dsquared37

I transferred money from my paypal account to my wife's once and will never do that again. The fees on this transfer, including exchange, were borderline usurious.

Thai-Kiwi

Gosh dsquared37, I had to go and look that word up!

dsquared37

BigE

Yes, Citibank Asoke has started announcing (and charging) the 150 baht fee. I would swear that the exchange rate got a bit worse too.

So paypal transfer isn't so great after all. Wiring probably is expensive too, and maybe not so easy.

But the Schwab account sounds like the winner. An absolute no-brainer. It almost sounds too good to be true. No minimum balance, and no fees, not even those imposed by other bank's ATMs. You even get a smidgin' of interest (.15%), unlike most Thai bank accounts. You have to open a brokerage account as well, but you don't have to actually put any $$$ into it. http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/...ecking_account

Thanks, dsquared!

CrazyInteg

Wiring money costs $50 and arrives the next day (due to the time difference)

dsquared37

You actually need top open a brokerage account and attach a savings account to it. Your deposits are automatically pegged for the brokerage account but, once they clear, you can immediate push them over to your savings account.

Their CS has been great (surprisingly) as well.

transpac

Note that the destination account in Thailand also gets dinged for a fee - min.: 300 baht, max. 500 baht.


I pay $3 (three U.S. dollars) with BoA for an ACH transfer via BBL/NYC to my Bangkok Bank account in Thailand. This takes 3 - 5 days, and I do not have SMS capability (T-Mo still does not roam to Thailand ), nor a BoA SecurID card, so I initiate transfers when I am in the U.S. This is not a huge issue as I go back every 60 days, and usually just do one transfer per year anyway. I could get the SecureID card, or change my contact number to my GV number which passes (OTP) SMSes via email.

I still don't see having a local account as being much viable for typical tourists/visitors? I guess if you visit often, and/or have financial commitments here then it might be advantageous? Note that there is ZERO consumer protection here, and if your ATM card is lost, stolen, skimmed or otherwise compromised you have little recourse after your account has been drained. Nearly all ATM cards are of the Visa/MC debit variety so it is not unusual for someone to lose their card and then find that someone blew out the account at a Makro in the meantime. (I disabled the debit feature on both my BBL and SCB ATM cards, and I get SMSes on any/all account activity.)

CrazyInteg

People were looking for ways to avoid the 150 Baht ATM fee. I merely provided an idea on opening a local account to avoid the fee.

Each person would need to tailor their decision on fee avoidance to their personal travel needs. Somehow or another you will end up paying fees whether it be worked into the exchange rate or just tacked onto the end.

dsquared37

There are banks with no fees and credit for ATM fees. So technically there is no need to end up paying fees or poor exchange rates.

transpac

As mentioned, AEON ATMs remain fee-free. I used an AEON ATM at one of their mini-branches in the Big C (Level 3) on Ratchadamri across from Central World yesterday. The ultimate rate was almost exactly the same as Superrich. There were ~ 6 foreigners queued to use this ATM.


As a side note, I did have to exchange Euros yesterday, and found that the Superrrich (Blue/green) had the expected , slightly better rate (40.05) than the adjacent Superrich (Orange/green) (39.99).

abhilife2001

Which card were u using ?
I have withdrawn using my USD travel currency card on multiple occasions from K Bank ATM's and they do charge the Thb 150 charge..

transpac

The quoted post is from May, 2009, nearly four years ago, and early on when the 150 baht fee was just being implemented. It took more than a few months for all banks/branches/ATMs to get re-programmed to add the fee. GSB was was the last bank to cave.

walterj

Until I read this thread I thought I'd never again carry travelers checks.
150 baht fee, outrageous!

I called Charles Schwab and for their check card the daily withdrawal limit is $1000 a day, Capital One atm card is $600. Both of those atm cards don't have an extra foreign exchange fee. So I guess the smart thing to do is to either take the maximum amount that the ATM machine allows or for smaller amounts to use TCs.

Even though Schwab will reimburse the ATM fee, I prefer to avoid it if I can.

I now plan to carry cash, travelers checks and debit cards. TCs also have the added security benefit. I am lucky I can get them free at my bank. American express travelers checks only comes in $50 and $100 denominations.

transpac

FYI, there is a 33 baht fee when cashing Traveler's Checks. I think this might work out to be about the same percentage (~ 1 %), on each, single $100 (USD) TC as a 15,000 baht pull with a 150 baht ATM fee.

You could use your Schwab card at an AEON ATM and avoid the 150 baht fee. I guess, based on your daily limit of $1,000, that you could draw the local ATM machine physical limit of 20,000 (or possibly 25,000) baht in a single transaction.

Getting the 150 baht ATM fee reimbursed by Schwab would seem to give you the greatest flexibility?

abhilife2001

aha.. dont know how it showed in my 1st page which usually shows the most recent post.. sorry for the confusion

+1