Job Discussion Forums

[Christoforos]

1) Which is the bank that has the most ATM's in Thailand and in Bangkok?
2) Which bank has the best service?
3) Which bank would you suggest in geenral?
4) Are there banks that have currency accounts, i.e. an account to which you can transfer money in foreign currency without converting it into Baht, thus not paying any exchange rate at all?
5) Is there a Bank that has lower exchange rates than others (particularly interested in converting British Pounds to Thai Baht).

Thank you very much in advance.

[Pauleddy]

I don't have a Thai bank account, so I can't answer all of yr questions BUT...............

Before I arrived here I was worried about lack of ATMs, being ripped off etc etc.

In general there is nil to worry about. There are thousands of ATMs in BKK, and hundreds in other towns. When I was in Phuket, in a small village away from the main drag, there were 2.

They are all much the same.

They all give the same rate, depending on the rate of the day, or very near, maybe a few cents differewnt from eachother. U have more crookedness in the rate your UK or Cyprus bank will charge you to use a cash card.

Even the exchange bureaux are all the same, and many of them are owned by banks. When u arrive at the airport there is an office before you get to passport control. I was in a dither whether to change there FOR THE TAXI etc and I DID (about 20 pounds) which was a good idea! U will have to pay the taxi or even the bus. ALSO the rate in that one is the same as all.

You have big Thai banks in every street almost. Bank of Siam, Bank of BKK etc etc and they are just like any big banks. I can't comment about good deals on accounts etc.

The banks thing is something not to worry too much about!

P Ed

[tedkarma]

I like Siam Commercial Bank.

I walked in (with a tourist visa at the time) and opened an account - and was out the door with an ATM card in 15 minutes. Most ATM machines here work for almost all ATM cards - so it doesn't even matter if your bank has many ATMs or not.

Good service - but with ANY bank in Thailand it is best to find one a little out of the way - that is not so crowded. The Siam CB in Phuket on Chao Fah Road is far less crowded for service. Been going there for years to buy Int'l Bank Drafts for my insurance. Never a problem.

Rates: miniscule differences - won't make a minute of difference unless you are changing US$10,000 - then I would shop a bit - but almost any bank will exchange and you don't need to have an account there. But . . . again SCB is probably best as they often have exchange banks open until 9PM and on the weekends too. Might depend more on the town you are in too.

[Christoforos]

well it sems I'll be openning an account in Siam commercial Bank, because apart from you people here, a Thai lady I talked to, told me that it has the best service (though not much difference from others), even if it is the second bigegst bank as regards how many ATM's it has (I think the first is Bank of Bangkok). I'll be stauing in bangkok so i guess that's the city I'm mostly interested in.
I will be transfering there a bit more a lot of money, that's why the exhange rate matters. Does anyonw know how if I can check the exchange rate of all banks in Bangkok online or something?
If you have an account in Siam Commercial Bank, I know that you can use the ATM's of other banks as well, but the point is, is there an extra charge for that?
In the meantime, if anyone knows about whether curency accounts exist in Thailand, I'm all ears.

Thanks!

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

I'm definitely not an expert in banking matters

since I spend my Baht as fast as I earn it,


but ...


opening a foreign currency account is a different kettle of fish,

which I think requires you to hold a valid work permit.


Please don't take this as fact

until somebody else can verify it.



I keep my cash in an old sock.







Thailand teaching and travel resources available here :::: The Master Index Thailand ::::

[isanity]

A lot of employers insist that you open an account with a specific branch of a specific bank so that they can transfer your pay there electronically, so it might be wise to wait until you have a job before getting an account.

[Christoforos]

Kent, you're really funny!
isanity you're right but my problem is that I'm thinking of pursung a CELTA. It lasts for 4 weeks as I'm sure all of you here already know, not to mention that no one knows how long it will take me to find a job after I obtain the CELTA. So for at least for one month if not more, I will have to have my money somewhere. I thought of taking a lot of money with me as cash, but imagine if it gets stolen from my apparmtnet or something (even though I will have it locked etc.)...

[isanity]

Traveller's cheques?

I don't suppose there's any reason you couldn't have two Thai accounts, and I think they're free to open, but IIRC they charge a few hundred baht for a card.

I always used Siam Commercial, and had no problems with them. They didn't do anything particularly wonderful, but nothing went wrong.

One thing to be aware of: SCB (and I expect all the others) charge you extra if you take money out of an ATM which is in a different province from your home branch.

[Christoforos]

Traveller's cheques...well if they get stolen, admittedly they thief won't be able to use the money,. but still I will have lost the money without any possibikity of getting back, just like it would happen if I had lost cash, right?

So tell me if I understood that right: SCB (and porbably all the others) in Bankok do NOT charge you extra if you are using ATM's of other Banks in Bangkok, but they charge extra if you use any ATM (of SCB or of another Bank) outside Bangkok province, right?

[isanity]

[Christoforos]

The reason I assumed that SCB does not charge you if you use ATMs of other banks in the town where you created your account is because a Thai classmate here in the UK told me so. However, I trust you people here more.

As regards the travellers cheques I�m obviously as ignorant about it as much as people in Middle Ages:
a) so if someone steals your travellers cheques NOR the thief can use any money, NOR does the legitimate owner loose any money if the numbers are saved. Right?
b) I thought traveller�s cheques were issued by banks only, not companies. Apart from Amex, could you tell me such companies in Bangkok so that I�ll try to search and find out if there are any here in Edinburgh (Scotland, UK)?

Thanks!

[dorian_gray]

What banks carry the Cirrus logo?

[Christoforos]

no actually what I meant was if anyone here knows companies that issue travellers cheques and that have branches in both the UK (preferably in Edinburgh where I am curently residing) and Bangkok, so that in case my travellers cheques get lost, I can reissue new ones in Bangkok.
Thanks.

[isanity]

[desultude]