bwiadca

Have you seen exchange business at the airports losing money?

ft101

If I know I'll be near one I'll wait and use it. $10 is better in my pocket than someone else's. Although if I only had $500 for a 7 to 9 day holiday I "probably shouldn't be going abroad".

dsquared37

If DMK booths are giving 1 baht more than superrich et al in BKK then yes, they are losing money.

Diplomatico

I think we both know the rates at the booths at DMK aren't even close to the rates offered at Superrich or VASU.

fleur_de_lys

I used to use ATM all the time, but the Bank of America charges a percentage of the transaction now. I withdraw Baht from an ATM in Bangkok several weeks ago and the the US dollar amount was $158, Total transaction was $9.74 which is a little over 6%. I only did it because I needed cash for the market where many vendors don't take credit cards. Anyways......always use US cash to change money. The rates seem to vary very little at the currency exchange booths in Bangkok, or a foreign transaction fee credit card. I'm not crazy about carrying all that cash but it beats getting ripped off royally from your bank.

glennaa11

get a new bank. BoA sucks

eponymous_coward

Yeah, in that link I posted upthread, BofA stands out as having really sucky forex charges for ATM withdrawals, along with Chase. One of the reasons they lost my business (on top of general fee-happiness and suck).

TravelPenguin

We leave for BKK in three days and was just wondering since I read on a blog that if you don't arrive in BKK with at least 10,000THB you could be turned away at the airport. Is this true? Is this the new law? We are a family of four. We were thinking of changing about $800usd into THB since we don't require much cash. All of our hotels and tours have already been prepaid. Should we just go ahead and get THB here in the US or are we able to wait till we get to BKK airport? Seems most on here were talking about using their debit card to withdraw at an exchange at BKK being the best option. TIA!

smc333

I read about this before I went and the consensus seemed to be that this rule was in place but rarely enforced. Being a bit of a worrier, I made sure I had the 20k for myself and my wife anyway, and actually got a good rate here in the USA at a currency exchange company. I kept an eye out in the immigration line to see if I saw any officers counting money, and did not notice any doing so.

I've just tried to confirm the currency requirement at the Thai embassy webpage but unfortunately they're having some issues right now, and I'm getting errors on so many of their pages I'm not able to find anything.
I did find this, and that domain looks like it's registered to the "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" in Bangkok basedon a WHOIS lookup. I had thought the limit was 10k/20k and have seen contradictory info between one Thai agency's website and another FWIW:
http://www.thaiembassy.org/telaviv/e...-Thailand.html

As to where the best place to exchange, I guess that depends on what you can get locally in terms of fees and rates.

Diplomatico

The odds that you, as a tourist family of four, will be asked to produce cash upon arrival at BKK are slim to none, IMO. That rule is in place to deter indigent backpackers on visa runs, basically. (And even if you do, it's 20,000 THB per family or the equivalent in foreign currency....so your $800 USD will be just fine.)

I've flown in and out of BKK dozens of times and have never been asked to produce cash upon arrival nor has anyone I know.

TravelPenguin

Thanks for the response smc333. Citibank was offering $24 baht to $1 usd locally. It seems from using the links above I am better off getting some when I arrive at the airport as super rich shows $32.55. But as it seems from the link you posted to the embassy we will need to have at least 10,000baht in hand to enter. Thanks for the info!

Diplomatico

No, you won't. It can be in foreign currency equivalent and......you won't be asked.

Diplomatico

No, you won't. It can be in foreign currency equivalent and......you won't be asked. (Reading the link you want to place so much faith in - it even says "the equivalent of ...... Thai baht".)

TravelPenguin

Thank you so much Diplomatico!! This makes me breathe easier. I think Citi's exchange is not the best. I will wait and exchange at the airport. Seriously I can't thank Flyertalkers enough for all the info. After I think close to two years of being on this forum, I'm taking my family of four on a trip to Asia staying for a little less than a month traveling in J roundtrip, all hotels paid for (with the exception of Amansara) with points. Seriously, this community and its ability to share info and just be honest and open have been more than I can truly ever thank everyone for.

CJKatl

And, from what I've been told, people from neighboring countries who travel out and into Thailand every thirty days to get new visas instead of getting the correct, longterm visa. I knew a couple people who would take a bus from Bangkok to the border every month to do this, but have since moved back to Laos. FWIU multiple visas from land crossings can trigger a cash check.