Unusual debit to my Krungsi savings account

[Puccini]

Three days ago I saw an unusual debit of THB 183.26 on my Krungsri savings account. I wasn't able to contact the bank immediately and was so scared that somebody had used my debit card for an online purchase that I transferred all money but a few Baht out of the account right away.

The following day, looking up something in the account statements of last year, I saw that THB 200.00 were debited in February with the transaction code FE and realised that this must be the card fee. This year's fee of THB 183.26 seems very strange, which is why it confused me. Was anybody else debited this unusual amount by Krungsri for the card fee?

Edited February 5, 2016 by Puccini

[tonray]

Could the fee be net of this month's account interest ?

[Pib]

For Krungsri the FE code stands for Fee so the 183.26 is a fee for something. Like each month I'm charged Bt19 for SMS service and it'd coded as FE. My particular Krungsri debit card has no annual fee so I don't see an annual fee, but I had to take the monthly SMS service to get the no annual fee card. But I'm fine with the SMS fee and service.

The code for Interest is IN.

[Suradit69]

Could the fee be net of this month's account interest ?

Yes, twice a year (I think it's twice) my account at Bangkok Bank gives me a small amount of interest and charges some semi-annual fee. Usually shown as two separate transactions in my passbook, but the entry you saw might have been a combined net change to your balance.

[Naam]

scared that somebody had used my debit card for an online purchase

what can one buy online for 183 Baht?

[Sophon]

183.26 Baht is a very unusual amount for a fee, but it is also almost exactly eleven twelfths of the normal 200 Baht card fee. Maybe the bank has for some internal reasons changed the time they charge your card fee and charged it a month early. Did your card fee by any chance get charged in early March last year?

Sophon

[Pib]

Could the fee be net of this month's account interest ?

Yes, twice a year (I think it's twice) my account at Bangkok Bank gives me a small amount of interest and charges some semi-annual fee. Usually shown as two separate transactions in my passbook, but the entry you saw might have been a combined net change to your balance.

Bangkok Bank normally pays interest twice a year in mid June and December as long as your account is not coded as a nonresident which means you earn no interest. But the annual card fee occurs only once a year during the anniversary month of getting the card...or at least I've only been charged the card fee once a year after being with them for many years.

[canopus1969]

Could it be the ATM Card fee ?

[Sophon]

183.26 Baht is a very unusual amount for a fee, but it is also almost exactly eleven twelfths of the normal 200 Baht card fee. Maybe the bank has for some internal reasons changed the time they charge your card fee and charged it a month early. Did your card fee by any chance get charged in early March last year?

Sophon

I just noticed that you mentioned in your OP that your card fee was also debited in February last year. Was it in early February or at the end of February? But even if the date of the debit was the same as last year, maybe next year they will debit you at the beginning of January making this years fee be for only 11 months. that would actually make some sense, charging everyone for their card at the beginning of the year.

I guess the only way to be sure is to ask the bank, but my (totally uneducated) guess is still that it's your card fee - only for a shorter period than one year.

Sophon

Edited February 6, 2016 by Sophon

[Puccini]

Thank you all for your comments. I go with the suggestion of Sophon that the debit of THB 183.26 is the ATM/debitcard fee pro rata until the end of the year. It is only 20 satang higher than the calculation for the 366 days of the year 2016 minus the 31 days of January, or for a period only .37 days longer than the number of days from February 1 to December 31. How exactly Krungsri did the calculation is a mystery I can live with.

It will be interesting to see if others with a Krungsri bank account with an ATM/debitcard get similarly charged a pro rata card fee.