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Posted

Hello,

Some days ago I retrieved money for the first time from an ATM in Pattaya:

20.000 Baht (maximal withdrawal) costed me 475.87 €

  • 180 baht fee
  • ATM currency rate for Euro is 42.8570 while the actuel rate should be around 44.3/44.5
  • My bank took an additional 5 € fee

If I had the 475.87 € in cash and exchanged it at a rate of 44.5, I would have 21.176 Baht.

So I lost a total of 1.176 Baht...

Is there any bank with an ATM that offers a better rate?

Opening a Thai bank account is the best alternative? What are the fees involved?

Thank you for any help.

Posted

I believe one is always taken for a ride by various banks and others, no matter in which way you choose to you change money.

There may be some ways to save a few Euros, but personally I wouldn't bother.

Posted

Last time Aeon banks ATM was free now they don't even accepted 6 digits password only 4 digits, the actual cost is 150 Baht it more cheaper if you send by Western Union check with as sometimes do have some promotion rates, that's why you can see many ATM machine around you, banks have to pay rental to the shop owner for electricity and other charges will deduct from your wallet. Try to t.t and open a local account to saved more on exchange rates.

Posted

Open a local bank account and send money over by SWIFT. I send EUR 4000-5000 each time and the total cost of doing the transaction is 0.75%-0.65% (comparing what I get with what the banks publish as their TT rate). Your ATM withdrawal cost about 5% so its well worth doing something different!

Opening an account costs only THB 300-500. I have SCB and Kasikorn accounts. You may have to try a few branches before one will open an account for you.

  • Like 1
Posted

@Upnotover

Do you get a good rate or a lower rate like from an ATM (like in my example above)

I get a rate close to the bank published TT rate. On 16 April Kasikorn published rate was 44.32125, after the charges (which worked out at 0.7%) the effective rate to me was 44.01 (on a EUR4500.00 transfer).

Posted

@Upnotover

Do you get a good rate or a lower rate like from an ATM (like in my example above)

You will get a much better rate than with ATM and a lot less expenses if you transfer larger sums in one go. (bank-expenses are the same amount whether you sent 500 Euro or 5.000 Euro)

Yermanee wai.gif

Posted

Withdraw over the counter, using your card and passport, no fee for over the counter withdrawals but your card issuer will still charge you their fee.

Posted (edited)

Re the various comments above:

All the Thai bank ATMs provide the same exchange rates on a daily basis. And that rate is, the network rate provided by the card you're using, whether it's a VISA or MasterCard card. Each of those two networks set their own international exchange rates every day, and those are the rates you get at Thai ATMs, regardless of what bank ATM you use.

The only exception to that would be using MasterCards at a few Thai bank companies, perhaps Siam Commercial and Bank of Ayudhya, IF AND ONLY IF you accept an offer on the ATM screen to have the withdrawal amount shown in your home currency instead of Thai baht. That's called Dynamic Currency Exchange (DCC), and usually results in you getting a couple of percentage points worse exchange rate than you'd normally get.

What does vary greatly, however, are the foreign currency fees charged by people's home country banks when using their cards abroad. Some charge a percentage amount (1 to 3 or 4%)against whatever you withdraw. Some charge a flat amount plus a percentage amount against every withdrawal. And then the Thai banks pile onto those charges, adding either 150 or 180 baht per withdrawal in their own fee.

So really, as long as you avoid DCC, the choice of one Thai bank ATM over any other Thai bank ATM is pretty meaningless in terms of exchange rates. But there are two other issues that matter:

1. Some Thai banks' ATMs are still charging only the 150 baht fee for VISA card withdrawals, whereas some are charging the 180 baht fee against VISA card withdrawals. AFAIK, pretty much all of them are now charging the higher 180 baht fee anytime you do a MasterCard withdrawal. AEON ATMs are one of those still charging only the 150 baht fee against VISA card withdrawals.

2. If you're going to pay an ATM fee, you want to get as much money as you can for the fee. Thus, a few Thai banks still have higher per withdrawal limits of up to 30,000 baht, those being Ayudhya, CIMB and TMB (Thai Military Bank), as of the last time I checked. The others seem to be limited to 20K or 25K per withdrawal.

But, unless you have a home country bank card that has no foreign currency fee and reimburses you for the Thai bank withdrawal fees, indeed, the most economical route is to try to find a Thai bank that will do a so-called counter withdrawal using your DEBIT card (not credit card). Counter withdrawals (where you go to the bank teller and present your card and passport) don't currently carry any fee on the Thai end (though your home country bank's foreign currency fee still would apply if it has one).

But the problem with counter withdrawals is, some bank staff will refuse to do them and point you instead to their nearby ATM machines (where you'll be forced to pay a 150 or 180 baht withdrawal fee). However, if one bank branch refuses, try a different bank branch, and you ought to be able to find one that will do a counter withdrawal.

Edited by TallGuyJohninBKK

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