FX best deals and banking

[Snick]

Credit Cards are a risk at hotels too, I know two people who got their cards cloned at hotels.

I pay for almost everything in cash

[moe666]

Bring cash best exchange rate, keep excess in hotel safe deposit box. Best rates I have found Travel Agency on Suknumvit Soi 7/1.

[Road Runner]

Hello Moe999,

The best rate is offered on travellers cheques  -  but! you get charged a tax of 30 Baht per cheque.   The cheque issuers will tell this is not allowed but TIT  

My experience is that you get the same rate with a Nationwide Flex Account card at ATMs as you do with cash.

I also find the change booth in Soi 7/1 usually offers the best rate in the city centre.  The one near the Emporium usually has the same rates.
However if you want to travel all the way down to On Nut BTS station you often get a slightly better rate at the bank there.

RR.

[moe666]

Road Runner, the place I have started using to exchange money is in the back of a travel agency, my girl friend showed it to me a few years ago. This place is always busy changing everything from dollars to yen.
There is a booth on soi 7 I used ( good rates) but the travel agency usually beats them by a few points and you are off the street with a big wad of baht in your hand.
The other problem with traveler checks is they may not reemburse them if stolen if they determine you were not vigilant in handling the checks.
Travel agency soi 7/1. cheers RoadRunner.

[rxpharm]

moe666, sorry to hear about that episode, can you share which traveler's check company?

One way to minimize the "stamp fee" if you want to use traveler's checks is to get the highest denomination available. For example American Express offers 500 USD travelers checks. You would pay a single stamp fee of 30 Baht for that as opposed to 5 x 30 Baht if you used the 100 USD traveler's checks.

[Road Runner]

Hello Moe666,

Any chance of sharing which travel agency?

Is it the one right by the change booth, or the one further back inside the Soi 7/1 shopping area?

RR.

[BigTel]

As, RR and Billy say Nationwide is the way to go, I have been using this Debit Card for the last two years and it is excellent. No Fees and always a real good exchange rate.

[Prof Frink]

the banks here in the uk are trying there darned hardest to screw us at the moment

be careful of using a debit card in an atm dependent on the bank

mine charged me a ruinous exchange rate it was 5 Bhat off the cash exchange rate in bangkok and then charged me a foreign transaction charge each time i used my card

so check with your bank first on exactly the charges they are going to charge you

also check the day rate on one of the Thai banks website and get someone in your bank to quote todays exchange rate

the way i do it most times is to get travelers cheques (you can shop around to get tc's with no admin charge)

and because i usually go to Thailand at least twice a year

i usually keep 2-3000 Bhat in hundreds from my previous trip as airport money for my next trip

safety deposit boxes

only use the ones in reception never use the ones in the room

reason why

1) they have override codes that sometimes are never reset
these codes are freely available to to people in the Know

2) some of these safes have a fail safe system by simply pouring water over them the electronics short out and the solenoid disengages and the safe can be opened

3)some of these safes can simply be ripped out of the wall who's going to question anybody leaving a hotel with a suitcase

4) You have absolutely no defense against getting drunk and a light fingered guest convincing you to open the safe

one con is the guest has a gold necklace and asks you to put it in the safe for the night needless to say they watch you enter the access code and one sleeping pill later you wake up 24hrs later minus everything

and you can guess what the hotel and the police will have to say about this situation

had an interesting comment from the guys at reception when i put my own padlock on safety deposit box
which was a thumbs up and said i was a careful customer

and if you a really really paranoid about your possessions

what you can do is take a sheet of newspaper wrap you possessions in it tape it up and sign and date the parcel then put that into the safe deposit box