SCB cash advance with debit card

[hml367]

Never heard of that process but it sounds theoretically possible. In essence, you just take a cash advance on your credit card and it's interest free so long as you have that same amount at the same time built up as a credit in your credit card account. Presuming there are no international transaction fees and no issues with the exchange rate, sounds like it's feasible although, at first blush, it's hard to believe I'd ever pay my credit card company more than I owe them at the time (plus, if you missed having an adequate credit balance for even a day, many of the credit card companies charge a minimum fee for any cash advance).

You are correct that many charge cash advance fees. My credit union does not. Many card issuers do not.

It has been posted that European card issuers are different than US card issuers in their terms.

I use my credit card for online purchases in addition to bringing my money to Thailand every month. This is from the current account status:

Edited February 8, 2015 by hml367

[mesquite]

Never heard of that process but it sounds theoretically possible. In essence, you just take a cash advance on your credit card and it's interest free so long as you have that same amount at the same time built up as a credit in your credit card account. Presuming there are no international transaction fees and no issues with the exchange rate, sounds like it's feasible although, at first blush, it's hard to believe I'd ever pay my credit card company more than I owe them at the time (plus, if you missed having an adequate credit balance for even a day, many of the credit card companies charge a minimum fee for any cash advance).

You are correct that many charge cash advance fees. My credit union does not. Many card issuers do not.

It has been posted that European card issuers are different than US card issuers in their terms.

I use my credit card for online purchases in addition to bringing my money to Thailand every month. This is from the current account status:

So you do pay a very small amount of interest for these cash advances?

[CMBob]

Hml, I'm presuming you stick a credit card in a machine here in Thailand and you get Thai baht....so I'm wondering if it's your credit card company back in the west that is figuring out the exchange rate. If that's the case, have you ever figured out if there is any difference between the exchange rate they provide and what the banks here in Thailand give you? Just curious.

[hml367]

Never heard of that process but it sounds theoretically possible. In essence, you just take a cash advance on your credit card and it's interest free so long as you have that same amount at the same time built up as a credit in your credit card account. Presuming there are no international transaction fees and no issues with the exchange rate, sounds like it's feasible although, at first blush, it's hard to believe I'd ever pay my credit card company more than I owe them at the time (plus, if you missed having an adequate credit balance for even a day, many of the credit card companies charge a minimum fee for any cash advance).

You are correct that many charge cash advance fees. My credit union does not. Many card issuers do not.

It has been posted that European card issuers are different than US card issuers in their terms.

I use my credit card for online purchases in addition to bringing my money to Thailand every month. This is from the current account status:

So you do pay a very small amount of interest for these cash advances?

The interest is for online purchases I have made and did not payoff, as noted in the post you quoted. Perhaps there have been times when I did not payoff the full cash advance, however, even with the whole amount of interest I paid last year ($7.54) and bringing far in excess of $35,000, it is minimal. BUT... that interest is for purchases I did not payoff.

Why is it so hard for people to accept that I can do this? I could post my statements and it seems some people would find fault.

[hml367]

Hml, I'm presuming you stick a credit card in a machine here in Thailand and you get Thai baht....so I'm wondering if it's your credit card company back in the west that is figuring out the exchange rate. If that's the case, have you ever figured out if there is any difference between the exchange rate they provide and what the banks here in Thailand give you? Just curious.

Most card issuers in the US use the card brand's (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) exchange rate. The card issuer can add an amount if they like, as long as it is within regulation and stated in the terms and conditions of the card.

Visa's exchange rates, which are used by my credit union without any additional add-on) are posted online and I check before I make a cash advance. That is how I know, within about one dollar, what the charge will be to my credit card account. My credit union allows credit balances on the credit card account. I think I read posts in the past that European card issuers do not allow this.

Mastercard exchange rates are also posted online. I do not have a Mastercard credit card. I do have a Mastercard debit card which is charged a 1% currency conversion charge.

By the way, I also have a Visa branded debit card from my credit union and it also incurs the 1% currency conversion if I use that.

In answer to your question about the difference in exchange rate, yes, there is a difference and the Visa exchange rate has always been better for me. Recently the amount is negligible unless someone is moving maybe $100,000 at one time. This may be difficult to do with plastic. Wire transfers, SWIFT, etc., of course, are not under the credit card situation, so a whole different set of rules would apply.

Edited February 8, 2015 by hml367

[CMBob]

In answer to your question about the difference in exchange rate, yes, there is a difference and the Visa exchange rate has always been better for me. Recently the amount is negligible unless someone is moving maybe $100,000 at one time. This may be difficult to do with plastic. Wire transfers, SWIFT, etc., of course, are not under the credit card situation, so a whole different set of rules would apply.

Thanks for the info. I'm guessing, given banks and credit card companies do turn tidy profits, that they're getting us one way or the other. I transfer money over here just once a year using a Swift transfer and, for fees (the swift charge by my bank in the states and what I'm told is a 500 baht charge at this end), they're fairly negligible so long as you're transferring a large enough sum.

But I'm always careful to make sure the US bank transfers dollars and not Thai baht because, in the later situation, the exchange rate provided in the US is often at quite a disadvantage (over the last 10+ years, I've seen as much as a 3-4%+ difference). Transferring in dollars gets me the exchange rate my Thai bank (SCB) provides to anyone else the moment the funds arrive here.

And another but....my method is great I suppose if the US dollars is dropping in value to the Thai baht (which has seemed to be generally happening over the last decade); however, for the last 8-10 months, generally the opposite has happened and I suppose I could have saved a few dollars by transferring monthly (but transferring smaller amounts monthly by Swift would likely be rather expensive percentage-wise).

[mesquite]

Never heard of that process but it sounds theoretically possible. In essence, you just take a cash advance on your credit card and it's interest free so long as you have that same amount at the same time built up as a credit in your credit card account. Presuming there are no international transaction fees and no issues with the exchange rate, sounds like it's feasible although, at first blush, it's hard to believe I'd ever pay my credit card company more than I owe them at the time (plus, if you missed having an adequate credit balance for even a day, many of the credit card companies charge a minimum fee for any cash advance).

You are correct that many charge cash advance fees. My credit union does not. Many card issuers do not.

It has been posted that European card issuers are different than US card issuers in their terms.

I use my credit card for online purchases in addition to bringing my money to Thailand every month. This is from the current account status:

So you do pay a very small amount of interest for these cash advances?

The interest is for online purchases I have made and did not payoff, as noted in the post you quoted. Perhaps there have been times when I did not payoff the full cash advance, however, even with the whole amount of interest I paid last year ($7.54) and bringing far in excess of $35,000, it is minimal. BUT... that interest is for purchases I did not payoff.

Why is it so hard for people to accept that I can do this? I could post my statements and it seems some people would find fault.

No, it is not noted in the post I quoted. There is no mention of where those interest charges came from. That is why I asked.

In answer to your question, I have no idea why people find it hard to accept you can do this.

Edited February 8, 2015 by mesquite

[Langsuan Man]

It is not only banks in Thailand the use the wrong terminology. Fidelity calls taking cash out of my brokerage account via their ATM card, a cash advance

[hml367]

No, it is not noted in the post I quoted. There is no mention of where those interest charges came from. That is why I asked.

In answer to your question, I have no idea why people find it hard to accept you can do this.

I apologize for inferring that.... that interest is from purchases online which I did not payoff. I purchase sporting goods from Japan throughout the year and the way banking works in Japan (which I will not be specific about here), it takes a very long time for charges to show up on my credit card account.

My apologies for not being specific.

Edited February 8, 2015 by hml367

[rakchaingmai]

I went to bangkok bank Kad suan kaew and they told me it was impossible to do this now as the bank don't make any money out of it , so i got on my bike drove to the bangkok bank kiosk down loh kroh road and done it there no problems .

[bangmai]

but the issuer of your miracle platinum visa remains a mystery, for some unknown reason.

I answered you in post #20. There is no reason to give you my credit union's name.

All you have to do is search the internet for "no foreign currency conversion fee credit card" and sites will be listed that have information on major card issuers that have this feature. As I said, there is no reason for me to give you the name of my credit union.

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-foreign-transaction-fees-disappearing-1280.php

Because you do not have this does not mean it is not credible.

but, it's not about the foreign transaction fee; cards without those are numerous. It's about zero cash advance fees, and I looked at one of those comparison sites and didn't see any. I did see words like: 10 USD or 5%, whichever is greater, and that would apply even if you had a much larger credit balance. Still only one way for you to prove it' and you have not.

[hml367]

Bangmai,

4 January, 2015, I took a cash advance at Bangkok Bank for 75,000 THB. The charge to my credit card account was $2,282.18.

The Visa exchange rate for 4 January, 2015, was 0.030429.

If you don't believe me I don't really care. Maybe you are just upset because you cannot do this. I did not ask my credit union for this "perk" - I just noticed happening a few years ago. Before I noticed, I used my debit card.

[bangmai]

I tried to edit my post and it wouldn't let me....I found three with no cash advance fee; 2 have FTF, PenFed does not; however it doesn't state that you can have a credit balance. You got 32.86. mid-day TT rates at BKBank on January 5, were 32.92.......but there would have been fees, so you likely got a good deal. No rewards on a lot of these cards, too. I will admit, you have found a pretty good niche....for the time being, kind of like the Aeon machines....as long as they let you have a credit balance, and the membership is in the CU is free. I believe I would have to pay 15 usd to join PFCU. Oh, and there always seems to be some underhanded tactics on when they actually do the transaction....but that is also the case with TT/SWIFT.

[hml367]

Agreed about some using "tactics". The credit card releif act helped somewhat. In my opinion banks will always have the upperhand..

Jan. 5 was a Monday. Often have ups and downs on Mondays. My transaction was settled on the 4th the day I actually made the transaction at a mall branch.

[hml367]

Agreed about some using "tactics". The credit card releif act helped somewhat. In my opinion banks will always have the upperhand..

Jan. 5 was a Monday. Often have ups and downs on Mondays. My transaction was settled on the 4th the day I actually made the transaction at a mall branch.

[bangmai]

And that came after the longest Thai banking holidays of the year, because BKKBank didn't change the rate from 12-30 until 01-05, and there was a lot of currency movements then....nothing wrong with being lucky, and the visa rate is what mattered more anyway, so apparently they were behind the curve. If you get a chance, give us another example when there aren't a bunch of holidays. If I had used your method, I think I would have saved about 50 usd over the last 12.5 months, but then again, came on a free ticket on Thai last year (paid 60 in taxes), and doing a one stop from CNX to IAD next month (68 usd), and will return on a Thai freebee...that's about 3000 usd worth of tickets just for getting those cards and barely using them from the "banksters." Sheers!

[Awk]

My credit union allows credit balances on the credit card account. I think I read posts in the past that European card issuers do not allow this.

If so, they were wrong, or it was something specific to their particular European country or card issuer.

[Fookhaht]

Back to the subject of the original post, I have been regularly withdrawing up to SCB's limit of 50,000 baht, using my foreign-bank debit card. No fee.

Until today.

Unlike the OP, my branch of SCB told me that the new rule had just been enacted yesterday. Go figure. More details of my experience at the thread I just opened:

at http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/842127-debit-card-foreign-cash-withdrawals-over-the-counter-thai-banks/?p=9644772

[Fookhaht]

Can the moderators kindly move this topic to "jobs, economy, banking" as it has to do with more than just Chiang Mai members?

[naboo]

At Bangkok Bank I usually present my foreign debit card to the cashier along with my Bangkok Bank book and explain I would like a cash withdrawal from the debit card deposited straight into my Bangkok Bank account. If they ever were to refuse this, I would close my account but its never been a problem.

[Fookhaht]

At Bangkok Bank I usually present my foreign debit card to the cashier along with my Bangkok Bank book and explain I would like a cash withdrawal from the debit card deposited straight into my Bangkok Bank account. If they ever were to refuse this, I would close my account but its never been a problem.

Can you confirm their fee is 180B (according to my local branch)?

[naboo]

At Bangkok Bank I usually present my foreign debit card to the cashier along with my Bangkok Bank book and explain I would like a cash withdrawal from the debit card deposited straight into my Bangkok Bank account. If they ever were to refuse this, I would close my account but its never been a problem.

Can you confirm their fee is 180B (according to my local branch)?

180B via the ATM, I've never been charged over the counter. I am a long standing good customer though, maybe they have a discretionary charge for over the counter.