Going to Vietnam....is better to change Baht to Dong in Bangkok or Saigon?

[smokie36]

As the title says should I change before I leave on Friday or wait until I get there?

Thanks for your help as always!

[LawrenceChee]

Much better rates there by the sights or small guesthouse ...just don't change at the 5 star hotels

[jellydog]

Smokie-I tried to change baht for dong at the main SuperRich downtown and the guy there laughed at me, saying "there is no dong in Bangkok".

[smokie36]

Thanks....will change when I get there.

[GreenSnapper]

Why change money? Just use the ATMs as everybody does.

[IMA_FARANG]

Do not change in Saigon, the rate will be poor.

Also many banks do not want Thai baht .... possible to do but they much prefer Dollars, Pounds or Euro.

Best thing to do, if you have time, is to buy one of those three currencies in Bangkok, take that to Vietnam, and change it there for Dong.

Because Baht is not one of the "preferred" top 3 international currencies, you will get a slightly lower rate changing it to Dong than using one of those 3 currencies I mentioned above.

Also, I have seen the exchange desks at both of the airports in Thailand being "temporarily out" of Dong before when you are getting ready to fly.

In Vietnam, on arrival at the airport, the preferred exchange currency is always one of those three .... Dollars, Pounds, or Euro.

So buy one of them in Thailand from a bank or exchange place first, then change that currency for Dong on arrival in Vietnam.

If you have a Thai (Bangkok Bank anyway) ATM/debit card (I have a Bangkok Bank Be1st card) you can use that in any ATM machine in Vietnam that shows the CIRRUS (cloud) symbol to get Dong from your Bangkok Bank account.

The fee is between 20K and 30K dong .... less than $2 per transaction.

However, if you use your Thai ATM/debit card in a Vietnamese ATM, you will NOT get a receipt showing your balance in Baht.

The reason is that the Vietnamese government restricts the direct connection of the two banking systems. Although you ATM transaction will be fine, it has to clear manually through a Vietnamese government bank first.

So the receipt you get from an ATM will show the amount you got in Dong, but will NOT show the balance in your Thai account left after the ATM withdrawal.

If you make ATM withdrawals in Dong from your Thai bank, just DON'T be surprised when your receipt shows your balance remaining as 00000.

Your money is still there.

I've done several ATM transactions form my Thai (Bangkok Bank) account by ATM card, and the first time I nearly had a heart attack when my balance remaining showed all zeros on the ATM receipt.

Edited June 23, 2013 by IMA_FARANG

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

^^^Good post.

Another thing to be aware of, many Viet bank ATMs will only allow you to take out $100/200,000 dong at a time. I know Sacombank is an exception. My experiences in accessing my Canadian accounts were in the Mekong Delta 2011-2012. Also, try not to take out too much because at the end of the trip, you don't want to be left with hundreds of thousands of useless dong.

Edited June 23, 2013 by Kaoboi Bebobp

[MyFriend You]

^^^Good post.

Another thing to be aware of, many Viet bank ATMs will only allow you to take out $100/200,000 dong at a time. I know Sacombank is an exception. My experiences in accessing my Canadian accounts were in the Mekong Delta 2011-2012. Also, try not to take out too much because at the end of the trip, you don't want to be left with hundreds of thousands of useless dong.

I travel to Vietnam four five time's a year, Saccom Bank is the best for ATM's but I only use the ones in open public places, never an ATM in even a five star hotel, But back on track, the Gold dealers love Thai Baht as well as any other currency you can change it in any of them. Saccom Bank will also let you draw a lot more on your Credit cards - I drew $10,000 in Dong on my Bank debitt card once in five seperate transactions at the same day (down payment on an apartment)........charged me 100,000 dong - about $5.00.................

[ttwitt]

not worth going through a third currency http://www.vietcombank.com.vn/ExchangeRates/?lang=en you also got limitations on how much baht you can ship abroad,

edit: looks about 4% on baht and f-all on dollars so if you can get big denomination dollars at a good price may be worth while.

at 10000 dollars in cash/person out of thailand and you start to run into money laundering.

edit: i think hes gone already.

Edited July 2, 2013 by ttwitt