General Reports

[LittleBigMan]

On a personal note PinkPearl, that hasn't been the case for me! For others I hope you comprehend that before you guys respond.

PinkPearl, if you continue the transaction and agree to the fee, once you complete your transaction you will see the amount 150 deducted separately on your little recpt that the ATM gives you. The other day I made a withdraw and the ATM didn't request the 150 and a day later I checked my statement online and there weren't any additional charges.

NoCBJ4Me, Thanks for the message!

LBM

[NoCBJ4Me]

Here's some ATM info....

Goyave,

I mentioned earlier, in Pattaya Lotus Tesco, I try to withdraw money the other day and every ATM located in the mall wanted the 150 baht charge including Bank of Ayudhaya. But today I made another withdraw from my regular stop on the otherside of Sukhumvit out near the Crocodile Farm 7/11, ATM machine is yellow and belongs to Bank of Ayudhaya. Surprise! was not charged the 150 baht. Only time will tell if every bank and every machine will be charging this additional fee.

LBM

[PinkPearl]

Re new ATM machine fees of 150 B, and cases where there is no mention of the fee at the time of a transaction, there has been a claim posted on the other forum I spoke of, namely that the 150 B fee has still been charged and will show up in your bank records.

[DirkDingy]

So US$600 would be equivalent to 21,000 thb. Depending where you plan on renting this boat (Phuket, Samui, Krabi, Pattaya) I am sure you can find a decent boat for that price.

I know in Koh Samui some Boats charge 20,000 for 8 hours but that includes food for about 20 people (guests).

You might want to contact a local Agency, give them your specs/budget and let them do the work
They will send you prices, boat pictures etc...

Thanks....I already have three EE girls ready to board ship.

[The Pro]

Its not the machines on an individual basis, all machines are linked into the banks network, and its only if the bank invokes the charge do all its ATM machines charge you.

I posted earlier that the TBA has now decided to lower the fee after a massive amount of complainst and also a big drop in currency exchanges. Do not forget the banks get foreign currency for dishing out Thai baht. If the farangs stop using the ATM then the banks start losing foreign currency.

I would image a massive load of farang simply did not use the ATM and probably saved some money of the past week or so, and this has hurt the banks.

Now, after so many complaints and losing money, they are going to change and lower the fee (or drop it).

Perhaps B of A (yellow ATM's) has already scrapped the charge?

Goyave,

I mentioned earlier, in Pattaya Lotus Tesco, I try to withdraw money the other day and every ATM located in the mall wanted the 150 baht charge including Bank of Ayudhaya. But today I made another withdraw from my regular stop on the otherside of Sukhumvit out near the Crocodile Farm 7/11, ATM machine is yellow and belongs to Bank of Ayudhaya. Surprise! was not charged the 150 baht. Only time will tell if every bank and every machine will be charging this additional fee.

LBM

[LittleBigMan]

Goyave,

I mentioned earlier, in Pattaya Lotus Tesco, I try to withdraw money the other day and every ATM located in the mall wanted the 150 baht charge including Bank of Ayudhaya. But today I made another withdraw from my regular stop on the otherside of Sukhumvit out near the Crocodile Farm 7/11, ATM machine is yellow and belongs to Bank of Ayudhaya. Surprise! was not charged the 150 baht. Only time will tell if every bank and every machine will be charging this additional fee.

LBM

[Goyave]

In the last few days I was charged the 150 baht by Thai Military Bank and (as far as I could tell) NOT charged it by Bank of Ayudhaya.

Today, I needed to retrieve some cash with my French Visa card and was also charged 150 baht by the Krung Thai Bank. No ATM from the Bank of Ayudhaya was in the vicinity then, therefore, I can't say whether or not this other bank is now also charging the infamous 150 baht on foreign bank cards... Alas, it seems that this practice will soon be the norm here...

[LittleBigMan]

They have only cheap hammers here in Thailand. So once you hit a wall there's no point in trying to break it down with one since there nothing on the otherside except air.

LBM

[NicFrenchy]

Yankee Bucks is the currency I operate in.

So US$600 would be equivalent to 21,000 thb. Depending where you plan on renting this boat (Phuket, Samui, Krabi, Pattaya) I am sure you can find a decent boat for that price.

I know in Koh Samui some Boats charge 20,000 for 8 hours but that includes food for about 20 people (guests).

You might want to contact a local Agency, give them your specs/budget and let them do the work
They will send you prices, boat pictures etc...

[DirkDingy]

i can guarantee you that if 500 it was, it isn't in thai baht. maybe in euros?
a simple one way trip to an island (approx 1 hour) will cost you 1,000 thb, and that's on a long tail boat.

i once booked a speed boat in krabi for a one way trip of 45mn, the cost was 9,000 thb (for up to 8 people in the boat).

yankee bucks is the currency i operate in.

[The Pro]

Keep the pressure on everyone, keep complaining and lets get this fee reduced from 150 Baht down to the standard 20 Baht (as in inter bank ATM fee in Thailand) it should be.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/...gners-atm-fees

BANKING

Banks asked to cut foreigners' ATM fees

By: SOMRUEDI BANCHONGDUANG
Published: 4/05/2009 at 12:00 AM

The Thai Bankers' Association will ask local banks to cut fee charges for foreign cardholders using local ATMs, according to association secretary-general Twatchai Yongkittikul.

He said the TBA would hold talks among its members about current fees.

But he cautioned that any cuts would likely be marginal, as most of the fees represented charges imposed for international network access and simply passed on to end-users.

Since mid-April, foreign cardholders withdrawing funds from local ATMs have been charged 150 baht per transaction.

Dr Twatchai said the fee largely came from new transaction charges imposed by international service providers MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Worldwide to cover interchange network costs.

Local banks, which had previously absorbed the expenses, are now looking to pass on their own operating expenses to customers, arguing that the fees charged in Thailand are in line with expenses charged for cross-border ATM transactions in other countries.

Dr Twatchai acknowledged that a number of foreign tourists and expatriates had complained about the added fees.

At a minimum, he said, local banks should communicate better with customers about the expenses banks incur for processing international transactions.

"Local banks should give more information about fees on the ATM screen, and then customers can make their own choice about whether to continue with the transaction," Dr Twatchai said.

"The TBA will try to raise awareness about the issue. Unfortunately, right now many foreign customers have a negative view of local banks due to the fee issue."

But a MasterCard spokesman denied that the 150-baht ATM access fee imposed by many Thai banks stemmed from any recent fee change or initiative by the company. The spokesman said MasterCard last notified member banks in October 2007 about a 0.2-percentage-point increase in fees effective from January 2008 under cross-border agreements. Since then, no other fee increases have been made related to ATM charges.

[NicFrenchy]

i want to rent a boat in thailand and sail around for three days. i was told that for 500 a day + 100 a day for the capt one can get a pretty nice boat in thailand and throw one hell of a bash.

i have searched the net and it seems like the boats/yahts are a bit more expensive than 600 a day.

does anybody have any experience with boat yaht/rental in thailand? i want something that it is nice, has at least two cabins, and capable of ferrying me around to a few of the various islands in thailand.

thanks in advance.

i can guarantee you that if 500 it was, it isn't in thai baht. maybe in euros?
a simple one way trip to an island (approx 1 hour) will cost you 1,000 thb, and that's on a long tail boat.

i once booked a speed boat in krabi for a one way trip of 45mn, the cost was 9,000 thb (for up to 8 people in the boat).

[DirkDingy]

I want to rent a boat in Thailand and sail around for three days. I was told that for 500 a day + 100 a day for the capt one can get a pretty nice boat in Thailand and throw one hell of a bash.

I have searched the net and it seems like the boats/yahts are a bit more expensive than 600 a day.

Does anybody have any experience with boat yaht/rental in Thailand? I want something that it is nice, has at least two cabins, and capable of ferrying me around to a few of the various islands in Thailand.

Thanks in advance.

[Opebo]

In the last few days I was charged the 150 baht by Thai Military Bank and (as far as I could tell) NOT charged it by Bank of Ayudhaya.

[Fifty Fifty]

Fifty Fifty,

You are coming in at the end of the conversation. But I'll take the time as always and give you a summary. This topic was discussed about 2 weeks ago you can go back and read those post. It was reported in the Bangkok Post that the Thai Banking associated has authorized the banks to charge this set amount 150 baht for all foreign ATM cards.

Since that time I myself haven't run into a problem doing withdraws since the impression I get is that the banks itself would determine to charge or not. But yesterday in Pattaya, at Tesco Lotus, I put in my card, Bangkok bank and was told that if I wanted to continue that I would be access this charge. I like you cancelled the transaction and if you know the malls in Pattaya they have ATM machines for every bank in Thailand. I went to ALL the other machines and put my card in, including Kasikorn, I believe green machine and was told the same thing 150 Baht charge. Maybe being Thailand they haven't gotten around to all the machines but I think sooner or later they are going to get around to every machine! If they don't and there is going to be a Thai bank that doesn't charge the extra 150 Baht, they got my business!

I stand on my position that everyone using a foreign ATM card is already being charge. You just didn't get the point! that you quoted! you're stuck on the 150 baht. Although the ATM machine is giving you a favorable rate it is not the top rate. For example again.... if the current exchange rate in the market for the banks is 35.50, and they dispense a favorable rate to you in one of their ATM at 35.25 they are already profiting from you .25 you will not see this on any statement ever. This is the same method the exchange counter throughout Thailand are using except you are able to see the rates. We don't have that previliege with ATM'S but you are being charged!

Interesting remark about your bank in UK not charging you a fee for using ATM'S overseas. Let me use a example of a withdraw in the U.S. since I have no idea what the pound is worth. But I think you will understand the example.
If you make a ATM withdraw of 17,000 baht and the exchange rate is 35.40 which comes out to maybe 490.00 USD, you don't see a addition charge from your bank on your monthly statement of $4.90? Does your ATM card have a Visa or Master Charge logo on it. A majority if not all ATM cards in the U.S. that have a Visa or M/C logo the user will most likely get this 1% charge. So go back and take a look at your statement cause if you don't that is something to consider maybe banking with a U.K Bank. What is the U.K. bank name maybe there is one in the United States?

You don't need to beg, we are most likely just going to differ!

I will differ, sorry. I have followed this thread from the outset and havent missed much, having read all the posts.
I use any ATM, not only those associated with my bank and as I stated the exchange rates I get on my statement are the best of any bank on offer - even better than over the counter.
Furthermore, my card has the Visa Logo, however my card is a Debit Card and my ATM withdrawals do not go via Visa, but use the 'cirrus' or 'link' networks. There are never any extra charges such as the 1% that you suggest.
So up until now I have never been physically ''extra'' charged for ATM use, but when I return to LOS in June I may suffer the 150 Baht once all the machines are altered, if that is the case.
My answer will be to withdraw much larger amounts thereby reducing the frequency of the charge - even if I can afford it, I begrudge paying anyway.

Regardless of rates etc, I still maintain my UK bank has so far given me one of the best deals I could get.

Now lets get back on track and talk more about what we spend the money on instead

Cheers, FF