Cash,"visa","atm"and Credit Cards

[Korat Correct]

An Information Directory notice.

I bank at UOB Bank and have UOB ATM card which entitles me to draw upto 40,000bht on one occasion per day. It makes no charge at any UOB bank ATM machine,but if I use it at any other of the Thai banks ATM I am charged 20bht. or more for the service.

I have used a UK Mastercard here and was billed in the normal way in the UK. I was charged £2.50 forex charge separate to the transaction and the exchange rate was that days Thai bank rate plus 5%.

I was thinking of using my Tesco Visa Card at Tesco Lotus to see how that worked. Tesco Lotus have a 1% promotion on at the moment. The alternative is to apply for a Thai Tesco Lotus card.

Have you an experience good or bad of using "plastic" in LOS ?

[username45]

An Information Directory notice.

I bank at UOB Bank and have UOB ATM card which entitles me to draw upto 40,000bht on one occasion per day. It makes no charge at any UOB bank ATM machine,but if I use it at any other of the Thai banks ATM I am charged 20bht. or more for the service.

I have used a UK Mastercard here and was billed in the normal way in the UK. I was charged £2.50 forex charge separate to the transaction and the exchange rate was that days Thai bank rate plus 5%.

I was thinking of using my Tesco Visa Card at Tesco Lotus to see how that worked. Tesco Lotus have a 1% promotion on at the moment. The alternative is to apply for a Thai Tesco Lotus card.

Have you an experience good or bad of using "plastic" in LOS ?

Hi,

I bank with an Australian bank, a necessity as the Oz government will not pay my pension into any other nations banks. Connected to my bank account is a visa debit card which I can use to withdraw funds from any visa linked ATM. I am able to withdraw a maximum of Aus$500 a day (I wish).

Charges, my bank charges me a flat fee of Aus$5 for every ATM transaction and then charges me a 2% fee on top of that as a foriegn currency conversion fee. All this means that I must take out just about all my fortnightly pension each time or I would be crippled by the fees.

It sucks doesn't it?

Hugh

[Pink Mist]

little jonnie and stupid peter should experience those same conditions, but they wont

[Phil Conners]

As a general rule I only use plastic in ATM machines installed in banks. Too much plastic fraud in Thailand, got burned once already. Even though I eventually wasn't liable for the fraud it still cost me considerable money to have a new card issued and FedEx'ed over here + the the greef involved.

[boppia]

I agree. Be careful. If you can get a Thai account and wire money in from abroad then use a Thai card. I did a wire transfer on a friday from the US and it was available on monday here.

[citizen33]

As has been said on these boards more than once, the best ATM card deal for UK residents is the Nationwide Flexaccount. There is no additional charge for conversion to a foreign currency and the exchange rate is pretty good. The same applies to the Nationwide gold credit card. No, I don't work for them, and indeed I have been searching for some time for a second bank that can rival this deal. Unfortunately it seems to be unique. Let us hope that it lasts a while yet.

[Loz]

Siam commercial Bank will open an account with as little as 300bht if you want an atm card.

You get the card right away.

200,000bht a day withdrawl limit

can use the card as a debit card (mastercard)

NO atm fees at the plentiful number of Siam atms

simple as.

[TBWG]

As has been said on these boards more than once, the best ATM card deal for UK residents is the Nationwide Flexaccount. There is no additional charge for conversion to a foreign currency and the exchange rate is pretty good. The same applies to the Nationwide gold credit card. No, I don't work for them, and indeed I have been searching for some time for a second bank that can rival this deal. Unfortunately it seems to be unique. Let us hope that it lasts a while yet.

Hi KC

Here Here....Sounds like you are a Brit if so there really is NO better deal than the Nationwide flexaccount.

TBWG

PS I don't work for them either

[techie]

The other real beauty of of flexaccount is the online banking..

I have a standard cash card a visa card and an e-savings account with a decent rate..

You can log in to access all your accounts and transfer money between the three instantly..very very handy if you lose a card or something or need to take some from savings real fast...

i dont work for them either but as i understand they offer about the best deal

[Korat Correct]

Information Directory Notice

I tried the Nationwide last time I was in the UK and it seems they may have changed their tune and charge for transfers.

I have been with Cahoot since Intelligent Finance reduced their rates several moons ago.

They are an online bank. Savings (easy access online) are 4.85% down from 5% and the current account pays 4%,I think.

I have transferred funds to my UOB account. Any amount incurs a £25 charge. They insist on you having a number they can call you on before completing the transaction. Sensible I suppose.

As for Deposit rates here UOB offer 0.75% on "current" accounts, 4% on deposits for 3 months and 5.75% for one year. All interest is taxed at 15%.

The Government Housing Bank offer 4.5% for three months fixed and looks a good deal if you need it.

I think Thai savings rates may go up again. Base rates have.

Loz seems to have found a good deal at Siam Bank,must check out their rates.

Still waiting to hear if anyone uses a Tesco Lotus Card with good effect?

[techie]

I tried the Nationwide last time I was in the UK and it seems they may have changed their tune and charge for transfers.

Yes there is a set charge of £20 (could be £25 now) if you want to to transfer from a nationwide account to a Thai bank, but they all charge for this...some banks a lot more!

To transfer between accounts at nationwide is instant and free..

To give some idea of the rate you get at the machine in Thailand, i took out 20,000bt on 1st of june and exactly £280.39 left my nationwide account and on june 8th took out 4,000bt and it took exactly £56.38...both work out over 70bt..

There is no other charges for these withdrawls..

[rawdonlad]

I tried the Nationwide last time I was in the UK and it seems they may have changed their tune and charge for transfers.

Yes there is a set charge of £20 (could be £25 now) if you want to to transfer from a nationwide account to a Thai bank, but they all charge for this...some banks a lot more!

To transfer between accounts at nationwide is instant and free..

To give some idea of the rate you get at the machine in Thailand, i took out 20,000bt on 1st of june and exactly £280.39 left my nationwide account and on june 8th took out 4,000bt and it took exactly £56.38...both work out over 70bt..

There is no other charges for these withdrawls..

The charge for a transfer is still £20, they are working the exchange rate out at 70baht = £1 today, the current account pays interest of 4.25% if you have £1,000 or more a month paid in, or 1.25% if £500 or more a month or 0.25% if less than £500 a month paid in. An authorised overdraft is 7.75% and you can take out £300 a day from the ATM's.

If you use the credit card all transactions are free of charge and no extra is added on for the currency conversion.

[djc45]

i have a nationwide account and i wanted 900,000bht for my car

went to the banckok bank in kk main branch opend an account and then asked them to ask nationwide for my cash i needed my nationwide atm card and my passport they did it within 1/2 hour and no bank charges YES NO BANK CHARGES pluss i got the same ex rate as the atm card good or what

[techie]

i have a nationwide account and i wanted 900,000bht for my car

went to the banckok bank in kk main branch opend an account and then asked them to ask nationwide for my cash i needed my nationwide atm card and my passport they did it within 1/2 hour and no bank charges YES NO BANK CHARGES pluss i got the same ex rate as the atm card good or what

Thats so good its almost unbelievable djc...

do you also work for the nationwide

[ray23]

I have learned my lesson on only using them at a bank had to have mine recovered twice now one time took eight hours the macine was not a bank. At the bank if your insistent you can get in a few minutes. But you will always get the standard asnwere comeback Tueday, that must be a real nightmare for a tourist. By the way both times the locla bank ATM machine made errors no me, not a cae of the wronf numbers three timees. It don't work in two times move on. Once that happens then it has to be releases by the out of country bank not the Thai bank.

My limit 15K baht in one day.

I use a standard ATM card and ahve been here for six years, reason no expiration date, my bank will not send a atm card internationally. This month I ended up doing a wire transfer, since none of the banks I tried would honor because it didn't have a experation date. That was an intersting surprise after six years. o I have ordered a visa card which has to be sent to a friend in the states who will now send it to me. Since I'm not going back hope this guy lives longer then I do

[TBWG]

i have a nationwide account and i wanted 900,000bht for my car

went to the banckok bank in kk main branch opend an account and then asked them to ask nationwide for my cash i needed my nationwide atm card and my passport they did it within 1/2 hour and no bank charges YES NO BANK CHARGES pluss i got the same ex rate as the atm card good or what

Thats so good its almost unbelievable djc...

do you also work for the nationwide

See attached linkhttp://www.nationwide.co.uk/exitpage/default.htm re commission free withdrawals from ATM's

TBWG

[techie]

i for one would be very concerned if nationwide would send that amount of money out of an account almost instantly on the word of a thai bank saying they had a person there with a passport...

I guess if you were closing the nationwide account at the same time it could be diffrenent but to transfer oversea that amount they would definatly need a signature and relevant money checks to be done..

This explains the process...swift transfer

Yes they do commision free withdawls from atm but this is a different matter altogether...

If they do let this happen i would advise everyone with an account to keep the card and your passprt safe and well seperate...

[Phil Conners]

I have learned my lesson on only using them at a bank had to have mine recovered twice now one time took eight hours the macine was not a bank. At the bank if your insistent you can get in a few minutes. But you will always get the standard asnwere comeback Tueday, that must be a real nightmare for a tourist. By the way both times the locla bank ATM machine made errors no me, not a cae of the wronf numbers three timees. It don't work in two times move on. Once that happens then it has to be releases by the out of country bank not the Thai bank.

My limit 15K baht in one day.

I use a standard ATM card and ahve been here for six years, reason no expiration date, my bank will not send a atm card internationally. This month I ended up doing a wire transfer, since none of the banks I tried would honor because it didn't have a experation date. That was an intersting surprise after six years. o I have ordered a visa card which has to be sent to a friend in the states who will now send it to me. Since I'm not going back hope this guy lives longer then I do

Why don't you just open an account here, then make wire transfers to it? No need to transfer a lot, just a small amount, like enough to get you going for a month is enough and doesn't cost more than the ATM route.

[daleyboy]

Just spotted this thread, i opened an almost identical thread in general topics.

I spoke to nationwide yesterday and they told me after i open my second account, to let them know when i will be away, so they know it is me taking money out in Thailand. They said if they saw unusal spending on the account i.e lots of cash withdrawls in Thailand they would freeze the account if i hadnt warned them.

[Loz]

what is wrong with a local account? put in as much as you like. take out as much as you like.... simple as...

[citizen33]

A couple of people have mentioned transferring larger amounts that wouldn't work with an ATM withdrawal, and here it seems that one of the best UK deals comes from Saga.

http://www.saga.co.uk/internationalpayments/

They offer free transfers over £3000 and a fee of £10 for each transaction involving lower amounts.

I think I may have lost the plot regarding the comments of one or two other posters. My understanding of the reason why standard wire transfers don't feature much in the discussion is that they are expensive - certainly much more expensive than using the Nationwide ATM card for Brits. Similarly I had rather assumed that most people were not talking much about local accounts because their income comes from abroad and they are interested in a mechanism for getting it into LOS.

[Loz]

AH ha, that makes sense. I was thinking people lived here on a more permenant basis.

[marshbags]

Just spotted this thread, i opened an almost identical thread in general topics.

I spoke to nationwide yesterday and they told me after i open my second account, to let them know when i will be away, so they know it is me taking money out in Thailand. They said if they saw unusal spending on the account i.e lots of cash withdrawls in Thailand they would freeze the account if i hadnt warned them.

Hiya DB

Don,t know if you have online banking but just in case, if you register for this facility you can keep an eye on your transactions personally ( in addition to what you post. )

Useful for other members for reference anyway who may be interested.

Regarding large money transfers i reckon it is best for security reasons to do it via swift and it is very simple with online banking.

The charge of 20 pounds is more than reasonable taking into acount the work involved and the back up.

I cannot speak to highly of N.wide with whom i have been a member since the early seventies.

I was in my local office last week and was met with the same friendly staff and atmosphere i have always experienced.

There,s even a rest area now with free drinks ( tea, coffee ect. ) a large wall T.V. and newspapers.

In conclusion i agree with all the positives posted and credit where it is due to the building society.

marshbags