Using your Thailand ATM in the USA

[TotallyOz]

I have had occasion to use my Kasikorn ATM in the USA. I didn't really pay close attention to the fees. Does K Bank charge a conversion fee to withdraw from an ATM?

 

What about other banks? I ask as I have a friend who recently got a job in Thailand and she wants to allow her husband in the USA to withdraw money from her ATM. She got a very good job paying a nice salary and it was worth it for her to leave her family for one year. When she asked the best way to get money back to the USA, I thought the ATM would be the easiest and cheapest. Any other suggestions?

[Alexx]

I think Thai banks charge 100 baht when using their ATM cards abroad, and the exchange rate might be the usual 2-3% worse. For smallish amounts, that's probably okay, but for larger transfers, I'm using SWIFT (international wire transfers).

 

Assuming that she's got a legit job in Thailand (having a work permit and salary slips to show to the bank), it's no problem whatsoever to transfer parts of her salary back to her home country. For large amounts, that's the cheapest and safest option from my experience.

[TotallyOz]

Thanks Alex. Much appreciated.

 

What about traveler's checks? Is that a cheap way to get money back to the USA?

 

She asked about a wire transfer and K bank told her no. Why would that be?

[Alexx]

You can buy traveler's checks in Thailand, so that would work. But I don't think it's cheap, you have to pay a fee to get them issued and probably another fee back in the US to have them deposited into your account. Worth checking out though.

 

Regarding K-Bank's "no" verdict, it can be tricky to communicate it to the bank. She'd need the papers to show it's a case of "salary repatriation" (as I've mentioned before) and that still doesn't guarantee that each and every bank clerk gets it. So she might have to be more persistent and take a Thai friend along who can translate for her (from my own but limited experience, K-Bank's staff speak much less English than Bangkok Bank's staff). If she's got no luck at her local branch, she could try K-Bank's call center, they might be able to assist.

[Up2u]

I would also inquire about a foreign currency deposit account. Bangkok bank has them and I am sure all the major Thai banks do also. If the hubby can access the funds via an ATM in America then there would be savings on exchange rate fees. No experience though on how this might work but perhaps it is worth asking more questions at a Thai bank.