No Fee Banking in Thailand Via Thai Banks

[isawasnake]

I saw the other new thread on banking for Americans, and I wanted to start a mini one on a question I have had for a while. Or a couple questions.

1) What is the best Thai bank to use, if any, to avoid atm fees. For instance, if you set an account up here in BKK, and travel to Chiang Mai, there is usually a fee at the atm to get your money. Any banks NOT have this fee?

2) Any Thai banks NOT charge the annual ~300 baht for simply having an ATM card?

3) What are the best no annual fee credit cards given by Thai banks, that seem to come with the perks such as points/free cash etc?

Any other no fee Thai banking tips/questions/info welcomed, and appreciated.

Edited July 16, 2013 by isawasnake

[AnotherOneAmerican]

TMB do not charge ATM fees, no matter whose ATM you use or where it is.

They do charge 10bht a month for instant SMS notifications of transactions, which is very useful.

[Pib]

TMB do not charge ATM fees, no matter whose ATM you use or where it is.

They do charge 10bht a month for instant SMS notifications of transactions, which is very useful.

Are you saying that if I have a TMB account/debit card say issued from a TMB branch in Bangkok and I go to a Bangkok Bank, SCB, K-Bank, etc., ATM say in Pattaya that the Bangkok Bank, SCB, K-Bank, etc., ATM will not charge me a 20 baht fee for using their ATM to get money from my TMB bank account?

[AnotherOneAmerican]

TMB do not charge ATM fees, no matter whose ATM you use or where it is.

They do charge 10bht a month for instant SMS notifications of transactions, which is very useful.

Are you saying that if I have a TMB account/debit card say issued from a TMB branch in Bangkok and I go to a Bangkok Bank, SCB, K-Bank, etc., ATM say in Pattaya that the Bangkok Bank, SCB, K-Bank, etc., ATM will not charge me a 20 baht fee for using their ATM to get money from my TMB bank account?

Yep, no fees for other banks ATMs, no fees for other province ATMs.

And you can wave your ATM card at the guard on Army bases and go in to use the 'on base' ATM machine.

(TMB = Thai Military Bank)

[isawasnake]

TMB do not charge ATM fees, no matter whose ATM you use or where it is.

They do charge 10bht a month for instant SMS notifications of transactions, which is very useful.

Are you saying that if I have a TMB account/debit card say issued from a TMB branch in Bangkok and I go to a Bangkok Bank, SCB, K-Bank, etc., ATM say in Pattaya that the Bangkok Bank, SCB, K-Bank, etc., ATM will not charge me a 20 baht fee for using their ATM to get money from my TMB bank account?

Yep, no fees for other banks ATMs, no fees for other province ATMs.

And you can wave your ATM card at the guard on Army bases and go in to use the 'on base' ATM machine.

(TMB = Thai Military Bank)

Is there a 300 baht annual fee for the issuance of the TMB atm card?

Thanks for the info btw.

[Pib]

TMB do not charge ATM fees, no matter whose ATM you use or where it is.

They do charge 10bht a month for instant SMS notifications of transactions, which is very useful.

Are you saying that if I have a TMB account/debit card say issued from a TMB branch in Bangkok and I go to a Bangkok Bank, SCB, K-Bank, etc., ATM say in Pattaya that the Bangkok Bank, SCB, K-Bank, etc., ATM will not charge me a 20 baht fee for using their ATM to get money from my TMB bank account?

Yep, no fees for other banks ATMs, no fees for other province ATMs.

And you can wave your ATM card at the guard on Army bases and go in to use the 'on base' ATM machine.

(TMB = Thai Military Bank)

I just went to their web site and looked at the fees for their for their various debit cards. There are fees for withdrawing from non-TMB ATMs and it varies by debit card they issue. From looking at what I think is their "premier/best/lowest fee" debit card it does not charge withdrawal fees at any TMB ATM in Thailand. However, it appears fees of 10 or 20 baht are charged for intra-region and inter-region withdrawals from non-TMB ATMs. And there is a 10 baht fee when using a non-TMB ATM to check you balance at another bank. Here is the Link...you'll need to have Google Translate turned on since the TMB English pages are pretty minimal.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

No bank has charged me an annual fee (BKB, SCB, TMB), apart from the initial startup fee of 300bht for my first bank book and ATM card.

As far as I know.

The TMB card ATM slips always have a 0.00 on the fee line.

Savings account has no ATM fees. http://www.tmbbank.com/personal/deposits/savings/savings-en.php

Pib's link was to a "Baht Zero" account, not a normal "savings account".

Edited July 16, 2013 by AnotherOneAmerican

[Pib]

I can't speak for SCB or TMB without looking at their fee webpages, but Bangkok Bank charges a 200 baht annual fee for their ATM or debit card. This is a pretty standard fee for at least "most" ATM/debit cards issued by Thai banks. See this Bangkok Bank Link under the Debit and ATM Cards section. No google translate needed as Bangkok Bank English language web pages and level of detail provided puts other Thai bank websites to shame. The Thai wife and I have had Bangkok Bank accounts/debit cards for many years and the 200 baht fee hits our accounts annually.

[petermik]

To have an account with TMB you must be on a yearly visa

[AnotherOneAmerican]

I can't speak for SCB or TMB without looking at their fee webpages, but Bangkok Bank charges a 200 baht annual fee for their ATM or debit card. This is a pretty standard fee for at least "most" ATM/debit cards issued by Thai banks. See this Bangkok Bank Link under the Debit and ATM Cards section. No google translate needed as Bangkok Bank English language web pages and level of detail provided puts other Thai bank websites to shame. The Thai wife and I have had Bangkok Bank accounts/debit cards for many years and the 200 baht fee hits our accounts annually.

I'm thinking poor people might get charged differently.

[Pib]

No bank has charged me an annual fee (BKB, SCB, TMB), apart from the initial startup fee of 300bht for my first bank book and ATM card.

As far as I know.

The TMB card ATM slips always have a 0.00 on the fee line.

Savings account has no ATM fees. http://www.tmbbank.com/personal/deposits/savings/savings-en.php

Pib's link was to a "Baht Zero" account, not a normal "savings account".

Anywhere on TMB website where they give fee info in English. After going to above link you must select another link to see fees, but fees are in a PDF document that Google Translate can't easily translate without a lot of cutting and pasting--and guessing as to an area you may think have the specific fee info you are looking for. But there is enough English key words sprinkled in the Thai language document to indicate there are some fees associated with at least some of their ATM/Debit cards--what kind of fees and associated with what type of accounts I can't tell.

[Pib]

I can't speak for SCB or TMB without looking at their fee webpages, but Bangkok Bank charges a 200 baht annual fee for their ATM or debit card. This is a pretty standard fee for at least "most" ATM/debit cards issued by Thai banks. See this Bangkok Bank Link under the Debit and ATM Cards section. No google translate needed as Bangkok Bank English language web pages and level of detail provided puts other Thai bank websites to shame. The Thai wife and I have had Bangkok Bank accounts/debit cards for many years and the 200 baht fee hits our accounts annually.

I'm thinking poor people might get charged differently.

Maybe so...I expect most folks are just going to have standard accounts vs some type of possible premier/high baht account where they may get you with other fees.

[topt]

I can't speak for SCB or TMB without looking at their fee webpages, but Bangkok Bank charges a 200 baht annual fee for their ATM or debit card. This is a pretty standard fee for at least "most" ATM/debit cards issued by Thai banks. See this Bangkok Bank Link under the Debit and ATM Cards section. No google translate needed as Bangkok Bank English language web pages and level of detail provided puts other Thai bank websites to shame. The Thai wife and I have had Bangkok Bank accounts/debit cards for many years and the 200 baht fee hits our accounts annually.

SCB also charge 200 baht for a basic ATM account.

[timber]

Seems to me I paid about 250 baht five years ago to get a no charge on my TMB account and I haven't seen

any charges since. Except for the 10 baht amonth notification

[timber]

Seems to me I paid about 250 baht five years ago to get a no charge on my TMB account and I haven't seen

any charges since. Except for the 10 baht amonth notification

[4evermaat]

The tmb no atm fee rule is true for regular savings accts. Worldwide.

Bangkok bank used to have a rule where the first out-of-province atm withdraw at a bkb atm is free. Then 15 baht minimum afterwards. But if you make an online transfer bkb to bkb, the first 5 transfers are FREE. Then afterwards it is 10 baht for every 10k transferred. But using non-bkb atm in thailand you will get hit every time 10-20 baht. Overseas it is 100 baht per withdraw.

"...the 2nd best time to plant a tree is today." Sent from ThaiVisa app (Galaxy Note 2).