How much has Trump?

[banglampu]

My friends arrive in a couple of weeks on a year retirement stay.

They asked if there are any UK Banks doing free to use ATM cards anymore.

Know the Nationwide has stopped it now.

If none, who's possibly the best Bank for them to use now. May even get them to open me one !

Thanks

[xybadog]

No free bank cards I know of present, they're all clamping down because of the current climate.

I find the FairFX travel money card is much better than bank cards. I use one every time I come to LoS. I just transfer money from my bank account whenever I need to, online. The charges are much better than the banks charges, imo and experience. If using the atm's to withdraw money you can, in some Thai banks atm's (e.g. krungsri, or Bank of Ayudhya (the yellow ones)), you can opt to select FairFX's own exchange rate for the transaction which is usually a lot better than the atm owning bank normally offers.

This is my experience anyway and I never use my banks cards anywhere overseas as I know I get a good deal with the FairFX card. Other travel money cards are available but in my experience this one is the best and it's also highly rated on moneysavingexpert.com, that's where I first heard about it.

[endure]

The Halifax Clarity Credit Card is the best deal at the moment. 0% foreign transaction fees and 12.9% per annum interest so if you draw 10000bt today and switch 10000bt from your bank into your Halifax CC account tomorrow you'll pay pennies at the most. I used it to draw 90,0000bt on my last hol and paid a total of £1.24 in charges. Can't guarantee how long it will last though...

[CharlieH]

Santander had a zero credit card, and Norwich & Peterboough B.S do free foreign transactions.

If you use an AEON machine in Thailand they dont charge the 150 baht fee.

Best method to avoid the 150 baht fee is go inside the bank and hand over your card and passport and ask them to do a manual transaction.

They'll then run the card through and you can get as much cash as your card can stand and not the daily limit imposed by most banks.

[x5david]

I hope not...if I have to pay to use my US card then you Brits should do likewise...

[nong38]

Metrobank. Metrobank-online.co.uk but only in the London area at the moment. Good news is they issue the cards in the branch and they put you in front of the screen to put in your own security details, so you dont have to wait for security to arrive seperately in the post then make the changes. No charges for foreign withdrawals. Limit is £300 a day.

[Pib]

I hope not...if I have to pay to use my US card then you Brits should do likewise...

Switch banks like apparently the OP is thinking about. Schwab and State Farm Banks, just to mention two, offer zero percent foreign transactions fee Visa debit cards. CapOne also offers a zero percent foreign transaction fee Mastercard debit card but it apparently only works on the Cirrus network which AEON ATMs do not use but Thai bank ATMs do use the Cirrus network among others. And all three banks mentioned reimburse for any ATM fee up to a certain amount (or unlimited) like the 150 baht foreign card fee charged by Thai banks. As reflected in other posts there are other U.S. banks/credit unions out there other than the ones I mentioned which also offer zero percent foreign transaction fee cards, but there seems to be fewer of them each day and everyone may not be able to join depending on membership requirements.

Banks are like any other product/service regardless of the country; sometimes a person needs to change banks to get the best deal....that's exactly what I did earlier in the year by opening Schwab and State Farm bank accounts. Hopefully the OP will find some UK banks which do provide a better deal.

[chris5346]

you have to be careful with credit cards offering zero fees they usually charge approx. 20% interest for cash,

luckely they structure the debt putting the cash at the top so if you make a manual payment as soon as possible interest can be avoided.

i have a santander zero credit card but i notice they have just stopped doing those unless your an existing customer ?

maybe worth opening a current account with them ?

i think halifax also have a clarity card which looks similar.

i do cash advances using my passport as mentioned above and with online banking you can pay off asap to avoid any extras.

with cash advances i think that the conversion is done using the thai bank TT rate ? rates vary but i find scb usually the best.