Biggest Fx Rip Off By Thai Banks In 20 Years.

[topfield]

BIGGEST FOREIGN EXCHANGE RIP OFF IN YEARS.

Today 14 May 2006 exchange rate for Sterling travelers cheques

Siam Commercial Bank 69.65

Bangkok Bank 69.85

Thai Military Bank 69.60

True rate Bloomberg.co./Yahoo financial 71.80

Siam City Bank 71.40

THE THAI BANKS ABOVE ARE RIPPING OFF THE TOURISTS WITH THE ABOVE RATE BY HOLDING THE RATE FOR FOUR DAYS.

WHEN BAHT RISES RATES ARE IMMEDIATELY REVISED DOWNWARDS.

A RED ROSE FOR SIAM CITY BANK

[kudroz]

Avoid using ALL CAPS to emphasize—many perceive this as "yelling" or find it annoying.

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/o...netiquette.mspx

[topfield]

BIGGEST FOREIGN EXCHANGE RIP OFF IN YEARS.

Today 14 May 2006 exchange rate for Sterling travelers cheques

Siam Commercial Bank 69.65

Bangkok Bank 69.85

Thai Military Bank 69.60

True rate Bloomberg.co./Yahoo financial 71.80

Siam City Bank 71.40

THE THAI BANKS ABOVE ARE RIPPING OFF THE TOURISTS WITH THE ABOVE RATE BY HOLDING THE RATE FOR FOUR DAYS.

WHEN BAHT RISES RATES ARE IMMEDIATELY REVISED DOWNWARDS.

A RED ROSE FOR SIAM CITY BANK

[topfield]

Avoid using ALL CAPS to emphasize—many perceive this as "yelling" or find it annoying.

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/o...netiquette.mspx

Yes Mr kudros nitpicker......yelling with all my might so that people don't get ripped off. If I had the guts I would stand outside the rip off banks with a large megaphone warning people to change their money at Siam City Bank...the only one giving the proper rate of exchange this weekend .

There's a time and place for yelling ...and giving a warning to help people is one of them and ps who is Bill Gates to lay down the law about what people should and should not do in our homes.

[kudroz]

You already started another thread with the exact same intend. You were told in that other thread to lose the caps as well. Now if you can't understand that... cry me a river

Edited May 14, 2006 by kudroz

[ZZZ]

Definition of Rip Off: Deprive somebody of something by deceit

As all the rates are published and everyone is free to chose where to change their money it can not be called a rip off.

If you chose to change your Sterling to Bath at 69.60 when at other places you can get 71.40 it should be called stupidity or can't be bothered.

Edited May 14, 2006 by ZZZ

[kdvsn]

BIGGEST FOREIGN EXCHANGE RIP OFF IN YEARS.

Today 14 May 2006 exchange rate for Sterling travelers cheques

Siam Commercial Bank 69.65

Bangkok Bank 69.85

Thai Military Bank 69.60

True rate Bloomberg.co./Yahoo financial 71.80

Siam City Bank 71.40

THE THAI BANKS ABOVE ARE RIPPING OFF THE TOURISTS WITH THE ABOVE RATE BY HOLDING THE RATE FOR FOUR DAYS.

WHEN BAHT RISES RATES ARE IMMEDIATELY REVISED DOWNWARDS.

A RED ROSE FOR SIAM CITY BANK

If that's the biggest rippoff by Thai banks in 20 years then Thai banks must be among the least deceptive in the world.

BY THE WAY, YOUR CAPS KEY IS STUCK ON.

[chaiyapoon]

Whilst I agree that you can choose to change your money in any bank, its not that way for many of us sending money overseas or transfering money to our accounts there.We are stuck with whatever deal that bank chooses and I was recently disappointed in the rate I received with Bangkok bank so will be looking posibly for a change to Siam city if they prove to have better rates over the long term.Can amount to significant amounts on say a condo purchase.

[Gary A]

How can it be a "Scam or Ripoff" when the currency exchange rates are posted for all to see? Most people don't bring cash anyways, they use their ATM cards.

As far as buying a condo you can't buy for cash anyways. Wire transfers and currency exchanges are apples and oranges.

[soap]

BIGGEST FOREIGN EXCHANGE RIP OFF IN YEARS.

Today 14 May 2006 exchange rate for Sterling travelers cheques

Siam Commercial Bank 69.65

Bangkok Bank 69.85

Thai Military Bank 69.60

True rate Bloomberg.co./Yahoo financial 71.80

Siam City Bank 71.40

THE THAI BANKS ABOVE ARE RIPPING OFF THE TOURISTS WITH THE ABOVE RATE BY HOLDING THE RATE FOR FOUR DAYS.

WHEN BAHT RISES RATES ARE IMMEDIATELY REVISED DOWNWARDS.

A RED ROSE FOR SIAM CITY BANK

i agree come monday morning that the rates you post for siam city bank will be offered by all the banks give or take a satang or two but i find it hard to believe that at lets say bangkok airport, for the past couple of days siam city bank rates have been over 1.5 bhat better than the other banks.

i would like to know if anybody obtained this rate from a siam city exchange booth, i have just checked the siam city fx web site the last rate was on wednesday at 3-5 pm the rate was 69.90 bhat for one pound

[topfield]

Dear friends,

Why do I say 'scam/rip off ? Am I jusified in using those words ? I would say YES

Reason 1. These banks are granted an fx licence by mr Teva-kun ( Devakula under the old spelling system) , the BOT governor .to provide a fair rate of exchange to tourists who are the life blood of the Thai economy. They normally do this in fact, and were you to ask them, they will confirm that the rate they give and the profit they make on the rate is fair and reasonable.

Certainly not true these last four days when greed overcame their business ethics !!!!

2. Unlike almost every other country in the world, these bank change booths do not sell foreign currency...only buy, so the one certain way of knowing the rate is fair or not, is hidden .

A genuine selling rate would immediately show whether the buying rate is reasonable by looking at the spread.

3. The fact that the rate is updated immediately when the baht rises, yet fail to do so when it falls shows the banks disingenuity and unfair practice.

I would accept that private change offices can offer any rate they wish .

In many cases the major banks are owned by the Thai government ( and in all cases licenced by them )

The Thai government has strict controls over the Thai currency and exchange rates..indeed even control over prices and interest rates in most cases . It is certain the BOT would severely reprimand the banks if they knew what happened over the last 4/5 days...probably threaten to withdraw their fx licence were it to happen again. But will the BOT ever know ?

[topfield]

BIGGEST FOREIGN EXCHANGE RIP OFF IN YEARS.

Today 14 May 2006 exchange rate for Sterling travelers cheques

Siam Commercial Bank 69.65

Bangkok Bank 69.85

Thai Military Bank 69.60

True rate Bloomberg.co./Yahoo financial 71.80

Siam City Bank 71.40

THE THAI BANKS ABOVE ARE RIPPING OFF THE TOURISTS WITH THE ABOVE RATE BY HOLDING THE RATE FOR FOUR DAYS.

WHEN BAHT RISES RATES ARE IMMEDIATELY REVISED DOWNWARDS.

A RED ROSE FOR SIAM CITY BANK

i agree come monday morning that the rates you post for siam city bank will be offered by all the banks give or take a satang or two but i find it hard to believe that at lets say bangkok airport, for the past couple of days siam city bank rates have been over 1.5 bhat better than the other banks.

i would like to know if anybody obtained this rate from a siam city exchange booth, i have just checked the siam city fx web site the last rate was on wednesday at 3-5 pm the rate was 69.90 bhat for one pound

YES YES Soap, The rate at Siam City Bank on corner of Sukumvit 4, corner Sukumvit 3 and at the booth at Ruamchit Hotel opp Soi 10 was 71.45 and I changed there at that rate. Funnily I could not find a website with their rates !! Of course you are right........... tomorrow morning the banks will /should have very similar rates. Any doubts ask any sSIAM CITY branch/change office for their rate sheet of 12 May...they keep old ones . NOTE NOTE NOTE : AIRPORT RATES DIFFER !!

[Guest endure]

What's the matter? Did the cataract suddenly heal itself while you were posting this?

[soap]

hello topfield

im afraid i must disagree with you on a couple of points, are you saying that the uk banks(we are talking sterling) change thier fx rates, lets say good friday to easter monday every day over the easter period i would say no just as the thai banks have been closed for the past 4 days due to a holiday.

if you look at the thai banks fx web sites that i have just looked at you will see they all give a buy and sell rate,the siam comercial bank fx site is updated six times a day no matter if the rate is up or down.

the only major thai bank that i know and its only partly owned by the thai goverment is the krung thai bank and that is listed on the s.e.t.

if you want to use words like rip off and scam why dont you go into a thomas cook fx shop in the uk and change a grand sterling into thai bhat,then you will know the meaning off rip off and scam

[OldAsiaHand]

My own experience, which covers a couple of decades, is that Thai banks generaly offer tourists some of the tightest FX spreads I have ever seen anywhere in the world and have the additional advantage of never charging fees.

Anyone complaining about the rates here ought to try changing money in Australia or the US. Then you'll find rates that really ARE rip-offs and fees imposed on top of those horrible rates.

[Guest endure]

For anyone in the UK Travelex seem to be pretty good (68+ today) whereas Thomas Cook and the banks are appalling (T Cook 61+ today)

[soap]

My own experience, which covers a couple of decades, is that Thai banks generaly offer tourists some of the tightest FX spreads I have ever seen anywhere in the world and have the additional advantage of never charging fees.

Anyone complaining about the rates here ought to try changing money in Australia or the US. Then you'll find rates that really ARE rip-offs and fees imposed on top of those horrible rates.

hello old asia hand

of couse we did not complain 15 years ago when it was 36-40 baht for one pound,

that was the rate,take it or leave it i must admit when it went to 89.6 to the pound i felt i was ripping the banks off.

nobody tells me that when the dow closes saturday (thai time) the thai banks send men in black out to alter thier exchange rates for the weekend only if the baht as strenthened,of couse not they set their weekend rates and keep to that rate.

if topfield got 71 plus for one pound good look to him but i thought that all transactions went through the computer if that be the case do they have different computers at bangkok airport than

they do in the centre of bangkok.

come on mr topfield before you have the last word see if you can click on to the thomas cook fx rates were FUNINLY ENOUGH you will find the cash rate for thai baht is 61.5

[topfield]

hello topfield

im afraid i must disagree with you on a couple of points, are you saying that the uk banks(we are talking sterling) change thier fx rates, lets say good friday to easter monday every day over the easter period i would say no just as the thai banks have been closed for the past 4 days due to a holiday.

if you look at the thai banks fx web sites that i have just looked at you will see they all give a buy and sell rate,the siam comercial bank fx site is updated six times a day no matter if the rate is up or down.

the only major thai bank that i know and its only partly owned by the thai goverment is the krung thai bank and that is listed on the s.e.t.

if you want to use words like rip off and scam why dont you go into a thomas cook fx shop in the uk and change a grand sterling into thai bhat,then you will know the meaning off rip off and scam

Hi soap,

Thank for some good points.

1. UK banks : you are right....have always bought commission free sterling travellers cheques ..ie lloyds bank now offer these even to non customers or used minor banks in the city which have the best rates.(there are almost 200 banks in the City) and of course tused he fabulous Nationwide fee free debit card

AGAIN : THE BANK CHANGE OFFICES IN THAILAND DO NOT SELL FX THEY ONLY BUY ! To buy you have to go to a Head Office during office hours and have a good reason to buy.

Siam City bank was taken over by the Thai government and I believe its being restructured.

You talk about Cooks : I used to deal with their Head Office in Green Park, Mayfair and got the best note rates in the UK. But that was in the 80's !!

[soap]

hello topfield

you force me to hopefully have the last word.

to quote from the siam city bank web site.

the bank then changed its status from a state enterprise to a private commercial bank on 25th november 2004.

i asked my seven year old son to find this web site has part of his homework, he found it.

think about it

[topfield]

My own experience, which covers a couple of decades, is that Thai banks generaly offer tourists some of the tightest FX spreads I have ever seen anywhere in the world and have the additional advantage of never charging fees.

Anyone complaining about the rates here ought to try changing money in Australia or the US. Then you'll find rates that really ARE rip-offs and fees imposed on top of those horrible rates.

hello old asia hand

of couse we did not complain 15 years ago when it was 36-40 baht for one pound,

that was the rate,take it or leave it i must admit when it went to 89.6 to the pound i felt i was ripping the banks off.

nobody tells me that when the dow closes saturday (thai time) the thai banks send men in black out to alter thier exchange rates for the weekend only if the baht as strenthened,of couse not they set their weekend rates and keep to that rate.

if topfield got 71 plus for one pound good look to him but i thought that all transactions went through the computer if that be the case do they have different computers at bangkok airport than

they do in the centre of bangkok.

come on mr topfield before you have the last word see if you can click on to the thomas cook fx rates were FUNINLY ENOUGH you will find the cash rate for thai baht is 61.5

YES IT'S TRUE ! The banks at the airport have a different rate. The reason ? To prevent people chosing the bank with the most favourable rate !! ALL airport banks have identical exchange rate !!

[kdvsn]

YES IT'S TRUE ! The banks at the airport have a different rate. The reason ? To prevent people chosing the bank with the most favourable rate !! ALL airport banks have identical exchange rate !!

Another explanation for the banks at the airport all having the same rate is that they all have their counters next to each other it is equally convenient for the consumer to use any one of them. That being the case, if one of them had a lower rate than the rest they would get no business. It's different when changing cash in the city, where most people who are changing only a small amount of money will not go chasing around town trying to save a fraction of a baht on the exchange rate, they will usually go to the most convenient place (or to an ATM machine) instead.

By the way, those banks at the airport do sell FX in addition to buying it, which negates one of your claim about why banks are able to get away with these "scams". Their buy/sell spreads are on display for all to see and are generally less than 2% when buy/selling $100 notes. Thus it's hard to belive than anyone is being "cheated" by an amount even as great as that. Many foreign banks have taken to putting surcharges as large as that on each & every overseas credit card & ATM transation. For instance, American Express now uses an exhange rate of the "interbank rate" minus 2% on all foreign transactions, and they aren't the only ones that have taken to aggressive rate skimming. In comparison, the Thai banks look like boy scouts.

Edited May 15, 2006 by kdvsn

[topfield]

ABSOLUTELY CORRECT ! The banks at the airport sell foreign currency. In fact after office hours its the only place you can obtain foreign currency in BKK!

Amazingly though, ringit are not sold at the change office opposite the platform where the daily Butterworth / KL train departs from Hualampong station( last time I looked anyway) . A tourist wanting ringit has to wait until his train stops at the border before he can buy local currency if he forgot to buy before.! Extremely annoying to say the least.

The only reason I can think of is to stop the change clerks from buying/selling and running a business within a business ( remember the famous British rail steward who sold his own sandwiches (which his wife had prepared) in the buffet car and was found guilty of theft)

As for charges, commissions and loadings..........these can be completely avoided by using the better than sliced bread Nationwide debit card [brits only}

A small wish : if only we could find out the exchange rate on our N/W debit card at the time of or before making our N/W cash withdrawals, we could use our cards with total confidence. At the moment here in Thailand we have no way of knowing or timing the xchange rate we get, so really its a bit of a gamble compared to t/c's We only find out 2/3 days later on our online banking service.

A possible way forward is to be found in Singapore : there Visa allows one to lock in a rate on purchases in a shop. That system must surely come to Thailand and then it would not be difficult to extend it to cash withdrawals. I think Citibank already does this.

[tjo o tjim]

A couple of comments:

-Foreign exchange booth in San Francisco wanted to charge me 2% to change 5 $20's for one $100. Sucker born every minute!

-My credit union gives me the interbank exchange rate, and no atm fees in Thailand.

-Bank of America (not even the worst offender) charges an extra fee on top of their bad exchange rates, that you don't see until the end of the month! It's about 1% on top of the 2% discount on the interbank rate.

Moral of the story- shop around and keep your business with companies that don't try to constantly screw you over!

[repoulin]

Anyone complaining about the rates here ought to try changing money in Australia or the US. Then you'll find rates that really ARE rip-offs and fees imposed on top of those horrible rates.

I don't know about that. I think the Federal Reserve post these rates for the banks in the US which follows the IMF forgein exchage value. You can visit the IMF website at http://www.imf.org/external/np/fin/rates/rms_rep.cfm to view the value and comparison of currencies of the world. The US Federal reserve website has a tracking system and you can view past foreign exchange rates http://www.federalreserve.gov/RELEASES/H10/Hist/ I think with standards and safe guards in place it would be really difficult to pull something like this off in the US. With as big as the international community is there, various groups are constantly watching the change and monitoring the banks. You can always check these rates in the newspaper or online and then report the bank. The US wants people to convert their money as the money will be spent in the United States and help out the economy (the same with all countries), so I don't know why they would try and rip you off and cheat you as they know the rates are visible. It seems though the Thai Banks are working on double profits by altering the rates and then having money spent in their country.

Fees however are a thing of capitalism and an incentive to ingenuity. To pay for employees, colossal banks, and added services the fees come in handy. It is dependent on what type of bank you use and what services your require. I'll pay an extra few bucks to be able to handle all my finance securely online and be able to use my ATM card at any machine anywhere in the world. Thriving economies with very high living standards require fees as they are needed to continue to grow. I agree though, it must be difficult to go to a country where yoru money doesn't go as far and you have to pay a fee to convert it, but the rates I am very sure are not because of heads of banks altering them for personal gains as they would lose their jobs and reputation.

[ovenman]

Anyone complaining about the rates here ought to try changing money in Australia or the US. Then you'll find rates that really ARE rip-offs and fees imposed on top of those horrible rates.

I don't know about that. I think the Federal Reserve post these rates for the banks in the US which follows the IMF forgein exchage value. You can visit the IMF website at http://www.imf.org/external/np/fin/rates/rms_rep.cfm to view the value and comparison of currencies of the world. The US Federal reserve website has a tracking system and you can view past foreign exchange rates http://www.federalreserve.gov/RELEASES/H10/Hist/ I think with standards and safe guards in place it would be really difficult to pull something like this off in the US. With as big as the international community is there, various groups are constantly watching the change and monitoring the banks.

That might be a logical argument but the truth on the ground is that OldAsiaHand is correct: in general banks in the US offer horrible foreign exchange rates for walk-in customers. Foreign exchange booths in US airports are even worse. I'm sure that FX rates are different for a bank's large commercial clientele.

Bottom line is that if a bank wants to exchange one baht for one euro or dollar, it's their perogative. You don't have to be a taker of that magnanimous offer.

[repoulin]

I agree but still I wouldn't say that it’s a rip off, scam, or anything like that. Things are more expensive in the US compared to Thailand and it’s due to reasons of higher standards and added benefits. We pay our employees more and have other services (including customer service) which create higher prices. If they didn't charge these services then we would be ripping off the employees and companies that work and benefit the consumer that is receiving services. Don't get me wrong - the employees and the Banks in the US are far from starving BUT the way we were able to reach these standards are by charging fees that in turn are redistributed and ultimately benefits the community and not one man's wallet.

I don't even mind the idea that Thai Banks are charging more as long as it’s not for personal gains. If Thais and Thailand in general is benefiting from this, than more power to them. It would be great to see workers wages increase and Thailand's wealth expanded across the country.

How much do employees at the banks with a 4 year degree make in comparison to average Thai salaries? Do the banks give their employees benifits or are they left to the social insurance program?

[Sunderland]

The lead post is absolute nonsense. Have lived here for 8 years and never felt cheated in the slightest, whether changing money at the airport or at currency exchange booths around the city.

My wife works for Emirates and often changes currency all over the globe. Has no problems here and her only advice would be to exchange money near the Thai Airways office on Vipawadi Road, where you get marginally better rates than elsewhere.

Try changing money in a lot of European destinations ... now that's a rip-off!