Best Exchange Rate

[bapak]

I have to pay a fairly large bill for hospital....

Have 3 choices...

Credit Card Au$

Debit Card Au$

Local ATM from a Au$ account

 

Like suggestion which will produce best exchange rates (or money in my pocket).

[Gonsalviz]

I use U$D CC all the time. Best option (for me)  is having a Thai bank account and transferring the money in. 

[DogNo1]

This has all been hashed over many, many, many, many, many times. Best deal is to get an over-the-counter cash advance at Bangkok Bank using a no-foreign-transaction-fee credit card. No fee from the card company and no fee from the bank. Can be repeated many times if a large amount of cash is needed and the exchange rate is set by the credit card, not the local bank so is usually the best available.

[CMSteve]

Just a small detail, but can add up to a lot.    

 

You should use a no foreign transaction fee DEBIT card and ask for counter WITHDRAWAL.        If you use/ask for an advance on a credit card, you will be charged the cards cash advance fee.

 

This has all been hashed over many, many, many, many, many times. Best deal is to get an over-the-counter cash advance at Bangkok Bank using a no-foreign-transaction-fee credit card. No fee from the card company and no fee from the bank. Can be repeated many times if a large amount of cash is needed and the exchange rate is set by the credit card, not the local bank so is usually the best available.

 

[Pib]

OP, whatever card you use, credit or debit, you will get the Visa/Mastercard (or whatever logo your card has) exchange rate "minus any foreign transaction fee your card-issuing bank may apply."   So, find out what foreign transaction fee "your card-issuing bank applies"...most likely in the 1 to 3% ballpark....then go to the Visa/Mastercard exchange website to determine what exchange rate you will get.  Visa site.  Mastercard site.  

 

As a general rule of thumb/estimator if you can't/don't want to use the Visa/Mastercard exchange rate sites, the Visa/Mastercard exchange rates will be pretty close to the TT Buying Rate used by Thai banks for incoming funds transfers...then just subtract any foreign transaction fee(s) your card-issuing bank will apply.   And if your card is a no foreign transaction fee, then you don't have to subtract any card-issuing bank foreign transaction fee...but you will still get hit with the Thai ATM foreign card usage fee of Bt150-180 which may or may not be reimbursed by your card-issuing bank...reimbursement of ATM fees is another policy to know about your card.

 

As already mentioned doing a bank teller counter withdrawal is a way to avoid the Thai bank/AEON ATM foreign card use fee of Bt150 to 180, which will be another fee on top of any foreign transaction fee your card-issuing bank applies.   Some bank branches won't do a counter withdrawal for a debit card but will for a credit card....the Bangkok Bank branch I use is like that...they gladly accept a credit card for a counter withdrawal but not a debit card...for a debit card they just point you to their ATM.  But many Bangkok Bank branches and other branches gladly accept debit cards for counter withdrawals...another example of how policies can vary from bank to bank, branch to branch.  For several months now I have been using my credit card to get a cash advance via counter withdrawal with no problems--and I have one of the few credit cards that does not charge a cash advance fee and its also a no foreign transaction fee card...I do the counter withdrawal, come home, go online with my credit card account and make a payment in full to avoid any daily interest charge.  Have done this six times so far over the pass few months...money immediately in hand, absolutely no fees, and I just deposit the cash advance directly into my Bangkok Bank account in the same transaction.   Been working good so far.

 

Yeap, be sure you know what foreign transaction fees your card issuing bank may apply because that fee will apply whether you do an ATM withdrawal or counter withdrawal..  The counter withdrawal method  only allows you to avoid the Thai ATM foreign card usage fee.

[Pinot]

Go to Bankexchangerate.com and use the TT rate to see which bank is paying the best rate. It can change hourly. 

[Pib]

Go to Bankexchangerate.com and use the TT rate to see which bank is paying the best rate. It can change hourly. 

I think you meant http://bankexchangerates.daytodaydata.net/

 

And please note their statement on the opening page where it says, "For ATM rates, select the TT currency type" is completely bogus.   Bank websites like Bangkok Bank, K-Bank, SCB, etc.,do "not" show their ATM rates because banks use the Visa/Mastercard exchange rates.  However, some bank ATMs will also offer a Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) exchange selection which you should say No to as it's a ripoff/lower exchange rate, but the bank will probably give it a  warm and fuzzy name like Home Rate, Bank Rate, etc..  This is nothing more than a DCC rate set by the bank and will be 3 to 4% lower than the Visa/Mastercard exchange rate excluding any foreign transaction fees your card-issuing bank may apply

 

You won't find a bank listing its "ATM Exchange Rate" because they use the Visa/Mastercard exchange rate.  Now you will find a few banks that will list their DCC Rate for credit card purchases and usually that will be the same DCC rate used for an ATM DCC ripoff withdrawal.  DCC bad, very bad for the customer; DCC good, very good for the bank/merchant.

 

As mentioned where this sites says "For ATM rate, select the TT Currency Type", that's a bogus statement geared to get people to visit their site, site count, ad revenue, etc.  However, the TT Buying Rate and Visa/Mastercard exchange rate are usually pretty close to each other...say plus or minus 0.25% most of the time.  The Thai bank TT Buying rates can change multiple times per day; the Visa rate will change once a day...and the Mastercard rate can change twice a day but its usually just changes once a day.

[kalasiner]

My German Bank, Visa card, charges a foreign transaction fee for purchases, but not for atm cash withdrawals.

Lucky me, or standard practice?

[Pib]

Lucky you I think...I don't think it's standard practice since usually the same foreign transaction fee applies to withdrawals or purchases for most cards. And apparently some European bank issued cards don't apply a foreign transaction fee within any country in the EU but once in a country outside the EU the fee is applied.

Sent from my Samsung S4 Edited August 2, 2014 by Pib

[DogNo1]

My Navy Federal Credit Union Visa credit card charges no foreign transaction fee and no cash advance fee. Bangkok Bank charges no fee for over-the-counter cash advances although it does charge an ATM fee so it's best to use the counter advance. There is a limit to the amount that you can withdraw at one time. I always do 20,000 THB and deposit it immediately into my Bangkok Bank account. The limit could be higher. I think it's controlled by Bangkok Bank. It pays to shop around for cards with no foreign transaction fee and no cash advance fee. Navy FCU does charge you interest on the money from day one so I often do a pre-emptive payment on the credit card the day before I do the cash advance. The result is absolutely no charges for your cash advance. I find that it's best to make the payment to the credit card in advance so that you don't get stuck over weekends and holidays before you can have the cc payment credited to your account and get charged some interest as a result. Good luck! BTW, there are many threads on TV about this very subject so you may want to search for them and read through them. It's a subject that appears on TV several times each week!

[Pib]

Can't speak the Navy Federal Credit Union credit cards but I can to the Pentagon Federal Credit Union credit cards as I have/use one (they have a half dozen or so different cards...all no cash advance/no foreign transaction fee cards).   I use it regularly to do counter withdrawals/cash advances at a Bangkok Bank branch.     The card's daily cash advance limit is $2,000 and I've used it six times so far....I always pull Bt60K to Bt64K to bump right up against the Bt2,000 daily cash withdrawal limit.   Now this credit card has a credit line of $15K and the monthly statement says the cash line of credit can equal you total credit line...usually most credit cards only allow a cash advance credit line of approx one-third of your total credit line. On my first use I asked for Bt60K, approx $1875, and the transaction processed fine. On the second use a few weeks later at the same branch, I asked for a withdrawal of Bt100K, approx $3,135, assuming my daily transaction limit matched my total cash credit line.  I was wrong....the transaction rejected...I was a little embarrassed.  I asked the teller clerk to try again at Bt60K and that processed no problem...and I immediately deposited that amount with Bangkok Bank...kinda like a combo cash advance and deposit transaction....works nice.

 

Now,  the branch didn't' have an issue with me asking for a Bt100K counter withdrawal using the card; it's just my credit union rejected that cash advance amount.   And I've seen ThaiVisa posts of folks doing counter withdrawals for several hundred thousand baht as their cards from other banks/credit union/brokerage apparently have higher daily cash withdrawal limits....all depends on your card's limits as set by your "card-issuing" bank.

 

Now I'm sure local Thai banks probably do have some limit on card cash advances, but I've seen other ThaiVisa posts where folks have gotten several hundred thousand baht in one withdrawal/cash advance because their cards apparently had high daily cash advance limits way north of the $2,000 limit like my card happens to carry...and like $1,000 a lot of U.S. "debit" cards carry.  I called the credit union that night to ask about card limits and the rep confirm the card carries a $2,000 daily cash advance limit which can repeated daily right up to your total credit line.  You might want to contact the Navy credit union to confirm what the daily limit is for your credit card...it's probably way north Bt20K if you desired to withdraw more than that (or ever need to due to an emergency).  

 

As mentioned in another post the cash advance gets the full Visa exchange with no cash advance or foreign transaction fee...I make an estimated advance payment in full to avoid any interest charge...works good...fee free withdrawal...money immediately in-hand (preaching to the choir I know).  Nice the Pentagon and Navy Credit Unions offer such no fee cards.