatically and instantly refunds any ATM charges if you have over $50,000 USD on deposit between your accounts there, brokerage, checking, IRA, etc. This has been great in the USA. However, I think they recently started charging an overseas or non-US fee. I will have to query them specifically on the non-US transactions. I haven't done any in a while. I am very satisfied with Etrade, but I also don't want too many of my eggs in one basket so I am thinking of where to roll over this latest $70k. As far as Charles, I am looking to roll over my current employer's 401-k soon to my own IRA.

A lot of folks around these parts had/have E*Trade accounts, and I've had nothing but good experiences with them. And indeed, unlike Schwab, they do issue their ATM fee refunds (including the Thai ones) for those who meet any one of their several qualifying criteria immediately as opposed to at month's end.

However, where a lot of the frugal-minded folks left the E*Trade train was last year when they suddenly began charging a 1% foreign currency fee (or in other words, no longer reimbursing the VISA or MC network fee) on ATM cash withdrawals done abroad. Schwab, Cap One and a few others don't charge that or similar fees, making them a better bargain for ATM users.

But people can still keep their 401K or IRA or brokerage accounts with E*Trade very nicely, even if one doesn't use them for traditional banking activities. There's been some speculation that E*Trade will be a takeover target by one of the larger brokerage houses, with Schwab having been mentioned as one of the likely figures. Haven't heard more on that lately.

[jgm005]

Pib,

I'll be interested in hearing how your S/F joint account application goes. My wife is Thai and prior to going back to the States end of February I applied online for a joint account. After a few days my online account with S/F changed to indicate a banking account but no account number (I have a life insurance policy through them).

Up on return to the States there was a letter from S/F where our application was more or less put on hold for they wanted more information on my wife. With her being back in Thailand and my lack of patience I scrubbed the application and went for a single account. I'll add her when she and I return later on this year.

[Pib]

jgm,

My wife is a Thai and US citizen, with a social security number, states-side driving license, etc., which was provided during the joint application. Interesting to hear your banking account number was put on hold for a while. Maybe that is what happened to mine because it wasn't until the following night after cruising around on the SF web site some more that I saw if I had a SF account number (i.e., insurance policy number, checking account, etc) that I could register online which I thought might actually give me access to my checking account and then allow me to set up a fund transfer link from one of my other banks using the trial deposit method which would be faster than waiting for the ACH form to arrive in the mail from SF. Maybe if I had tried registering a few hours after I applied/was issued the checking account number I could have successfully registered. I may call tonight to ask a few questions to see if anything popped up with further processing of the application that I can resolve over the phone versus waiting for a letter which could take weeks. Hopefully everything is still OK and it's just verification process that is still in-process. Kinda like renting a place in "apparently" satisfying the paperwork requirements, but have not yet been given the keys to open the door and move in.

Cheers,

Pib

[Pib]

Update: OK, gave SF a jingle tonight and found out the checking account number I was given during the application process will not be activated until they receive back the Signature card and ACH funding form which they have/will mail to me. The rep said their normal mailing time for such forms is within 24 hours for new accounts. Once they get the forms back they will then accomplish the underwriting/validation process which ensures no identity theft is occurring, compliance with applicable laws, etc. If I pass that process then the checks and debit cards would be mailed along with activation of the account. Then I could register online to access online banking. The rep said even if I do fax-in the completed forms, they still need the originals mailed back to complete the process. So, this process will probably take another 3 weeks or so at least with the back and forth mailings to reach the final decision on account activation/approval. Then several more weeks to get the checks/debit card. Guess I'll need to do a weekly APO mail run to check on arrival of the forms. I've got time; no rush on this.

[jgm005]

Thanks for the Info Pib. In our case my Thai wife is Green Card, Social # but no D/L or GA State ID. If I remember correctly the online application for State Farm Banking needed either the D/L # or State ID which I left blank. The letter of 'on hold' they wanted further proof she was whom she was like bank account info, utility bills, etc. I just canned it and went with just myself. Good Luck on yours.

[jgm005]

I thought I'd update on the use of State Farm Banks Visa Debit Checking Card. With NO Citibank ATM or AEON ATM in an hours vicinity of where we live I used said card, twice, via the villages Kasikorn ATM. When the transaction posted it posted with the total amount withdrawn including the 150bt ATM fee. Within about 24 hours the transaction became two transactions. One reflecting the money withdrawn and a separate transaction for the 150 bt fee (one at $5.01 and the other at $5.03).

When checking my online State Farm account (30/April) the $10.04 showed up as a 'credit ATM fee rebate' with a posting date of 01 May.

Personally I can not be more pleased with the use of this ATM card. With ATM fees showing up as a separate line item, being rebated and money moved into the account and available within less than two days.

Edited April 30, 2011 by jgm005

[Pib]

Good to hear. 8 days ago I mailed back to SF the Signature Cards and ACH Funding form that they mailed me after I applied over the phone early in April. Once they receive those forms which should be this coming Mon-Fri period they are suppose to do their final validation thing to determine if they will open an account for the wife and I. If I see the ACH transfer (to fund the SF account) hit my other bank account (the funding source) that would be a sign they approved/validated the account opening, they have activated the checking account number they gave me during the phone application, and checks/debit card should be mailed out shortly after that. But if I don't see that ACH transfer happenning by around this coming Friday there is probably some other issue. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Pib]

Good to hear. 8 days ago I mailed back to SF the Signature Cards and ACH Funding form that they mailed me after I applied over the phone early in April. Once they receive those forms which should be this coming Mon-Fri period they are suppose to do their final validation thing to determine if they will open an account for the wife and I. If I see the ACH transfer (to fund the SF account) hit my other bank account (the funding source) that would be a sign they approved/validated the account opening, they have activated the checking account number they gave me during the phone application, and checks/debit card should be mailed out shortly after that. But if I don't see that ACH transfer happenning by around this coming Friday there is probably some other issue. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Update: I see the ACH Transfer from one of my other banks to fund the SF account has just hit. Hopefully, this is a confirmation SF has approved the account opening. In order to access SF online banking I tried to Register online again with the account number they gave me during the application since the ACH transfer was underway, but during registration it still said the account number didn't exist. Expect they have not fully activated the account until the ACH transfer completes/post to my SF account. Expect the no foreign transaction fee Visa debit card with ATM reimbursements and checks will be heading my way in the mail soon (I hope). Slowing getting there...keeping my fingers crossed.

[Pinot]

I've been using Schwab for all my banking for the last year and a half over here. I can't even remember how long I've been using them, at least 20 years. Never had an issue with them and I think Schwab is the way to go for low cost investment tied to banking. One of the things I considered doing this year was becoming an International customer. That would mean changing my American address to Thailand. I wanted to do it because I had been living in California and didn't want to pay California or any other state tax. I changed my mind because I wouldn't be able to trade Mutual Funds anymore. Stocks and ETFs were fine just not mutual funds and I had a few favorites. So I moved my account to my brother's address in Utah. If Utah comes after me I should be able to explain the situation.

Schwab has many of their own Mutual Funds and now ETFs that are free to trade. They probably made $1000 on me in trading costs last year so the approximately $250 they shelled out for my ATM fees keeps them in the black. Hopefully there are a lot of customers like me that make this free ATM deal work for them.

I use Skype to check in when I have questions. They've always been professional and thorough.

[Pib]

Good point regarding the ATM fee reimbursements. Companies (especially financial firms) no doubt know some of their customer benefits cost them money, but they probably have the analysis to show it pays off in other areas. A win-win situation for the company and the customer.

[Pib]

Update to my Post #232 above. My SF account is now activated and I have online banking. Called them to see what the delay was in activating the account since they had already accomplished the ACH pull to fund the new account, and the delay was basically related to an address validation issue for the wife that was easily resolved over the phone. Shortly after this issue was resolved, they activated the account and I was able to register online for online banking. Only took a few minutes for me to complete the registration/activate the online banking since the bank had "flipped the account switch to on" on their end with the validation issue resolved. It was good to see the ACH-pull money setting in my new account. Have started setting up my online external bank funds links with my other banks. You can set the links up online by using trial verification deposits; no need to mail in forms. Visa debit card and checks were ordered and will be put in the mail. The SF no foreign transaction fee (with ATM reimbursements) debit card will be a backup to my Schwab no fee debit card; or if I end up liking the SF account more, the Schwab debit card will be a backup to my SF no fee debit card. Ah heck, I'll just use both of them!

Hopefully I have now placed myself in a much better position, banks/cards-wise, by setting up new bank accounts which provide no foreign transaction fee Visa debit cards, free ACH transfers, etc. And as some of you may noticed in my other posts, I was able to get a Capital One no foreign transaction fee Mastercard credit card with 2%/1% cash back (2% cash back for groceries/gas, Lotus, Big C, Carrefour, Foodland, etc; 1% cash for everything else...I just love this card). Kinda gives me a good feeling to have broke the shackles of some bank/card fees but it took several months, some mailings, telephone calls, and patience to make this happen. Definitely much easier to get all your bank accounts and cards setup in your home country before you also acquire an overseas residence, which I thought I had setup pretty good, but from a "no foreign transaction fee" standpoint for debit and credit cards I was not setup good. All corrected now...good to go for now. Cheers.

Edited May 10, 2011 by Pib

[jgm005]

Update to my Post #232 above. My SF account is now activated and I have online banking.

Snipped ....

Glad to hear you are up and nearly running on State Farm. I have made the S/F Visa debit card my primary funding card with Schwab as a backup. So far, it is as good as I had hoped it would be (State Farm Bank)

[Pib]

jgm,

Thanks to you for providing the additional info regarding SF, as their web site is lacking somewhat in some details/somewhat unclear (at least to me) on some of their products, especially where their disclosures for Individual accounts seemed to be written for their Business accounts. If you hadn't given crossfeed/first hand experience to help clear some things up, I probably wouldn't have applied for an account.

Cheers,

Pib

[jgm005]

You are welcome. You are right on about their (State Farm) web site lacking information and/or confusing. In the end, so far, I am pleased with them and they are my primary funding source. I'll be adding the wife onto the account once we 'both' get back to the states.

jgm,

Thanks to you for providing the additional info regarding SF, as their web site is lacking somewhat in some details/somewhat unclear (at least to me) on some of their products, especially where their disclosures for Individual accounts seemed to be written for their Business accounts. If you hadn't given crossfeed/first hand experience to help clear some things up, I probably wouldn't have applied for an account.

Cheers,

Pib

[ThaiBound81]

Hi, I'm moving to Bangkok soon from the States and just read all 10 pages of this topic. Great information and very glad to have come across it. I have a couple of questions I'm hoping the Schwab experts can answer, because if I'm going to set this up I really need to get the process started so I can send in the paperwork, link accounts, and receive checks and the ATM card before I leave. I don't think answers to these specific questions were answered already, but if they were I apologize for asking again. I'd be very grateful for any help you can offer. Thanks!

1.) What are AEON ATMs, and how do I tell them apart from regular ATMs?

2.) How can I find out where all AEON ATMs are located in Bangkok?

3.) With the Schwab Visa Debit/ATM card, can I make a debit purchase at a store and opt to receive cash back as well that will be debited from my account? If so, are any fees incurred to me or Schwab because of this?

4.) Can my employer in Thailand direct deposit all of my paychecks into my Schwab checking account and is this easy to do? If not, will I need to open a checking account with a Thai bank and then transfer funds from that checking account to my Schwab account? Will doing so incur any fees to me or Schwab?

5.) If I need to link a Thai bank account to my Schwab checking account I take it that means I need to mail the paperwork from Thailand. Will that pose a problem?

6.) If I have to use a non AEON ATM to make a transaction, are the certain bank branch ATMs I should avoid and are there any which are best to use? I saw in one post that Bank of Ayudha and SCB may sometimes have lower rates, so I want to make sure I'd be going to the best ATMs.

[jgm005]

I believe I can help you on queries one and two. I am a State Farm ATM user but do have a Schwab Checking, Savings and Brokerage account for back up.

Go to this link (was active as of this post)and you can find a list of AEON ATMS and a picture of one. They are few and far between. Specially outside of BKK. I personally use the one in the basement of Paragon. And do not forget Citi Bank ATMS at Asoke do not charge a fee either.

http://www.aeon.co.th/aeon/af/aeon/customsrvc/service/locationchannel.do?channelId=-8765&selectedChannels=-8568,-8765〈=en

As for your question 6. Since I have several accounts at Kasikorn and I like their online banking plus they have ATMS everywhere I stick with them.

As with most things everyone has a different opinion on matters so you may get different suggestions from others!

Hi, I'm moving to Bangkok soon from the States and just read all 10 pages of this topic. Great information and very glad to have come across it. I have a couple of questions I'm hoping the Schwab experts can answer, because if I'm going to set this up I really need to get the process started so I can send in the paperwork, link accounts, and receive checks and the ATM card before I leave. I don't think answers to these specific questions were answered already, but if they were I apologize for asking again. I'd be very grateful for any help you can offer. Thanks!

1.) What are AEON ATMs, and how do I tell them apart from regular ATMs?

2.) How can I find out where all AEON ATMs are located in Bangkok?

3.) With the Schwab Visa Debit/ATM card, can I make a debit purchase at a store and opt to receive cash back as well that will be debited from my account? If so, are any fees incurred to me or Schwab because of this?

4.) Can my employer in Thailand direct deposit all of my paychecks into my Schwab checking account and is this easy to do? If not, will I need to open a checking account with a Thai bank and then transfer funds from that checking account to my Schwab account? Will doing so incur any fees to me or Schwab?

5.) If I need to link a Thai bank account to my Schwab checking account I take it that means I need to mail the paperwork from Thailand. Will that pose a problem?

6.) If I have to use a non AEON ATM to make a transaction, are the certain bank branch ATMs I should avoid and are there any which are best to use? I saw in one post that Bank of Ayudha and SCB may sometimes have lower rates, so I want to make sure I'd be going to the best ATMs.