ATM fees...150 baht!

[Admin_2]

Just a couple weeks ago, I tried using a new card of mine at a Bangkok Bank ATM, and was surprised to see that it was going to charge me 150 baht to make a withdrawal.

I scoffed and went to another bank...same fee!

I figured it was just this new company that I was using, but no...there is now a 150 baht fee imposed at most major Thai ATM's...Wow.

Hopefully they will try and eat some of this cost or else I'll find myself having to take out the maximum on each withdrawal...not safe, not smart. Wit this added to what my bank already charges me...I'll be living off of mama noodles in no time!

From the Bangkok Post:

"Thai Banks asked to cut foreigners' ATM transaction fees

BANGKOK: -- The Thai Bankers' Association will ask local banks to cut fee charges for foreign cardholders using local ATMs, according to association secretary-general Twatchai Yongkittikul.

He said the TBA would hold talks among its members about current fees.

But he cautioned that any cuts would likely be marginal, as most of the fees represented charges imposed for international network access and simply passed on to end-users.

Since mid-April, foreign cardholders withdrawing funds from local ATMs have been charged 150 baht per transaction.

Dr Twatchai said the fee largely came from new transaction charges imposed by international service providers MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Worldwide to cover interchange network costs.

Local banks, which had previously absorbed the expenses, are now looking to pass on their own operating expenses to customers, arguing that the fees charged in Thailand are in line with expenses charged for cross-border ATM transactions in other countries.

Dr Twatchai acknowledged that a number of foreign tourists and expatriates had complained about the added fees.

At a minimum, he said, local banks should communicate better with customers about the expenses banks incur for processing international transactions.

"Local banks should give more information about fees on the ATM screen, and then customers can make their own choice about whether to continue with the transaction," Dr Twatchai said.

"The TBA will try to raise awareness about the issue. Unfortunately, right now many foreign customers have a negative view of local banks due to the fee issue."

But a MasterCard spokesman denied that the 150-baht ATM access fee imposed by many Thai banks stemmed from any recent fee change or initiative by the company. The spokesman said MasterCard last notified member banks in October 2007 about a 0.2-percentage-point increase in fees effective from January 2008 under cross-border agreements. Since then, no other fee increases have been made related to ATM charges."

[faycyber]

that is very strange... I will try to find some info for you.

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ok i got it

if you use credit card ... now they will charge you 150 baths ... only credit card

ATM card and Debit (Thai) card from thai bank still be ok

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[melted012345]

Just Thai banks sucking on foreign cards. Already every credit card user with foreign card is paying to their banks/credit card companies percentage of every single ATM use plus in some cases in additional per transaction fee regrdless of the withdrawn amount. So currently for example I am paying 150 baht to my home bank, 150 baht to Thai bank plus on top of that percentage fee per transaction. If I get 10 000 baht out of ATM I end up paying transaction fees of over 500 baht currently.

And no, these 150 baht extra fees are not in line with other countries. As said, the credit card companies charge these transaction fees in your HOME country, not by this sort of middle man foreign bank atm that they are pulling here in Thailand. But hell, what else would you expect from these natives.

[Admin_2]

that is very strange... I will try to find some info for you.

----

ok i got it

if you use credit card ... now they will charge you 150 baths ... only credit card

ATM card and Debit (Thai) card from thai bank still be ok

---------

I am using a debit card from the USA and get charged (assaulted) at both ends.

[juddie]

Apparently Kasikorn is not charging...yet!

Just another thing in long line of recent happenings that will put the tourists off! Very clever!

[Skoal]

They are charging me 150 baht on my foreign ATM card. I just saw this on my most recent withdraw. Yes I took the max

[faycyber]

that is very strange... I will try to find some info for you.

----

ok i got it

if you use credit card ... now they will charge you 150 baths ... only credit card

ATM card and Debit (Thai) card from thai bank still be ok

---------

I am using a debit card from the USA and get charged (assaulted) at both ends.

Yes you can use only THAI CARD.....That what i want to say

[LakeGeneve]

that is very strange... I will try to find some info for you.

----

ok i got it

if you use credit card ... now they will charge you 150 baths ... only credit card

ATM card and Debit (Thai) card from thai bank still be ok

---------

I am using a debit card from the USA and get charged (assaulted) at both ends.

Yes, the charge is applicable to all non-Thai bank cards used in an ATM (credit, savings, debit whatever.) You dont get this sort of charge in any other SE asian country.

I have been using Kasikorn as well to avoid the fee.

[Admin_2]

that is very strange... I will try to find some info for you.

----

ok i got it

if you use credit card ... now they will charge you 150 baths ... only credit card

ATM card and Debit (Thai) card from thai bank still be ok

---------

I am using a debit card from the USA and get charged (assaulted) at both ends.

Yes, the charge is applicable to all non-Thai bank cards used in an ATM (credit, savings, debit whatever.) You dont get this sort of charge in any other SE asian country.

I have been using Kasikorn as well to avoid the fee.

Kasikorn it is for at least the near future anyway.

With the way IT is setup now and funds can get transferred with relative ease between banks, I do find these additional charges to be a bit over the top. I could understand a charge closer to $2.00 USD...

[Crustyjuggler]

Kasikorn is quite the saint as far as Thai institutions go, this bank never seems to follow the usual Thai business strategy of ******* you as quickly as possible. Loyalty pays dividends in the long run and it seems K bank should be a leading example to all businesses in the land of greed.

[johnno]

i work in saudi arabia. my pay goes into my australian bank. so if i use my australia atm card to withdraw funds in saudi or jordan if i am up there for the weekend, my australian bank charges me $5 australian per transaction (approx 120 baht on todays exchange rate) and then the country where i am making the transaction charges me also.

i am sooooo lucky

[funky_house]

Would it not save money to open a Thai bank account, and transfer a large sum to that?

Then you could use a local ATM card to withdraw money. You would still get stung for the transfer, but it might be cheaper than using a foreign ATM card.

[Stramash]

there are many cashpoints in the UK, usually in small shops, where you are charged GBP 1.80 or so for using the machine!!

[Admin_2]

Would it not save money to open a Thai bank account, and transfer a large sum to that?

Then you could use a local ATM card to withdraw money. You would still get stung for the transfer, but it might be cheaper than using a foreign ATM card.

Sure thing! Now just have find that large sum...I know I put it around here somewhere!

[grezzzy_greer]

I have an HSBC (UK) debit card for my account and I am not sure now how much, but I pay a small monthly fee in return for which I dont have to pay HSBC transfer fees if I use HSBC machines and I think there are no transfer costs at the UK end when I withdraw funds from another ATM (I would need to look into that last point to be certain though). In fact as long as I use HSBC ATM whereaver I am, the transaction is free. Not hugely helpful in BKK, but it could help get that large sum from the UK without exhorbitant fees...

[narak_mai]

seems hard to believe that an international transaction would cost anywhere near 150b. I think the banks would have imposed charges a long time ago. Must be 100000+ withdrawals made daily through overseas banks, and they're saying they absorbed this cost for so long...... How kind of them.

More like the banks are feeling the pinch and came up with a new scam.

With my card, SCB always applied a 20b charge, which I scoffed at, but now with this new charge, that seems a bit more reasonable, and common sense tells you that that covered their expenses...

For now Kasikorn are my bank of choice.

[Admin_2]

seems hard to believe that an international transaction would cost anywhere near 150b. I think the banks would have imposed charges a long time ago. Must be 100000+ withdrawals made daily through overseas banks, and they're saying they absorbed this cost for so long...... How kind of them.

More like the banks are feeling the pinch and came up with a new scam.

With my card, SCB always applied a 20b charge, which I scoffed at, but now with this new charge, that seems a bit more reasonable, and common sense tells you that that covered their expenses...

For now Kasikorn are my bank of choice.

The timing is definitely strange, and I can't even try to make sense of their numbers. The actual cost can't reach half of that with today's technology.

[Katoom]

A similar charge exists in Hong Kong if you are not in some way affiliated with HSBC (HK), the charge being HK$25. So not much of a difference, the THB equivalent being around 120...

Sucks, all the same

[grezzzy_greer]

The annoying part is the bullshit they are trying to peddle that EACH transaction costs THB150 baht - utter rubbish!

I can TELEPHONE TO THE UK and talk to them for several minutes and it costs less than that - each transaction would cost a fraction of this, otherwise, as rightly pointed out by narak_mai, they would have been screaming LONG before this.

This is exactly as we suspect - another scam bought to you by the biggest bastards the world has ever known - the BANKS!

Do you recall a few years ago when someone in the UK took a bank to court for charging unreasonable fees - these are fees they had been getting away with for years - the scam where you get overdrawn, so they send you a letter - but the letter is chargeable, so they charge you - it puts you further overdrawn, so they send another letter etc...

They got away with it until the guy sued the bank and won...the court naturally held that the charges were unreasonable and unjustified - and the bank had to pay the guy his TWENTY THOUSAND POUNDS back! After that many people did the same and got their money back - but who will be able to do it here in BKK? Unlikely...

[gainesvilleman]

A good suggestion to avoid international ATM fees - go back to your home country.

If you are so worried about 150 Baht charges on getting your money from back home, maybe you should either go back there or work on getting your own job here in Thailand that can prevent you from sucking on your savings from back home.

This ATM fee thing isn't new by the way, I was being hit by it when I got here a little bit over a year ago.

[palmyfan]

A good suggestion to avoid international ATM fees - go back to your home country.

If you are so worried about 150 Baht charges on getting your money from back home, maybe you should either go back there or work on getting your own job here in Thailand that can prevent you from sucking on your savings from back home.

This ATM fee thing isn't new by the way, I was being hit by it when I got here a little bit over a year ago.

No it is new :x .

Now when you want to take some cash from the ATM with your foreign card,you will have a message before the end of the transaction that will let you know about the extra 150 baht fee,like:

in order to proceed you transaction,a fee of 150 baht will be add up,do you want to proceed?

So ,if you want to take 10000 baht,you will have to take 10150 baht from your bank account.

The craziest part of this,when you think about it,it that you acctually pay fee on the extra fee.

Complete bullshit :evil:

There is an other bank who still didnt ask for fee,the one with the yellow sign(i cant remember the name),and i hope they continue to not to.

And for the rest of your post,i prefer say no comment :arrow:

[Admin_2]

A good suggestion to avoid international ATM fees - go back to your home country.

If you are so worried about 150 Baht charges on getting your money from back home, maybe you should either go back there or work on getting your own job here in Thailand that can prevent you from sucking on your savings from back home.

This ATM fee thing isn't new by the way, I was being hit by it when I got here a little bit over a year ago.

Sounds like old disgruntled man fever (ODMF) setting in early. Times have changed and many people own businesses based in countries other than the one in which they are living. I own two businesses that are based in other countries, never touch my savings or retirement accounts, and I prefer to live in Thailand. The internet is an amazing thing, but it's still far from perfect!

And yes, palmyfan is right. This is something new that came out around Song Kran. You are thinking of what your foreign bank charges you for withdrawing from a Thai bank.

[Skoal]

A good suggestion to avoid international ATM fees - go back to your home country.

If you are so worried about 150 Baht charges on getting your money from back home, maybe you should either go back there or work on getting your own job here in Thailand that can prevent you from sucking on your savings from back home.

This ATM fee thing isn't new by the way, I was being hit by it when I got here a little bit over a year ago.

lmao, I detect some jealousy that people have cash they can tap from back home in the form of pensions, earnings and savings. And as everyone has mentioned, the 150 fee is brand spanking new as of a few weeks ago. I certainly didn't come to Thailand to make 30K per month as an English teacher to support my 2500 baht apt

[CiaranM]

A good suggestion to avoid international ATM fees - go back to your home country.

If you are so worried about 150 Baht charges on getting your money from back home, maybe you should either go back there or work on getting your own job here in Thailand that can prevent you from sucking on your savings from back home.

This ATM fee thing isn't new by the way, I was being hit by it when I got here a little bit over a year ago.

well it's new for the rest of us .... but i guess the banks saw a sucker like u coming from a long way away !!

[SweetieBabie]

I do not see what's the deal is.

When i travel anywhere else in the world, they always charge me from using my Thai cards oversea withdrawn fee around same 150 baht. it's not recent and it's quite normal. I can't see why foreigners come to Thailand should be exempted.

May be Thailand is catching up with the rest.