Tourism what are they thinking?

[Ian]

Seems to be a lot of confusion here, the original charge was 20 Baht, now increased as from the 17th to 150 Baht. But it only applies to those Banks that belong to the "Thai Bankers Association". It applies to all ATM withdrawals made with a foreign debit or credit card.
Here is a list of the member banks http://www.tba.or.th/tbamembers.htm and hence the ATM machines to avoid:-)
Not every bank seems to be implementing this charge yet, unusual for Thais, perhaps some banks detect a commercial advantage in being slow off the mark.
For residents the answer is simple get a Thai ATM card, most banks will issue you a Mastercard "electron" which is actually a debit card. Then you simply do electronic transfers from your home bank to Your Thai bank, this incidentally give you a better exchange rate.
For tourists your best solution is travellers checks, any unused ones can be redeemed when you return.
All it means is a bit more forward planning.
At the moment card purchases at large stores are not implementing extra charges. But it might be worth asking the manager. Most big stores are western owned anyway

[capealava]

i am from the uk and recently opened a bank account with kasikorn bank and have started to transfer money from the uk into this account. will these charges apply to a falang holding a thai atm card for a thai bank account.
my own uk bank does not charge for using my english atm card overseas, no matter which country i am in to use it. but i take it the thai banks are applying these charges themselves. if 1 does not pay the 150 bhat transaction fee then you cannot withdraw money from the machine ? with regards to foreigners now staying away from thailand i have to admit i was due to return early may again for 3 months and i have decided to cancel due to the unrest there at the moment and i am not the only 1 here in the uk who has made this decision. you can get on thai airways for around 400 sterling.. its usually 600/650.
they are not the only airline to be reducing ticket prices. i wonder why.

What do u mean by resident ??? I am here for 6 months on a multiple entry tourist visa. So now I am stuck with 150 baht fee every time I use a ATM. Thailand is amazing alright--Amazingly greedy and stupid. But some how I still come here yearly. Must be a serious addiction

[capealava]

Seems to be a lot of confusion here, the original charge was 20 Baht, now increased as from the 17th to 150 Baht. But it only applies to those Banks that belong to the "Thai Bankers Association". It applies to all ATM withdrawals made with a foreign debit or credit card.
Here is a list of the member banks http://www.tba.or.th/tbamembers.htm and hence the ATM machines to avoid:-)
Not every bank seems to be implementing this charge yet, unusual for Thais, perhaps some banks detect a commercial advantage in being slow off the mark.
For residents the answer is simple get a Thai ATM card, most banks will issue you a Mastercard "electron" which is actually a debit card. Then you simply do electronic transfers from your home bank to Your Thai bank, this incidentally give you a better exchange rate.
For tourists your best solution is travellers checks, any unused ones can be redeemed when you return.
All it means is a bit more forward planning.
At the moment card purchases at large stores are not implementing extra charges. But it might be worth asking the manager. Most big stores are western owned anyway

What do u mean by resident ??? I am here for 6 months on a multiple entry tourist visa. So now I am stuck with 150 baht fee every time I use a ATM. Thailand is amazing alright--Amazingly greedy and stupid. But some how I still come here yearly. Must be a serious addiction

[kronen1669]

To Capeleva.. No i am not a thai citizen.. all i can suggest to you if you are a non thai is to open a thai bank savings account, they will issue with a atm card for this account.. if you have your own currency with you then put it into this account.. if not then try and transfer funds from you own account into this thai account online if you have internet banking..
KASIKORN bank will open you an account and issue a atm card in 15 minutes and the card will be working. just need your passport and an address were you are staying in thailand. they will also set up internet banking at there end for you.. i been transfering now for 3 months from a british bank into my own account with this thai bank and not had any problems.. in fact kasikor bank staff are far more helpful than my own banks staff here in london. ok and cheers

[Ian]

To Capeleva.. No i am not a thai citizen.. all i can suggest to you if you are a non thai is to open a thai bank savings account, they will issue with a atm card for this account.. if you have your own currency with you then put it into this account.. if not then try and transfer funds from you own account into this thai account online if you have internet banking..
KASIKORN bank will open you an account and issue a atm card in 15 minutes and the card will be working. just need your passport and an address were you are staying in thailand. they will also set up internet banking at there end for you.. i been transfering now for 3 months from a british bank into my own account with this thai bank and not had any problems.. in fact kasikor bank staff are far more helpful than my own banks staff here in london. ok and cheers

Capevala, exactly so, by resident I meant anyone here for a long enough period to make it worthwhile.
Let me explain further to do a transfer from the UK to Thailand incurrs bank charges of 22 pounds.
The new ATM charges plus exchange rate fees and British banks fees mean that you actually now pay about 10 pounds per ATM use.
Thus two hits of 10,000 Baht at an ATM cost you 20 pounds. 20,000 is about 400 pounds, now a 2 week backpacker might only need 400 pounds. However if you are here for say 3 months you might be getting through a total of at least 100,000 baht, probably more. This would be 10 ATM hits or 100 pounds at 10 pounds a time. So better to transfer 4000 pounds to a Thai bank at 22 pounds, hence saving 80 pounds on your holiday.
Confused?

[capealava]

Thank you for your reply.

[fiddlehead]

I don't think it's just Thailand.
My bank in the states is raising many fees.
I guess they need ways to make money now that no one is borrowing, so they simply raise all their fees.

On another note, i really doubt that people who make these kind of decisions in Thailand really care what tourists think.
They are out to help themselves first and Thai people second. Tourists are low on the list.

[Phaulkon]

When I opened an account at the Bank of Ayudhya I was told I would receive no interest on my savings account because I am a farang. How's that for blatant racism? If I am not mistaken the Bank of Ayudhya has branches in other countries which means it has signed international agreements which would most likely forbid such racist practices. This is on top of the new ATM fees. I still believe the average Thai likes foreigners; I think this overcharging and racism comes from the very top of banks like this.

[Ian]

When I opened an account at the Bank of Ayudhya I was told I would receive no interest on my savings account because I am a farang. How's that for blatant racism? If I am not mistaken the Bank of Ayudhya has branches in other countries which means it has signed international agreements which would most likely forbid such racist practices. This is on top of the new ATM fees. I still believe the average Thai likes foreigners; I think this overcharging and racism comes from the very top of banks like this.

When I first opened a bank account, what I think Americans call a drawing account and us Brits call a current account, interest is basically zero to 1%, depends on the bank.
A fixed term deposit account before the crash netted me 3.8%, this has steadily dropped since the economic crisis, first 2.375% then 1.4% and now 0.75%. This is the same for Thais.

The Bank of Ayudhya is a local bank as is for example the Bangkok bank. These have no overseas commercial contacts and no great interest in Farang customers.
I suggest you move to a commercial bank such as Siam Commercial or Krung Thai, although at the present rate of interest it is hardly worth the effort. If you do move make sure it is at least 3 months before your visa renewal.

[Phaulkon]

Thank you, Ian, good advice.