I've recently had to transfer 450kTHB from SCB in Bangkok to SCB in Chiang Mai. Not really to my surprise I was charged 470B in fees, as if they place a courier on the bus or in the train to carry the money in person. Ridiculous.

Questions:

1) is there a bank in Thailand, that facilitates domestic transfers within the same bank for free, as it would do regional?

2) is there a bank in Thailand, that allows ATM withdrawals anywhere without a fee if not in the "home region"

3) would there be a difference if using a cashier cheque rather than transferring directly?

Alternatively one would have to carry the money in person to avoid ridiculous charges.

Thanks!

1)

Bangkok bank, only when using iBanking (their internet banking system), free for the first 5 transfers/month, any more transaction will be 10 Baht/transaction.

Maximum amount you can transfer online in one day is 500,000.

2)

AFAIK there are no banks offer inter region free withdrawals. I remeber people posting about TMB cards being free to use inter region, but cannot find anything on their site (mostly Thai language only).

3)

With Bkk bank you only pay 20 Baht for a Cashier cheque, BUT cashing it in outside of the region it was issued they charge 20 Baht per 10,000!!! Even within region they still charge 10 Baht per 10,000. The only place to cash it in without fees is in the branch it was issued!

In short, if often transferring larger amounts up to 500,000 Baht/day across Thailand, use Bangkok bank and get their iBanking.

Unfortunately, in all other situations, cash is the only free way to move money around this place.

Bangkok Bank should be commended for being the first giving a real incentive for using their internet banking system. Hopefully other banks are going to follow as well.

Now, if other banks would be so good to move over to EMV (chip & Pin) ATM cards and machines, like Bangkok bank did a long while ago, banking would be a fair bit safer in Thailand!

Thanks monty!

I found the info about BKK Bank after I posted this. May be the only option in the moment to move money around without getting ripped off. I have an old account with them, this makes it worthwhile to reactivate.

Interesting point with the cashier cheques too....I checked several banks / list of fees, they only mention the 20B. Good info with the additional charges when cashing in. Guess I will rather bring a couple of these 1 million Baht bricks around next time, instead of feeding the banks!