180 Baht Charges for ATM.

[Naam]

Wasn't there a whole thread on this some years back?

not one but a dozen threads!

[Pib]

Wasn't there a whole thread on this some years back?

not one but a dozen threads!

Kinda like many different visa/extension of stay, financial, and other topics....just the nature of blogs like ThaiVisa to ask, discuss, answer, debate the same things over and over. Preaching to the choir I know.

[Naam]

How dare people run businesses to make a profit or charge for a service they provide, what are they thinking!

After all, the ATM machine itself is free,the installation free, the electricity to run it is free, the staff to service it and reload it etc is free the computer systems and hardware, it was all free so why should they charge the customer.

And I expect Bt150-180 covers that cost many, many times over. It's just a very high ATM fee focusing on expats/foreign cards. Pretty much like how foreigners are charged 2 to 4 times the admission fee of a Thai to govt-owned tourist attractions.

If the installation, electricity, staff service, reload, etc., was so expensive why are ATM withdrawals using a "Thai bank card" free or maybe Bt20 if out of region/province? Maybe a Thai debit card uses less electricity, gets different kind of money from the ATM, etc., than a foreign debit card? I don't know...you tell me.

unfortunately access from an ATM in Nakhon Nowhere to a bank account in Duluth, Minnesota needs a certain setup which involves initial capital cost as well as maintenance.

[Pib]

I thought it was just due to more toll booth charges on the internet highway between Duluth and Nakhon Nowhere.

[Naam]

Wasn't there a whole thread on this some years back?

not one but a dozen threads!

Kinda like many different visa/extension of stay, financial, and other topics....just the nature of blogs like ThaiVisa to ask, discuss, answer, debate the same things over and over. Preaching to the choir I know.

similar to the i want to import me ol' <insert car model> it's still in good shape although it's 21 years old

[Thailaw]

How dare people run businesses to make a profit or charge for a service they provide, what are they thinking!

After all, the ATM machine itself is free,the installation free, the electricity to run it is free, the staff to service it and reload it etc is free the computer systems and hardware, it was all free so why should they charge the customer.

And I expect Bt150-180 covers that cost many, many times over. It's just a very high ATM fee focusing on expats/foreign cards. Pretty much like how foreigners are charged 2 to 4 times the admission fee of a Thai to govt-owned tourist attractions.

If the installation, electricity, staff service, reload, etc., was so expensive why are ATM withdrawals using a "Thai bank card" free or maybe Bt20 if out of region/province? Maybe a Thai debit card uses less electricity, gets different kind of money from the ATM, etc., than a foreign debit card? I don't know...you tell me.

unfortunately access from an ATM in Nakhon Nowhere to a bank account in Duluth, Minnesota needs a certain setup which involves initial capital cost as well as maintenance.

True enough. But when I withdraw Pounds at an ATM in London accessing my account in the US, there are no such "service charges", at least not in addition to what the bank makes on the difference between the buy/sell rates on the currency exchange involved (plus other fee sharing arrangements the banks provide to each other within (and to create) the ATM system). And when I withdraw funds from an ATM in Phnom Penh, not only are there no service charges, but they give me Dollars!! Not sure how they make that work (actually, I am), but it definitely works for me. But maybe the electrons need to travel much farther (via clearing houses in Duluth, Nome or Timbuktu) to ATMs in Thailand to justify the extra expense and charge (but I am doubtful). The banks in Thailand have added and raised the B150/180 service charge collectively, as a group (other than AEON, which is not really a bank, for a while), and I expect that it is far more oligopoly/cartel pricing behavior (based on demand), than it is a competitive market passing forward the cost of doing business. In the US, such behavior would be illegal, but in Thailand it is "business as usual", and the especially naïve/uncritical will argue that it is necessary/justified... And the Thai banks raking in the fees thank you for that....

Edited August 21, 2014 by Thailaw

[Pib]

So many fees exist simply because the bank/company knows they can charge the fee; not because the fee is needed to cover costs. The fee is predominately profit. That's fine in most cases I guess, but in some cases it's just a ripoff like when a fee is just too high...a fee that far exceeds any associated costs. But when the whole community starts charging basically the same fee, customers are like a captive audience, cash/fee milk cows, etc. All the banks are guarding the fee fort they have built and continue to make a little larger with higher walls each year.

I'm surprised AEON held out so long in not charging the Bt150 fee like the Thai banks. Guess AEON was happy enough with the small interchange fee they earned in such transactions, but I expect the Thai banksters association may have pressured AEON to come inline with the foreign card fee charged by Thai banks...makes it look like that's the fee level everyone must charge to cover costs, stay in business, etc.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Actually, in my experience in Cambodia, most of the banks there do charge an ATM withdrawal fee on foreign cards...but there were still at least one or two, as of a year ago, that did not. And yes, ATMs in Cambodia do dispense U.S. dollars, because that is the country's de facto currency.

But I think an apt comparison is... if a Thai citizen travels to the U.S. and wants to use their Thai bank VISA or MC debit cards to withdraw funds from a U.S. ATM, I don't know of any U.S. bank that's going to charge them an ATM fee anywhere close to $5-6 per withdrawal. I think the average ATM fee in the U.S. for using an ATM not belonging to your own card/bank's network -- remember, this is average across many banks -- is somewhere in the $2-3 per withdrawal amount.

So, the Thai banks' cartel fee is approximately double what a Thai citizen would pay in the U.S., just in terms of the ATM fee for using their card abroad. And that's exclusive of any foreign currency conversion changes, which banks in both countries often charge.

Edited August 21, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Pib]

I haven't been in the States for a half dozen years now but the few times I did use my Bangkok Bank debit card in a U.S. ATM I got charged the same ATM Use Fee as if I used one of my U.S. debit cards in the ATM that was not part of that bank's network. There was no higher local ATM fee just because your card was a foreign card.

Yes, Bangkok Bank then charged a Bt100 foreign transaction fee like other many other cards charge foreign transaction fees, but that U.S. ATM did not charge me a higher local ATM fee just because my card was a foreign card.

[Naam]

when i'm in Germany and use my German ATM (not credit) card issued by my X-bank in Germany at an ATM of Y-bank i am charged €3.- (THB 126), sometimes €3.50 (THB 147). i suspect that German ATMs are equipped with a sensor able to sniff any consumption of prikh nam pla during the last 30 days or perhaps sense the Thai exit/reentry visa in my passport.

that must be the reason why this unjustified highway robbing and racist bankster fees are charged

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Just be glad your German bank isn't charging you 180 baht per withdrawal, like their Thai brethren would.

Obviously, the cost of banking is much higher in Thailand than in Germany.

[Pib]

Maybe Thai banks have to pay import, excise, and VAT tax when processing foreign card ATM transactions...it's probably the import tax on the foreign electrons being transmitted from your home country bank back to the Thailand ATM to approve the transaction that causing the Bt150-180 fee. Sounds like a good excuse to me.

[Naam]

Just be glad your German bank isn't charging you 180 baht per withdrawal, like their Thai brethren would.

Obviously, the cost of banking is much higher in Thailand than in Germany.

true, the additional 33 Baht would be a huge financial burden and reason enough that i take the next flight back to the Land of Smiles.

[Naam]

Maybe Thai banks have to pay import, excise, and VAT tax when processing foreign card ATM transactions...it's probably the import tax on the foreign electrons being transmitted from your home country bank back to the Thailand ATM to approve the transaction that causing the Bt150-180 fee. Sounds like a good excuse to me.

you forgot to mention "tea money" Pib!

[CaptHaddock]

My bank in the USA... USAA Savings Bank reimburses ATM charges - even those from Thailand up to about $15.00 each account. And to the best of my account research USAA does not charge a foreign transaction fee for ATM charges -- but does for Credit Card charges ... which I believe is mostly due to MasterCard...

USAA does charge a 1% foreign transaction fee for using its ATM card outside of the US.

[Pib]

Maybe Thai banks have to pay import, excise, and VAT tax when processing foreign card ATM transactions...it's probably the import tax on the foreign electrons being transmitted from your home country bank back to the Thailand ATM to approve the transaction that causing the Bt150-180 fee. Sounds like a good excuse to me.

you forgot to mention "tea money" Pib!

The ATM "tea money donation slot" is a planned modification of Thai ATMs, but first all Thai banks must complete the chip-enabled card modification. All donations will be split evenly between the Thai banksters pension fund and Fee R&D department.

[Thailaw]

Just be glad your German bank isn't charging you 180 baht per withdrawal, like their Thai brethren would.

Obviously, the cost of banking is much higher in Thailand than in Germany.

true, the additional 33 Baht would be a huge financial burden and reason enough that i take the next flight back to the Land of Smiles.

You are now getting how banks (more particularly those in Thailand) structure their fees -- add a small additional fee to a transaction/service that the consumer/user will judge as 'not material" to use/purchase the service, which all goes to the banks' bottom line. When these transactions and the associated fees are aggregated over the millions of such transactions in a given year, the revenue/profits gained by the banks is significant. And even for the individual consumer that uses an ATM hundreds/thousands of times each year, the fees will add up to significant amounts of money over time. At home (where ever that may be), people use their own banks' ATMs the vast majority of the time and thereby avoid the fees, and only use another bank's ATM in a cash "emergency", so the frequency and total cost of using higher priced ATMs is low. Not the case for expats in Thailand, many of who rely on ATMs for their normal flow of funds -- none of the banks are "their bank" and the high fees for foreign transactions can add up to large amounts, especially for many retired expats that live in Thailand on relatively small amounts of money.

The bottom line is that the fee charged has little or nothing to do with the cost of providing the service (which was I thought the original point of all of this), it is based, as your post now suggests, on the willingness to pay (demand), especially when you can collude with all of the other service providers to take away the lower cost options that would exist in a competitive environment. Even in your example of the German banks, the fees vary among banks, as they grope to find the price that the traffic will bear and will maximize their profits (what we call "tâtonnement"), and individual bank's determination of that price will differ from other banks if there is some, albeit limited, competition among them -- not true with the colluding, price fixing Thai banks.

I do not care about the profit margin of a provider, and I never think about how much profit the manufacturer or seller is making when I buy a product, so long as the market is competitive, barriers to entry are low, and I have many choices. If I like it and the price is acceptable, I buy it, full stop. It is estimated that Apple has a 40+% profit margin on each iPhone it sells -- good for them. If they build a better mouse trap/smart phone and have pricing power to increase the profit per unit sold, that's fine, no complaint. They will always be under pressure to improve the mouse trap and competitors will always be trying to capture those high profits; Samsung and the Chinese are hot on Apple's heels, and the iPhone 6 is due out next month -- a very healthy system. Sales of tablets are up 50% over the last year; while sales of the iPad are down over 16% over the same period -- competition at work. The Thai banking system is not competitive, fees are not based on costs of service, and foreign users of ATMs in Thailand (pulling funds from foreign bank accounts) are paying more for that use than they should -- full stop. And while I can afford to pay the B180 per ATM withdrawal, I don't like it. if I am going to give money away for nothing (even relatively small amounts), I would much rather give it to Father Ray's or another needy charity than to give it to Bangkok Bank. You might consider doing the same. Next................

[jpinx]

What are the options to the convenience of slotting your visa card for 30k and paying the 180 plus home fees?

Open a thai bank account,

get that account to operate online,

get your new Thai bank to issue you a Thai ATM card that works at every ATM in Thailand,

transfer funds from home bank to Thai bank the day or 2 before using the Thai bank ATM card.

What fees are involved with that rigmarole?

[Thailaw]

What are the options to the convenience of slotting your visa card for 30k and paying the 180 plus home fees?

Open a thai bank account,

get that account to operate online,

get your new Thai bank to issue you a Thai ATM card that works at every ATM in Thailand,

transfer funds from home bank to Thai bank the day or 2 before using the Thai bank ATM card.

What fees are involved with that rigmarole?

Did you think of this all by yourself?

The obvious alternative is to (1) open an account at a Thai bank that can accept wire transfers of funds from banks outside of Thailand and has an ATM card associated with it, which 99.44% of Thai expats already have -- if you don't, you should. (2) Transfer larger amounts ($10,000+) of money from your foreign bank account (or brokerage account) to your Thai bank account periodically (depending on how long that amount will last given spending patterns) or open an account at BKK BK and use ACH transfers to its NY branch if you have an account in the US. Setting it up the first time takes a bit of effort, but after that it is mindless and effortless -- I expect that even you could learn to do it with practice. Total cost of the transfer to Thailand from the foreign bank will be about B1,500 (or less), which on $10,000 amounts to B93.75 on each B20,000 pull (16 pulls of approx. $625 (most banks limit each ATM pull to B20,000) to get $10,000), or about 1/2 of the foreign bank ATM withdrawal charge (B180) in Thailand. And the more you send in one transfer, the lower is the "per pull cost" as almost all of the costs are fixed. (3) Once the money is in your account in Thailand, use your Thai ATM for free anywhere within your home province or pay B20 for a ATM pull outside. Too difficult for you?

Your "rigmarole" is a self-made illusion/delusion, and as noted most Thai banks do not allow B30k ATM pulls. If you are a tourist here for a week or two, sorry, the foregoing does not apply to you, and you should continue to use the ATMs and pay the extortionist fees.

[Naam]

Just be glad your German bank isn't charging you 180 baht per withdrawal, like their Thai brethren would.

Obviously, the cost of banking is much higher in Thailand than in Germany.

true, the additional 33 Baht would be a huge financial burden and reason enough that i take the next flight back to the Land of Smiles.

You are now getting how banks (more particularly those in Thailand) structure their fees -- add a small additional fee to a transaction/service that the consumer/user will judge as 'not material" to use/purchase the service, which all goes to the banks' bottom line. When these transactions and the associated fees are aggregated over the millions of such transactions in a given year, the revenue/profits gained by the banks is significant. And even for the individual consumer that uses an ATM hundreds/thousands of times each year, the fees will add up to significant amounts of money over time. At home (where ever that may be), people use their own banks' ATMs the vast majority of the time and thereby avoid the fees, and only use another bank's ATM in a cash "emergency", so the frequency and total cost of using higher priced ATMs is low. Not the case for expats in Thailand, many of who rely on ATMs for their normal flow of funds -- none of the banks are "their bank" and the high fees for foreign transactions can add up to large amounts, especially for many retired expats that live in Thailand on relatively small amounts of money.

The bottom line is that the fee charged has little or nothing to do with the cost of providing the service (which was I thought the original point of all of this), it is based, as your post now suggests, on the willingness to pay (demand), especially when you can collude with all of the other service providers to take away the lower cost options that would exist in a competitive environment. Even in your example of the German banks, the fees vary among banks, as they grope to find the price that the traffic will bear and will maximize their profits (what we call "tâtonnement"), and individual bank's determination of that price will differ from other banks if there is some, albeit limited, competition among them -- not true with the colluding, price fixing Thai banks.

I do not care about the profit margin of a provider, and I never think about how much profit the manufacturer or seller is making when I buy a product, so long as the market is competitive, barriers to entry are low, and I have many choices. If I like it and the price is acceptable, I buy it, full stop. It is estimated that Apple has a 40+% profit margin on each iPhone it sells -- good for them. If they build a better mouse trap/smart phone and have pricing power to increase the profit per unit sold, that's fine, no complaint. They will always be under pressure to improve the mouse trap and competitors will always be trying to capture those high profits; Samsung and the Chinese are hot on Apple's heels, and the iPhone 6 is due out next month -- a very healthy system. Sales of tablets are up 50% over the last year; while sales of the iPad are down over 16% over the same period -- competition at work. The Thai banking system is not competitive, fees are not based on costs of service, and foreign users of ATMs in Thailand (pulling funds from foreign bank accounts) are paying more for that use than they should -- full stop. And while I can afford to pay the B180 per ATM withdrawal, I don't like it. if I am going to give money away for nothing (even relatively small amounts), I would much rather give it to Father Ray's or another needy charity than to give it to Bangkok Bank. You might consider doing the same. Next................

what you "would much rather" or what "i might consider" is completely irrelevant. people "should rather" accept a reality which cannot be changed by complaining ad nauseam in a public forum.

accepting reality also applies to wrong assumptions such as "the Thai banking system is not competitive". fact is and remains that Thai banking is extremely competitive because competition does not exist.

next!

[jpinx]

The obvious alternative is to (1) open an account at a Thai bank that can accept wire transfers of funds from banks outside of Thailand and has an ATM card associated with it, which 99.44% of Thai expats already have -- if you don't, you should.

-----> Which banks will allow a farang to open an account and accept foreign transfers at a decent rate of exchange and will give said farang an ATM card with at least 30K withdrawal per day/whatever -- all without fees ?

(2) Transfer larger amounts ($10,000+) of money from your foreign bank account (or brokerage account) to your Thai bank account periodically (depending on how long that amount will last given spending patterns)

-----> That's going to mean interest lost on the home deposit which needs to be taken into the equation of comparisons. Has to be said that US$10k (300k Baht) would last a very long time. Monthly outgoings are more likely to be in the region of US$2k unless beer is involved.

or open an account at BKK BK and use ACH transfers to its NY branch if you have an account in the US. Setting it up the first time takes a bit of effort, but after that it is mindless and effortless -- I expect that even you could learn to do it with practice.

-----> I don't have that.

Total cost of the transfer to Thailand from the foreign bank will be about B1,500 (or less), which on $10,000 amounts to B93.75 on each B20,000 pull (16 pulls of approx. $625 (most banks limit each ATM pull to B20,000) to get $10,000), or about 1/2 of the foreign bank ATM withdrawal charge (B180) in Thailand. And the more you send in one transfer, the lower is the "per pull cost" as almost all of the costs are fixed.

-----> Which "home" bank charges 1,500 Baht per transfer, and what about transfer receipt fees in the Thai bank? 1,500 Baht on US$2,000 per month for 2 x 30,000 Baht ATM transactions makes it 750 Baht per transaction.

(3) Once the money is in your account in Thailand, use your Thai ATM for free anywhere within your home province or pay B20 for a ATM pull outside. Too difficult for you?

-----> Not at all, but my query is as a result of doing some research and reading many threads in here. At present I pay 180 Baht to the Thai ATM and roughly the same to my "home" bank per 30kBaht transaction. That's about I get a good enough rate of exchange and I have the same card available for all my other business worldwide -- plus, my home bank pays decent interest on what I don't use. I am genuinely looking at alternatives and I appreciate your input, but so far I do not see a compelling reason to change my system, but I am more than willing to keep looking at options.

[Thailaw]

what you "would much rather" or what "i might consider" is completely irrelevant. people "should rather" accept a reality which cannot be changed by complaining ad nauseam in a public forum.

accepting reality also applies to wrong assumptions such as "the Thai banking system is not competitive". fact is and remains that Thai banking is extremely competitive because competition does not exist.

next!

No one is complaining, ad nauseam or otherwise. Just trying to call a spade a spade, and not accepting that the fees charged by Thai banks for use of their ATMs by customers withdrawing money from foreign bank accounts is somehow justified on a "higher cost" basis -- that the fees are justified because the money is coming from an account in Duluth. When AEON stopped giving "free" withdrawals for foreign bank ATMs, I stopped using ATMs in Thailand -- transfers via ACH to BBKBKs NY branch provide a more cost effective means to transfer money to Thailand. I liked using the ATM vehicle because I could take advantage of currency exchange fluctuations more quickly and easily, especially during periods when currency exchange volatility is high, as has been the case recently. Transferring smaller amounts each time helps diversify the exchange risk. But that opportunity is now gone, so be it... Not a big deal in any event.

And whether banking systems elsewhere are "competitive" is not really the issue. Competition is not all or nothing -- it is a continuum from strong to weak. Banking systems in other countries demonstrate less evidence of collusion and offer ATM services at lower prices than Thai banks. Whether you agree or not is entirely up to you. But don't, on a public forum, claim that the higher fees charged by Thai banks for use of their ATMs by customers withdrawing money from foreign bank accounts is justified because of higher costs in providing the service -- that is patently wrong. Hopefully, you now see your mistake (but, some how, I doubt it). Next.....

[Madlaplaine]

Aeon is 150 for all cards and also it's good for exchange rate as the conversion is done directly by your home bank. Other banks ask you if you want it your home bank currency and the rate is a lot lower as it's the bank that you are withdrawing from who are fixing the rate.

[Thailaw]

The obvious alternative is to (1) open an account at a Thai bank that can accept wire transfers of funds from banks outside of Thailand and has an ATM card associated with it, which 99.44% of Thai expats already have -- if you don't, you should.

-----> Which banks will allow a farang to open an account and accept foreign transfers at a decent rate of exchange and will give said farang an ATM card with at least 30K withdrawal per day/whatever -- all without fees ?

(2) Transfer larger amounts ($10,000+) of money from your foreign bank account (or brokerage account) to your Thai bank account periodically (depending on how long that amount will last given spending patterns)

-----> That's going to mean interest lost on the home deposit which needs to be taken into the equation of comparisons. Has to be said that US$10k (300k Baht) would last a very long time. Monthly outgoings are more likely to be in the region of US$2k unless beer is involved.

or open an account at BKK BK and use ACH transfers to its NY branch if you have an account in the US. Setting it up the first time takes a bit of effort, but after that it is mindless and effortless -- I expect that even you could learn to do it with practice.

-----> I don't have that.

Total cost of the transfer to Thailand from the foreign bank will be about B1,500 (or less), which on $10,000 amounts to B93.75 on each B20,000 pull (16 pulls of approx. $625 (most banks limit each ATM pull to B20,000) to get $10,000), or about 1/2 of the foreign bank ATM withdrawal charge (B180) in Thailand. And the more you send in one transfer, the lower is the "per pull cost" as almost all of the costs are fixed.

-----> Which "home" bank charges 1,500 Baht per transfer, and what about transfer receipt fees in the Thai bank? 1,500 Baht on US$2,000 per month for 2 x 30,000 Baht ATM transactions makes it 750 Baht per transaction.

(3) Once the money is in your account in Thailand, use your Thai ATM for free anywhere within your home province or pay B20 for a ATM pull outside. Too difficult for you?

-----> Not at all, but my query is as a result of doing some research and reading many threads in here. At present I pay 180 Baht to the Thai ATM and roughly the same to my "home" bank per 30kBaht transaction. That's about I get a good enough rate of exchange and I have the same card available for all my other business worldwide -- plus, my home bank pays decent interest on what I don't use. I am genuinely looking at alternatives and I appreciate your input, but so far I do not see a compelling reason to change my system, but I am more than willing to keep looking at options.

Sorry, I took your post as setting up a "straw man", and responded accordingly. And while all of the information in my responding post is correct, my tone was a bit abrasive -- sorry for that.

Of course, the amounts held in your Thai bank account will be larger than required at the time of transfer. But most Thai banks pay much higher rates of interest than most banks in the US and Europe. So, you will gain, not lose on holding money in a Thai bank rather than in a foreign bank. You can easily get 2% on passbook accounts here, where such accounts pay near 0% in the US and I assume also in Europe. Not sure about Australia or NZ. I get 2.75% on my passbook account here in Thailand (LH Bank) and 0.2% on my checking account in the US. The fees for opening a Thai account are B0 at all of the major banks. Most banks only require a passport for a foreigner to open an account -- if a bank wants more, just go to a different bank or a different branch of the same bank. It is getting more difficult for Americans because of new bank account reporting requirements. For an ATM card, you will be charged a 1 time fee of B300, that's it. I can only speak of transfers from the US, but a wire transfer is about $30 and BKK BK charges B500 ($15) to process the incoming wire, which is where I came up with the B1,500 for a $10,000 incoming deposit. Transfers from banks in other countries should be in that ballpark, but you would need to check with your bank.

But if you only require $2,000 per month, which is 3 ATM pulls, the cost is only $20 per month for using the ATM (about $10 per month more than using the wire transfer method), so maybe it isn't worth the effort for you. My cash requirements are much more, especially when I have to pay school fees for 2 girls in international school, etc.

[watcharacters]

Just take your card with your passport to most exchange places at the banks... no ATM charges at all..Draw as much as you want as long as your card has credit of course.

This is really a meaningful post for those who have a Thai bank account and want to avoid fees.

Is it an accurate post?

Edited August 22, 2014 by watcharacters

[Pib]

Aeon is 150 for all cards and also it's good for exchange rate as the conversion is done directly by your home bank. Other banks ask you if you want it your home bank currency and the rate is a lot lower as it's the bank that you are withdrawing from who are fixing the rate.

Well, actually Visa/Mastercard accomplish the conversion; not your home bank.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Aeon is 150 for all cards and also it's good for exchange rate as the conversion is done directly by your home bank. Other banks ask you if you want it your home bank currency and the rate is a lot lower as it's the bank that you are withdrawing from who are fixing the rate.

Actually, when using a foreign debit card of either the VISA or MC variety, most Thai bank ATMs will automatically give you the VISA or MC network exchange rate for the network of the card you're using. As a general rule, for ATM transactions with foreign VISA and MCs, the Thai banks aren't setting their own exchange rates for ATM withdrawals. And neither is your card issuing home country bank.

There are some exceptions for that, though, where the bank ATM will ask the customer if they want the withdrawal shown in their home country currency. That's known as Dynamic Currency Conversion, and results in a 3-4% lower exchange rate, but ONLY if the customer specifically agrees to accept it when asked. The ATM display won't tell you you're getting 3-4% less. But it will ask you if you want the transaction to be shown in your home country currency. You NEVER want to accept that.

Last time I checked, SCB and Bank of Ayudhya were among the Thai banks asking customers to accept DCC when foreign MasterCards were being used. I don't think/am not sure those same ATMs will attempt DCC when a VISA logo card is being used.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Just take your card with your passport to most exchange places at the banks... no ATM charges at all..Draw as much as you want as long as your card has credit of course.

This is really a meaningful post for those who have a Thai bank account and want to avoid fees.

Is it an accurate post?

See the answer here...earlier in this thread:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/752565-180-baht-charges-for-atm/page-5#entry8263162

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Aeon is 150 for all cards and also it's good for exchange rate as the conversion is done directly by your home bank. Other banks ask you if you want it your home bank currency and the rate is a lot lower as it's the bank that you are withdrawing from who are fixing the rate.

Well, actually Visa/Mastercard accomplish the conversion; not your home bank.

You have misunderstood. He is describing DCC. So it is the local merchant bank that is fixing the rate.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Aeon is 150 for all cards and also it's good for exchange rate as the conversion is done directly by your home bank. Other banks ask you if you want it your home bank currency and the rate is a lot lower as it's the bank that you are withdrawing from who are fixing the rate.

Actually, when using a foreign debit card of either the VISA or MC variety, most Thai bank ATMs will automatically give you the VISA or MC network exchange rate for the network of the card you're using. As a general rule, for ATM transactions with foreign VISA and MCs, the Thai banks aren't setting their own exchange rates for ATM withdrawals. And neither is your card issuing home country bank.

There are some exceptions for that, though, where the bank ATM will ask the customer if they want the withdrawal shown in their home country currency. That's known as Dynamic Currency Conversion, and results in a 3-4% lower exchange rate, but ONLY if the customer specifically agrees to accept it when asked. The ATM display won't tell you you're getting 3-4% less. But it will ask you if you want the transaction to be shown in your home country currency. You NEVER want to accept that.

Last time I checked, SCB and Bank of Ayudhya were among the Thai banks asking customers to accept DCC when foreign MasterCards were being used. I don't think/am not sure those same ATMs will attempt DCC when a VISA logo card is being used.

He was describing DCC in the first place. Though of course he was generalising when he wrote "other banks".