Which bank atm has the largest withdrawal amount

[jpinx]

Yea, I've been tempted sometimes just to periodically do a large ACH transfer from my U.S. home country primary bank to my Bangkok Bank account, say $15K at a time, and live off of that for X-months. Total fees on the home country sending end and Thailand receiving end would amount to about $25/Bt800 which amounts to 0.17% in total fees...I can easily accept 0.17% in fees and not feel like the bankster held me up. Fortunately I can do that but I realize many people can't and must deal with smaller and multiple transfers which starts multiply the fees....and if they happen to be pricey SWIFT fees versus some kind of low cost fees like ACH fees then the fees total amount climbs even higher. Plus I realize many people don't want to keep no more money in Thailand than their immediate living expense needs...and some Americans want to avoid having over $10K overseas to avoid having to submit a yearly FBAR report...and just a variety of other reasons which vary from person to person. Each person's financial situation, fees tolerance, and other stuff makes for many different ways of getting money into Thailand.

And you know what, if I ever did start doing the bulk funds transfer I would most likely move most of it from Bangkok Bank account upon arrival to my Krungsri MeeTai Dai savings account (basically a hybrid fixed deposit account) that earns 2.3% interest, I can do two free ATM withdrawals per month (3 and above ATM withdrawals then cost you Bt50 per withdrawal), the funds withdrawals do not inflict a interest penalty like in a traditional fixed deposit account, and there is no tax withheld until going over Bt20K interest earned per year like in how a traditional fixed account withholds 15% tax on any amount of interest earned (but you can file a refund request each year with your local revenue office to get that money back....not hard).

Yeap, to each his own in transferring and managing their money....so many different preferences and ways. Cheers.

You made me go and do some reading up on possible services and charges. For the benefit of clarity, ACH is apparently a USA only service, so the rest of us mere mortals are stuck with wire/telegraph/swift/IBAN -- all of which cost about the same. Looks like about 1250Baht (equivalent) sending fee and then there's the receiving fee and the Xchange rate to consider. That sending fee has no upper limit on the size of the transfer.

This contrasts with a total of 180 plus 187.50(equiv) = 367.5 baht for visa fee at Thai Bank ATM and cash advance fee at home bank respectively. No cash interest is included as I always overfill 24 hours before using the ATM, thus avoiding interest.

367.5 on 30,000 is about 1.225% -- so for a wire/swift transfer to be cheaper I'd need to send about 111,111 Baht. Not impossible, but obviously it becomes a very different way of working, and heavily reliant on yet another bank account running smoothly.

[jpinx]

Yea, I've been tempted sometimes just to periodically do a large ACH transfer from my U.S. home country primary bank to my Bangkok Bank account, say $15K at a time, and live off of that for X-months. Total fees on the home country sending end and Thailand receiving end would amount to about $25/Bt800 which amounts to 0.17% in total fees...I can easily accept 0.17% in fees and not feel like the bankster held me up. Fortunately I can do that but I realize many people can't and must deal with smaller and multiple transfers which starts multiply the fees....and if they happen to be pricey SWIFT fees versus some kind of low cost fees like ACH fees then the fees total amount climbs even higher. Plus I realize many people don't want to keep no more money in Thailand than their immediate living expense needs...and some Americans want to avoid having over $10K overseas to avoid having to submit a yearly FBAR report...and just a variety of other reasons which vary from person to person. Each person's financial situation, fees tolerance, and other stuff makes for many different ways of getting money into Thailand.

And you know what, if I ever did start doing the bulk funds transfer I would most likely move most of it from Bangkok Bank account upon arrival to my Krungsri MeeTai Dai savings account (basically a hybrid fixed deposit account) that earns 2.3% interest, I can do two free ATM withdrawals per month (3 and above ATM withdrawals then cost you Bt50 per withdrawal), the funds withdrawals do not inflict a interest penalty like in a traditional fixed deposit account, and there is no tax withheld until going over Bt20K interest earned per year like in how a traditional fixed account withholds 15% tax on any amount of interest earned (but you can file a refund request each year with your local revenue office to get that money back....not hard).

Yeap, to each his own in transferring and managing their money....so many different preferences and ways. Cheers.

You made me go and do some reading up on possible services and charges. For the benefit of clarity, ACH is apparently a USA only service, so the rest of us mere mortals are stuck with wire/telegraph/swift/IBAN -- all of which cost about the same. Looks like about 1250Baht (equivalent) sending fee and then there's the receiving fee and the Xchange rate to consider. That sending fee has no upper limit on the size of the transfer.

This contrasts with a total of 180 plus 187.50(equiv) = 367.5 baht for visa fee at Thai Bank ATM and cash advance fee at home bank respectively. No cash interest is included as I always overfill 24 hours before using the ATM, thus avoiding interest.

367.5 on 30,000 is about 1.225% -- so for a wire/swift transfer to be cheaper I'd need to send about 111,111 Baht. Not impossible, but obviously it becomes a very different way of working, and heavily reliant on yet another bank account running smoothly.

Looking more closely at the Krungsri offering ...

http://www.krungsri.com/bank/PersonalBanking/DepositProducts/SavingsDeposit/MeeTaeDaiSavings.html#RemarkLink523

and it's rates ...

http://www.krungsri.com/bank/getmedia/da3bbbce-1eab-4bbd-9b02-4927258bc458/Deposit06Nov-2014-en.aspx

--- the .pdf is now showing 2.3% - not as per the webpage's 2.35% - makes me wonder how often it changes, but anyway,,,

It seems that might be possible. On Monday I'll go and see if they'll open an account based on my retirement visa and the fact that I live only a few blocks from the branch. Need to be sure of the ATM card and online access, but 2000Baht cash should open it and pay the first transfer reception fee. Then get online to see how the first 100k transfer goes. I'll report later in the week.

[55Jay]

Page 5. Nearly there now.

[Pib]

jpnix,

When I opened my Mee TaiDai account a few months ago I started with Bt15K to avoid a fee on the particular Krungsri debit card I chose. When signing up for the savings account they will ask which debit card you may want to signup for...and like any bank they have multiple debit cards to choose from...they handed me a English sheet that summarized the 7 different cards they had to offer...all with different terms and conditions and associated fees...some with insurance. Now all I wanted was the lowest annual cost debit card they had...didn't want any card with insurance...plus I knew it would be very infrequent for me to use the debit card to withdraw funds as I'm using this for a "savings" account and not a frequently used account...at least for now anyway.

Anyway, I chose their "No Annual Fee Card" but to avoid a Bt50/month fee you must maintain at least a Bt15K balance....so to avoid even one month of that fee I started off with Bt15K...I've since upped that to a little over 100K since 100K is where you start earning the highest interest possible on the account. Now with this no annual fee card it comes automatically with SMS Banking Services which cost 19 baht per month....so in a round about way I'm paying a fee for this card of Bt19 x 12 months = Bt228/year due to the req'd SMS services....but I like having the SMS services to show what going on with my account.

Yea, their webpage for the Mee Tai Dai deposit account does say 2.35% and needs to be updated. It was 2.35% up until 15 Jun 14 when it shifted down to 2.3% when looking at their interest rate docs which are kept up to date.

Their ibanking works fine, but be sure to "log off" properly because if you just close the webpage without clicking the logoff button and try to log back on you get a logon error like your User ID/password is wrong. But wait "15 minutes" and try again and you can get back on. Yeap, be sure to click the logoff button otherwise you'll have a 15 minute wait before you can logon again. I called their customer service to find this out when I first started using the ibanking and by mistake just closed the webpage without logging off, but then wanted to immediately log back on to check something. Live and learn.

And they have been paying interest monthly....so far, so good with the account. And no tax withholding as long as total interest earned per year doesn't go above Bt20K. Cheers.

[Pib]

Page 5. Nearly there now.

yeap, more branches sprouting from the topic trunk almost everyday. thanks for helping to add a leaf or two.

[55Jay]

Page 5. Nearly there now.

yeap, more branches sprouting from the topic trunk almost everyday. thanks for helping to add a leaf or two.

Feathering the nest, for sure. I did enjoy your ^ above Krungsi tale. Hadn't heard that one before, must of missed it.

I gave those buggers over 2 mil pesos and they gave me the 300 something baht/year Oobie Doobie debit card, which I said I didn't want. I wanted a plain vanilla ATM card as, like you, this is a holding pen, not a day to day account. Took them a while to re-sort that out and they went through 5 bank books before they got it right. Small branch, every visit so far has taken an hour+. I chose it because there's never a queue but that backfired on me.

[jpinx]

jpnix,

When I opened my Mee TaiDai account a few months ago I started with Bt15K to avoid a fee on the particular Krungsri debit card I chose. When signing up for the savings account they will ask which debit card you may want to signup for...and like any bank they have multiple debit cards to choose from...they handed me a English sheet that summarized the 7 different cards they had to offer...all with different terms and conditions and associated fees...some with insurance. Now all I wanted was the lowest annual cost debit card they had...didn't want any card with insurance...plus I knew it would be very infrequent for me to use the debit card to withdraw funds as I'm using this for a "savings" account and not a frequently used account...at least for now anyway.

Anyway, I chose their "No Annual Fee Card" but to avoid a Bt50/month fee you must maintain at least a Bt15K balance....so to avoid even one month of that fee I started off with Bt15K...I've since upped that to a little over 100K since 100K is where you start earning the highest interest possible on the account. Now with this no annual fee card it comes automatically with SMS Banking Services which cost 19 baht per month....so in a round about way I'm paying a fee for this card of Bt19 x 12 months = Bt228/year due to the req'd SMS services....but I like having the SMS services to show what going on with my account.

Yea, their webpage for the Mee Tai Dai deposit account does say 2.35% and needs to be updated. It was 2.35% up until 15 Jun 14 when it shifted down to 2.3% when looking at their interest rate docs which are kept up to date.

Their ibanking works fine, but be sure to "log off" properly because if you just close the webpage without clicking the logoff button and try to log back on you get a logon error like your User ID/password is wrong. But wait "15 minutes" and try again and you can get back on. Yeap, be sure to click the logoff button otherwise you'll have a 15 minute wait before you can logon again. I called their customer service to find this out when I first started using the ibanking and by mistake just closed the webpage without logging off, but then wanted to immediately log back on to check something. Live and learn.

And they have been paying interest monthly....so far, so good with the account. And no tax withholding as long as total interest earned per year doesn't go above Bt20K. Cheers.

111,111 baht was the equivalent-cost amount when comparing with continued use of the visa, and I need a minimum balance of 100,000 to get the higher interest in Krungsri, so I'm going to need to make a first transfer of 200,000Baht so that I can let it drop to 100,000 before topping up with 111,111 again. All this only gives me a situation equalling the cost of using my visa card -- there's no improvement. I'll get an average of about 400Baht/year interest and pay 230Baht/year for the Thai bank account. Really it's not worth it for that 170 Baht per year. I certainly am not pulling more than 200k out of investments running at about 5.5% tax-paid and get 2.3% and no overall improvements in fees/costs/exposure -- unless you want to give me some other compelling reason ?

If I forget Krungsri interest and just transfer 111,111 Baht as and when needed, I will pay 230 Baht/year for the ATM card, but lose no interest on my investments at home. Maybe that's the better way for my situation

I think too much !!

Edited November 15, 2014 by jpinx

[Pib]

Yea, everybody's financial options & desires are different and your home country banking interest rates & transfer fees...and even tax and foreign account reporting...can make a big difference as to how much money a person wants to have on deposit in Thailand. Since my home country is the land of low savings deposits interest rates (i.e., the U.S.), the deposit interest rates in Thailand are very enticing.

[jpinx]

Something I can not find on their website is the list of available cards with terms and fees. Does the one you got work in any Thai bank/Aeon ATM? What about working in other Asean countries, or wider afield in EU?

[Pib]

Something I can not find on their website is the list of available cards with terms and fees. Does the one you got work in any Thai bank/Aeon ATM? What about working in other Asean countries, or wider afield in EU?

Just use that No Annual Fee card link in my post above, scroll down on the page, and in the left hand lower corner it has a list of all their debit cards which you can click on and get full details. Or you can use this Link. The details on the cards say they can be used worldwide for ATM withdrawals and purchases.

[jpinx]

OK.. Found the cards thanks Looks like the "no annual fee" card can be used in stores, so I won't be having that one - very insecure in the event that you lose it. I'm looking at the ATM card which has similar fees effectively, but no SMS service. Both the "no annual fee" and the ATM card seem to have a fee called "Inter - regional branch THB 15/transaction" -- what's that?

Also - what are the actual costs of receiving a foreign currency transfer into the account? I can do the comparison of the rates of exchange and make a decision on whether my home bank will send home currency or Baht, but I need to know the fees charged by Krungsri whichever way I want to do it.

[55Jay]

OK.. Found the cards thanks Looks like the "no annual fee" card can be used in stores, so I won't be having that one - very insecure in the event that you lose it. I'm looking at the ATM card which has similar fees effectively, but no SMS service. Both the "no annual fee" and the ATM card seem to have a fee called "Inter - regional branch THB 15/transaction" -- what's that?

Also - what are the actual costs of receiving a foreign currency transfer into the account? I can do the comparison of the rates of exchange and make a decision on whether my home bank will send home currency or Baht, but I need to know the fees charged by Krungsri whichever way I want to do it.

Inter-province charge - if you use your bank's ATM outside the province your home branch is located.

http://www.krungsri.com/bank/PersonalBanking/BankingServices/InternationalRemittanceServices/InwardRemittanceservice.html

Edited November 16, 2014 by 55Jay

[Pib]

When getting the card you can probably set the withdrawal and purchase limits to a variety of amounts...like set the purchase limit to zero if desired.

And don't confuse inter-province/region ATM fees in the 10 to 20 baht ballpark and annual card fees, whether you use the card or not...they are unrelated fees.

On the Thai bank receiving end the funds receipt/conversion fee will be 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) for an incoming wire transfer...everything else will be fees charged by your sending bank and possibly it's correspondent/intermediary bank.

[55Jay]

Hi,,just to clarify I did actually say in my original post that it was for a uk card, not sure why people would think it was for a local account? And I did just want to know the limit for 1 withdrawal and not how many I could make to make up my personal daily limit. Thanks to all of you that came up with sound advise and facts, it has helped me no end ?

No worries, take care. Stop on by in a few days time, say hello. We'll still here, page 5 by then I reckon.

Happy Birthday, CaitlinHappyMeal!

[kirkoloft]

Bangkok Bank allows you 500k and I'm using that. My you must go to the bank and officially request for that amount and it will takes 3 to 5 business days to be approved if you don't live in bkk.

[jpinx]

The fact that I've pushed this to Page 5 only shows how tricky it is to get a good solution.

Here's how one scenario seems to pan out...

Option 1 - Pull 30k from yellow bank ATM costs 180 in Thailand and 187.5 (equiivalent) at home bank. Cost = 1.225%

Option 2. Yellow bank savings account (as above) with ATM card

100k transfer from home bank cost 187.5 (equivalent) sending fee

??? % intermediate banks fee

0.25% reception fee 250 Baht

Total = 437.50 = 0.46%

Add ATM annual SMS fee 228/yr adds about 0.02% depending on useage

Total annual savings over using Visa card = maybe 4,000 or 5,000 depending on annual throughput.

Unknowns -- international transfer fees -- can't be certain till it actually happens.

Note --

If you're under 65 there's interesting offers of ATM's with various health/accident/out-patient insurance options.

Now I'm going to try analysing Bangkok Bank's offerings to see if there's anything better.

[jpinx]

When getting the card you can probably set the withdrawal and purchase limits to a variety of amounts...like set the purchase limit to zero if desired.

And don't confuse inter-province/region ATM fees in the 10 to 20 baht ballpark and annual card fees, whether you use the card or not...they are unrelated fees.

On the Thai bank receiving end the funds receipt/conversion fee will be 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) for an incoming wire transfer...everything else will be fees charged by your sending bank and possibly it's correspondent/intermediary bank.

Getting the Krungsri account opened was a mission -- they wanted to insist on a work permit and continuously pointed out my tourist visas from years ago, missing completely the retirement extension .. because it's written in English and is small and unimportant looking

[Pib]

When getting the card you can probably set the withdrawal and purchase limits to a variety of amounts...like set the purchase limit to zero if desired.

And don't confuse inter-province/region ATM fees in the 10 to 20 baht ballpark and annual card fees, whether you use the card or not...they are unrelated fees.

On the Thai bank receiving end the funds receipt/conversion fee will be 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) for an incoming wire transfer...everything else will be fees charged by your sending bank and possibly it's correspondent/intermediary bank.

Getting the Krungsri account opened was a mission -- they wanted to insist on a work permit and continuously pointed out my tourist visas from years ago, missing completely the retirement extension .. because it's written in English and is small and unimportant looking

But you are saying, "Mission Accomplished" in getting the account opened?

[jpinx]

When getting the card you can probably set the withdrawal and purchase limits to a variety of amounts...like set the purchase limit to zero if desired.

And don't confuse inter-province/region ATM fees in the 10 to 20 baht ballpark and annual card fees, whether you use the card or not...they are unrelated fees.

On the Thai bank receiving end the funds receipt/conversion fee will be 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) for an incoming wire transfer...everything else will be fees charged by your sending bank and possibly it's correspondent/intermediary bank.

Getting the Krungsri account opened was a mission -- they wanted to insist on a work permit and continuously pointed out my tourist visas from years ago, missing completely the retirement extension .. because it's written in English and is small and unimportant looking

But you are saying, "Mission Accomplished" in getting the account opened?

Yep -- got the virgin passbook today. Only took an hour or so

They were unable to tell me the fees charged for incoming transfers, so I'm going to do a transfer and see what happens.

One step at a time After that I'll get the ATM card and internet access sorted.

Watch this space.

[Pib]

The fee Krungsri charges for incoming international transfers should be 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max); any other fees are from your Sending and any Intermediary bank it may need to use.

When I opened my Krungsri account a few months ago I got the debit card and ibanking access at the same time. I too just have a retirement extension of stay.

Edited November 28, 2014 by Pib

[jpinx]

The fee Krungsri charges for incoming international transfers should be 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max); any other fees are from your Sending and any Intermediary bank it may need to use.

When I opened my Krungsri account a few months ago I got the debit card and ibanking access at the same time. I too just have a retirement extension of stay.

Yep -- When they were waffling about the need for a work permit I told them about you getting an account on a retirement extension.

As an aside - something that's come up on a few occasions is the fact that the retirement extension is an innocuous little stamp in English, making every Thai official outside immigration ignore it. Is there a "Proof of annual extension" available from immigration that'll pass muster at banks etc?

I ran short of time to do the rest of the stuff, so just getting the account open was today's mission. I remember what you said about the incoming fee and I'll see how that pans out with the sending bank transferring in their own currency for Krungsri to do the exchange. Experience has taught me to learn by experience If I do the transfer on Monday morning, it'll be a couple of days to let the systems munch on it, so I'll go back at the end of next week and do the ATM card and set up the internet access.

Thanks for keeping tabs on this thread -- I hope others will benefit from the notes

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

AFAIK and as had been reported here, pretty much all the Thai banks seem to charge the came 0.25% commission on incoming international wire transfers, minimum 200 baht and maximum 500 baht.

Where the total charges are likely to vary more with international wire transfers are the fees charged by your home country sending bank (which vary wildly from one bank company to the next) and whether an intermediary bank gets involved and how much they tack on.

The fact that I've pushed this to Page 5 only shows how tricky it is to get a good solution.

Here's how one scenario seems to pan out...

Option 1 - Pull 30k from yellow bank ATM costs 180 in Thailand and 187.5 (equiivalent) at home bank. Cost = 1.225%

Option 2. Yellow bank savings account (as above) with ATM card

100k transfer from home bank cost 187.5 (equivalent) sending fee

??? % intermediate banks fee

0.25% reception fee 250 Baht

Total = 437.50 = 0.46%

Add ATM annual SMS fee 228/yr adds about 0.02% depending on useage

Total annual savings over using Visa card = maybe 4,000 or 5,000 depending on annual throughput.

Unknowns -- international transfer fees -- can't be certain till it actually happens.

Note --

If you're under 65 there's interesting offers of ATM's with various health/accident/out-patient insurance options.

Now I'm going to try analysing Bangkok Bank's offerings to see if there's anything better.

[Pib]

How hard or easy opening a bank account and getting associated account options like debit card and ibanking can vary so much from "branch-to-branch"...preaching to the choir I know. Don't know which branch you used, but I opened my Krungsri account at the branch on the ground floor of the govt building Chaeng Wattana/Bangkok immigration building is located in. Farangs running around there and opening accounts is an everyday affair for those branches I expect....but I expect they don't open accounts for everyone unless "hansum" like me.

Edited November 28, 2014 by Pib

[KhunBENQ]

AFAIK and as had been reported here, pretty much all the Thai banks seem to charge the came 0.25% commission on incoming international wire transfers, minimum 200 baht and maximum 500 baht.

Obviously. Bangkok Bank and Kasikorn e.g.

Bangkok Bank has it on the website (FAQ) and use the term "fee".

no reliable source found about the 0.25% (is it a fee or a tax?).

Edited November 29, 2014 by KhunBENQ

[Evilbaz]

TIT - every bank branch can be a law unto itself - same same Immi.

In Kamala the Kbank ATM has a limit of 10,000 baht per withdrawal with a foreign card - charge 180 baht.

Next door the BKBank ATM with the same card allows a 25,000 baht per transaction - fee 180 baht.

It's a no brainer which to use.

I also used a KBank card at a Kbank ATM in a seaside village in Chantaburi and their limit per withdrawal was 200 (Yes, two hundred) baht!

Edited November 29, 2014 by Evilbaz

[wayned]

I've had an SCB account for years. I can get 200,000 at the ATM at the branch where I have the account and 50,000 at any other ATM. However, the ATM will only give you 20,000 at a time so if I wanted the 200k it would take ten times. I've never used any for more than 30,000 baht so don't know if the 200k is BS.

[KhunBENQ]

Obviously yet another case of miscommunication.

The intention of the thread to my understanding was about highest amount per one withdrawal! to minimize the impact of the fees for foreign cards?

Daily/weekly limits for Thai ATM cards (for Thai bank accounts) are a different matter. That differs from bank to bank and can be changed by application.

200 notes in one transaction? Make a picture of the ATM or else not true.

The huge AEON ATMs are technically able to spit 100 notes, but have been limited to 20000 Baht just to better rip off fees from foreigners.

So AEON is now worthless for foreigners.

In the good old times when AEON was free of fees I could get up to 98000 per one withdrawal (don't know why not 100000).

But thats "history"!

Other ATMs (as wayned wrote) not more than 30 notes.

Fee: recently withdraw a small amount (12000) for a mate with a VISA card, 150 Baht fee.

Edited November 29, 2014 by KhunBENQ

[jpinx]

Fee: recently withdraw a small amount (12000) for a mate with a VISA card, 150 Baht fee.

What date was this? What bank issued the VISA card - Thai or foreign? Was it credit card or debit card ? Which bank's ATM did you use ?

Edited November 29, 2014 by jpinx

[Pib]

Fee: recently withdraw a small amount (12000) for a mate with a VISA card, 150 Baht fee.

What date was this? What bank issued the VISA card - Thai or foreign? Was it credit card or debit card ? Which bank's ATM did you use ?

Probably a Bangkok Bank ATM as their Visa fee for foreign cards is supposedly still Bt150; but they changed to Bt180 for Mastercard months ago.

[jpinx]

Fee: recently withdraw a small amount (12000) for a mate with a VISA card, 150 Baht fee.

What date was this? What bank issued the VISA card - Thai or foreign? Was it credit card or debit card ? Which bank's ATM did you use ?

Probably a Bangkok Bank ATM as their Visa fee for foreign cards is supposedly still Bt150; but they changed to Bt180 for Mastercard months ago.

But their maximum is 20k or 25k - isn't it ?

30k for 180 is 0.6% so 25k should be 150; and 20K, 120

Same same but different