oldsalt Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I go back to Australia from Bangkok once or twice a year and have learned that it is much better to convert baht to Australian dollars in Thailand rather than back in Aust. The difference in what you can get here in Thailand as against what you'll get hopping off the flight in Australia 9 hours later is significant. But does anyone know how it works out if I just use my Bangkok Bank ATM card (via Cirrus or Maestro) for cash withdrawals once in Australia, or is there a whopping fee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigt3365 Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I think you will do better with this in the Banking Forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pib Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I expect there would be the 1% fee charged by Visa or Mastercard (I don't think Bangkok Bank eats this Visa/Mastercard fee) and then a Bangkok Bank 100 baht fee per transaction for a foreign ATM withdrawal. And there will probably be a couple dollars withdrawal fee by bank that owns the ATM. Using the Bangkok Bank ATM/Debit Visa card, you would get the Visa exchange rate which is better than the Mastercard exchange rate and probably any bank offered rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wileycoyote Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 If possible ,I try to avoid ATMs as <BR>1.They use a different Baht rate to Sterling<BR>2.They charge me a fee for cash withdrawal in Thailand<BR>3.They charge me a fee for using the ATM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaasvaak Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Bangkok currency exchange rates live I use this link to check the current rates, it's very handy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiu-Jitsu Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I expect there would be the 1% fee charged by Visa or Mastercard (I don't think Bangkok Bank eats this Visa/Mastercard fee) and then a Bangkok Bank 100 baht fee per transaction for a foreign ATM withdrawal. And there will probably be a couple dollars withdrawal fee by bank that owns the ATM. Using the Bangkok Bank ATM/Debit Visa card, you would get the Visa exchange rate which is better than the Mastercard exchange rate and probably any bank offered rate. Really? I would like to see evidence of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRick Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Actually the fee is 150Baht unless you use Aeon Bank. and that crossborder/currency conversion fee is a little more than 1%. I don't have proof of the 150baht charge because I refuse to use any ATM that is affiliated with a Thai national bank. Even your bank is in on screwing you. I did two exact same15k baht transactions one cost me 23$ US the other 9$ US the first bank told me they were standard fees and I pointed out the fact they gave me an exchange rate 1 baht less than my other bank. That is how I found out banks set whatever rate they want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatboy Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 wouldnt it be easier to buy with cash[bht] that way there is no charges,in los the diff.between buying and selling is better than anywhere else,i think today bkb.is 31.60xausie doll.buying/32.55selling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pib Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I expect there would be the 1% fee charged by Visa or Mastercard (I don't think Bangkok Bank eats this Visa/Mastercard fee) and then a Bangkok Bank 100 baht fee per transaction for a foreign ATM withdrawal. And there will probably be a couple dollars withdrawal fee by bank that owns the ATM. Using the Bangkok Bank ATM/Debit Visa card, you would get the Visa exchange rate which is better than the Mastercard exchange rate and probably any bank offered rate. Really? I would like to see evidence of this. Google a little and read up a little on the 1% foreign transaction fee Visa and Mastercard charges (unless you bank eats that charge)...it's part of the foreign transaction fee most banks charge...and many banks add-on/up the foreign transaction to 2%, 3%, or more.. Click above Bangkok Bank 100 baht fee link and go near the bottom of the page for the Bangkok Bank fee for foreign ATM withdrawals. You've never heard of ATMs charging fees for withdrawal?...quite common in most countries when not withdrawing from your bank's ATM...even occurs here in Thailand after so many withdrawals per month...fortunately, in Thailand the fee is small but in other countries $1.50 to $5 can be charged. Look at many ThaiVisa posts which talk how the Visa exchange rate beats the Mastercard exchange rate and usually beat bank rates (like the topic on Charles Schwab accounts which also has posts comparing Visa/Mastercard/bank exchange rates)...or just go to the Visa and Mastercard exchange rate web pages to compare their rates against bank rates....in other countries, the Thai baht is considered an exotic currency/not used very much outside Thailand/therefore it usually doesn't get a very good exchange rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldsalt Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 <br />wouldnt it be easier to buy with cash[bht] that way there is no charges,in los the diff.between buying and selling is better than anywhere else,i think today bkb.is 31.60xausie doll.buying/32.55selling.<br /><br /><br /><br />Yes, that is what I have always done, but was curious as to how an overseas withdrawal would compare. Thanks to all for all their input - I'll stick with converting baht to Aust. dollars, before I go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiu-Jitsu Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 I expect there would be the 1% fee charged by Visa or Mastercard (I don't think Bangkok Bank eats this Visa/Mastercard fee) and then a Bangkok Bank 100 baht fee per transaction for a foreign ATM withdrawal. And there will probably be a couple dollars withdrawal fee by bank that owns the ATM. Using the Bangkok Bank ATM/Debit Visa card, you would get the Visa exchange rate which is better than the Mastercard exchange rate and probably any bank offered rate. Really? I would like to see evidence of this. Google a little and read up a little on the 1% foreign transaction fee Visa and Mastercard charges (unless you bank eats that charge)...it's part of the foreign transaction fee most banks charge...and many banks add-on/up the foreign transaction to 2%, 3%, or more.. Click above Bangkok Bank 100 baht fee link and go near the bottom of the page for the Bangkok Bank fee for foreign ATM withdrawals. You've never heard of ATMs charging fees for withdrawal?...quite common in most countries when not withdrawing from your bank's ATM...even occurs here in Thailand after so many withdrawals per month...fortunately, in Thailand the fee is small but in other countries $1.50 to $5 can be charged. Look at many ThaiVisa posts which talk how the Visa exchange rate beats the Mastercard exchange rate and usually beat bank rates (like the topic on Charles Schwab accounts which also has posts comparing Visa/Mastercard/bank exchange rates)...or just go to the Visa and Mastercard exchange rate web pages to compare their rates against bank rates....in other countries, the Thai baht is considered an exotic currency/not used very much outside Thailand/therefore it usually doesn't get a very good exchange rate. I sorry, but you post is rather long winded and didn't actually address my request. Perhaps you misunderstood. You are simply wrong in your statement "...Visa exchange rate which is better than the Mastercard exchange rate". I asked to see evidence of this and you did not produce any such thing. But I can: Visa Mastercard Don't just depend on Chinese Whispers, take a look for yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimGant Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 You are simply wrong in your statement "...Visa exchange rate which is better than the Mastercard exchange rate". I asked to see evidence of this and you did not produce any such thing.But I can: Visa Mastercard Don't just depend on Chinese Whispers, take a look for yourself. I suggest, before you go off half-cocked, you run the numbers from the Visa and MC sites you reference. Yes, you'll find a few outliers, but on average, Visa beats MC. I've seen this for some time, as I have both Visa and MC credit and debit cards. I can't explain the difference, but it's there -- and certainly enriches MC's bottom line. See the following thread, posts 296 and 308 for further info. HERE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiu-Jitsu Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 You are simply wrong in your statement "...Visa exchange rate which is better than the Mastercard exchange rate". I asked to see evidence of this and you did not produce any such thing.But I can: Visa Mastercard Don't just depend on Chinese Whispers, take a look for yourself. I suggest, before you go off half-cocked, you run the numbers from the Visa and MC sites you reference. Yes, you'll find a few outliers, but on average, Visa beats MC. I've seen this for some time, as I have both Visa and MC credit and debit cards. I can't explain the difference, but it's there -- and certainly enriches MC's bottom line. See the following thread, posts 296 and 308 for further info. HERE Sorry my friend, but it's just nonsense. I decided to do a comparison. Completed just a few minutes ago. 26.06.11 Mastercard: GBP > Euro Euro 1.131651 Visa: GBP > Euro Euro 1.13082388 Mastercard: GBP > US$1.641799 Visa: GBP > US$ US$1.626145 Was I just lucky today? If I remember I post tomorrows figures too. MasterCard VISA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimGant Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 As I said, there are outliers in the data gathering, and with the dollar currently in free fall, what you saw for July 26th doesn't surprise me. In fact, for July 26th, MC denominated in Sterling would get you 48.3957 baht -- while Visa would realize only 48.3138 (but, for July 25, things were reversed -- 48.16 vs. 48.355). So, you need a larger sample than one day. Here's mine, for US-dollar denominated MC and Visa Credit cards; first number is MC; weekends, which MC doesn't compute, are skipped: 26 July:29.477 29.712 25 July:29.553 29.731 22 July:29.600 29.811 21 July:29.638 29.760 20 July:29.651 29.851 19 July:29.720 30.001 18 July:29.877 30.051 15 July:29.882 29.981 14 July:29.880 30.087 13 July:30.035 30.280 12 July:30.173 30.190 11 July:30.050 30.111 08 July:30.011 30.260 07 July:30.117 30.349 06 July:30.244 30.401 05 July:30.238 30.407 04 July:30.440 30.680 Average for MC: 29.917 baht Average for Visa: 30.071 baht Wud da fug it al meens: Using Visa, on average, will save you .61% with both ATM and POS transactions. In real money, if your Visa activity in Thailand averages $30,000, you're $183 better-off over using a MC with the same bells and whistles (e.g., no fee, ATM refund, etc). Now, for our Limey cousins, I'm certainly not gonna crunch anything but a short sample. April 12 - 15, 2011, looked as if FX was fairly stable, so a pull of those numbers (with baht per GBP), with, again, MC numbers first: 12 April:48.606 49.007 13 April:48.625 48.910 14 April:48.759 48.900 15 April:48.774 49.040 Average for MC: 48.691 Average for Visa: 48.964 Meaning, you'll be .56% better-off using Visa (at least according to this short sample). Probably something similar, if you're South African or Serbian. You'll have to crunch your own numbers, however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pib Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 I have Visa and Mastercard debit and credit cards, and without a doubt Visa provides a better exchange regarding the Baht/USD exchange rate at least the great majority of time...and based on the days I've done money withdrawals or POS, I probably should say it was almost or 100% of the time. I'm basing my answer on the Visa Exchange rate webpage and the Mastercard Exchange rate webpage....and what charges actually hit my US checking account. It's easy...Visa exchange rate wins over the Mastercard exchange rate for Thai/USD. In closing this post, I just went to the Visa and Mastercard exchange rate pages and the Bangkok Bank currency exchange rate page to check rates at this point in time. Results were Visa was the clear winner over Mastercard, and Visa even had a better rate than the bank TT Buying rate you get for wire transfers. And these results are routine...and I expect it works out this way for most/all currencies. Visa: 29.625 Baht/USD MC: 29.455 Baht/USD BB TT Rate: 29.61 Baht/USD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimGant Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Results were Visa was the clear winner over Mastercard, and Visa even had a better rate than the bank TT Buying rate Yes. Pulling more average data from the spreadsheet I used above, Visa was 30.07; MC was 29.89; TT was 30.00; and the BOT Interbank Exchange Rate (IER) was 30.14. So, Visa was right in the middle between TT and IER, while MC averaged 11 satang *below* TT -- putting it almost exactly in the same ballpark as ACHing $10,000 to BB, where you receive the TT rate, less the $10 front end, and 500bt back end fees. But clearly both MC and Visa realize the same IER other large financial operations experience. Why the reported lesser FX rates? Well, both are milking a self-induced spread -- it's just that MC executives apparently have bigger yachts to pay for. Another observation. Visa's daily rate is 12 hours ahead of MC's. In fact, the Visa Exchange Rate website just switched to July 28 at 11:00AM Thai time -- or the beginning of July 28 New York time. The MC Exchange Rate won't switch to July 28 until tonight, Thai time. Which means -- when the dollar is falling, Visa's earlier closing saves you even more money over MC, assuming your cards are denominated in dollars. Example: On 26 July, as the dollar continued heading south, the spread between MC and Visa was 24 satang -- 6 satang greater than average. This works the other way too, of course. In Jiu's example, above, where his cards were in Sterling, and his purchases in dollars -- the later closing of MC meant more dollars in the exchange compared to Visa. That's why you need a sample larger than 1 to smooth FX volatility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pib Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 I sorry, but you post is rather long winded and didn't actually address my request. Perhaps you misunderstood. You are simply wrong in your statement "...Visa exchange rate which is better than the Mastercard exchange rate". I asked to see evidence of this and you did not produce any such thing. But I can: Visa Mastercard Don't just depend on Chinese Whispers, take a look for yourself. Take a look at above posts. But referring back to the OP's post where he was going to use his Bangkok Bank Visa Debit card to get Australian dollars, from using the Visa and Mastercard exchange sites with Thai Baht as the Base Currency since he using his Bangkok Bank debit card and using 27 May, 27 Apr and 25 Mar 11 as the selected dates as a random sample over three months (started at 27 May backward since MC had no data for the Thai Baht as a base currency from 28 May forward), I got the following results "as to how many Thai baht it would cost him to buy each AUD." 27 May: Visa 32.286 baht MC 32.493 baht 27 Apr: Visa 32.243 baht MC 32.417 baht 25 May: Visa 30.936 baht MC 31.061 (would have used 27 May but MC had no data for that Sunday, or Saturday, so I backed up to Friday, 25 May 11 for both cards) So, for the OP in using his Thai debit card to get Australian dollars, he would pay "less" baht per AUD by using a Visa card compared to Mastercard card. (i.e., the Visa card is giving a better exchange rate, his Bangkok Bank account would be hit with a lower baht charge). The rates above are based on a 0% foreign transaction fee card. I expect Visa (or Mastercard) does pass along to the customer the 1% foreign transaction fee versus eating the fee like some banks do (I doubt Bangkok Bank eats this fee). And Bangkok Banks also charges the 100 baht per foreign transaction per their web site. But referring back to the core question of exchange rate, when using a Thai bank debit card to get AUD, it appears based on the three random dates I choose that Visa provides a better exchange rate than MC. Now remember, above example is based on "buying AUD" and not buying Baht....therefore a lower baht number is better, a lower baht charge hits your Thai bank account, which actually means a higher exchange rate. And those other things I mentioned about foreign transaction fees by Visa/Mastercard, most ATMs charging a fee for using a ATM/Debit card which is not issued by their bank (like a Bangkok Bank card sliding into a an Aussie ATM) can all apply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiu-Jitsu Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Looking at your figures, they appear to be correct. My sample was more random and possibly skewed by the closing times. So I concede. Thanks for taking the time to present your case. It's a moot point for me personally, as the only cards that I have that don't tamper with the exchange rate or pass on fees are Mastercards. The VISA card that I have passes on the 1% charge from VISA outside Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimGant Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Jiu, haven't seen lately any recommendations on this forum for the best plastic available for Brits or Continentals. What's your take? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.png.3b3332cc2256ad0edbc2fe9404feeef0.png)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now