I was charged 9.58 USD to send $250 through Bangkok Bank New York branch

[Pib]

7 hours ago, suzannegoh said:

 

I know what the URL say but that conflicts with my experience using that card internationally since 2010.  The net rate that I get on ATM withdrawals with that card is typically withing about 0.5% of what Oanda is shows as being the midpoint (average of the buy & sell rates) Interbank rate for that day.  Is your experience with Fidelity different than that?

I haven't used that card in a few months but if you want I'd be willing to test it with a small withdrawal later today and give you some current data. 

Do not use a FX rate like Oanda.  That's not the exchange rate that Visa and Mastercard use.  They have there own rates....see weblinks below.     And remember use the date the the transaction "posts" to your account....don't use a Pending date.

 

Visa Exchange Rate Webpage

https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html/

 

Mastercard Exchange Rate Webpage

https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html

 

 

Edit: I look in one of Fidelity debit card Terms and Agreement (quoted below) and they said they use the conversion amounts as provided by Visa.  They had pretty much the standard statement seen in other card terms and agreement regarding the Visa (or Mastercard) exchange rate used.   Now Visa will also pass along it's standard 1% conversion fee as a separate transaction to your bank but still linked to your account/transaction.  At that point its "purely" up to your bank if they waive/absorb that fee or even add on more....like how some banks charge 3%...that 1% Visa fee plus 2% pure profit for the bank.    Visa recommends that if the bank does not absorb their 1% fee that this fee be broken out separately from the actual transaction amount, but some banks will just include that 1% fee into the transaction amount which effectively lowers the exchange rate and makes it look like "Visa" gave a lower rate when in fact it was really the separate fee that the bank did not absorb.  So, the customer blames Visa (or Mastercard) for  a crappy exchange rate especially when a bank adds on a foreign transaction fee like 3%.   As mentioned before, Schwab for example does not pass along the Visa 1% fee/Schwab absorbs it...therefore they have a 0% foreign transaction fee.

 

Quote

Foreign Currency. Transactions made in a foreign currency are converted into U.S. dollar amounts by Visa, using its then current currency conversion procedure and rate. Currently, the currency conversion rate is generally either a wholesale market rate or a government-mandated rate in effect the day before the Transaction processing date. The currency conversion rate used on the processing date may differ from the rate in effect on the Transaction date or periodic statement posting date.

 

You might want to go back and check some old transaction and use the Visa Exchange rate page to determine the rate given on that date.   If the Visa rate is 1% higher than what is being charged to your Fidelity account that means Fidelity is not absorbing the Visa conversion rate as noted on their webpage.  Otherwise the Visa rate should match to within a few decimal points of the rate hitting your account.

 

[suzannegoh]

33 minutes ago, Pib said:

Do not use a FX rate like Oanda.  That's not the exchange rate that Visa and Mastercard use.  They have there own rates....see weblinks below.     And remember use the date the the transaction "posts" to your account....don't use a Pending date.

 

Visa Exchange Rate Webpage

https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html/

 

Mastercard Exchange Rate Webpage

https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html

 

 

Edit: I look in one of Fidelity debit card Terms and Agreement (quoted below) and they said they use the conversion amounts as provided by Visa.  They had pretty much the standard statement seen in other card terms and agreement regarding the Visa (or Mastercard) exchange rate used.   Now Visa will also pass along it's standard 1% conversion fee as a separate transaction to your bank but still linked to your account/transaction.  At that point its "purely" up to your bank if they waive/absorb that fee or even add on more....like how some banks charge 3%...that 1% Visa fee plus 2% pure profit for the bank.    Visa recommends that if the bank does not absorb their 1% fee that this fee be broken out separately from the actual transaction amount, but some banks will just include that 1% fee into the transaction amount which effectively lowers the exchange rate and makes it look like "Visa" gave a lower rate when in fact it was really the separate fee that the bank did not absorb.  So, the customer blames Visa (or Mastercard) for  a crappy exchange rate especially when a bank adds on a foreign transaction fee like 3%.   As mentioned before, Schwab for example does not pass along the Visa 1% fee/Schwab absorbs it...therefore they have a 0% foreign transaction fee.

 

 

You might want to go back and check some old transaction and use the Visa Exchange rate page to determine the rate given on that date.   If the Visa rate is 1% higher than what is being charged to your Fidelity account that means Fidelity is not absorbing the Visa conversion rate as noted on their webpage.  Otherwise the Visa rate should match to within a few decimal points of the rate hitting your account.

 

Thanks for the tip about the web page showing Visa’s official exchange rates. 

The last time that I used my Fidelity ATM card was on October 17, 2016 when I withdrew 15,000 baht.  After the rebate for the ATM fee,  my account was charged a net of $428.04.  That works out to a rate of 35.0435, which agrees exactly with what Visa’s web site indicates to be the exchange for that day.  That indicates that Fidelity did not charge a foreign transaction fee.
 

[mogandave]

I check the XE exchange rate and Fidelity never seems to charge a fee and automatically refunds any fees.

That said, I only use it to get cash in India and Malaysia, not Thailand. I use my K-ATM in Thailand


Live, love, laugh

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

As I stated above - "I've found multiple comments [EDIT -  from those who used the card abroad] that if one contests a foreign ATM charge by the foreign bank (simply by mentioning it to them), Capital One 360 will refund it with no argument."

Where did you see those kinds of comments? I don't recall ever hearing about that kind of offer/policy from C1 360.

 

But if they're really willing to do that for a secret expat customer on a repeat, monthly basis (as opposed to a one-time, oops I was out of the U.S. on vacation and didn't know what I was doing at the ATM), then that would be great.

 

I say secret expat customer because, in my past experience, C1 is very fussy about NOT wanting banking or credit card customers who aren't residing in the U.S.  And if they think you are in fact residing full-time outside the U.S., it's likely to mean trouble with them. 

 

[Pib]

23 minutes ago, mogandave said:

I check the XE exchange rate and Fidelity never seems to charge a fee and automatically refunds any fees.

That said, I only use it to get cash in India and Malaysia, not Thailand. I use my K-ATM in Thailand


Live, love, laugh

Don't check a FX website like XE for the Fidelity Visa card....Visa/Mastercard have their own exchange rates....check the Visa Exchange rate webpage given a few posts earlier.

[JimmyJ]

16 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

You have to be careful about Cap One 360 and the language they use.

 

They may say THEY don't charge a fee. But last time I checked, they do in fact "pass along" MasterCard's foreign currency conversion fee.

 

Also, AFAIK, Cap One 360's debit cards don't reimburse the foreign ATM fees charged by banks in other countries.

 

There are two different things in all of these discussions:-

 

--does the card issuing bank itself charge a foreign currency fee on purchases or ATM withdrawals made abroad, and

--does the card issuing bank reimburse you for ATM withdrawal fees charged by other banks, including those outside the U.S.

 

That's what someone needs to focus on in considering potential bank accounts.

 

 

"They may say THEY don't charge a fee. But last time I checked, they do in fact "pass along" MasterCard's foreign currency conversion fee."

 

"Currency Conversion Fees

Capital One 360 won't charge you anything when using your Card for transactions made in foreign currency or for what MasterCard® classifies as a cross-border transaction.

For questions about conversion, check out MasterCard's Currency Conversion Tool."

 

"In addition, Capital One does not charge a fee for using your credit card for foreign currency transactions. Foreign purchases will be converted at the foreign exchange rate in effect at the time of posting the charge."

 

Hard to tell from this language if you are correct or not.

 

Does Schwab or Fidelity or any other debit card give more specific language on this issue?

I guess I'll try it with a small withdrawal a few times and compare it to the MC conversion rate at the time of it posting.

 

As far as them being upset if it gives the appearance one is living outside the country, impossible to know except by experience - haven't seen any mention of this in forums except your comment.

If you had that experience, I guess it's a potential problem.

 

Capital One 360 refunding foreign ATM fees charged by the foreign bank is an unofficial policy, like Fidelity's not charging for ATM withdrawals but only for purchases.

Except unlike Fidelity's, it's necessary to mention it to Capital One 360 to get them to reimburse the foreign ATM fee.

 

 

 

I'm definitely applying for the Schwab and Fidelity cards.

 

[JimmyJ]

14 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

"They may say THEY don't charge a fee. But last time I checked, they do in fact "pass along" MasterCard's foreign currency conversion fee."

 

"Currency Conversion Fees

Capital One 360 won't charge you anything when using your Card for transactions made in foreign currency or for what MasterCard® classifies as a cross-border transaction.

For questions about conversion, check out MasterCard's Currency Conversion Tool."

 

"In addition, Capital One does not charge a fee for using your credit card for foreign currency transactions. Foreign purchases will be converted at the foreign exchange rate in effect at the time of posting the charge."

 

Hard to tell from this language if you are correct or not.

 

Does Schwab or Fidelity or any other debit card give more specific language on this issue?

I guess I'll try it with a small withdrawal a few times and compare it to the MC conversion rate at the time of it posting.

 

As far as them being upset if it gives the appearance one is living outside the country, impossible to know except by experience - haven't seen any mention of this in forums except your comment.

If you had that experience, I guess it's a potential problem.

 

Capital One 360 refunding foreign ATM fees charged by the foreign bank is an unofficial policy, like Fidelity's not charging for ATM withdrawals but only for purchases.

Except unlike Fidelity's, it's necessary to mention it to Capital One 360 to get them to reimburse the foreign ATM fee.

 

 

 

I'm definitely applying for the Schwab and Fidelity cards.

 

 

"They may say THEY don't charge a fee. But last time I checked, they do in fact "pass along" MasterCard's foreign currency conversion fee."

 

 

I've seen nothing but positive reports about using Capital One's credit cards for foreign use -

no foreign transaction fees and conversion at the MC conversion rate with no extra charges.

 

So I'd expect it likely that the same would apply to the Capital One 360 checking account.

 

When you last checked, what did you see or experience to let you know that 360 passes along a Mastercard fee?

 

Same experience with a credit card of Capital One?

[mogandave]

Don't check a FX website like XE for the Fidelity Visa card....Visa/Mastercard have their own exchange rates....check the Visa Exchange rate webpage given a few posts earlier.

I tried those sites and the seem like s big PITA compared to the XE app.

In any event, I use the Fidelity ATM, not the credit card.

I use the Chase Sapphire visa CC when out of Thailand, I know it costs $100 a year but it is not much in the scheme of things and I like trading with them.

As a reminder, anyone that has or plans to get a no-fees card needs to make sure they specify the charge be made in the local currency, if they charge in dollars, you're on the hook for the conversion fee.

[Pib]

2 hours ago, mogandave said:

 

I tried those sites and the seem like s big PITA compared to the XE app.

In any event, I use the Fidelity ATM, not the credit card.

I use the Chase Sapphire visa CC when out of Thailand, I know it costs $100 a year but it is not much in the scheme of things and I like trading with them.

As a reminder, anyone that has or plans to get a no-fees card needs to make sure they specify the charge be made in the local currency, if they charge in dollars, you're on the hook for the conversion fee.

 

PITA?   You enter the local currency used (i.e., Thai baht), the currency you card is issued as (i..e, USD, Pound, Euro, etc), enter the amount, selected a date, and press enter.  Result exchange rate that Visa/Mastercard gives for that day,  Don't use FX sites as they do "not" reflect the Visa/Mastercard exchange rate.  Why use a FX site that does not reflect the exchange rate your card uses?

 

 

[Pib]

4 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

"They may say THEY don't charge a fee. But last time I checked, they do in fact "pass along" MasterCard's foreign currency conversion fee."

 

"Currency Conversion Fees

Capital One 360 won't charge you anything when using your Card for transactions made in foreign currency or for what MasterCard® classifies as a cross-border transaction.

For questions about conversion, check out MasterCard's Currency Conversion Tool."

 

"In addition, Capital One does not charge a fee for using your credit card for foreign currency transactions. Foreign purchases will be converted at the foreign exchange rate in effect at the time of posting the charge."

Hard to tell from this language if you are correct or not.

Does Schwab or Fidelity or any other debit card give more specific language on this issue?

I guess I'll try it with a small withdrawal a few times and compare it to the MC conversion rate at the time of it posting.

As far as them being upset if it gives the appearance one is living outside the country, impossible to know except by experience - haven't seen any mention of this in forums except your comment.

If you had that experience, I guess it's a potential problem.

 

Capital One 360 refunding foreign ATM fees charged by the foreign bank is an unofficial policy, like Fidelity's not charging for ATM withdrawals but only for purchases.

Except unlike Fidelity's, it's necessary to mention it to Capital One 360 to get them to reimburse the foreign ATM fee.

I'm definitely applying for the Schwab and Fidelity cards.

 

Before Capone bought ING and turned into CapOne360, the CapOne website use to be very clear on it's fees...and their Q&As were very clear/more robust.  But as CapOne360 their website, info on the website became more lawyer talk, beat around the bush many times.

 

The Visa/Mastercard currency conversion fee can actually range from around 0.15% to approx 1%.   And to be more specific Mastercard range was 0.2% to 1%.....Visa's 0.15% to 1%.  The exact fee amount will vary depending on the contract with the card-issuing company....that is the contract between Mastercard and CapOne360.   Expect the bigger companies like CapOne360 could get a rate on the low end of that range

 

At one time, and maybe still now, CapOne "did" pass along a Mastercard currency conversion fee of 0.2% on their Mastercard "debit" card (but not credit cards) while at the same time "they" CapOne360 did not charge/add-on any foreign transaction fee.  Basically implying "we" (CapOne360) don't charge any fee, but we do pass along this small  Mastercard fee   There use to be a Q&A where they pretty said that but I can't find it anymore.  Looking at the CapOne360 website last night it appeared to me that are even more cryptic that a year ago....guess that keeps customers happy through confusion.

 

There were a few posts around 2 years ago where some ThaiVisa posters could never get their exchange rate math for their CapOne360 "debit" card to match the Mastercard exchange rate webpage.   The posters math always worked out to indicate they were coming up 0.2% short of the Mastercard rate which means CapOne360 was indeed passing along a Mastercard exchange rate fee of 0.2%.

 

So, for you CapOne "debit" card folks you might want to compare the exchange rate "posted" to your account with the exchange rate of that day on the Mastercard exchange rate webpage.  It should match to within a few decimal points; if not, the difference is a fee being passed along by be rolled into the exchange rate versus broken out/displayed separately on your account.

 

 

[Pib]

Here's one of those old posts talking about the CapOne currency conversion fee of 0.2% being passed along....mixed in with the actual exchange rate.  There were other posts from other posters where their math kept coming up 0.2% short.  Can't say if CapOne is still doing this on their "debit" cards.  Would take some folks with CapONe debit cards to do some actual rate comparison mentioned on my previous post.

 

[steven100]

On 28/02/2017 at 7:02 PM, hatewaitin said:

Yep the only way to go.. Transfer wise not only a very competitive rate but reasonable fees too. When I did my first transfers ANZ were having a big feed on my bank account in AU. $30 just for arranging a swift transfer. Then a piss weak rate in the bargain.

correct, happen to me once  sending from a Building society in AU to BKK.

ANZ took their middle man fee out and the transfer cost around $70AUD ...

I was livid ....  

now I use Citibank ...  no transfer fee ...  just the BBK TT buying rate.

[Pib]

6 minutes ago, steven100 said:

correct, happen to me once  sending from a Building society in AU to BKK.

ANZ took their middle man fee out and the transfer cost around $70AUD ...

I was livid ....  

now I use Citibank ...  no transfer fee ...  just the BBK TT buying rate.

While Citibank may not charge a Sending fee, you still have the Bangkok Bank "receiving" fee of 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max).   This receiving fee is applied to all international incoming transfers, SWIFT,  U.S. ACH, etc.  Other Thai banks do the same although their fee may vary just a little, but most use above mentioned fee.

[JimmyJ]

11 minutes ago, steven100 said:

correct, happen to me once  sending from a Building society in AU to BKK.

ANZ took their middle man fee out and the transfer cost around $70AUD ...

I was livid ....  

now I use Citibank ...  no transfer fee ...  just the BBK TT buying rate.

 

How do you do the send? SWIFT bankwire from Australia to BKK?

 

I opened a Citibank checking account recently.

Phone support told me to SWIFT from US to abroad has a charge of $35 USD using their website to arrange it.

They're giving free wires sending out of Australia ?

[steven100]

1 minute ago, JimmyJ said:

 

How do you do the send? SWIFT bankwire from Australia to BKK?

 

I opened a Citibank checking account recently.

Phone support told me to SWIFT from US to abroad has a charge of $35 USD using their website to arrange it.

They're giving free wires sending out of Australia ?

Yes,  it's a SWIFT transfer ...  I believe the ' no charge ' transfer fee is only from Australia ...

but maybe you should email Citibank and ask them to confirm.

Sometimes it works out just as cheap to ATM withdrawal direct from the account ..

you have to check all options ....

[JimmyJ]

42 minutes ago, Pib said:

Before Capone bought ING and turned into CapOne360, the CapOne website use to be very clear on it's fees...and their Q&As were very clear/more robust.  But as CapOne360 their website, info on the website became more lawyer talk, beat around the bush many times.

 

The Visa/Mastercard currency conversion fee can actually range from around 0.15% to approx 1%.   And to be more specific Mastercard range was 0.2% to 1%.....Visa's 0.15% to 1%.  The exact fee amount will vary depending on the contract with the card-issuing company....that is the contract between Mastercard and CapOne360.   Expect the bigger companies like CapOne360 could get a rate on the low end of that range

 

At one time, and maybe still now, CapOne "did" pass along a Mastercard currency conversion fee of 0.2% on their Mastercard "debit" card (but not credit cards) while at the same time "they" CapOne360 did not charge/add-on any foreign transaction fee.  Basically implying "we" (CapOne360) don't charge any fee, but we do pass along this small  Mastercard fee   There use to be a Q&A where they pretty said that but I can't find it anymore.  Looking at the CapOne360 website last night it appeared to me that are even more cryptic that a year ago....guess that keeps customers happy through confusion.

 

There were a few posts around 2 years ago where some ThaiVisa posters could never get their exchange rate math for their CapOne360 "debit" card to match the Mastercard exchange rate webpage.   The posters math always worked out to indicate they were coming up 0.2% short of the Mastercard rate which means CapOne360 was indeed passing along a Mastercard exchange rate fee of 0.2%.

 

So, for you CapOne "debit" card folks you might want to compare the exchange rate "posted" to your account with the exchange rate of that day on the Mastercard exchange rate webpage.  It should match to within a few decimal points; if not, the difference is a fee being passed along by be rolled into the exchange rate versus broken out/displayed separately on your account.

 

 

Lots of good info in this thread.

 

Thanks Pib and TallGuyJohninBKK for getting me to look more closely at Capital One.

It was about 3 months ago when I researched the Capital One cc and debit cards - very likely people who felt they were not being charged a MC fee on the cc weren't as astute as you guys and didn't realize 0.20% (or more) was being added on.

 

I got the Capital One Venture card because all of their cc's do not charge a foreign transaction fee.

And the Capital One 360 because there is no foreign ATM charge.

But it looks like there's more to it. And I agree with both of you that the language they use makes it tough to get a definitive answer.

 

When I get there I'll test them both out and post the results in the forum.

 

[JimmyJ]

8 minutes ago, steven100 said:

Yes,  it's a SWIFT transfer ...  I believe the ' no charge ' transfer fee is only from Australia ...

 

That's a good deal.

 

I'll double check, although I've been opening more bank accounts prior to moving abroad, and the outgoing SWIFT rates I've found range from  $35 minimum (Citibank) up to $50.

[JimmyJ]

All of this thread is a demonstration of how outdated the system is.

 

At one time records were entered in ledgers with quills using black ink, and the money going offshore transported on ships along with the mail.

 

Now a bank instantly changes a digit or 2 in a computer database.

 

It's possible to send low 5 figures in bitcoin abroad for a dollar or two, and arrive there in many cases almost instantly.

 

But the grounded financial institutions can take days to be available, and charges of up to 10% (for Western Union type money transfers).

It's contrary to their interests to modernize.

[suzannegoh]

1 hour ago, Pib said:

PITA?   You enter the local currency used (i.e., Thai baht), the currency you card is issued as (i..e, USD, Pound, Euro, etc), enter the amount, selected a date, and press enter.  Result exchange rate that Visa/Mastercard gives for that day,  Don't use FX sites as they do "not" reflect the Visa/Mastercard exchange rate.  Why use a FX site that does not reflect the exchange rate your card uses?

 

 

It depends what you are using the rates for.  If someone wants to populate a spreadsheet with the exchange rates for each day within a given range of dates, that is done more easily with Oanda and/or XE.

[steven100]

50 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

That's a good deal.

 

I'll double check, although I've been opening more bank accounts prior to moving abroad, and the outgoing SWIFT rates I've found range from  $35 minimum (Citibank) up to $50.

For the incoming TT buying rate at BKK you lose around 100 points to the actual XE rate so if XE currency converter is at 26.50 AUD - THB  ... the TT buying will be around 25.50

But at least I don't pay the transfer fee which I use to between $45-70 AUD.  But I still have to pay BKK ( 220-500 baht ) incoming fee so it can be as high as $20 ..

[Pib]

It depends what you are using the rates for.  If someone wants to populate a spreadsheet with the exchange rates for each day within a given range of dates, that is done more easily with Oanda and/or XE.

Yeap.. it may be easier but those FX rates are not the rates Visa/Mastercard use to process card transactions.

[suzannegoh]

 

Yeap.. it may be easier but those FX rates are not the rates Visa/Mastercard use to process card transactions.

 

Correct, but he said that Visa's exchange rate website was a PITA, not that it isn't accurate.

 

While Visa's official rates might be the best for verifying that your credit card company isn't cheating you, I don't need to do that very often. More commonly I just need rates that the IRS won't challenge.

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

37 minutes ago, suzannegoh said:

 

Correct, but he said that Visa's exchange rate website was a PITA, not that it isn't accurate.

 

The only thing difficult about the VISA exchange rates website is the rate it produces on the webpage is the inverse rate (so many baht equals so many USD), instead of the actual THB rate.

 

So, to do the calculation, you start with a value of 1 on your calculator, and then divide that by the number VISA gives you.  That produces the actual exchange rate.

 

So for last Friday, 1 divided by the rate VISA shows for that day on the website -- 0.029088 -- shows the actual THB rate of 34.378...

[Pib]

53 minutes ago, suzannegoh said:

 

Correct, but he said that Visa's exchange rate website was a PITA, not that it isn't accurate.

 

While Visa's official rates might be the best for verifying that your credit card company isn't cheating you, I don't need to do that very often. More commonly I just need rates that the IRS won't challenge.

 

Curiosity question.    How are the IRS and card rates related?    Maybe FBAR report related...Tax deductions...  

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 4/2/2017 at 4:15 AM, JimmyJ said:

I've seen nothing but positive reports about using Capital One's credit cards for foreign use -

no foreign transaction fees and conversion at the MC conversion rate with no extra charges.

 

So I'd expect it likely that the same would apply to the Capital One 360 checking account.

 

When you last checked, what did you see or experience to let you know that 360 passes along a Mastercard fee?

 

Same experience with a credit card of Capital One?

 

Capital One's credit cards are fine to use in Thailand, because they do not charge any foreign currency fee and in fact, lately, have ceased requiring card holders to file "foreign travel" notices any time they plan to use the card outside the U.S.  C1 used to be very fussy about that, and I had my card blocked unexpectedly several times in the past for not in advance having filed a foreign travel notice. But with the advent of their chipped card, that seems to no longer be an issue, and C1 confirmed that policy change to me directly.

 

Their debit card is an entirely different animal, in part because the debit card is a MC logo card, whereas their main credit card is a VISA card, and the two cartels have different fee policies internal. My prior comment about the debit card passing along, as best as I recall, a 0.4% fee for foreign use was based on posts from actual card users in the past, and, as best as I recall, reading the actual terms and disclosures statement for the card, as opposed to just reading the promotional material C1 shows on their website. The distinction they made in the past was, it's not C1 charging the fee, it's MC.

 

It's possible, of course, that they've changed their FCF policy on their debit card somewhere along the way. But if they have, I haven't heard of the change.

 

But either way, Cap 1 wants to deal with U.S. residents, so anyone dealing with them had better plan on exclusively using a U.S. residence address and other info for their account profile and contact info.

 

This is from their Cap 1 360 checking account disclosures document:

 

 

 

 

[owl sees all]

Over the last decade I have been charged thousands of pounds (sometimes euros) by my bank to transfer money from Europe to Thailand. The last couple of years I have been trying other solutions. There is simply no need to pay the ridiculous fees the banks charge. 

 

I have tried 'currencyfair', 'azimo' and 'transferwise'. They are all good but I like transferwise.

 

Anyone out there who is still using there bank is chucking their money away.

 

Owl sees all.

[owl sees all]

59 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

Over the last decade I have been charged thousands of pounds (sometimes euros) by my bank to transfer money from Europe to Thailand. The last couple of years I have been trying other solutions. There is simply no need to pay the ridiculous fees the banks charge. 

 

I have tried 'currencyfair', 'azimo' and 'transferwise'. They are all good but I like transferwise.

 

Anyone out there who is still using there bank is chucking their money away.

 

Owl sees all.

If you can keep your head when others around are losing theirs - you could finish up the tallest.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Regarding Cap One 360's MasterCard debit card, in looking at their website today, I can no longer find any terms and disclosures document for the card itself, which is where you'd find a clear answer to this question.

 

But in looking in their FAQ section, I do find examples of the kinds of what I'd call duplicitous information that I'd recalled seeing in the past regarding whether there are any FCF on their MasterCard.

 

Example #1 says a FCF may be charged by MasterCard (read the final sentence), which is consistent with what C1 and their card was doing in the past:

 

Example #2 says Cap One doesn't charge a fee itself (which is also what they've always maintained, even though their MC card did):

 

 

[JimmyJ]

I thought I was all  set with the Capital One 360 debit card, but now see I need some more alternatives.

 

For no foreign transaction fee cc's, I've got the Capital One Venture which seems to be fine, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve. It's my impression that card is paying the actual Visa rate with nothing added on by Visa.

Am I wrong?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

29 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

I thought I was all  set with the Capital One 360 debit card, but now see I need some more alternatives.

 

For no foreign transaction fee cc's, I've got the Capital One Venture which seems to be fine, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve. It's my impression that card is paying the actual Visa rate with nothing added on by Visa.

Am I wrong?

AFAIK, the list of credit cards with legitimately no FCF includes the two you cite above, though the higher end Chase cards often tend to have an annual fee.

 

But these days, among credit cards, the list of those not charging a FCF has gotten quite a bit longer than it used to be, with the recent additions of Chase's Amazon Prime card and even Barclay's Wyndham Rewards VISA card. It's finding comparable debit cards that's still more of a challenge.

 

Re the C1 360 debit card, you start off with the issue that it's a MC card, and thus often has a somewhat lower exchange rate than its VISA counterparts. And then add in a potential 0.2 to 0.4% FCF from MasterCard, and it becomes less attractive -- though still better probably than flat 1% FCF rate cards. But I prefer to go with real, legitimate no FCF cards, and especially those that automatically refund other banks' ATM fees without you having to beg.

 

One advantage, though, of the C1 card might be though that because it's a MasterCard, it would work with the Bank of China ATMs that currently charge no ATM fee, assuming you were planning to be staying nearby one of the relatively few BofC bank locations around Thailand. That would be an advantage if you were just planning to use the card for ATM withdrawals. But if you were planning to also use it for routine POS purchases, then you'd still be getting hit on the exchange rate side.