CurrencyFair have told me THB will be available by the end of the month.

[alfieconn]

Financial companies have never been known for customer fees transparency unless forced into it by law....and political donations to politicians who make those laws helps to keep the transparency kinda blurry.

Its not blurry its as clear as a bell !

[Mr Happynesss]

I'm getting GBP/THB 54.4314 but I'm signed in, are you ?

No I just used this link http://www.ukforex.co.uk/customer-rates its @ 54.3632 right now. Yours will be more accurate Im sure

[Pib]

GBP/THB 54.4801 from uk forex

54.39000 Bank of Ayudhya TT Rate

54.42875 Siam comm bk TT Rate

That's of now for a comparison but obviously you would get the TT rate on the day the funds come into the country .

I got UKFOREX @ 54.3230 right now

I'm getting GBP/THB 54.4314 but I'm signed in, are you ?

As of this posting, the UKForex Best Customer Exchange Rate for 3000 pounds is reflecting 53.9298. For 1000 pounds its reflecting 53.7796.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Pib

[Mr Happynesss]

Yes actually you are correct Pib, by default they input a £10000 exchange (and therefore a better rate). Your rate is correct for a few thousand pounds, which is the amounts I would be sending.

[Pib]

Yes actually you are correct Pib, by default they input a £10000 exchange (and therefore a better rate). Your rate is correct for a few thousand pounds, which is the amounts I would be sending.

Thai bank TT Buying Rates are the same for any amount coming in, unless maybe you have a BIG amount coming in and you can then call the Thai bank and possibly negotiate a higher exchange rate. But the published TT Buying Rate is the lowest/default rate you will get for any amount from 1 to a million or more money units.

[alfieconn]

GBP/THB 54.4801 from uk forex

54.39000 Bank of Ayudhya TT Rate

54.42875 Siam comm bk TT Rate

That's of now for a comparison but obviously you would get the TT rate on the day the funds come into the country .

I got UKFOREX @ 54.3230 right now

I'm getting GBP/THB 54.4314 but I'm signed in, are you ?

As of this posting, the UKForex Best Customer Exchange Rate for 3000 pounds is reflecting 53.9298. For 1000 pounds its reflecting 53.7796.

capture.JPG

That's strange I just got GBP/THB 54.4788 for selling 3 grand

[alfieconn]

Yes actually you are correct Pib, by default they input a £10000 exchange (and therefore a better rate). Your rate is correct for a few thousand pounds, which is the amounts I would be sending.

Another problem with making a payment through a bank is that you don't actually know what rate your getting until 3 or 4 days after the initial request !

[alfieconn]

GBP/THB 54.4801 from uk forex

54.39000 Bank of Ayudhya TT Rate

54.42875 Siam comm bk TT Rate

That's of now for a comparison but obviously you would get the TT rate on the day the funds come into the country .

I got UKFOREX @ 54.3230 right now

I'm getting GBP/THB 54.4314 but I'm signed in, are you ?

As of this posting, the UKForex Best Customer Exchange Rate for 3000 pounds is reflecting 53.9298. For 1000 pounds its reflecting 53.7796.

capture.JPG

typo

Edited May 20, 2014 by alfieconn

[Pib]

And if a person had a UK-issued "no foreign transaction fee" Visa debit card, they could go do an ATM or counter withdrawal at this point in time and get a 54.44 baht/GPB. Get the money immediately in-hand. Of course there would be a Bt150-180 Thai bank/AEON ATM fee, but maybe the card-issuing bank might reimburse that fee...some cards are that way....and a person can only withdraw so much per day/transaction but usually it more than enough to carry you over for x-days/weeks.

Snapshot from Visa Currency Exchange Webpage a few seconds ago for a European bank issued Visa card.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Pib

[Mr Happynesss]

Sounds REALLY good, where could I get one of those debit cards?

[Pib]

Such UK bank issued cards have been mentioned in other threads...maybe do a Search on ThaiVisa...maybe some UK folks will chime in. As a Yank, I have five such U.S. issued cards...two debit and three credit.

[Mr Happynesss]

Thanks I will look into it

[sustento]

And if a person had a UK-issued "no foreign transaction fee" Visa debit card, they could go do an ATM or counter withdrawal at this point in time and get a 54.44 baht/GPB. Get the money immediately in-hand. Of course there would be a Bt150-180 Thai bank/AEON ATM fee, but maybe the card-issuing bank might reimburse that fee...some cards are that way....and a person can only withdraw so much per day/transaction but usually it more than enough to carry you over for x-days/weeks.

Snapshot from Visa Currency Exchange Webpage a few seconds ago for a European bank issued Visa card.

capture.JPG

If you go inside the bank with your card and passport you can usually make a withdrawal using one of their chip and pin machines. You then don't have to pay the 150bt ATM fee.

As I said in another post the cheapest most convenient way is with a Halfix Clarity credit card. Juts make sure you transfer money in from your bank as soon as the debit hits your Clarity account.

I draw 100,000bt last year and it cost me a total of £1.38.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-2296284/Best-debit-credit-cards-overseas-spending.html

Edited May 20, 2014 by sustento

[Mr Happynesss]

If you go inside the bank with your card and passport you can usually make a withdrawal using one of their chip and pin machines. You then don't have to pay the 150bt ATM fee.

As I said in another post the cheapest most convenient way is with a Halfix Clarity credit card. Juts make sure you transfer money in from your bank as soon as the debit hits your Clarity account.

I draw 100,000bt last year and it cost me a total of £1.38.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-2296284/Best-debit-credit-cards-overseas-spending.html

Great stuff, is there anywhere I can access live rates?

[Mr Happynesss]

In regard to the Halifax Clarity Credit Card, I saw this on another website: "The rate you'll get is set by Mastercard, which you can check here, although the most recent rate you'll be able to see is that from the previous day. Please also note that this rate is not connected to Halifax's own travel money bureaux, which generally offers far lower rates."

I'm a bit suspicious of services that don't offer live rates, it leads me to think it is uncompetitive, the big hidden fees etc. Are you able to know the rate before you withdraw the cash using this card?

[sustento]

It's a credit card. They don't show live rates because they don't use them. They use the Mastercard wholesale daily settlement rate on the day on which the transaction is settled which may not be the day it took place. If you're going to spend all your holiday worrying about a few satang you'll ruin it.

https://www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion/

[Mr Happynesss]

It's a credit card. They don't show live rates because they don't use them. They use the Mastercard wholesale daily settlement rate on the day on which the transaction is settled which may not be the day it took place. If you're going to spend all your holiday worrying about a few satang you'll ruin it.

https://www.mastercard.com/global/currencyconversion/

Nope, not a holiday, it will be a lot more than a few satang as I may be in Thailand for many years! So when you withdraw you don't know what the exchange rate will be until EOD or following days! Do MasterCard follow the underlying market closely, and is it a tight spread? I'm just trying to gauge how competitive they are.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Mr Happynesss

[wolf5370]

Best I found from the UK was Azimo - can sent sterling (or Baht if you really want to - or dollars etc) and fee is 5 quid (SWIFT) - takes just overnight (unless Friday - then clears on Tuesday as banks here in Thailand sit on it until Monday). Online - can set up all the bank info and then just click send value each time without having to re-enter it all.

[wolf5370]

And if a person had a UK-issued "no foreign transaction fee" Visa debit card, they could go do an ATM or counter withdrawal at this point in time and get a 54.44 baht/GPB. Get the money immediately in-hand. Of course there would be a Bt150-180 Thai bank/AEON ATM fee, but maybe the card-issuing bank might reimburse that fee...some cards are that way....and a person can only withdraw so much per day/transaction but usually it more than enough to carry you over for x-days/weeks.

Snapshot from Visa Currency Exchange Webpage a few seconds ago for a European bank issued Visa card.

capture.JPG

Most ATM's here have a quite low maximum per transaction limit. My Thai card allows me 50k per transaction, but most machines are only 20k pet transaction - so if it was a foreign card, just getting out a grand sterling would take 3 hits and 3 lots of charges - best to do that in side the bank and escape the charge (if they allow it - some do, some don't).

[Mr Happynesss]

Best I found from the UK was Azimo - can sent sterling (or Baht if you really want to - or dollars etc) and fee is 5 quid (SWIFT) - takes just overnight (unless Friday - then clears on Tuesday as banks here in Thailand sit on it until Monday). Online - can set up all the bank info and then just click send value each time without having to re-enter it all.

Yes I remember looking up Azimo but they are not as cheap overall as some of the other forex companies, when I looked on comparison sites.

[Mr Happynesss]

What about the two 'FEE-FREE' debit cards near the bottom of this list? (Norwich&Peterborough and Santander) http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/overseas-card-charges

...Although saying that I have heard Credit-cards will always have a better exchange rate.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Mr Happynesss

[wooloomooloo]

Yes intermediary banks sound like a strange thing to me, I hear the sending or receiving companies don't even know whether they will be used or what charges they will apply.

I wonder whether to take you seriously or not.

[sustento]

I wonder whether to take you seriously or not.

I'm beginning to think the same thing. CurrencyFair told me it will be at least a month before they make any decisions regarding the Baht. This looks more and more like spam...

[Jip99]

I wonder whether to take you seriously or not.

I'm beginning to think the same thing. CurrencyFair told me it will be at least a month before they make any decisions regarding the Baht. This looks more and more like spam...

I agree. The OP is too quick on the trigger.

[Pib]

To see Visa exchange rates go to this website: Link. Please note if using a European bank issued Visa card to select the link at the bottom of the page as the rates will be a little different from the rates for the rest of the world...sometimes a little better...sometimes a little worst.

To see Mastercard exchange rates to to this website: Link. Please note the Mastercard website is geared to credit card settlement so the rates are a day behind.

If having the choice between getting a Visa or Mastercard, the Visa exchange rates are usually (not always) a little better.

And you can use this site to see TT, Notes, Sight Bill, Cheque, Draft rates at Thai banks. Link. And completely ignore the bogus statement of, "For ATM Rates, select the TT currency type" as ATM/over the counter withdrawals get the Visa/Mastercard exchange rate unless at the ATM it offers you the lower DCC ripoff rate and you accept. Now, the TT rates will indeed be close to the Visa/Mastercard rates, but as mentioned when you slide your card into an ATM or use your card to purchase something you will get the Visa/Mastercard rate. You'll notice that banks, even Thai banks, do not publish "ATM Rates"...that's because they don't use their own rates for a standard withdrawal....they use the Visa/Mastercard exchange rates....but to repeat, some banks do offer you their Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) rate which they will probably give a warm & fuzzy name like Home Rate or Bank Rate, but this warm & fuzzy name is nothing more that a bank DCC rate which will usually be 3 to 4% lower than the Visa/Mastercard exchange rate. I expect the website has that bogus statement just to get people to visit the site frequently which helps the site's ability to sell ads, up its visitor count, etc. Oh yea, the card issued by your home country bank may carry a foreign transaction fee so be sure to consider that in the exchange rate....the Visa exchange rate calculator gives you a block to enter whatever that percentage may be, but the Mastercard site does not. Your home country bank may list the fee separately or mix it into the exchange rate when charging your account.

[Mr Happynesss]

I wonder whether to take you seriously or not.

I'm beginning to think the same thing. CurrencyFair told me it will be at least a month before they make any decisions regarding the Baht. This looks more and more like spam...

Nice one sustento, first you make the assumption I'm going on holiday (wrong) and now you are starting to think my posts are spam (wrong). ! Do I have to point you to a public forum showing CurrencyFair stating they intend to have THB by the end of this month? WOW.... just WOW, and there are people here saying that it is ME who is too quick on the trigger!!! Is this how you treat all new members? I'm here to learn, its up to you if you want to keep making yourself look stupid.

Edited May 21, 2014 by Mr Happynesss

[Mr Happynesss]

Yes intermediary banks sound like a strange thing to me, I hear the sending or receiving companies don't even know whether they will be used or what charges they will apply.

I wonder whether to take you seriously or not.

Why?

[Mr Happynesss]

I wonder whether to take you seriously or not.

I'm beginning to think the same thing. CurrencyFair told me it will be at least a month before they make any decisions regarding the Baht. This looks more and more like spam...

I agree. The OP is too quick on the trigger.

What are you on about?

[Mr Happynesss]

Anyone who thinks my posts are spam need not reply. UPDATE TODAY: CurrencyFair>>> "Apologies, there has been a slight delay, should be available a week today, if not before."

[RedCardinal]

Launched today. THB now supported.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app