Money Exchange

[TotallyOz]

What is usually the best way to get USD converted to baht? I have usually waiting till I am in a city before I convert things over but it is better to do at the airport?

[Guest TOQ]

What is usually the best way to get USD converted to baht? I have usually waiting till I am in a city before I convert things over but it is better to do at the airport?

 

 

I have always found you get better rates outside of the airport. At least I do with Bangkok Bank.

 

 

 

john

 

[Guest JoeM]

I generally use an ATM in the airport to get some spending money for my pocket, but wait till I get into the city to exchange travler's cheques at a bank.

[Guest joseph44]

What is usually the best way to get USD converted to baht? I have usually waiting till I am in a city before I convert things over but it is better to do at the airport?

 

I think, but I'm not sure, that it doesn't really matter as long as you take an exchange booth from a bank. In the arrival section you'll find several exchange booths from major banks.

ATM's charge the same rate, every where.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

I use my US ATM card and my bank sets the rate of exchange, so it doesn't matter where I get the money.

[Gaybutton]

What many people do is to keep a few thousand baht with them whenever they leave Thailand. That way, when they return they don't have to bother with it at all. They have enough cash on hand to get to wherever it is they are trying to go and worry about ATMs, travel checks, cash exchanges, etc. later at their convenience.

[Bob]

What many people do is to keep a few thousand baht with them whenever they leave Thailand. That way, when they return they don't have to bother with it at all. They have enough cash on hand to get to wherever it is they are trying to go and worry about ATMs, travel checks, cash exchanges, etc. later at their convenience.

 

Yep, learned that years ago. After the long flights (and sometimes running to the plane to get to Chiangmai), I hardly want to worry about having some baht around. I usually don't have to hit the local ATM for 2-3 days (generally have 6000-8000 baht with me).

[Guest buaseng]

I think, but I'm not sure, that it doesn't really matter as long as you take an exchange booth from a bank. In the arrival section you'll find several exchange booths from major banks.

ATM's charge the same rate, every where.

I know that for travellers cheques and notes you get the same rate at a recognised bank bureau-de-change whether it be in the airport or in the city.

 

Don't ever use ATM's - far too expensive way of getting cash!

 

[Bob]

Don't ever use ATM's - far too expensive way of getting cash!

 

I use an ATM card issued by my Thai bank to get money out of my Thai bank account. Costs nothing.

Using your foreign ATM there - which is probably what you're discussing - does cost you money just like using your ATM card at any bank/outlet not directly associated with your personal bank.

[billyhouston]

Don't ever use ATM's - far too expensive way of getting cash!

 

Actually for some of us it's the cheapest way to obtain cash.

 

Use a Nationwide card in an ATM and you get the interbank rate without any charges or loading. Likewise their credit card has no charges when used for purchases in foreign currency. If I need US dollars the cheapest way is to draw Baht on the Nationwide account and then use Baht to buy dollars. The dollar 'spread' in Thailand is much narrower then in UK.

[Guest jtrack33]

BillyHouston...you are spot on. I also use Nationwide and confirm no charges at all made by local banks while using the atm and the exchange rate is par....midway between buying and selling. Surely there are US banks that issue similar cards. Nationwide also give an excellent savings rate and allow for on-line transfers into the atm account. The annual interest is taxed but easily recoverable.

I do note that Australian and American banks do rip off their customers for overseas atm transactions...but some research can get a good deal...like Nationwide.

[Guest laurence]

Both of my US banks do not charge for overseas ATM withdrawals but there are charges in the US. It seems any charges are determined by the particular Bank/ATM and not by the account owners bank.

[Guest jtrack33]

Laurence, I used to think the same thing about who applies the charges, but with Nationwide, there never seem to be any. For example, if I use my Bangkok Bank atm card in an SCB atm machine here in Bangkok, the transaction summary on the screen shows Bht5 as a charge and it appears as a seperate item on the Bangkok Bank on-line account summary. But if I use my Nationwide atm in the same machine, the charge column shows 0Bht and there is no item in the Nationwide on-line account summary. The exchange rate applied to the transaction is midway between buying and selling as listed on international exchange rates for the day.

[Guest buaseng]

Actually for some of us it's the cheapest way to obtain cash.

 

Use a Nationwide card in an ATM and you get the interbank rate without any charges or loading. Likewise their credit card has no charges when used for purchases in foreign currency.

As they say in good old Yorkshire - you get owt for nowt!!

 

This illusionary 'free' service only means that you are getting a lower money conversion rate than you would otherwise have got!

 

[billyhouston]

As they say in good old Yorkshire - you get owt for nowt!!

 

This illusionary 'free' service only means that you are getting a lower money conversion rate than you would otherwise have got!

 

Clearly they forgot to dish out brains on t'other side of the Pennines... or is it that tykes cannot read? Interbank rate is just that. You will not get a better rate, almost by definition.

 

Enjoy!

[Guest buaseng]

Interbank rate is just that. You will not get a better rate, almost by definition.

The amount you are charged in UK pounds for drawing Thai Baht from an ATM in Thailand is considerably more expensive than changing either sterling cash or travellers cheques which you have brought with you. Banks do not change currency without making money somehow - in Nationwide's case they don't charge commission but do apply a lot more adverse exchange rate.

 

I repeat - you got nothing for nothing - if you believe otherwise you are seriously misguided or a fool.

[billyhouston]

The amount you are charged in UK pounds for drawing Thai Baht from an ATM in Thailand is considerably more expensive than changing either sterling cash or travellers cheques which you have brought with you. Banks do not change currency without making money somehow - in Nationwide's case they don't charge commission but do apply a lot more adverse exchange rate.

 

I repeat - you got nothing for nothing - if you believe otherwise you are seriously misguided or a fool.

 

I'm sorry but, quite simply, you are wrong. By profession, I'm a mathematician... I don't make mistakes where money is concerned.

 

Have a good day.

[Guest jtrack33]

BillyHouston is still right. Nationwide is not a bank. It is a building society and offers no normal banking services like checking accounts and hence has lower overheads. They make their money on the interest earned from the difference between what they pay you for saving and what they charge house-buyers to borrow money. But they do give better rates to savers than banks. Currently giving 5.05% on e-saving account and 6.6% on e-bonds. There zero charge for atm services is a special feature they offer. It is a service to investors...probably subsidised by borrowers. It is like a loss-leader in a supermarket...where if you shop around you actualy do get something for nothing.

[Guest mauRICE]

What is usually the best way to get USD converted to baht? I have usually waiting till I am in a city before I convert things over but it is better to do at the airport?

 

"I have usually waiting"?

 

It's the same rates for the same bank throughout Thailand so you're not losing anything by changing your money at the airport.

 

I have found that UOB, the Singapore-Thai joint venture, offers the best rates although I don't think they have exchange counters at the airports. Just walk around and compare rates at the various exhange counters.

[billyhouston]

It is interesting to study exchange rates for various currencies. It has become the habit in UK to call them 'commission free' but this should be subject to a prosecution under the Trade Descriptions Act. The cost, or commisssion, is hidden in the 'spread', the difference between the buying and the selling rate. In the UK this spread is very wide even for currencies that are considered common or usual. Today's buying and selling rates for the Baht are:

 

Travelex 59.1827/73.7820

NatWest 60.377/72.406

 

Looking at my own Thai Bank, Kasikorn the corresponding rates are:

 

Kasikorn 65.067/66.795

 

and this is for notes in all cases.

 

In fact, if you look at Telegraphic Transfers the figures are:

 

Kasikorn 65.9475/66.545

 

When you use a (UK at least) ATM card in a Thai ATM there are, as I understand it, two possible charges. Visa load the exchange rate by some 2.75% or thereabouts and the UK bank may add a percentage with a minimum of £2 or whatever.

 

Nationwide absorbs the Visa loading and makes no charge itself. This results in an exchange rate as near as dammit to the Interbank rate. I have records of all my 'exchange rates' over the past five or so years and would guestimate that it would be somewhere around 66.3 today. Perhaps a little higher perhaps a little lower.

 

The narrowness of the 'spread' in Thailand means that it always pays to change your sterling there, whichever way you make the exchange (either to or from Baht). Even if you look at commercial rates in UK the spread is wider, though I don't know what happens if millions of pounds are involved.

 

Nationwide offer this facility as a 'come on' and it certainly persuaded me to open a current account with them, while maintaining one with my regular bank. As jtrack33 says they offer competitive rates and their E-savings account, which is tied to a current account, is to be found in the 'Best Buy' tables under 'most consistent'.

 

To sum up, buying holiday currency from either Travelex or the Banks is a ripoff in UK. Using a UK ATM card in Thailand is usually better value for money but the best value for money comes from using a Nationwide ATM card whenever you are overseas.

 

Surely even a Yorkshireman can grasp that?

[Guest jtrack33]

This morning I used my Nationwide card to withdraw Bht900 from a Bangkok B ank atm. I then checked my account at Nationwide on-line and found that £13.67 had been debited giving an exchange rate of 65.84.

 

On Bangkok Bank's web page today, the sterling buying rate is 65.06 and selling at 66.81. The middle of that is 65.94. That means Nationwide have screwed me to the tune of Bht1.37...the scoundrals!

 

[billyhouston]

jtrack33, why do you have to be so unkind to Nationwide.

 

The rates, Kasikorn in my case, for Telegraphic Transfers are, at this moment, 65.88875/66.48625 so the ripoff is less than you state but since these rates vary by the minute it's difficult to be sure just how much you were ripped off. It certainly wasn't as much as 1.37 Baht.

[Guest jtrack33]

So Kasikorn's par rate is better than BBK's. The buy/sell I mentioned this morning was for bank notes I believe and your's was for TTs...but even so one would expect the mid/par to be the same....just the spread to be different. But anyway, it's so good, it's fine by me either way.