15,000=479.69 USD from my checking account....how did I do?

[Coca Cola]

how did I do?

[JimGant]

Foreign Transaction. If you use your Card for a foreign transaction (any transaction made in a foreign currency or that MasterCard® classifies as a cross-border transaction), we won't charge you anything. However, MasterCard may apply a charge for converting the purchase to U.S. Dollars. Please remember to notify us if you are travelling overseas.

How MasterCard divvies up its 1% foreign transaction fee into .2% and .8% chunks is best explained from this Westpac bank website:

1. MasterCard ® International Incorporated charges us 0.8% of the transaction amount where a transaction is made using your MasterCard ® and the merchant or financial institution accepting the card is located outside of Australia. We pass this amount on to our customers.

2. MasterCard ® International Incorporated charges us 0.2% of the transaction amount for converting foreign currency transactions made using a MasterCard ® into Australian dollars. We pass this amount on to our customers.

How sweet that "we" won't charge you .8% -- but "MasterCard" may charge you a .2% currency conversion fee.

Gosh darn, we're still a 'no foreign transaction fee' company -- but that damned MasterCard company won't cooperate. Still, .2% isn't much -- and we're hoping you won't notice, or that silly forums won't call attention to it. And, if we notice no adverse effect on our Cap One 360 card volume, we'll probably add a few more basis points, as we're not real happy eating the rest of the 1% fee that MasterCard charges us.

[Pib]

I have found that when the baht is depreciating significantly against the USD that the Visa/MasterCard rates will lag the Thai banks TT Buying Rate by one or two business days...probably closer to 2 days....that is, their rate won't be as good as the faster changing Thai bank TT Buying Rate. But once the FOREX rate settles down the Visa rate usually beats the Thai bank TT Buying Rate and the MasterCard rate gets pretty close. But since for "this week" we have seen the Thai baht continue to depreciate against the USD the TT Buying Rate, whose average across Thai banks right now is 32.26 compared to Visa 32.17 and MC 32.15. But I expect if the baht stabilizes next week the Visa rate will be better than the TT Buying Rate.

When it's time for me to recharge my Thai bank account by using my no foreign transaction fee Visa debit cards to pull around Bt64K/per day using both cards with each having a $1000 daily withdrawal limit I will monitor the FOREX rate "trend" and based on past observations I know there is usually a 1 to 2 day lag on Visa rates I will time my withdrawal.

Where I mentioned above 2 days ago the Visa/MasterCard exchange rates usually lags Thai Bank TT Buying Rates by one or two business days when the FOREX is volatile, well, this has once again proven true. Since the baht/USD FOREX rate has stabilized over the last few business days...kinda settled-out for the time being until some news makes the dollar and/or baht change significantly in value...from looking at the Visa, MasterCard and Thai bank average TT Buying Rates as of 11:05am/Mon/9Sep the rates are:

Visa U.S.: 32.17/USD

MC: 32.15/USD

Ave TT Buying Rate (used for incoming wire transfers): 32.17/USD

And if the FOREX market stays stable for a day or two it wouldn't surprise me to see the Visa exchange rate a little higher than the TT Buying Rate (actually it is higher right now if I had shown the rate to four decimal points...Visa - 32.1729....MC - 32.1461....Ave TT Buying - 32.1688. Heck, even the MC rate sometimes beats the TT Buying Rate but is always real close to the TT Buying Rate just like the Visa rate. And remember, I'm talking the full/no foreign transaction fee Visa/Mastercard exchange rate; not the rate that apply if your card-issuing bank applies a foreign transaction fee(s)/don't absorb all of the Visa/MasterCard 1% foreign transaction fee.

With just a little bit of currency exchange trend monitoring which is so easy to do with rates being quoted everywhere on websites, newspaper, Apps, etc....even ThaiVisa reflects TT Buying Rates linked to Bangkok Bank...and checking the Visa/MasterCard exchange rates websites to determine Visa/MasterCard rates to fine tune your withdrawal date, a person should be able to almost always approx. equal or exceed the TT Buying Rate with absolutely zero foreign transaction fees if they have a no foreign transaction fee debit card. They get their money instantly in-hand and know exactly what rate they will get versus waiting to see what rate the incoming wire transfer will get depending on its arrival/posting time. But as mentioned earlier wire transfers are still needed for those BIG money transfers. Since Visa exchange rates tend to be a hair better than MasterCard exchange rates, a no foreign transaction fee Visa debit card would probably be best.