Aeon Bank now charge 150 B ATM fee

[Pib]

Probably better off having your loose money in a Thai bank Fixed Savings Account paying around 3% which is ensured up to Bt50M per account right now but eventually tapering to Bt1M coverage....and I do have such an account with a little over Bt800K in it I use for my yearly retirement extension of stay income proof and emergency pot of money. I'm sure the Thai govt would be able to cover bank account loses up to Bt50M per account....WAIT...STOP!!!!...the Thai govt can't even pay a small group of rice farmers which are awaiting payment of approx Bt300K per farmer. I must not be a redneck because a redneck is smarter than that.

[elzach]

Probably better off having your loose money in a Thai bank Fixed Savings Account paying around 3% which is ensured up to Bt50M per account right now but eventually tapering to Bt1M coverage....and I do have such an account with a little over Bt800K in it I use for my yearly retirement extension of stay income proof and emergency pot of money. I'm sure the Thai govt would be able to cover bank account loses up to Bt50M per account....WAIT...STOP!!!!...the Thai govt can't even pay a small group of rice farmers which are awaiting payment of approx Bt300K per farmer. I must not be a redneck because a redneck is smarter than that.

Not to mention that you're taking foreign exchange risk (yes, as we discussed before, that's a variable), PLUS the real inflation rate in Thailand eating up, and then some, the 3% interest rate. There's no free lunch in the banking world.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Probably better off having your loose money in a Thai bank Fixed Savings Account paying around 3% which is ensured up to Bt50M per account right now but eventually tapering to Bt1M coverage....and I do have such an account with a little over Bt800K in it I use for my yearly retirement extension of stay income proof and emergency pot of money. I'm sure the Thai govt would be able to cover bank account loses up to Bt50M per account....WAIT...STOP!!!!...the Thai govt can't even pay a small group of rice farmers which are awaiting payment of approx Bt300K per farmer. I must not be a redneck because a redneck is smarter than that.

Pib, it sounds like you're mixing apples and oranges a bit.

The U.S. rewards checking accounts I mentioned above are, in addition to being fully FDIC insured, also fully liquid. You can withdraw any amounts any time. And as long as you meet the required transaction activities, you'll still earn the stated interest rate on whatever your balances are.

On the Thai side, you mentioned fixed deposit accounts, which may pay comparable interest rates. But AFAIK, they're not fully liquid. Depending on the bank and the particular account, you can withdraw the funds, but you'll tend to lose the fixed account interest rate if you do that. But, I've never used the Thai bank deposits method for retirement extensions, so I'll defer to others if my understanding of those accounts is not correct.

[Pib]

Probably better off having your loose money in a Thai bank Fixed Savings Account paying around 3% which is ensured up to Bt50M per account right now but eventually tapering to Bt1M coverage....and I do have such an account with a little over Bt800K in it I use for my yearly retirement extension of stay income proof and emergency pot of money. I'm sure the Thai govt would be able to cover bank account loses up to Bt50M per account....WAIT...STOP!!!!...the Thai govt can't even pay a small group of rice farmers which are awaiting payment of approx Bt300K per farmer. I must not be a redneck because a redneck is smarter than that.

Pib, it sounds like you're mixing apples and oranges a bit.

The U.S. rewards checking accounts I mentioned above are, in addition to being fully FDIC insured, also fully liquid. You can withdraw any amounts any time. And as long as you meet the required transaction activities, you'll still earn the stated interest rate on whatever your balances are.

On the Thai side, you mentioned fixed deposit accounts, which may pay comparable interest rates. But AFAIK, they're not fully liquid. Depending on the bank and the particular account, you can withdraw the funds, but you'll tend to lose the fixed account interest rate if you do that. But, I've never used the Thai bank deposits method for retirement extensions, so I'll defer to others if my understanding of those accounts is not correct.

Yeap...understand. And correct about most Thai bank fixed accounts...withdraw from them before their maturity date and you usually lose the majority chunk of interest...like say you had a 12 month fixed acct paying 3%...withdraw any of the money before the 12 month maturity date and you will lose that 3% rate and only get the 3 month fixed account rate which is around 0.625% right now if I remember right.

But the smart way to say have a Bt800K fixed acct say for retirement extension/emergency money purposes is not to deposit the entire Bt800K in one transaction...you can break it up in multiple transactions deposited within seconds of each other..that what I did on my current 15 month fixed deposit paying 3.25% with Bangkok Bank.

Say just for discussion two Bt400K deposits or four Bt200K deposits were used which total Bt800K . OK, an emergency pops up months later, say even 11 months later on a 12 month fixed deposit earning 3%....you go withdraw the Bt100K "but only one of the subtotal deposits" is affected/loses a good portion of the interest earned so far. Say you had done four Bt200K deposits then three of the deposits totalling Bt600K are not impacted/no reduction in interest; the interest reduction only occurs on the one of the Bt200K deposits...instead of getting the 3% it gets bumped back to the 3 month fixed savings acct rate of around 0.625%.

Above is how most Bangkok Bank fixed saving accounts work...lot of different fixed savings accounts out there by various Thai banks and "generally" above is how the rules work but some so-call fixed accounts are more complicated. I like Bangkok Bank fixed accounts because the rules are in clear English and Thai. And "generally" U.S. savings and checking accounts are paying around 0 to 0.25% interest since the Federal Reserve rates have been so low during the X-years of Quantitative Easing unless you might be lucky enough to have a special savings account at certain small banks/credit unions...like the list you provided.

But what is really important is I just finished my U.S. Federal Tax Return (draft...not filed yet) and Uncle Sam owes me a $66 refund...and yes I reported all the interest earned on my Thai bank accounts plus I have already been refunded by the Thai tax revenue office the 15% withholding tax applied to couple of my fixed accounts which matured last year...Yinluck won't get to use that now refund withholding tax to pay rice pledging scheme bills as its back in my pocket. Cool.

[Pib]

Probably better off having your loose money in a Thai bank Fixed Savings Account paying around 3% which is ensured up to Bt50M per account right now but eventually tapering to Bt1M coverage....and I do have such an account with a little over Bt800K in it I use for my yearly retirement extension of stay income proof and emergency pot of money. I'm sure the Thai govt would be able to cover bank account loses up to Bt50M per account....WAIT...STOP!!!!...the Thai govt can't even pay a small group of rice farmers which are awaiting payment of approx Bt300K per farmer. I must not be a redneck because a redneck is smarter than that.

Not to mention that you're taking foreign exchange risk (yes, as we discussed before, that's a variable), PLUS the real inflation rate in Thailand eating up, and then some, the 3% interest rate. There's no free lunch in the banking world.

Regarding no free lunch in the banking world...you got that right as the bankers make sure of that!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

And "generally" U.S. savings and checking accounts are paying around 0 to 0.25% interest since the Federal Reserve rates have been so low during the X-years of Quantitative Easing unless you might be lucky enough to have a special savings account at certain small banks/credit unions...like the list you provided.

It's true that the banks and credit unions that tend to offer the high interest paying rewards checking accounts are not the mega banks like BofA, Citi, Chase, Wells Fargo, etc etc. But a lot of the rewards account-providing institutions are hardly small, though some certainly are. There are some quite large credit unions among the rewards accounts list.

However, what's more important than size (in banking, bigger is often NOT better) is the financial strength of the institution holding your deposits. And on websites like the one I linked to being Deposit Accounts, they show the financial quality ratings of all the various institutions based on their FDIC and comparable reports. So a consumer can figure those into their deposit making decisions.

Frankly, though, getting a 2-3% APR checking account has nothing to do with "luck." It has to do with people being informed financial consumers, being aware of what advantageous accounts are available to them, and then making use of the best accounts for their particular circumstance. If all someone is doing is checking the savings account rates offered by BofA, Citi, Chase, etc., they're missing out on a very large world of other banking institutions, and losing potential money in the process.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

BTW Pib, it looks like you should have signed up for the "Redneck" account while you had the chance...

The three internet banks that are under the Huckabay family of banks have announced on their websites that they are reducing the yield of their Rewards Checking account from 2.00% to 1.50% APY effective March 20, 2014. This top rate will continue to apply to balances of up to $10,000. There’s no mention of changes to the rate for balances over $10,000. That rate is currently 0.50%. These rates require at least 10 debit card purchases a month and e-statements.

AmericaNet Bank, Redneck Bank and Evantage Banks have been offering these Rewards Checking accounts since 2008 when the yield was 5.25% for balances up to $25,000. The balance cap fell to $10,000 in early 2009, and the rate started to fall just after that. The 2.00% APY had held since December 2012.

http://www.depositaccounts.com/blog/2014/02/americanet-redneck-and-evantage-banks-cutting-reward-checking-rates-still-worthwhile.html

[Pib]

BTW Pib, it looks like you should have signed up for the "Redneck" account while you had the chance...

The three internet banks that are under the Huckabay family of banks have announced on their websites that they are reducing the yield of their Rewards Checking account from 2.00% to 1.50% APY effective March 20, 2014. This top rate will continue to apply to balances of up to $10,000. There’s no mention of changes to the rate for balances over $10,000. That rate is currently 0.50%. These rates require at least 10 debit card purchases a month and e-statements.

AmericaNet Bank, Redneck Bank and Evantage Banks have been offering these Rewards Checking accounts since 2008 when the yield was 5.25% for balances up to $25,000. The balance cap fell to $10,000 in early 2009, and the rate started to fall just after that. The 2.00% APY had held since December 2012.

http://www.depositaccounts.com/blog/2014/02/americanet-redneck-and-evantage-banks-cutting-reward-checking-rates-still-worthwhile.html

Only 1.5% now!!!???? I'll stick to my Thai fixed accounts paying twice that / 3%. I expect the Huckabay family of banks hired some ex-JP Morgan or Bank of America banker who said cut account interest rates and raise fees...some customers will bitch but the great majority will stay with us...all is good. But I fully expect once my account application photo arrives the Redneck Bank they'll approve it and grandfather me in under the old, higher rates...true Rednecks stick together.

[SurfRider]

.
For those who keep 800,000 THB in a Thai Bank to meet their yearly Retirement Visa requirement, there's a much better alternative than even a 3% yielding account.

You could invest the same cash in the top 5 yielding U.S. Dividend Champions stocks, which currently yield 5.56%

On 800K THB that's 44,480 Baht or US$1366 per year. U.S. citizens would need to use the U.S. Embassy Income Verification letter in lieu of the bank deposit. The letter costs US$50 per year.

The investment could be done via an Interactive Brokers on-line account - the commission on sale of one share is $.005
The funds are 100% Liquid. The Dividend Champions are companies with 25+ straight years of increasingly higher dividends, so they're not going away anytime soon.

These are the current top 5 ( let the bashing begin )

.

[Pib]

.

For those who keep 800,000 THB in a Thai Bank to meet their yearly Retirement Visa requirement, there's a much better alternative than even a 3% yielding account.

You could invest the same cash in the top 5 yielding U.S. Dividend Champions stocks, which currently yield 5.56%

On 800K THB that's 44,480 Baht or US$1366 per year. U.S. citizens would need to use the U.S. Embassy Income Verification letter in lieu of the bank deposit. The letter costs US$50 per year.

The investment could be done via an Interactive Brokers on-line account - the commission on sale of one share is $.005

The funds are 100% Liquid. The Dividend Champions are companies with 25+ straight years of increasingly higher dividends, so they're not going away anytime soon.

These are the current top 5 ( let the bashing begin )

Div Champs- Jan 2014.jpg

.

Kinda apples and oranges comparing savings accounts and dividend paying stocks. Are these U.S. Dividend Champions stocks something you can buy on the Thai stock market?

But regardless, stocks don't meet the immigration requirement for funds which must immediately available (withdrawn on a moments notice) and must be in a Thai bank account. I did the U.S. Embassy Income letter for a few years....got tired of the $50 charge and the trip to the embassy to get it....much preferred having the Bt800K earning at least 3% and getting the bank letter for immigration which only cost Bt100 and takes about 5 minutes to get at the Bangkok Bank Chaing Wattana Branch in the same building as Bangkok Immigration. Plus as mentioned it provides an emergency pool of money I could draw on within minutes if need be.

Sure the stock market casino/mutual funds/etc., beat out savings accounts investment-wise over the long term but stock market type investments don't meet all the cash needs a person needs nor meet immigration requirements as proof of income for retirement extension purposes unless you go the embassy letter route.

P.S. I've got the bulk of my investments in mutual fund type investments in the U.S....all on the moderate to aggressive growth side of the road and they've done very well.

[ZAKY]

I agree, i do the same thing with citibank bangkok, so less interest but less complication. You never know with changes of government if ever what new regulations there will be

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Pib, SR's not suggesting a package of U.S. dividend stocks would count as a Thai bank deposit for Immigration purposes.

But rather, he's talking about those stocks generating close to $1400 per month in dividend income, assuming you invested 800,000 baht worth into those Dividend Champions in the U.S. stock market earning 5%+ per year in dividends.

Of course, the $1400 per month doesn't cover one's full monthly income requirement of 65,000 baht for retirement extensions. And, although those kinds of Dividend Champion stocks have LONG records of paying increasing dividends, there's no such guarantee about the stock prices of those stocks, which can go up and down.

That said, I own four of the five of the stocks SR listed, but not in accounts where I'm concerned about having ready access to the dollars invested.

I don't use the 3% rewards checking accounts as long-term investment vehicles or to do anything with Immigration. Rather, that's the place I keep my "ready at a minute" or "emergency fund" cash. I want to make sure the value is fully protected. I want access to the funds whenever I need them without any downsides. And I want to earn a decent return on those funds, even with those constraints.

I can afford to do that because I can satisfy Immigration through the monthly income method. But if I was having to rely on the Thai bank deposits method, then I'd certainly hope my 800,000 baht was at least earning 2-3 % in a Thai fixed deposit account.

[ZAKY]

As far as i know, if you have the deposit of THB 800k you dont need the income of THB 65k isnt?

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Yes, for Immigration purposes, you can meet their requirements for retirement extensions through:

--800,000 baht on deposit in a bank in Thailand,

--65,000 baht or more in monthly income, or

--a combination of the two (monthly income and bank deposits) equaling at least 800,000 baht.

Since it's for a retirement extension, which normally prohibits working in Thailand, the monthly income is normally coming from sources outside of Thailand.

[SurfRider]

.
"Are these U.S. Dividend Champions stocks something you can buy on the Thai stock market?"

I seriously doubt it, but why would you want to? There's no market more stable and less risky than the U.S. Equities Markets.

"don't meet the immigration requirement"

TallGuy already covered this matter - if you use the Embassy letter, it's a non-issue.

"I did the U.S. Embassy Income letter for a few years....got tired of the $50 charge and the trip to the embassy"

As TallGuy said "different strokes". The Embassy trip and $50 might be a pain, but what if someone paid you $560 to make that trip and pay for the letter. That's the difference between the 3% you're getting now and the 5.56% you could get by investing the same funds in a 100% liquid investment managed on-line from your keyboard.

TallGuy, it's $1366 per YEAR, not per Month
.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Thanks SR... that's what happens when I try to type faster than I am thinking.

When it comes to Immigration financials, I like to keep things simple and safe.

As much as I'm a fan of dividend investing, it's not an assured thing 100% of the time, especially with the higher yielding stocks (which often tend to have more perceived risk involved).

Earlier this month, a formerly reliable, steady paying higher yield dividend stock suddenly cut its earnings estimates and slashed its dividend by more than 80%, and of course, the value of the stock took a tumble as well, losing fully half its value in one day following the dividend cut. Fortunately, I had sold out of it some months prior.

But in the stock market, these kinds of things can and do happen, sometimes. In my retirement accounts, which have a long term horizon, I'm sometimes willing to take certain risks. But with something like yearly funds needed to satisfy Thai Immigration, I don't like to take stock market risks if I can avoid them.

With a bank deposit, the 2-1/3 or 3% yield is pretty much guaranteed as is the principal. With a stock market investment even in Dividend Champions, the principal certainly isn't guaranteed, and even the yield can evaporate sometimes.

[55Jay]

Sure has drifted from Aeon ATMs, but am enjoying the info being batted about here. Good stuff.

[Pib]

Like many threads once the original intent of the thread gets talked to death the thread then mutates, goes off on tangents which hopefully still provides good info for some.

Goodbye Lady AEON ATM...we had a good relationship until you started charging a high fee for your servicing of farangs...I'm not surprised this occurred after you started listening to Thai bankers.

Sent from my Samsung S4 (GT-I9500)

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

OK..and now for something completely different...

Actually, since the demise of AEON, we've actually had very few postings here from people who have tried/done counter withdrawals at Thai banks to avoid the 150/180 baht ATM fees. Either using regular debit cards or using the few credit cards that don't have cash advance fees.

I'd sure like to hear from more people about what banks are working or not working for counter withdrawals, and what kinds of responses people are getting when they go inside for counter withdrawals. And also on whether counter withdrawals are working for smaller withdrawal amounts, or only when you request larger amounts beyond the bank's ATM withdrawal limit.

We already know Siam Commercial is NOT a good choice because of its low exchange rate for cash advances, especially for credit cards. And there seem to have been a few posts reporting counter withdrawal success at BKK Bank branches.

But other than that, not much!!! What's everyone doing out there???

In my case, since the AEON fees began, I've only needed to do one ATM pull, and that was for a small amount. So I used one of my debit cards that refunds other banks' ATM fees worldwide -- probably the first time I've ever used the reimbursement feature of that card.

But now with the month end-new month approaching, I'll have the opportunity to do a large pull/withdrawal. So I need to decide, use one of my other worldwide ATM fee reimbursing debit cards and grab the entire amount in one pull, or wade into the uncertainties of Thai bank counter withdrawals. I'm leaning toward trying a counter withdrawal, but need to see if I'll have the time to experiment with that.

[SurfRider]

.
" I need to decide, use one of my other worldwide ATM fee reimbursing debit cards and grab the entire amount in one pull, or wade into the uncertainties of Thai bank counter withdrawals"

Like you, I've always been concerned about Daddy Warbucks (Schwab) eventually growing weary of reimbursing the enormous amount of ATM usury fees originating from Thailand.

I have done at least 15 to 20 ATM pulls per year for the past 3 years. I always take 30K. Since I already know of one Schwab account that was terminated due to excessive ATM withdrawals, I wonder what daddy's tolerance threshold is - but I know of other Expats who do far more than me. They believe that Schwab has the funds in their reimbursing accounts invested and that yield easily covers the ATM fees and then some.

I'm not so sure about that and I'm watching to see if one of those accounts is eventually terminated. Only time will tell.
.

[MrWorldwide]

Fortunately, ANZ Bank here in Oz is responding to customer needs. Great to see all those fees arent being flippantly spent on corporate boxes at the races ....

[MrWorldwide]

Since I already know of one Schwab account that was terminated due to excessive ATM withdrawals

Seriously ? Is the number of allowable withdrawals clearly spelled out in the Account Terms and Conditions ?

[SurfRider]

.
"Is the number of allowable withdrawals clearly spelled out in the Account Terms and Conditions?"

I seriously doubt that information exists anywhere and it's certainly understandable, from a business perspective, why Schwab would never state such a policy in writing. Most likely it would be a decision made arbitrarily by some staff functionary on an individual case basis.
.

[Genericnic]

.

"Is the number of allowable withdrawals clearly spelled out in the Account Terms and Conditions?"

I seriously doubt that information exists anywhere and it's certainly understandable, from a business perspective, why Schwab would never state such a policy in writing. Most likely it would be a decision made arbitrarily by some staff functionary on an individual case basis.

.

From the Schwab Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking® Account:

Summary of Features and Fees:

2 Unlimited ATM fee rebates apply to cash withdrawals using your debit card wherever it is accepted. ATM fee rebates do not apply to any fees other

than those assessed for using an ATM to withdraw cash from your Schwab Bank account.

3 If you use your debit card to withdraw foreign currency from an ATM or to pay for a purchase with foreign currency, we charge your account only for

the U.S. dollar equivalent of the transaction. There is no additional percentage added for the foreign currency transaction. See the Schwab Bank

Visa® Debit Card Agreement for details

David

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Just to update...

Did an ATM pull this afternoon at Thai Military Bank (TMB) using a U.S. VISA debit card that reimburses foreign ATM fees.

The TMB ATMs do indeed have a 30,000 baht withdrawal amount as one of their pre-sets on the ATM video screen. In fact it's the largest pre-set withdrawal amount.

I pulled an amount greater than 25,000 and less than 30,000 by manually keying in the amount, and everything went fine. The 150b withdrawal fee was charged.

The actual exchange rate on my pull was 32.49 baht to the $, which matched exactly with VISA U.S.'s rate for 2/27/14.

So we know for certain that TMB ATM's will do at least 30,000 baht per pull, assuming your bank card daily limit allows it.

Likewise, consistent with what's been reported here in this thread by other posters, I noticed on the Bank of Ayudhya website today that they also mention being able to withdraw up to 30,000 baht per transaction from their ATMs.

So for anyone looking to maximize their ATM pulls so as to minimize their Thai bank ATM withdrawal fees charged, either TMB or Ayudhya would be a good choice, especially with VISA cards where you know the withdrawal fee will only be 150 baht. Ayudhya is 180 baht for U.S. MasterCards, not sure about TMB.

[grin]

A warning to those from the US who don't like to file FBARs. With the current FX rates you may have to file one when you don't expect to. Let's say you do a transfer of only 9500 USD for example and you let your BBL account run down to 3000 THB. If you transfer 9500 USD via BBL in NYC with an FX rate of 32.5 THB per USD you will have 3000 + 32.5 x 9490 - 500 = 310,925 THB in your BBL account. To determine if you have to file an FBAR you use the FX rate posted by the IRS at the of the tax year to determine if your account was over 10,000 USD. If the FX rate used by the IRS in this example happened to be as low as 31 THB per USD then your account's max value would be calculated to be 310,925 / 31 = 10,030 USD and you would have to file.

Grin

[JimGant]

If the FX rate used by the IRS in this example happened to be as low as 31 THB per USD then your account's max value would be calculated to be 310,925 / 31 = 10,030 USD and you would have to file.

Or, if you used the official Treasury rate for 2013 of 32.74, you wouldn't have to file. Yawn.

Now, back to how cheap charlies can save enough in fx transactions for an extra Chang or two.

[Pib]

Back in some earlier posts I talked about how I successfully used my PenFed "credit" card (no foreign transaction fee or no cash advance fee) to do a Bt50K counter withdrawal at a Bangkok Bank branch with no fees at the branch. Also talked about how PenFed credit cards allow you a cash advance line of credit which equals your total line of credit which is different from most banks which allow a total line of credit and only a portion is allowed for cash advance. After doing that cash advance I posted to my account an offsetting payment to ensure I got no charge due to interest since interest does start racking up from the day you get the cash advance although PenFed cards do not charge a foreign transaction fee or cash advance fee...they just charge interest on the cash advance.

I also said I didn't plan to do another cash advance for a month or so, but I lied...I did another one today. But this time I went in asking for Bt100K, the teller went to run the transaction but got an "Over Limit" rejection. Well, that's a little embarrassing and I immediately started wondering to myself is this a PenFed limitation or a really a branch limitation? Since I had successfully done a Bt50K counter withdrawal around 10 days ago and the teller didn't seem to know much English and my Thai ain't great, I just said run it again for Bt50K....and it processed fine and I deposited it all in my bank account.

I then came back home, logged onto my PenFed account and did an ACH transfer/pull from one of my other banks to cover/pay the cash advance to prevent any interest charges. Since even an external bank ACH pull is credit to your account immediately it prevents any interest charge from occurring...so a person can escape with no transaction or interest fees.

Now, maybe at the time of the Over Limit rejection I should have asked the teller if the rejection maybe wasn't really occurring on the Bangkok Bank end but it was busy in the bank, she didn't appear to know much English and I sure can speak a lot of Thai although I can understand a lot. Plus my gut was telling me this was a PenFed limitation and credit card cash advance may have daily/per transaction limits just like debit cards.

After looking all over the PenFed website, my Terms & Agreements for the credit card, my online account, etc., I couldn't find anything specific about credit card cash advance daily transaction limits, if any. So, tonight I called PenFed to ask the question of, "Do you have a credit card cash advance transaction limit per day or per transaction even though my cash advance line of credit is high/equals my total line of credit which is significantly north of $10K. The rep said yes, the credit card cash advance limit per day transaction is $1,000 (approx Bt32.5K) at an ATM....and the cash advance limit per day/transaction is $2,000 (approx Bt65K) at a bank branch/over the counter. There was the answer for the Over Limit rejection when trying to get Bt100K which is a little over $3,000. So, like debit cards limits per day/transaction the PenFed credit cards have similar limits for credit card cash advances. I asked the rep if I could get that $2,000 cash advance limit per day/transaction increased and it was a big No...said it would require literally the board of directors to approve such a permanent increase...I didn't ask if a person could call in an ask for a temporary one time increase as I don't ever plan to do that.

While talking to the rep I asked her if she could see the transaction yet...she said yes...and it was for X-amount...that amount matched the Visa exchange rate exactly which was a few stang better today than the TT Buying Rate. Out of curiosity I asked her does the transaction show up as purchase or cash advance...she said on her system she couldn't see that right now or on the withdrawal I did about 10 days ago...she could only see the date, amount and what bank/merchant accomplished the transaction, but said it would be broken out in different sections on my monthly statement which is not due for about another week.

Summary: for you fine folks who have PenFed credit cards and even though your line of credit/cash advance line of credit may be sky high there is daily limits on cash advances as mentioned above. The $2,000 (approx Bt65K) limit for counter withdrawals is OK with me; would be nice if higher, but doing the counter withdrawal and subsequent deposit into my Bangkok Bank account is a one-stop/quick operation. Before between my two no foreign transaction fee "debit" cards I was limited to $1,000/day on each or $2,000 total between the two debit cards, but I would have to do 4 pulls at an AEON ATM to get that $2,000 (approx Bt65K) and then go deposit that amount...I always used a Cash Deposit Machine that was close to the AEON ATM in the same mall. Now, I'm effectively achieving the same thing, can do it in one credit card cash advance, and deposit the cash advance with the same teller. Then go in the next day..and the next day...etc...if necessary/I need more money. Works for me...I get the money immediately totally fee & interest fee (what all bankers hate) and get the full Visa exchange rate that is always plus or minus a few stang (today on the plus side a few stang) of the TT Buying Rate used for incoming wire transfers.

[nong38]

I expect some wizzo at HO came up with the fee change to make the company some money look how much!!!!

Metrobank UK start charging from the 18th March 1.9% +£1 for every transaction, they were a different bank with " no silly rules" for a time now they have joined the club as well.

Banks are not there for our benefit even though they tell us differently.

Dont use ATM's, go into the bank with your passport and card, its free.

Bring enough money over with you or send it , get it sent and dont use the ATM's, they think we are stupid well lets out smart them.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

..