Thai Baht AUS$ falling everyday. Anyone have an insight on what may happen?

[Dumbfounded]

If you bring aussie cash with you try Vasu Exchange near Nana soi 7 in Bangkok (www.vasuexchange.com).

They have better exchange rates than Bangkok bank, Kasikorn, SCB.

If you don't need to exchange aussie to thai baht straight away you can open an AUD account at Bangkok bank (min bal approx. A$350) and convert AUD from the account to baht at the TT buy rate (higher than the cash buy rate) whenever it suits you and any AUD funds sitting in the account currently earn 2.5% P.A.

I transferred AUD from my Sydney NAB account to my AUD account with Bangkok bank in August. Then in Sept I decided to change AUD from my account to my Thai Baht account (free of charge and using the TT buy rate). All in all it cost me A$18 to do an online transfer with NAB and Bangkok bank took a 500 baht (Max) charge here. There is no charge exchanging from my AUD account to my Thai Baht account.

Based on you not having a thai bank account opened as yet, the only real advice I would give you is that regardless of whether you want to have Thai Baht now or later - Don't exchange cash in Australia, bring it to Thailand and exchange it here.

If you want to buy Baht try Vasu in Bangkok they're the best Forex exchange I've seen and if you want to wait a while open an AUD account and exchange your AUD at your preferred times.

Also, make sure you do the declaration in Australia and Thailand if required. It's just a tick in the box on the aussie departure card and in Thailand it's a book you write the amount in and they give you a piece of paper saying how much you declared.

It may be needed to open the bank account in Thailand. You wont have to show the money at customs & immigration (based on my experience).

Hope some of this helps, good luck

[gregk0543]

Hedge your bets by now buying $US cash in Aust. Under 10K. Then if US dollars go up you get to ride it.

I remember when GFC hit $A went right down and I lost two months of wages to exchange rates. Worked an extra 2 months to save up for a trip and it all disappeared with the AU dollars drop.

So really you have to watch Thai Baht to US, Aust to US, Aust to Thai baht.

I have watched Pundits on TV for years and have never seen then call anything correctly and I wish they would stick to telling us what is happening instead of trying to predict the future. Remember when gold was all the rage they predicted it going to $2000 but it never did. Oil also was going to never get under $100 again.

Best bet is to put off buying the car till the rate gets back to what you think is a good deal.

Which maybe a long way off or maybe only 6 months.

I will predict that whatever you decide will be wrong in hindsight Thats how my investments usually go.

[SheungWan]

If I had savings and or income in AUD and I was a regular visitor to Thailand I would be inclined for now to just change the minimum necessary for ongoing expenses. However, those on a tight budget and and at some risk from further lurches down might want to change say 3-6 months worth of anticipated expenditure right now. Having said that my last foray into and out of AUD was at 1.04 If I still had them I might be feeling a little sick.