Is Thailand Value for money

[DUS]

Hi,

 

I am banking with Krung Thai. i checked the latest statement today and saw that today they deducted 999 TBH as "ATM High Value Annual Fee". I was completely taken aback by this fee since I wasn´t aware of any such fee at all. Well, I am sure this is a legit and that I agreed to these (hidden) fees when I signed up for their savings account. Nonetheless, I have a few questions to the forum:

 

a/ When I briefly checked the KTB website I wasn´t immediately able to find the information on this annual fee and neither the info on what constitutes a "high value annual fee". Surely, this number must be pretty low since I haven´t used their ATMs THAT much over the last 12 months. Do you guys have any info on this?

 

b/ Do all banks in TH charge such what I think is an excessively high fee for using their ATMs? 

 

Thank you!

 

DUS

 

 

[manfredtillmann]

with ktb, too, i withdraw approx. thb 30000 in cash every months in thb 10000 lots, so 3, sometimes 4 withdrawals a months. i have not been charged this fee, ever.

i do pay my phone top - up and rent, power, water (to my wife who then pays it on) by EFT but have - in the last 6 months - only been charged one thb 3 amount in  april designated a '12C Fee'.

how many atm transactions do you do? it does seem a lot of money to pay to them for the privilege.

[DUS]

2 minutes ago, manfredtillmann said:

with ktb, too, i withdraw approx. thb 30000 in cash every months in thb 10000 lots, so 3, sometimes 4 withdrawals a months. i have not been charged this fee, ever.

i do pay my phone top - up and rent, power, water (to my wife who then pays it on) by EFT but have - in the last 6 months - only been charged one thb 3 amount in  april designated a '12C Fee'.

how many atm transactions do you do? it does seem a lot of money to pay to them for the privilege.

 

I absolutely agree with you, it does seem a very high fee. In particular, compared to what you describe as your "usage pattern" I would say that I use ATMs less often than you do and the total amount of money I´ve taken out over the last 12 months is definitely WAY below the figures you are mentioning in your post. 

 

I have sent KTB an email requesting some information on this fee and if they don´t get back to me within the next few days I will pop into my local branch at Asoke. 

[HampiK]

Is it possible that this is the normal annual fee?

Maybe you have a more expensive card like a "KTB Shop Smart Blue Diamond Xtra"

 

[DUS]

4 minutes ago, HampiK said:

Is it possible that this is the normal annual fee?

Maybe you have a more expensive card like a "KTB Shop Smart Blue Diamond Xtra"

 

 

Oh <deleted>...... Yes, you´re right! When I opened the account last year this was the only card/account they offered without work permit etc bla bla....... And yes, it was in September of last year, so it must be the annual fee for the card. I was only puzzled by their description of "High Value ATM fee". 

 

Thank you for your clarification! Ta!

[HampiK]

Maybe you can change the card to a cheaper one. Many stuff only tell you that they don't have cheaper cards available.

 

This happen one time to a friend of me with Kasikorn as well. they tried to sell a 699 card instead the normal 200 baht ATM card. I think (not sure) the stuff are told to sell x-amount of some special cards per month.

 

Tell them you come back later when the normal card is available again or try with another member of the bank. Sometimes even tell you will wait is enough that they find a normal card somehow

[DUS]

I will pop into the branch soon and check what they offer (or not). :-)

[manfredtillmann]

29 minutes ago, DUS said:

 

Oh <deleted>...... Yes, you´re right! When I opened the account last year this was the only card/account they offered without work permit etc bla bla....... And yes, it was in September of last year, so it must be the annual fee for the card. I was only puzzled by their description of "High Value ATM fee". 

 

Thank you for your clarification! Ta!

yes, just that. my wife put my head straight on this one (grovel, grovel), and i went through the 'good old passbook' - and there it is, every 20/12 thb 999. for the privilege of being allowed to let them have your money.

i might start looking for a different bank account...

cheers

mft

[manfredtillmann]

one more:

my little wife - i love her so much in the way she 'drop - feeds' me information, now claims that the annual ktb fee incorporates an accident or accidental death insurance for thb 250000!!!

i'll leave that with all you friendly posters to contemplate.

[Pib]

Yeap, sounds like you got a debit card that includes some kind of insurance which means the annual debit card fee jumps way up.   The wife has a KrungThai basic debit card...annual fee Bt180.

[Pib]

And here's a KrungThai bank webpage (in Thai) showing the annual fees for their current various debit cards.   One card has a B1,599 fee, another one Bt999, and all the way down to Bt180 for the Smart Classic card which my wife has with her KrungThai bank account.   They are always rebranding/updating/changing the names of their cards....so your card may or may not be shown at the webpage.

 

 Also, not uncommon for some bank branches to push their pricier cards during account opening and maybe even tell you it's a requirement for a "farang" to get such & such card (one of the pricey ones of course) if you want to open an account.  That's all BS...they are just doing a sales job on you as you can select any card for your account or no card at all.  Remember, the pricier cards are more "profit" for the banks and the banks' promotional material will try to convince you that card so & so is the one to have due to having benefits XYZ.    

 

https://www.card.ktb.co.th/en/pages/CardFee

Edited September 14, 2016 by Pib

[KhunBENQ]

I guess every bank will charge an annual fee as described.

Some accounts/cards are cheap, others are expensive.

It depends on the included services (like SMS/Email alert etc,).

[DUS]

55 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

I guess every bank will charge an annual fee as described.

Some accounts/cards are cheap, others are expensive.

It depends on the included services (like SMS/Email alert etc,).

 

Absolutely agree and I am basically fine with it. Earlier today I was just wrong footed by their wording "ATM High Value Fee" which I thought was a fee for using their ATM machines rather than the standard annual fee for my account. 

 

When I opened the account last year on a tourist visa I was happy to take whatever they offered me so in the end if I cannot get a cheaper version when I visit the branch next time then this will be ok. But if I can save a few hundred baht just by asking, I wouldn´t mind either. :-)

Edited September 14, 2016 by DUS

[April13]

I myself was taken aback the moment I saw that weird deduction. I was trying to contact them but the people on the other line keep on asking me a lot of data and it tires me since I do not bring my card every time. 

 

Thanks for the clarification from this page though. My card only deducted 599 from my account. But that can still be hard if one don't know the reason behind the deduction.