Atm Withdrawal

[Ticketmaster]

There have been a lot of posts asking what the best ATM withdrawal combination is to bring money from a foreign account to LOS. I thought I would post my experience.

I just got my first U.S. Social Security deposit to my Charles Schwab Bank High Yield Investors checking account. I have a Charles Schwab Bank VISA Platinum PLUS debit card for that account. As many of you know, Schwab will refund all international ATM charges at the end of the month. I decided to use an Aeon ATM as I have heard they have the lowest fees and do not want to cost Schwab more than necessary.

I went to the Aeon machine and withdrew 30,000 baht (all at once). I went on line and Schwab showed a debit of $990.33, so I got 30.29 baht to the dollar. There was no evidence of any ATM charge on either the Aeon slip or in my Schwab account. I checked the Interbank rate for the day, which was 30.44 Baht to the dollar, so it looks like I got about 1% under the posted interbank rate for the day.

Bangkok Bank's TT rate was also 30.29 baht to the dollar, which is what I would have gotten if I had Schwab wire it to my account through the BBK NY branch. Schwab will wire free but there would have been an annoying $10 charge by the BBK NY Branch and a 200 baht fee to receive the funds in my Thai account.

Bottom line: I got an extra 503 baht using the above method, and it was instant. BBK would also have taken a day or two during which the exchange rate could change. This method saves all the bank charges, though if you are bringing over a million baht, it could prove cumbersome. But for monthly withdrawals, it seems like the ticket.

[sas_cars]

You get the visa exchange rates as per this link http://corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_services/consumer_ex_rates.jsp and I guess 30.29 is the correct VISA exchange rate for US$ today.

Do not use any other interbank sites to determine exchange rates.

[Pib]

Those interbank rate links are wholesale/BIG customer rates...it not what the common man gets in wire transfers, ATM withdrawals, etc. It best just to look at something like the Visa or MasterCard exchange rate (with no bank fees applied) and/or the Thai Bank TT Buying Rate to get a feel for the exchange rates.

I too use the method of using "no foreign transaction fee" debit cards (one of them is a Schwab Visa debit card but its my secondary debit card) to get my day-to-day living money in Thailand...haven't done a wire/SWIFT/ACH transfer going on two years now. Use an AEON ATM since they do not apply a foreign card fee (I don't want my home country banks having to reimburse me...I don't want to help kill the reimbursement golden goose), the money immediately spits out the ATM slot, and for some of that money I walk around the corner in the mall to my Thai bank Cash Deposit Machine, insert the money, get it deposited to my Thai bank account so I can use my Thai bank debit card, pay bills via my Thai bank ibanking, etc. Wow, one machine gives me money and another takes it....guess we live in the machine age now.

[55Jay]

Pretty cool, huh! Almost don't want to talk about it too much as some greedy banker might find out and think we are getting away with something.

BTW, just did 2 (large) wires a few weeks ago and Bangkok Bank NY nicked $20 for handling. So it was $14 from my credit union to send, $20 for BKB NY then the 500 baht max receiving into Baht account. Had to be done but for normal living, yep, Aeon/Schwab pulls then step around the corner and dump it into the local BKB account.

J

[Pib]

Pretty cool, huh! Almost don't want to talk about it too much as some greedy banker might find out and think we are getting away with something.

BTW, just did 2 (large) wires a few weeks ago and Bangkok Bank NY nicked $20 for handling. So it was $14 from my credit union to send, $20 for BKB NY then the 500 baht max receiving into Baht account. Had to be done but for normal living, yep, Aeon/Schwab pulls then step around the corner and dump it into the local BKB account.

J

Durn Jay, you are transferring some BIG money now...can I come live with you?

[55Jay]

Pretty cool, huh! Almost don't want to talk about it too much as some greedy banker might find out and think we are getting away with something.

BTW, just did 2 (large) wires a few weeks ago and Bangkok Bank NY nicked $20 for handling. So it was $14 from my credit union to send, $20 for BKB NY then the 500 baht max receiving into Baht account. Had to be done but for normal living, yep, Aeon/Schwab pulls then step around the corner and dump it into the local BKB account.

J

Durn Jay, you are transferring some BIG money now...can I come live with you?

Same same you did. It's done (I hope) so just the ATM runs now and again.

Hey, picked up the new Tuna in BKK last week so you know where some of that "big money" ended up. The Mrs. just loves her new car.

I'm happily bouncing down the road in our '03 Sportcruiser with cassette tape deck, and my tape collection following me around the world in boxes all these years amazingly still work. BTW, the Sport C has SATNAV.....just before I turn right I say out loud to myself, "Ding~ in 50 meters, turn cua.

Cheers, Pib.

J