Aeon now charging 150 baht

[WBS2555]

Being here for 7 months we can't bring that much cash! 12000 baht a time is the most we're allowed to withdraw from an ATM in a day. On the one occasion we went to the teller and asked to withdraw 20000 baht, she just escorted us to the ATM (where we could only withdraw 12000). She just shrugged her shoulders and went back to her desk.

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Withdrawal cash amounts limited depending on the chosen ATMS. My bank at Bangkok bank allowed 25,000 Bt each times, maximum 200,000 Bt. per day. The bank will be charged for the privilege of using their machine, the typical fee is 150 Bt each time when you make a withdrawal.

However, the foreigners can open a bank account in Thailand. If you are regularly visiting Thailand, you can opening a bank account in Thailand and transfer funds from overseas to your bank account for your spending here.

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/SpecialServices/ForeignCustomers/Pages/default.aspx

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[Thighlander]

I believe paypal give exceedingly poor exchange rates. I hope to be corrected.

Yeah, exchange rates suck on Paypal. So looking at transferring it out of Paypal in USD to Bangkok Bank's US branch, then routing it to my Thai Bangkok bank account. That should use Bangkok Bank's exchange rate which is much better.

So far got stuck adding the routing though, I sent a support request to Paypal.

Follow-Up to Self:

Paypal contacted me (by phone!) and got it sorted; I was able to add my Bangkok Bank account through their New York branch, meaning Paypal doesn't get to make money using their crappy exchange rates; it stays in US dollar until it hits Bangkok Bank, at which point the regular Bangkok Bank exchange rate is used.

Note that this applies to any US bank account, not just Paypal: When you route it through the Bangkok Bank New York branch, you get a great exchange rate, and the costs are reasonable, as follows:

Capture.JPG

Source: http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/TransferingFunds/TransferringIntoThailand/ReceivingFundsfromUSA/Pages/ReceivingFundsfromUSA.aspx

I just transferred $50 as a trial. It's interesting by the way how sub-$50 amounts are totally free. Then once you get a little higher than that the fee isn't very good ($3 charged on a $100 transfer). But once you get into Naam territory, the fees are very reasonable again: Losing $ 10 on a US$ 50,000 baht transfer, that's nothing.

I now wonder if you can just transfer $50 every day, and keep it free. Or even multiple $50 transfers per day.. Hmm.

That's pretty clever. Too bad you forgot about the 200 thb minimum BKK Bank Thailand charges ro receive a TT. When the TT buy rate refreshes tomorrow morning; it will be close to 32.20....so your 50 will net 1410 thb.

[hellodolly]

Does anyone know if to do an over the counter withdrawal with my Canadian ATM card if the card needs to be a visa/debit card? Tried to do one yesterday and the teller said they could not contact my bank…. That was at SCB in Central Fes.

They have never taken my ATM card inside the bank just my Visa card. I use SCB also. I can foresee it being different at different banks.

All so it might just depend on the teller.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Paypal contacted me (by phone!) and got it sorted; I was able to add my Bangkok Bank account through their New York branch, meaning Paypal doesn't get to make money using their crappy exchange rates; it stays in US dollar until it hits Bangkok Bank, at which point the regular Bangkok Bank exchange rate is used.

Note that this applies to any US bank account, not just Paypal: When you route it through the Bangkok Bank New York branch, you get a great exchange rate, and the costs are reasonable, as follows:

Capture.JPG

Source: http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/TransferingFunds/TransferringIntoThailand/ReceivingFundsfromUSA/Pages/ReceivingFundsfromUSA.aspx

I just transferred $50 as a trial. It's interesting by the way how sub-$50 amounts are totally free. Then once you get a little higher than that the fee isn't very good ($3 charged on a $100 transfer). But once you get into Naam territory, the fees are very reasonable again: Losing $ 10 on a US$ 50,000 baht transfer, that's nothing.

I now wonder if you can just transfer $50 every day, and keep it free. Or even multiple $50 transfers per day.. Hmm.

That's pretty clever. Too bad you forgot about the 200 thb minimum BKK Bank Thailand charges ro receive a TT. When the TT buy rate refreshes tomorrow morning; it will be close to 32.20....so your 50 will net 1410 thb.

Haha. You are almost exactly right. $50 turned into just 1424 Baht. So yes, there does appear to be a 200 baht fee that doesn't show on that page I linked above.

Sneaky bastards.

So anyway, a transfer into a Thai bank account will still be better for larger amounts. Starting at $750 and up it's better to transfer, which is around about the maximum amount you can withdraw from an ATM.

Then the point where you get a better rate with a transfer compared to bringing cash dollars is about $2,000 (Which will turn into 64,578 Baht) But the higher the better, especially as the TT receive fee you mention maxes out at 500 baht. So if you can transfer $10,000 then you end up with 323,875 Baht, or an actual exchange rate of 32.39 currently, which is better than the current cash rate of 32.22, or 32.06 for a maximum ATM withdrawal of 30K baht after figuring in the 150 baht fee. (This is assuming the ATM rate is the same as for $100 cash bills, which I'm actually not sure about.)

Edited February 19, 2014 by WinnieTheKhwai

[Sparkles]

Does anyone know if to do an over the counter withdrawal with my Canadian ATM card if the card needs to be a visa/debit card? Tried to do one yesterday and the teller said they could not contact my bank…. That was at SCB in Central Fes.

They have never taken my ATM card inside the bank just my Visa card. I use SCB also. I can foresee it being different at different banks.

All so it might just depend on the teller.

You don't go to a teller,go to the currency exchange person.As I have posted many times before avoid small branches in shopping centres go to one of the larger branches.

They just slide the your visa debit or credit card into the machine,similar to one you would find in a shop ,up comes the slip,you sign it,include your address, also sign a photo copy of you first ID passport page,which they will do for you, providing you've remembered to take your passport with you ......end of story.

[Thighlander]

you would hit the max 500 thb at 200,000 thb; it's .25%, min 200, max 500.