Upcoming Year, Better To Carry Usd Or Use Atm?

[bangkokburning]

OK, planning on carrying about 5K in withe me this year

This is due to the B500 fee SCB will charge me in addition to the crappy and arbitrary rate hey will give me.

BUT...dollar is strengthening and at the looks of Europe, will continue to do so.

Gamblers and fortune tellers....am I better of simply doing monthly pulls on an AEON ATM?

thanks

[gk10002000]

I think USD will increase a bit more against the baht so I would not exchange all the USD right now. $5,000 USD won't make a big big difference either way. Take the middle road. Bring 4,000 cash, then take out 1,000 ATM later If needed in one transaction. Check the ATM withdrawal limits. Some machines over there only give out 20,000 baht.

[MrRealDeal]

Just bring cash and use atm only if it's a better deal ...... NO atm will give you 1000 usd ..... they are limited to 20 bills so ALL atms can only give a maximum of 20,000 and that assumes they have 20 1000 bills.

[yoshiwara]

Flash the cash.

[CMSteve]

No need to bring the cash. Aeon ATM's will allow upto 40K Baht per pull and the exchange is "ok".

[pomchop]

Just bring cash and use atm only if it's a better deal ...... NO atm will give you 1000 usd ..... they are limited to 20 bills so ALL atms can only give a maximum of 20,000 and that assumes they have 20 1000 bills.

not true...i have gotten 40,000 baht per a single withdrawal several times from AEON atms on several occassions...

[dddave]

Check with home banks. TD Bank North absorbes all my international ATM fee's as long as I maintain a $2500.00 balance. Charles Schwab also has a checking account detailed many times on this forum that does not pass on international ATM fees nor any fees of their own.

[KHR1010]

I think USD will increase a bit more against the baht so I would not exchange all the USD right now. $5,000 USD won't make a big big difference either way. Take the middle road. Bring 4,000 cash, then take out 1,000 ATM later If needed in one transaction. Check the ATM withdrawal limits. Some machines over there only give out 20,000 baht.

This is per transaction at some banks, after taking your cash and card, if you put the card back into the ATM and punch in your pin you can do more transactions up to the limit your bank has set on your card. On many occasions I have pulled out 60K, but had to do 3 separate transactions. Aeon, Standard Chartered, and HSBC (before they closed) give out more than 20K per transaction in my experience.

[mogoso]

I used a couple of different atm cards last time. My PNC card no transaction fees on their end just the 150 baht the Thai Banks charge. My Chase atm was a different story, the 150 baht for Thai Banks, $5 non Chase atm fee and the kicker a 5% money exchange fee. I'd always used my PNC exclusively till then and will for future uses, but will never use Chase again

[55Jay]

1. Open Capital One, CS, State Farm, get ATM card with no foreign exhange fee and reimbursement of local ATM fees (150 Baht, etc).

2. Transfer USD in the above mentioned account before you travel, then use the ATM - Aeon nice as it relieves them of some paybacks, don't kill the goose laying golden egg.

Just returned from 1 mo LOS and for some reason this time, AEON (Korat Mall) wouldn't work for me, so relegated to SCB/BB/K. Didn't try Pattaya AEONs later on during the visit, meant to, didn't make it down that way.

This time, unlike past visits, after accepting the 150 Baht fee at a non-Aeon ATM, next screen that came up was asking me if I wanted to use that bank's foreign exhange rate and have my debit done in USD at their rate. I had not seen this dynamic forex scam at ATMs before, while well aware of it with farang credit cards for THB transactions. ATM was pimping a 30.2 forex rate! >>>Push the option button to proceed with the transaction without the exhange, and let your US bank do it.

Worked back my ATMs on line afterward and was pulling 31.X varying day to day based on Int'l forex. Would of cost me roughly $10.00 more per transaction (on 10k THB) if using the ATM's offered forex. Don't fall for the dynamic forex scam. The ATM may be old news for in-country residents, I just hadn't seen it on ATMs before this trip.

J

Edited June 6, 2012 by 55Jay

[JimGant]

so relegated to SCB/BB/K.

Jay, which bank's ATM did you use that gave you the Dynamic Currency Conversion option? Also, was the debit/ATM card MasterCard or Visa logoed? Or if a straight ATM card, was it Plus or Cirrus networked?

Just curious, because a few years back on this forum, if I recall correctly, MC/Cirrus, not Visa/Plus, were the only cards subject to the ATM DCC ripoff. Also, have not seen any reports of Bangkok Bank ATMs offering the DCC option -- so just wondering if that might be (one of) the bank(s) you used......

Thanx.

[BigRick]

Cash and you can use the Siam commercial exchange next to the Art Museum across from Siam Paragon about 100m before the bridge. It beats Superich on the rates not by much but I they had the best rates I have seen in the 2 years I have lived in Bkk.

[55Jay]

so relegated to SCB/BB/K.

Jay, which bank's ATM did you use that gave you the Dynamic Currency Conversion option? Also, was the debit/ATM card MasterCard or Visa logoed? Or if a straight ATM card, was it Plus or Cirrus networked?

Just curious, because a few years back on this forum, if I recall correctly, MC/Cirrus, not Visa/Plus, were the only cards subject to the ATM DCC ripoff. Also, have not seen any reports of Bangkok Bank ATMs offering the DCC option -- so just wondering if that might be (one of) the bank(s) you used......

Thanx.

so relegated to SCB/BB/K.

Jay, which bank's ATM did you use that gave you the Dynamic Currency Conversion option? Also, was the debit/ATM card MasterCard or Visa logoed? Or if a straight ATM card, was it Plus or Cirrus networked?

Just curious, because a few years back on this forum, if I recall correctly, MC/Cirrus, not Visa/Plus, were the only cards subject to the ATM DCC ripoff. Also, have not seen any reports of Bangkok Bank ATMs offering the DCC option -- so just wondering if that might be (one of) the bank(s) you used......

Thanx.

Jim, Cap 1 MC debit/atm card with checking acct. I'm looking at the back now, doesn't have a logo for Cirrus or Plus. Primarily used SCB after Aeon didn't work first couple tries in Korat, BB and a K in there too later on down in Pattaya, same same happened. Note on Aeon: No prob with the Cap 1 card at Aeon Korat and Pattaya last trip, not sure why it wouldn't go this time. Tried both Aeons in Korat mall - the one on the wall and the stand alone out in the main walkway, nada, so gritted my teeth, muttered expletives and walked over to SCB.

Now that I think about it, the previous trip (Fall 2011) used Aeon exclusively with the then new CAP1 card so I guess I wouldn't have known if dynamic CC option was somehow linked to using a MC logo'd atm card at non-Aeon ATMs. Previously, between 2005 and 2011 when I didn't have CAP1 acct and didn't know about Aeon, was using a US/Visa logo'd debit/atm card on PLUS and do not recall a DCC option screen, 150 fee yes.

Regards,

J

Edited June 7, 2012 by 55Jay

[JimGant]

Primarily used SCB after Aeon didn't work first couple tries in Korat, BB and a K in there too later on down in Pattaya, same same happened.

So, SCB was the Dynamic Currency Conversion culprit? Also, Bangkok Bank?

Not sure why your card wouldn't work in Aeon. There was some discussion on this forum a few years back on certain cards/networks not working in an Aeon machine. Can't recall the specifics, however.

[55Jay]

Primarily used SCB after Aeon didn't work first couple tries in Korat, BB and a K in there too later on down in Pattaya, same same happened.

So, SCB was the Dynamic Currency Conversion culprit? Also, Bangkok Bank?

Not sure why your card wouldn't work in Aeon. There was some discussion on this forum a few years back on certain cards/networks not working in an Aeon machine. Can't recall the specifics, however.

Yep.

Aeon worked previously, may of just been a glitch when I tried on that day. Did feel bad sticking CAP1 with a number of 150 fees over a month's time.

Take care,

J

[bangkokburning]

Thanks for all your replies - I have been so busy. Was not aware I can pull so much cash out of the Aeon ATM. So I guess I will bring in maybe 4.5K and wd the rest as needed, as the EU tanks, my hunch is USD will strengthen.

Need to check abt max wd from my acct in US with brokerage. This is the conumdrum, I like low limits if the card is ever ripped off.

thx -

ps: I like SuperRich, good steady best rate and no problems ever with notes.