I have a Santander current account with a Visa Debit card in UK, and a Kasikorn account with an ATM card, here in Thailand.

At present I use my UK Visa Debit card to draw money from my Santander account at ATM's in Thailand. Of course I get charged 150 BHT at the ATM and about 2.5% by Santander.

Expensive...

Has anyone specific experience of transferring money from Santander (UK) to Kasikorn (Thai) ?

I have transfered from Santander UK to Ayudhya Bank. No problems at all.

Santander charge me 20 quid fixed fee. No charge this end.

Use SWIFT safe and efficient.

I have transfered from Santander UK to Ayudhya Bank. No problems at all.

Santander charge me 20 quid fixed fee. No charge this end.

Would it be possible to give me details of how you did it, please.

Go to the Kasikorn bank website, log in and its all explained, or do a search on here, many threads on the subject, Basically call your UK bank, give them your Thai bank details,, Bob's your uncle. My bank charges £13 per transaction

Edited June 13, 201115 yr by bartender100

Go to the Kasikorn bank website, log in and its all explained, or do a search on here, many threads on the subject, Basically call your UK bank, give them your Thai bank details,, Bob's your uncle. My bank charges £13 per transaction

My bank charges £15 per transaction if I use internet banking but £25 if I 'phone them or use fax, so check your charges with Santander.

"At present I use my UK Visa Debit card to draw money from my Santander account at ATM's in Thailand. Of course I get charged 150 BHT at the ATM and about 2.5% by Santander."

You are using the wrong card. Get the Santander Zero credit card and you wont pay the 2.5% weighting. If you dont qualify for the Zero credit card then get a Zero current account and use the debit card with it. Also 0% weighting.

"At present I use my UK Visa Debit card to draw money from my Santander account at ATM's in Thailand. Of course I get charged 150 BHT at the ATM and about 2.5% by Santander."

You are using the wrong card. Get the Santander Zero credit card and you wont pay the 2.5% weighting. If you dont qualify for the Zero credit card then get a Zero current account and use the debit card with it. Also 0% weighting.

I am in same position as OP apart from using AEON therefore negating the 150 ATM fee,

so how does one apply for this "Zero account and card" whilst living in Thailand?

As long as you have internet banking I would think the answer is on your own website once signed on.

I am with Nationwide and it is absolutely clear as to the method used (SWIFT) and details required. Unfortunately it is still 25 pounds but much cheaper than the 2% they charge per transaction at an ATM. Of course beneficial for large amounts only. My transfer took less than 24 hours from filling in the form online to seeing it in my Kasikorn Bank account. The rate used is the telex transfer rate which is again better than the cash or travelers cheque rate.

I am sure your bank will offer a similar service. I am actually in Pattaya so action online was only real option. Of course if you are in UK then easy to go into bank.

"At present I use my UK Visa Debit card to draw money from my Santander account at ATM's in Thailand. Of course I get charged 150 BHT at the ATM and about 2.5% by Santander."

You are using the wrong card. Get the Santander Zero credit card and you wont pay the 2.5% weighting. If you dont qualify for the Zero credit card then get a Zero current account and use the debit card with it. Also 0% weighting.

I do have a Zero credit card, but they are only useful for foreign purchases. True you incur no charges for foreign purchases and get the best exchange rate. However, for cash withdrawals they charge interest from the moment you draw the cash, there is no interest free period until payment is due like there is on purchases.

I did consider pre-loading my Zero card so that when I draw cash the, credit is there to pay it off immediately. Do you think that would work or will they still not pay off the balance until the payment due date? Iv'e not tried it yet so I don't know.

I'm not aware of any Zero current account with Santander...

You are right about the interest on the credit card of course. I have definitely used the Zero debit card this year for withdrawals here and paid no fee or weighting at all. I did it once, just to try.

Just looked at the Santander website and they seem to have removed the references to the debit card being free for use abroad. In fact they seem to have completely removed all references to debit cards. Or maybe they have just hidden them.

They have also introduced another account called the Preference account, which seems to be very similar to the Zero account, which still exists.

As a Santander shareholder I can say without fear of error or contradiction that they are indeed a complete load of wbankers. But they do have some competitive products.