Does Kasikorn Realy Have The Best Foreign Exchange Rate ?

[Swiss1960]

It's BAHT people, you take a bath, you exchange currency into baht

Not if Sandman is in the money laundering business... might just be a Freudian slip....

[puck2]

TallguyJohninBKK - #25

.......

The exchange rates for ATM withdrawals from Thai banks generally are done using the standard VISA or MC network rates. On the same day and at the same general time, pretty much all the different Thai banks ATMs will produce the same exchange rate for someone using the same bank card at each of them.

In other words, with few exceptions that don't apply to Kasikorn, Thai banks don't set their own individual exchange rates for ATM withdrawals -- unlike when you wire funds into Thailand or try to exchange your home country cash at the Thai bank, where the rates are set from bank to bank and do vary somewhat.

1+ That are the bare essentials.

For OP's unprecise question "Does Kasikorn Realy Have The Best Foreign Exchange Rate ?" you can never get a precise/correct answer. Because it depends on ..., it depends on, ... it depends on.... .

If you draw the money out of a Bangkok Bank-, Kasikorn- Siam Commercial Bank- or XY- ATM at the same time of
the day here in Thailand, it's every time the same VISA- or MC-rate. I can confirm this because I did it on a Krungthai- and Kasikorn Bank-ATM by a Visacard within only a few minutes difference.

Therefore, if you use your card at an ATM there is no difference in general. Hold in mind what Swiss 1960 wrote:

.... the fees for the transaction are to be completely separated from the exchange rate theme. Since the fees are very bank specific, ....

For card-users in Thailand there is only one thing to consider: does the ATM-Bank charge a fee of 150 THB or not. The card issuing bank , VISA or MASTERS are the main players not the Thai banks. Concerning the fees all depends on the terms of the card issuing bank.Visa and MC are responsible for the date of processed transaction.

VISA -->

"Rates apply to the date the transaction was processed by Visa; this may differ from the actual date of the transaction."

MC -->

".....
The exchange rate that is applied to a transaction is the exchange rate as of the day of settlement which is the day that MasterCard determines the settlement amount to be exchanged between the acquirer and the issuer. The settlement date is therefore typically different from the date of the actual transaction."

This isn't yet a complete enumeration of all conditions with influence on the (best?) exchange rate. Some keywords, already discussed here on TV

- money transfer or ATM

- SuperRich

- big or small amounts

- ATM fees, transfer fees

- cash over the counter

- DCC rates

- AEON

[Swiss1960]

Puck2: You are right when you say that the Card Issuing Bank, VISA and MC are (normally) the main players. But for the complete picture, remember this when you use your card (credit or debit) to withdraw money:

The Issuing bank may or may not use the VISA / MC rates. Their are banks in Switzerland that use their special rates for major currencies which are even better than the VISA / MC rates.

The Issuing bank may or may not put a mark-up on the exchange rate of VISA / MC. In Switzerland, those mark-up vary from bank to bank and product to product and I find everything from 0.9% to 2.5%

The Issuing bank may or may not have a fixed fee for cash advance transactions. In Switzerland, I find everything from 5 to 15 Swiss francs.

And finally: The ATM owning bank might offer Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC, as you mentioned) and depending on the fees of the Issuing bank, you might even get almost the same charge on your card / bank account as if you let your Issuing bank do the conversion.

Before using whatever card abroad, you really have to look into the small print of your card contract and find out what you will be charged and how you will be charged for transactions abroad. In Switzerland, there are card products that should never be used abroad, otherwise the issuing bank will rip you off with their fees and mark-ups and exchange rates.

[Marlow999]

Really interesting, not to say informative post. I sure I remember doing something in November last year also, if I can recall what it was I certainly won't post about it.

By the way, if you really want the best rate for your Bath you might try a plumbers merchant.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

This isn't yet a complete enumeration of all conditions with influence on the (best?) exchange rate.

It can seem complicated, but there are some common and broad guidelines that generally apply:

--When using a foreign bank card in Thailand, always try to use the AEON ATMs as they're the only ones that broadly don't charge the 150 baht withdrawal fee on foreign card withdrawals.

--If the card user is using a no foreign currency fee home country bank card, combining that with withdrawing the funds from an AEON ATM generally will produce a better exchange rate/net return on funds (inclusive of all fees) than almost any available international wire transfer.

--If the card user doesn't have access to a no foreign currency fee home country bank card, then the comparison with wire transfer costs gets more complicated and elusive. It's going to depend on what kind of fees the card is charging vs. what kind of wire transfer fees the sending and receiving banks are charging.

--If you're an American or UK native handling an incoming international funds transfer from there to Thailand, the most cost effective route is to use the special transfer facility that BKK Bank has set up. For Americans, that means ACHing the funds to BKK Bank's New York Branch, which then sends them onward to your BKK Bank account in Thailand -- for small fees that beat almost any regular wire transfer (but not a no fee card combined with an AEON ATM).

--Be aware that in using most any Thai bank credit or debit cards, they basically have no consumer fraud protections guaranteed by law that will help you in the event fraudulent charges or ATM withdrawals are made against your account. The lack of those protections here is a stark contast with the very substantial ones in many farangs' home countries.

--For everything I've mentioned above that's going to be true 99% of the time, there's always going to be the possibility that someone somewhere will find an example that runs contrary to those general, prevailing rules.

Edited March 19, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[hansje1980]

thanks lefty

[falang07]

 

If you have a FCD account with a Thai bank then you can transfer your foreign currency into a Thai baht account on-line at the TT rate, there are no fees. Transfer money to a FCD account from an overseas bank is just that and is subject to fees by one or both banks. Use a FX trader and there are no fees you get the rate they offer you.

 

Yes, but there are some fees when you transfer from abroad to FCD in Thailand, I think about 1% in total.

EDITED: only for cash deposits/withdrawals, wire transfers should be as follows:

0.25% of total deposit amount

- In case of fee paid by baht , the minimum fee is 200 baht, the maximum fee is 500

- In case of fee paid by foreign currency, the minimum fee is 10 USD , the maximum fee is 25 USD

http://www.kasikornbank.com/EN/Personal/BankAccounts/FCD/Pages/ForNonResidentAccount.aspx

Edited August 6, 2013 by falang07