Thailand - cash from a U.K. card

Geranium44

Hi I’m needing £200 worth of Thai Bhat after discovering most Thai cafes etc are cash only (except our hotel). 

I have a Halifax clarity card and Santander 123 lite debit card. Which one would be less expensive for drawing £200 worth of Thai Bhat? Thx

eDicky

Clarity will not have the non-sterling fee and exchange rate margin that the Santander card has. The Thai ATM will charge you for a withdrawal though, at least £5, probably cheaper to exchange cash at an exchange shop such as SuperRich, rates for cash are pretty good in Thailand (except banks).

Geranium44

Annoyingly I’m low on sterling so that wouldn’t help but thanks. My son has a WISE card. If I transfer sterling to his Wise card and draw Thai from a local atm using his wise card, any thoughts?
Wouldn’t want to adversely affect his credit score. 

BTW this is not a critical situation … just means will have to limit coffee consumption etc outside of the hotel complex which will accept CC

Voyager2002

Geranium44 said:

Annoyingly I’m low on sterling so that wouldn’t help but thanks. My son has a WISE card. If I transfer sterling to his Wise card and draw Thai from a local atm using his wise card, any thoughts?
Wouldn’t want to adversely affect his credit score. 

BTW this is not a critical situation … just means will have to limit coffee consumption etc outside of the hotel complex which will accept CC

It is the ATM that charges five pounds... your Halifax card is just about as good as it is possible to be!

Aeon bank is supposed to charge lower fees.

Make sure you withdraw all the Baht you will want in one go, since the fee is a fixed amount per withdrawal.

fifeken

Go into a bank and ask over the counter for a cash advance on your Clarity card to avoid the ATM fee but still get the MC rate.  Not all branches will do it,  but if you can find a Bangkok Bank or Kasikorn Bank in a tourist area they might be your best bet.  Pay it off as soon as it appears on your account.

Doshwaster

ATMs in Thailand can be expensive and it is still a country where cash is predominant everywhere except hotel and top end restaurants. Your main choices are just to take the £5-ish hit on the ATM fee or take Sterling notes (good quality ones only) and then change when you get there. For only £200 it probably won't make much difference. Just don't change money in the UK before travelling as the rates here will be very poor,

summer_daze009

The quoted £5 fee for Thai atm’s is slightly inflated. When I went last November I used several different atm’s to withdraw currency and the fee was 80 baht which was £2 at that time

eDicky

Surely you can obtain the GBP cash if you have funds to use a debit card or transfer to your son's Wise account (which would have no effect on the fictitious 'credit score').

Geranium44 said:

Annoyingly I’m low on sterling so that wouldn’t help but thanks.

fifeken

summer_daze009 said:

The quoted £5 fee for Thai atm’s is slightly inflated. When I went last November I used several different atm’s to withdraw currency and the fee was 80 baht which was £2 at that time

What sort of card were you using?  Apart from Aeon Bank, all ATMs charge the same which is 220 THB (Aeon charge 150 THB IIRC) for withdrawals using regular overseas Visa or Mastercard cards.  I think Amex and Unionpay may be different.