Reasons of change

[DogNo1]

Is the exchange rate when transferring funds into Bangkok Bank NY and then to a local branch in Bangkok the same as the bank's locally posted dollar exchange rate? I'm thinking of opening an account here in Bangkok to facilitate moving money from the U.S. to here but have no need to keep a certain amount in a local bank. I get about half a baht better than the posted exchange rate by getting cash advances on my credit card at Bangkok Bank. If there's no rate advantage to the NY/Bangkok connection, I'll just get cash advances and deposit them locally. I already have an account at SCB. Any information will be greatly appreciated.

[mania]

Use the TT rate & do not forget the fee's charged

( Fee's are reasonable imho )

[Pib]

Assuming you transmit the funds from your home country sending bank in dollars, you get the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate as as posted on their website. The TT Buying Rate is used for incoming wire transfers. And don't forget that as the money flows through the Bangkok Bank "NY" branch they slice off a small fee (a sliding scale but $5 or $10 for amounts people usually transfer) and when the funds arrive you in-Thailand Bangkok Bank branch they then apply a 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) fee. You "must" have a local Bangkok Bank branch account to use the NY branch ACH routing number....the Bangkok Bank NY branch can not be used to transmit funds via ACH to another Thai bank such as SCB, Kbank, etc. But even with these two fees which usually totals $12 to $15 for the amounts people usually transfer, it's the cheapest way to accomplish a bank transfer from a U.S. bank to a Thai bank....definitely cheaper than usually a pricey SWIFT transfer.

When using your credit card to get a cash advance you will get the Visa/Mastercard exchange rate minus any foreign transaction fee and cash advance fee charged by your card-issuing bank. The Visa/Mastercard no foreign transaction fee exchange rate is always plus or minus just a little of the TT Buying Rate....sometimes the card rates is a little better, sometimes a little worst...like usually plus or minus 0.25% better or worst.

However, most credit cards have a 1 to 3 % foreign transaction fee plus almost all have a cash advance fee in the 3% ballpark and then the interest on the cash advance starts racking up immediately upon the withdrawal unlike a purchase. So, a cash advance could be costing a person around 6% the second you do the advance. Ex: get a $1000 cash advance with a credit card having a 3% foreign transaction fee and a 3% cash advance fee and a charge of $1060 hits your account...and we are not even talking the interest charge that begins to rack up from day one of the cash advance.

I just can't see how you are getting a half baht better exchange rate by doing a cash advance because using an exchange rate of 32 baht/USD as half baht is almost 1.6% which means the Visa/Mastercard exchange rate is 1.6% better than the TT Buying Rate "and" you have a credit card that does not charge any foreign transaction fee or cash advance fee....there are a few such credit cards like the Pentagon Federal Credit Union credit cards (I have such a card). But even with such a card, the Visa/Mastercard exchange rates are not 1.6% better than Thai bank TT Buying Rates...and I use my no foreign transaction fee debit/credit cards all the time and check the exchange rates. Like right now the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate is 32.14 and the Visa rate 32.12, only a 0.06% difference.

I think you are probably making a calculation error somewhere.

Edited April 22, 2014 by Pib

[DogNo1]

Thanks for your observations. I have a Navy Federal Credit Union Visa goRewards card which charges no foreign transaction fees and only a $1 cash advance fee. It looks as though I can save $10-$14 by using the cash advance route. I am going to open the Bangkok Bank account anyway just to have another avenue of money transfer open in case anything goes wrong with the Navy Fed route. If Bangkok Bank were to start charging a fee for the cash advances, then the advantage of that method would disappear.

[Pib]

Thanks for your observations. I have a Navy Federal Credit Union Visa goRewards card which charges no foreign transaction fees and only a $1 cash advance fee. It looks as though I can save $10-$14 by using the cash advance route. I am going to open the Bangkok Bank account anyway just to have another avenue of money transfer open in case anything goes wrong with the Navy Fed route. If Bangkok Bank were to start charging a fee for the cash advances, then the advantage of that method would disappear.

Yea, that's what I've been doing with my PFCU credit card...after getting the counter advance I come back home, log onto my PFCU account, and make an advance payment to equal the cash advance amount....that way I don't get charged any interest...and as mentioned the card has no foreign transaction fee nor cash advance fee. One of the few credit cards out there that don't charge for a cash advance fee. I go the credit card route versus using a couple of my no foreign transaction fee debit cards, like my Schwab debit card, because the Bangkok Bank I use will not do a counter withdrawal using a debit card---they just point you to their ATM. Plus, my credit card allows a $2,000 daily cash withdrawal compared to $1,000 for each of my debit cards.

I use to use my no foreign transaction fee debit cards in AEON ATMs for years until they started charging a Bt150 fee...and rather than help kill the Reimbursement Golden Goose since both of my debit cards also reimbursed such ATM fees I gave the credit card counter withdrawal a try and it works out fine. I've been pulling Bt60-64K per counter withdrawal (getting close to the $2K daily limit of the card) and having the withdrawal deposited directly into my Bangkok Bank account. The counter clerk or me never touch any of the cash as the clerk processes the card withdrawal and deposit transaction simultaneously. I've done it three times so far since AEON started charging their fee a few months ago. Yeap, works fine....I get funds immediately from the U.S. with absolutely no fees and I get the Visa exchange rate which is plus or minus a few stang the TT Buying Rate used for wire transfers. I have ACH transfer links to Bangkok Bank set up with my U.S. banks, but I haven't had to do a wire/ACH transfer for around 3 years since I've been able to get all the money I need via my no foreign transaciton fee debit and credit cards. Works for me.

[DogNo1]

Thanks, Pib. I think I'll do the same. Right now I keep a lot of cash on hand and I'd rather have my money sitting in my Bangkok Bank account. Do you use your BB debit card for most of your purchases or do you pay cash? I'll probably take a balanced approach since some places that I patronize will only accept cash.

[Pib]

I use my Capital One no foreign transaction fee credit cards (a Visa & Mastercard) for as many purchases as I can. I mostly use the Visa card now since their exchange rate is usually a little better than Mastercard... I use to primarily use the Mastercard when it was paying 2% cash back... now it pays 1.5% also. 1.5% cash back adds up fast when always using the cards. Plus the cards are protected under U.S. consumer protection laws which are stronger than Thai consumer protection laws. I primarily just use my Bkk Bk debit card to get cash but before getting the CapOne cards I would use the Bkk Bk debit card for purchases.

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