ATM / Credit Card in SE Asia - Need advise on getting money

JohnCleary

Hi folks,
There's a similar thread below, but this is a bit of a different request so thought i'd start a new thread as it may benefit others in the future.

So here's the story... Travelling SE Asia for 3 months. Once I can get cash in Thailand i'll be OK from there as I can get baht exchanged

Here's what I have:
BOI Laser ATM Card
BOI Mastercard

I read in the other thread that there's a 150 baht levy (not too bad), but that the person sometimes found themselves paying up to €8.50 in other charges which is crazy.

It was advised to use a credit card instead to withdraw cash - I was advised against this locally "because the bank will charge you a fortune for a cash advance"

Can anyone enlighten me a little here? I'm looking for advise on the best way to extract cash from ATM's in Thailand. When the person in the other thread recommended to use credit card for cash, I wonder if the idea there is to have your credit card account with a positive balance?

Thanks for any advise that can be offered

ResearchWill

JohnCleary wrote: »

Hi folks,
There's a similar thread below, but this is a bit of a different request so thought i'd start a new thread as it may benefit others in the future.

So here's the story... Travelling SE Asia for 3 months. Once I can get cash in Thailand i'll be OK from there as I can get baht exchanged

Here's what I have:
BOI Laser ATM Card
BOI Mastercard

I read in the other thread that there's a 150 baht levy (not too bad), but that the person sometimes found themselves paying up to €8.50 in other charges which is crazy.

It was advised to use a credit card instead to withdraw cash - I was advised against this locally "because the bank will charge you a fortune for a cash advance"

Can anyone enlighten me a little here? I'm looking for advise on the best way to extract cash from ATM's in Thailand. When the person in the other thread recommended to use credit card for cash, I wonder if the idea there is to have your credit card account with a positive balance?

Thanks for any advise that can be offered

A friend of mine who travels a lot, advised me in relation to Thailand, to change euros at the street exchanges rates are usually very good. If remember he said cash machines work out expensive mostly due to the rate Irish banks give on the exchange.

JohnCleary

Thanks, i'll check this out

wallpaper12

I presume your not going to be carrying a lot of cash around with you so you wont be exchanging it that often anyway..
In some banks you can load extra money onto your credit card and then there is no charge for taking this out except the 150 baht. Im not with BOI but I used a combination of laser and credit cards when I was there and was only charged and extra euro or two per transaction which isnt that much really.

If your going to Cambodia try and find the Canadia atms as these dont charge a fee.

ResearchWill

wallpaper12 wrote: »

I presume your not going to be carrying a lot of cash around with you so you wont be exchanging it that often anyway..
In some banks you can load extra money onto your credit card and then there is no charge for taking this out except the 150 baht. Im not with BOI but I used a combination of laser and credit cards when I was there and was only charged and extra euro or two per transaction which isnt that much really.

If your going to Cambodia try and find the Canadia atms as these dont charge a fee.

The real issue and I noticed it when I travelled is the exchange rate the Irish bank gives, I converted 200 euro before I left and brought a grand in cash, and changed it when I needed, the difference in the rates given in Ireland and Thailand was a pretty penny. The issue of course is carrying cash if you do not like that idea for safety reasons of course pay extra and use credit card.

I also paid for all hotels with CC and they all offered the option to pay in euros which usually worked out better, than charging in Bhat and paying the terrible Irish exchange rate.

JohnCleary

Thanks for the advise folks.

I was told that often places would offer to charge in Euro - Kind of has me suspicious as to which would work out cheaper, but I guess with that option at least I know how much i'll be charged.

I wonder would it be advisable to put small amounts of money from my current account into my credit card account (so that there's a positive balance in my credit card) and then withdraw cash from an ATM using the credit card, rather than using the Laser card which will draw directly from my current account?

Don't know if it matters, but i'm on a student account btw

(And i'll be sure to call the bank 2 weeks before I go to let them know there'll be foreign transactions)

6ix

I called my bank (AIB) this morning to discuss this exact issue for an upcoming trip to SE Asia.

AIB's charges are:

Debit Card: 0.20c charge + Up to 3% Currency conversion fee (depending on country + 1% Commission fee

Credit Card: 2.75% currency conversion fee.

The credit card must be in credit though, otherwise you'll be charged an extra Cash Advance Fee of 1.5% which would bring it in line with the debit card.

So, weighing it up, my best option is to load cash onto the credit card via internet banking and then take it out as I need it. Seeing as there's a 150 baht fee per ATM transaction in Thailand, I guess I'll be best taking out as much as possible each time to minimise the €3ish fee. In relation to that, AIB have now introduced a €250/day limit (€100/day in some countries) on the debit card. The credit card allows €600/day so that's another reason to choose it over the debit card.

I know you're not with AIB, but I'd imagine BOI have a similar structure and anyway the info might be useful for some people in the future.

Actually, just to slightly hijack the thread - can anyone advise me the best place to get currency exchanged here in Ireland before I go? I'm sure the banks don't offer the best deal. I'd like to get some US Dollars for use in Cambodia and Vietnam and maybe a few quid in Baht just to get me started when I arrive.

Stinicker

6ix wrote: »

I called my bank (AIB) this morning to discuss this exact issue for an upcoming trip to SE Asia.

AIB's charges are:

Debit Card: 0.20c charge + Up to 3% Currency conversion fee (depending on country + 1% Commission fee

Credit Card: 2.75% currency conversion fee.

The credit card must be in credit though, otherwise you'll be charged an extra Cash Advance Fee of 1.5% which would bring it in line with the debit card.

So, weighing it up, my best option is to load cash onto the credit card via internet banking and then take it out as I need it. Seeing as there's a 150 baht fee per ATM transaction in Thailand, I guess I'll be best taking out as much as possible each time to minimise the €3ish fee. In relation to that, AIB have now introduced a €250/day limit (€100/day in some countries) on the debit card. The credit card allows €600/day so that's another reason to choose it over the debit card.

I know you're not with AIB, but I'd imagine BOI have a similar structure and anyway the info might be useful for some people in the future.

Actually, just to slightly hijack the thread - can anyone advise me the best place to get currency exchanged here in Ireland before I go? I'm sure the banks don't offer the best deal. I'd like to get some US Dollars for use in Cambodia and Vietnam and maybe a few quid in Baht just to get me started when I arrive.

You can now get US Dollars and British Pound Sterling at selected post offices from An Post commission free. Just these two big currencies and not Thai Baht however, it might be worth checking out.

These were my experiences with cash withdrawals and Credit & Laser Cards whilst I was in Thailand during February and March of this year.

When I was in Thailand I used both my BOI Laser card and Credit Card (Mastercard) which I had preloaded with €1,000 before I left home; when you have a positive balance like this you don't attract the Cash Advance fee.

The Cash Advance fee is charged if you are withdrawing money from your Credit Limit which in my case is €1,000 and coupled with the €1,000 I had preloaded I had in theory €2,000 spending money; albeit the €1,000 borrowed would have to be repaid with insanely high interest if you didn't clear the entire balance within the first month when you get the statement. However quite often the money you have lodged into your credit card (the €1,000 in my own case) is not protected against fraud and scams and if someone skimmed your card the bank might cover your credit limit from fraud but usually not the money you lodge into the card.

Obviously this differs from card to card and with different banks but it is typically the industry standard in quite alot of cases so best check with your Bank; rule of thumb if your money is not fraud protected then don't go lodging in huge amounts of money into your credit card and it would be better to drip feed the credit card with small amounts of money to keep the card in credit and thus be able the avoid the cash advance fee which with my own BOI Mastercard is 1.5% of the Euro equivelent including the cross border fees and a minimum of €2.54 per transaction and so long as you clear your balance on time you won't attract interest.

I made a few transactions on both cards and looking at my statements here I withdrew 10,150bt (10,000 + the 150bt Thai Atm levy) on my Laser Card on two separate occasions and attracted very high Cirrus charges of €8.60 and €8.56 respectively, and this varies according to the daily exchange rate; the worse the rate, the more it will cost you in Euro and then the more they will charge you in Cirrus fees.

I was monitoring my finances whilst out there with my online banking as I had my own netbook with me and I would advise against using your online banking in a cyber cafe as they often have keyloggers.

When I noticed the high laser charges I then immediately switched to withdrawals from my Credit Card which had a positive balance as I had lodged in €1,000 before leaving home.

20,150bt on my Mastercard cost €8.54 (20,000 + the 150bt Thai Atm levy) which means that to withdraw money from a positive balance Credit Card is only half the cost of a withdrawal on a Laser Card, as 10,150bt from my Laser cost more in Cirrus charges than the 20,150bt from my Mastercard.

If my Credit Card had not had a positive balance the 20,150bt would have cost the cross border handling fee of €8.54 + a €7.45 Cash Advance Fee = €16 so just slightly cheaper than the Laser card.

As I was limited to a 10,000bt daily withdrawal on my Laser the same 20,000bt of withdrawals on the Laser Card cost over €17 compared to €8.54 for my preloaded Credit Card or €16 had I not preloaded the Credit Card.

This was all with my Bank of Ireland cards and the Credit Card is the obvious choice for withdrawing money abroad, the biggest transaction I made of my Credit Card was the 20,150bt so I don't know if I could have withdrawn more if I had wanted to; however having had American Dollars stolen from my baggage in the hold of a Bus down in Surat Thani I wouldn't recommend taking too much cash on your person and never leave cash or valuables out of your sight on a bus or train. Ironically the money I had stolen was a contingency fund of $300 in case my cards would be blocked or my money stolen; my travel insurance wouldn't cover it so read the T&C's of your Travel Insurance also to see what's covered.

You can avoid the 150bt ATM Levy if you use an atm from AEON Bank; however they are not that widespread and I didn't come across one when I was in Bangkok and decided it was not worth tracking down one for the sake of roughly €3.80/150bt; another option to avoid the 150bt fee is to try withdrawing the money over the counter in the bank as some banks do and some don't charge so your mileage may vary plus you have the language barrier wheras you can hit the British flag to bring up English instructions the ATM!

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/468171-avoiding-atm-charges/

Thailand is great; would love to be going out there again, enjoy yer trip!

JohnCleary

6ix - Thanks for the advise, taken onboard

Stinicker - WOW, again, thanks for the advise, this is after answering every damn question I had about withdrawing cash in SE Asia... you even answered questions I was going to ask in the question (drip feeding the credit card account with positive balances, so I wouldn't have to cash advance, and didn't risk being potentially scammed much money (I know you're not protected against positive balances))

For what it's worth, if possible, Stinicker's post should be added to an FAQ (if one exists) as it answers MANY questions one might have when travelling to SE Asia regarding money

Thanks again

bacon?

Hey John, I've been on the road for almost 2 years now, currently in China, but I've been to Thailand a few times.

Great advice from Stinicker, covers a lot.

I use Moneybookers Mastercard myself. It's €1.80 per cash withdrawal. I like em as it's a debit/credit card, so you load the cash online. You can also see your statements online.

I'm not sure what your current rates are, but it does add up... so go for the lowest as possible, obviously

If you have a large amount of cash, you can put it in an easy access savings account, earn interest, and feed your card when you need it. I used to do this, at the time I was getting 5% interest... so was earning decent interest every month.

Tips.

Make sure you bring both cards, credit and atm. As you could loose one. Also, make sure they're never in the same wallet... keep em seperate.

Take pics of your cards, makes it easier to replace if they get lost of stolen.

I was in Bangkok last year, atm charges are a fixed $5... and I'm sure you're also charged your banks fees too. So, if you're withdrawing money, do it in large chunks.

Use your card to pay for things as much as you can. Here in China, I can't... you should be ok in Thailand.

Oh, another tip... if you haven't already bought malaria tablets, don't buy in rip off ireland... you can get em in bangkok for one tenth the price... make sure you buy in boots though, probably fake in other pharmacies.

Watch out for the ladyboys too!

Have a cool trip.

shanesheridan

I'm in a somewhat similar situation and would love some clarity.

Just to confirm:

An Post- Best place to take out dollars
Visa- Best worldwide/safe option. Charges apply when overspending limit. Conversion charges apply. Withdrawl charges apply.

But whats the deal with moneybookers? I've had a look at the website.

My situation is I'm heading on a world wide trip, and will need to withdraw numerous currencies etc.

I have a VISA DEBIT card from ptsb. There ATM withdrawls, and currency conversions fee's are pretty heavty. I don't own a VISA credit card or LASER card. What would anyone recommend I do??? Thanks

p.s (I have enough funds to last the entire journey and don't plan on spending more money on my card than I have in accounts. I'm also aware to take money out in bulk)

beagle001

You pay the 150 baht at every ATM even when your acc is in credit,at current exchange rates it's almost 4 euro plus any fee you get charged back in Ireland.
Thailand is not a cheap country to visit anymore getting 40 baht at exchanges over there plus massive inflation it's out priced itself in many areas.
Just a heads up for travelers on their way over that way to pack a bit more cash as a backup.