tlvancouver

Canadian student - Cdn visa, ATM card..

We've received advice that for a one-two week trip to Thailand it's best to use visa where it's accepted, and to avoid frequent stops at ATMs due to high service charges.

Any other advice for an 18 year old student spending a year in Thailand? She will be in Khon Kaen province (Chumphae) and we're sending her with a visa and some Thai cash. Are travelers cheques useful? In Cdn currency or would we need to convert to USD (terrible exchange rate right now!)

Do ATM cards with chip (4 digit PIN) work most places?

We're just wondering how much cash to send her with and in which currency (she has a very brief stopover in Korea) and lands in Bangkok for an overnight before a 730 flight to Khon Kaen the next am.

SimonB77

The best resource I know of for everything related Thailand can be found here

http://retirecheap.asia/

Yes the site and youtube videos are mostly geared towards older folks. However JC gives invaluable advice for anyone planning to spend some time there. And I bet you'll find the answer to a lot of questions you want there.

Good Luck!

forumpersona999

She can also walk into a local bank with her passport, visa and a local address and phone number and open a local savings account with ATM card. You can send her wire transfers once a month / quarter and she can use it in the local system with ease.

tlvancouver

Perfect!! Thanks

(That retire in asia site is also very interesting!)

Jay71

Not the expert but...

Wondering if it's worthwhile setting up a bank account in Thailand.

Good currency exchanges in Bangkok give good rates for Canadian so no need to convert to USD IMO. Was simpler for us to just convert a handful of $100 Canadian bills. However, not sure what the currency exchange situation is like in Khon Kaen province.

CAD to THB currency exchange rates for physical cash seemed way better in Thailand than any of the best currency exchange places in Vancouver (VBCE, Charlie's, etc).


+1 to JC's Retire Cheap Asia site too.

forumpersona999

You would bring a year's worth of cash in 100 CAD bills into Thailand ?
That'd be quite the carry-on and inviting crime.

DirtyDan

Smart person for looking into this now! Paying that 180Bt charge every time I use a Thai ATM is infuriating.


1) Travellers cheques are dead and most people don't even know what they are - those that do (hotels) will take a big cut just to cash them.

2) You would never want to carry a "large" amount cash - all farangs are considered rich already so no need to reinforce that notion! A couple hundred dollars worth of Baht is plenty to have (and this is a cash culture) And as for Korean cash, ICN shops all will accept the Visa card (make sure you have the travel notification set up with the bank). If you have access to good exchange rates in Canada, get a couple hundred dollars worth of Baht but she can always do that transaction once she lands in BKK, too.

3) Wire transfers:

Open up a USD account through your Canadian bank (I know CIBC and TD offer this option - it opens an account with US routing numbers). When your daughter gets to Thailand, she'll need to open up an account at Bangkok Bank (they have branches all over). You can then wire transfer USD from your Canadian account to the Bangkok Bank's branch in NYC, which will convert it directly to Baht and deposit into the account in Thailand (this is cheaper than sending the wire transfer directly to Thailand as it is a USD transaction that only needs the ACH to conduct). I've also heard there's an option with ScotiaBank but have no experience with them.

4) Have a bank account / card which reimburses ATM fees and just have her withdraw cash as she needs it. Many banks offer this service to clients with a specific threshold of assets with them (and if your retirement accounts are with one institution, be sure to investigate their wealth management and private banking offerings - note that this does not include talking to branch tellers as they will not have any insight into these services.) For example, HSBC has preferred accounts when you have $150K (?) with them and they reimburse every ATM fee and Charles Schwab also offers ATM reimbursement.

One another security note, be sure she has a photocopy of all her travel documents (including fronts/backs of ATM & Credit cards). Nice to have phone numbers in case cards get stolen. Also, hypothetically speaking , when she's standing at the till and her CIBC Visa card gets declined, she can call their "fraud prevention" department and have them put a travel notification right beside the travel notification already on file, hypothetically of course (Skype is nice for this).

transpac

Do you have any feel for her monthly cash requirements? This is important as it may affect the approach.

4-digit PINs are the standard here.

Opening a local bank account, with ATM access, would normally prove challenging (not impossible - 18 year old, student visa, no work permit), but the local Rotary host family may be able to address this challenge. If they can, then this would be a good idea.

A US or Canadian ATM (Visa) card which reimburses for foreign ATM fees (180 baht, but I still pay 150 baht at AEON ATMs in Bangkok as recently as yesterday) would be ideal. I use Fidelity which reimburses the 150 baht fee. Then make one or two withdrawals each month, and deposit the cash in the local account to minimize issues of keeping a lot of cash in hand.

Wire transfer fees (outgoing: ~ 30 - 80 CAD and incoming, typically 500 baht) can be significant, assuming a local bank account; you'll have to weigh SWIFT/Int'l Wire Xfer fees vs. ATM fees.

Upon arrival at BKK I would use an SCB ATM (throughout the airport but a few on level 4) to get 15,000 baht to get her through to KKC/Chum Phae.

Then once in Chum Phae or Khon Kaen city, open a local bank account.

At this point you could do a SWIFT transfer, or she could use the Canadian ATM (even with the fee) to get the max., probably 15,000 - 20,000 baht (ATM card limits, or local ATM physical limits) and deposit the cash in her local bank account for local ATM use. The best option is really down to the amount needed, and comparing the fees. Using the Canadian ATM card might end up being the safest, simplest and perhaps even less expensive.

In addition to having copies of all documents, cards, etc., scan them as well and email them to your home account, or your cloud.

The Bangkok Bank ACH scheme works well for me, but they take a fee in NYC ($10 or $20?) and 500 in Thailand, my U.S. bank charges $3, but Bangkok Bank may not be the best option in Chum Phae? http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBa...dsfromUSA.aspx

seanthepilot

Do not send US dollars. Do the wire transfers, as recommended above. Send the money to Thailand as Canadian dollars. Very quick and affordable.

Be cautious of long bank holidays a dozen times a year. They don't affect branch hours, but do cause delays in the transfer time of funds. Most transfers are deposited within the first 6 hours. During a bank holiday, that can increase to 4 or 5 business days. Also note that large sums will be held before they are cleared to your account. This won't be the case for smaller amounts.

glob99

Thai banks do not have the consumer protections that banks in the USA or Canada have. For example, fraudulent transactions on a Thai debit card will NOT be covered.

RustyC

Very true. If someone steals the stripe encoding and PIN (the latter with binoculars or a skimming device) they can clean out the account and you won't be covered if it's a Thai account. Daily withdrawal limits might force the damage to be spread out, but it's important to limit ATM use and use only the ones in supervised areas, not ones on the street or in public areas (Have been a 3-time fraud victim over there, but thankfully it was my U.S. credit card they hit).

Don't expect credit cards to be that much help at budget-expense level (I don't use them much over there), and for a U.S. card many companies will want a notation on the account in advance before they approve transactions, as the fraud problem is so bad that some issuers decline transactions unless an exception has been put on the account. OTOH, cash advances can be an important emergency backup, and Bangkok Bank would do them for Visa cards for no fee on their end.

ATMs are mostly B180 now (Aeon was still B150) which is a real gouge. Traveler's checks are still widely accepted but on the way out now that the fee per check is B153 (regardless of denomination) rather than B33. Another gouge. Banks shot themselves in the foot with that one, as the non-bank money exchanges are opening all over the place. Those moneychangers operate in similar-looking booths and have better rates but likely won't take any worn bills.

I can honestly say the overall banking situation was better back in the late 90's than it is now.

HKtraveller

You can see the best exchange rates on this website
http://superrichthai.com/exchange

Expect to get a rate a little but not much worse than that.

dsquared37

That really depends upon where you go. Superrich, the green one which you link to, is my preferred exchange vendor and the Ratchadamri branch gives the rates they display. Other branches can be lower.

Banks around town can be much (2-3%) lower and airport branches just plain forget about excepting Value+ downstairs near the SARL entrance.

Jay71

lol I wasn't implying to bring a year's worth but enough to get initially settled.

LIH Prem

If you can get an account that rebates ATM fees (in the USA, Schwab One does that), that's your best bet, then no need to worry about which ATM and the onerous fees they charge there.

Are there Canadian banks or brokerage accounts similar to Schwab One with the ATM rebate feature? I have no idea.

I don't think there's any need to convert CDN$ to THB before the trip, just visit an ATM at the airport on arrival. transpac gave advice on where to find them above.

dsquared knows where the absolute best superich is, but any superich tends to have very good exchange rates.

-David