All ATM doing 180 thb Fee on Mastercard now !

[oMega69]

Today i did try 10 different ATM here in Pattaya all wanted to charge my Mastercard with 180 THB . . . before was 150 THB on allmost every one . . . so whats next 220 THB ? ? * angry*

[daveAustin]

Welcome to Thailand! You could always get a Thai bank account of course and be charged 200 baht for the privilege of owning an ATM card and also pay for withdrawals outside your province.

[Rooo]

Moved to banking.

[Chivas]

Been 180 Baht for some time....

[oMega69]

Been 180 Baht for some time....

Not on all banks ! . .

1week ago i did use TMB for a 150b fee

[3NUMBAS]

all mounts up over a year

[Cypress Hill]

Get a bank account;

withdraw from your own bank's ATM;

get charged nothing;

no need to complain about 30 baht hikes on a Mastercard withdrawal

[trainman34014]

Aeon still 150.

[Pib]

No, I don't think the next stop is Bt220...my guess is Bt200 starting to appear within 2 years.

TMB is still Bt150 and you can get Bt30K per pull if you card allows that much. AEON is still Bt150 but limited to Bt20K per pull. Maybe a few other banks still at Bt150 but most seem to have shifted from Bt150 to Bt180 for Visa/Mastercard.

[cmcom]

Some atms have been increased while some havent. Depends on the location

[Issangeorge]

If you are trying to get a cash advance it was ฿150 not to long ago, but went to ฿180 recently. However if you go inside the bank there is no charge.

[scubascuba3]

If you are trying to get a cash advance it was ฿150 not to long ago, but went to ฿180 recently. However if you go inside the bank there is no charge.

So if you go to the counter you can withdraw there? They don't refuse?

[samsensam]

bring cash

work and get paid in baht

get a thai bank account

many solutions

instead of complaining get organised.

[Paul888]

I really don't understand the outrage.

It is not as if the charge is levied after the event. They notify you and you either accept it or you don't.

The principle of this has been discussed here many times, but the bottom line is that if you want a bank in one country to give you money held in an account in a different bank in another country, you have to expect a fee to be involved.

[Pib]

"A fee" is fine but is Bt150 to 180 a fair fee or too high of a fee?

[Jungle Jim]

Typical crooks. They are called banks.

[Pib]

Typical crooks. They are called banks.

Banksters they are.

[JThai]

If you are from the USA get a Charles Schwab account. It's totally free and they remberse unlimited ATM fees automatically AND they don't charge any forex fees. I always get the posted exchange rate online (which is always better than any currency exchnage). I've used it in 3 asian countries and it works perfectly. I never worry about which ATM to use, nor the fees.

http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checking_account

http://millionmilesecrets.com/2014/05/13/charles-schwab-debit-card/

Thank me later.

Also, I look forward to someone posting here how wrong I am. But that would be foolish. I have the card, many do, I've done it hundreds of times and yes the rate is spot on.

[Pib]

I too have the card and just to add some more specifics, the Schwab Visa debit card is indeed a no foreign transaction fee debit card which reimburses ATM fees at the end of your statement month. The specific exchange rate given is the Visa exchange rate which can be determined at this Visa Exchange Rate page. The Visa rate is usually plus or minus a few stang of the Thai bank TT Buying Rate used for incoming electronic transfers. The Visa rate changes every 24 hours at midnight U.S. East Coast time which is 11am or high noon next day Thailand time depending on whether the U.S. is on daylight savings time or not...so take that into consideration when comparing rates...or you wonder why your ATM withdrawal at 10am in the morning say in Thailand compared to another one you did at 2pm in the afternoon had a different exchange rate.

Using the Bangkok Bank exchange rates as reference, the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate for today/10 Oct is 32.31 bath/USD; the Visa rate is 32.36. But lets say I go back a few days and compare the 6 Oct rates...well, the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate is 32.47 and the Visa rate a little lower at 32.39. As mentioned the 0% foreign transaction fee Visa rate will be pretty close to the Thai bank TT Buying Rate...and always better than the Notes/Currency/hard-cash rate.

[JThai]

I too have the card and just to add some more specifics, the Schwab Visa debit card is indeed a no foreign transaction fee debit card which reimburses ATM fees at the end of your statement month. The specific exchange rate given is the Visa exchange rate which can be determined at this Visa Exchange Rate page. The Visa rate is usually plus or minus a few stang of the Thai bank TT Buying Rate used for incoming electronic transfers. The Visa rate changes every 24 hours at midnight U.S. East Coast time which is 11am or high noon next day Thailand time depending on whether the U.S. is on daylight savings time or not...so take that into consideration when comparing rates...or you wonder why your ATM withdrawal at 10am in the morning say in Thailand compared to another one you did at 2pm in the afternoon had a different exchange rate.

Using the Bangkok Bank exchange rates as reference, the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate for today/10 Oct is 32.31 bath/USD; the Visa rate is 32.36. But lets say I go back a few days and compare the 6 Oct rates...well, the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate is 32.47 and the Visa rate a little lower at 32.39. As mentioned the 0% foreign transaction fee Visa rate will be pretty close to the Thai bank TT Buying Rate...and always better than the Notes/Currency/hard-cash rate.

Thanks for the details I always wondered exactly how it was figured. I don't understand how they make money on this offer they have refund me 50-100 bucks a month. I don't even keep a high balance in there.

The other option is if you have CitiGold (50K in combined assest (including retirement) for US version) you can use CitiBank ATM's with no fees and same great rates. Note the regular CitiBank accounts charge 3%. You need to be CitiGOLD. Also I noticed that there was at least one branch in Pattaya now which wasn't the case when I was there last year.

I prefer Shwab you can use it at any ATM.

[JThai]

I thought getting access to your money for a good rate was going to be a big pain of living abroad with CS it turns out it's just as easy as home and no fees involved at all. Feel bad for the suckers sending them selves western union or lining up to get ripped off at the money exchanger (perhaps get robbed too). Getting money is the least of the problems. Also you should get a few no forex credit cards too, I think all Capital One cards are free forex. I have an HSBC and a PenFed also that are no forex.

[JThai]

I too have the card and just to add some more specifics, the Schwab Visa debit card is indeed a no foreign transaction fee debit card which reimburses ATM fees at the end of your statement month. The specific exchange rate given is the Visa exchange rate which can be determined at this Visa Exchange Rate page. The Visa rate is usually plus or minus a few stang of the Thai bank TT Buying Rate used for incoming electronic transfers. The Visa rate changes every 24 hours at midnight U.S. East Coast time which is 11am or high noon next day Thailand time depending on whether the U.S. is on daylight savings time or not...so take that into consideration when comparing rates...or you wonder why your ATM withdrawal at 10am in the morning say in Thailand compared to another one you did at 2pm in the afternoon had a different exchange rate.

Using the Bangkok Bank exchange rates as reference, the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate for today/10 Oct is 32.31 bath/USD; the Visa rate is 32.36. But lets say I go back a few days and compare the 6 Oct rates...well, the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate is 32.47 and the Visa rate a little lower at 32.39. As mentioned the 0% foreign transaction fee Visa rate will be pretty close to the Thai bank TT Buying Rate...and always better than the Notes/Currency/hard-cash rate.

I just checked the website and my account for some withdrawls I did last week and yup it's EXACTLY the rate. This is great I always wanted to know exactly what rate to expect when I head to the ATM. Thanks again for this useful post.

[Pib]

Well, you are definitely a money loser for Schwab unless maybe you are doing a lot of brokerage trades, have really BIG bucks invested with them that offsets the negative from your ATM rebates. But I expect Schwab cost analysis of "all" its customers the money they are forking out to keep you as a customer is offset by other customers.

Since I have multiple no foreign transaction debit/credit cards from various U.S. companies like Schwab, Capital One and others that allow me to avoid local ATM charges, I spread my monthly withdrawals between those debit cards to help prevent killing the Golden Reimburse Goose and possibly giving them a reason to find some legal reason to try to offload me as a customer. And of course using no foreign transaction fee "credit" cards for purchases can greatly reduce a person's need to even draw money out of an ATM/transfer money to your Thai bank account which usually incurs ATM/funds transfer fees. Heck, I haven't done an electronic/ACH/SWIFT transfer for around 3 years...ever since getting setup properly with no foreign transaction fee debit/credit cards.

For U.S. citizens there are still a small number of banks/companies who issue no foreign transaction fee cards...but for folks from other countries their options don't seem to be as good. Regardless of country, a person just needs to open accounts at those banks/companies if possible.

[Pib]

I just checked the website and my account for some withdrawls I did last week and yup it's EXACTLY the rate. This is great I always wanted to know exactly what rate to expect when I head to the ATM. Thanks again for this useful post.

I almost always check the rate "before" making that final decision whether to withdraw money today or not. Since the Visa exchange rate is only updated every 24 hours, it lags real time forex rates, TT Buying Rate, etc., which change frequently during the business day.

So, say the forex rate had a big drop or big rise today...and I talking a business vs calendar day...the rate from mid day Saturday Thailand time to mid day Monday Thailand will usually stay locked at the weekend rate)...It would be tomorrow or next day before you see that approx rate change with Visa.

If a person watches both the Forex/TT Buying Rates and Visa rates for a few weeks he will get a good feel as to how to get the best exchange rate versus just withdrawing the money on an urge or waiting several business days for an electronics funds transfer to show and wondering what the exchange rate will be on that day...up or down.

[JThai]

I just checked the website and my account for some withdrawls I did last week and yup it's EXACTLY the rate. This is great I always wanted to know exactly what rate to expect when I head to the ATM. Thanks again for this useful post.

I almost always check the rate "before" making that final decision whether to withdraw money today or not. Since the Visa exchange rate is only updated every 24 hours, it lags real time forex rates, TT Buying Rate, etc., which change frequently during the business day.

So, say the forex rate had a big drop or big rise today...and I talking a business vs calendar day...the rate from mid day Saturday Thailand time to mid day Monday Thailand will usually stay locked at the weekend rate)...It would be tomorrow or next day before you see that approx rate change with Visa.

If a person watches both the Forex/TT Buying Rates and Visa rates for a few weeks he will get a good feel as to how to get the best exchange rate versus just withdrawing the money on an urge or waiting several business days for an electronics funds transfer to show and wondering what the exchange rate will be on that day...up or down.

Thanks, I will start doing that both here and in the Philippines to maximize the rate. I usually only get cash like once a month though these days.

[Pib]

I wish you hadn't mentioned the P.I. as I had over 6 great years there a couple decades in the past.

[JThai]

Well, you are definitely a money loser for Schwab unless maybe you are doing a lot of brokerage trades, have really BIG bucks invested with them that offsets the negative from your ATM rebates. But I expect Schwab cost analysis of "all" its customers the money they are forking out to keep you as a customer is offset by other customers.

Since I have multiple no foreign transaction debit/credit cards from various U.S. companies like Schwab, Capital One and others that allow me to avoid local ATM charges, I spread my monthly withdrawals between those debit cards to help prevent killing the Golden Reimburse Goose and possibly giving them a reason to find some legal reason to try to offload me as a customer. And of course using no foreign transaction fee "credit" cards for purchases can greatly reduce a person's need to even draw money out of an ATM/transfer money to your Thai bank account which usually incurs ATM/funds transfer fees. Heck, I haven't done an electronic/ACH/SWIFT transfer for around 3 years...ever since getting setup properly with no foreign transaction fee debit/credit cards.

For U.S. citizens there are still a small number of banks/companies who issue no foreign transaction fee cards...but for folks from other countries their options don't seem to be as good. Regardless of country, a person just needs to open accounts at those banks/companies if possible.

I've never had to wire myself money since moving to SEA 2 years ago. ATM cards have done me good. I have a few no forex credit cards. I use Shwab for the ATM. My USAA debit refunds the ATM fee's but they charge 1 percent. My capitalone 360 debit card has no fees but it doesn't refund the ATM fee.

Can you tell me specifically which other debit cards are available that don't have a forex fee and refund the ATM charges as well?

Thanks!

[Pib]

State Farm Bank.

[JThai]

State Farm Bank.

Cool! So if I'm reading this right. If you get a direct deposit once per cycle they will refund unlimited ATM fees. But the international part is unclear. Will they do unlimited amount of thoses with the direct deposit it too? It seems to indicate so. Also do you really have to call them to get it applied each time?

ATM Surcharge Rebates

State Farm Bank will not charge customers for the use of ATMs not owned by the Bank (called "foreign ATMs") and will rebate foreign ATM fees charged by the ATM owner according to the following guidelines:

• If there is a direct deposit via Automated Clearing House (ACH) into the State Farm Bank Checking, Interest Checking, or Money Market Savings Account during the statement cycle, State Farm Bank will rebate any amount of foreign ATM fees.
• If there has been no direct deposit via an ACH credit into the State Farm Bank checking, Interest Checking, or Money Market Savings Account during the statement cycle, the Bank will rebate up to a total of $10 in foreign ATM surcharges per account per statement cycle.

For International ATM Fees incurred traveling outside of the U.S., please call us at 877-734-2265; hearing impaired customers, please dial 711, to have your rebate applied to your account. For those customers who receive up to $10 per statement cycle, the amount of the International ATM Fee Rebate will be deducted from your $10 benefit.

[Pib]

No, you don't have to call them...the rebates occur automatically at the end of your monthly statement cycle. That statement talking about calling them is probably just a generic statement basically saying call us if you don't get an ATM rebate automatically...I've seen similar statements on other bank websites.