Warning about US Customs Money Law

[George Pill]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/02/us/ohio-us-customs-cash-taken/index.html

Did you know you cannot take out more than US$10K out of the USA? They said I am supposed to declare anything over $10K, but in what? Can I take out that amount in traveler's checks and more money in cash? Funny I have never been handed a declarations form upon LEAVING the USA. Only when I returned. Anybody know If I am in violation if I take out $10K in traveler's checks and $1000 in cash (dollars and Bahts). Has anyone ever received a declarations form upon leaving the USA? I have never been asked to declare anything upon entering Thailand. I prefer to pay cash in Thailand. Too risky using the ATM's for various reasons and I'm sure credit card fraud is common in Thailand just like the rest of the world.

[Rockheart]

Every country has import and export limits for cash and cash equivalents.
Cash equivalents for the USA would be cash money in any currency that totals more than $10000
This would include cash, travellers cheques, bearer bonds, certified cheques, even gold and similar.

You should also be declaring expensive items you are taking such as computers and cameras and jewelry.
They will give you a ticket that if you get stopped on your return to the USA it shows you already own the good.

There is also limits entering and exiting Thailand:

Currency Import regulations:
Local currency: up to THB 50,000.- per person or THB 100,000.- per family holding one passport.
Foreign currencies: unlimited. However, amounts of foreign currency exceeding USD 20,000.- (or equivalent) must be declared to a Customs Officer upon arrival by all travelers.

Currency Export regulations:
Local currency: up to THB 50,000.- per person or THB 100,000.- per family holding one passport.
Foreign currencies: unlimited. However, amounts of foreign currency exceeding USD 20,000.- (or equivalent) must be declared to a Customs Officer upon departure by all travelers.

https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/TH-...ns-details.htm


I don't think using ATMs in Thailand is any more dangerous that anywhere.
Generally I choose ATMs in busier locations where it is not easy to tamper with them.
Most ATM locations in Thailand are so busy all the time that skimmers and such would be hard to implement.
New ATM designs don't allow for tampering. A majority of the ATMs are at currency exchange locations too.

I have used ATMs almost exclusively on my 27 trips to Thailand and have used dozens of different cards.
The biggest problem with ATM withdrawals is you pay at least $5 each time as an international transaction fees, this over and above the ATM fees and any exchange.
However if you take out the limit of the machine which is usually between 20,000 and 30,000 baht then you only pay the fees once, so it is most economical that way.

As I have said before is travellers cheques are become less and less recognized everywhere you go. Thailand be a high tourist destination still acknowledges them.
However it is also because Thailand is often slow to switch from old methods.
Problem with cash is if you lose it or get robbed it is gone. Travellers cheques are better but then there is still a hassle and your money may not be available when you need it.
Travellers cheques also required you to have the copies if you lose them too so there is still some risk.

Banks now days are pretty good with recognizing fraud and your account or credit card would get cut off long before thieves could rob you.
Plus if you only keep limit amounts of money on your cards, the liability risk is very low.

What I do is I have opened several bank accounts that are not my main accounts that I used daily.
Then I can transfer smaller amounts of money to these cards on the internet which is free between Canadian banks.
So then you just use cards and take out all the money each time, then you go online and transfer money to them as required.
You can also do the same thing with prepaid credit cards and load them as required but they would be more expensive to manage.
You can also transfer money from credit cards to bank cars online as well.
I can transfer money around to bank cards all day for free basically with interac email transfers, I'm pretty sure US banks are the same.
If by chance one of your cards gets suspended due to suspected fraud then you can just transfer your money to another card.

Lately I will bring 20000 baht worth of Canadian currency then exchange when i get there.
The rest of my money stays in my bank and I used various cards to withdraw it.
This way I mitigate the risk of losing all my money, and the rest of my money stay safe in my account until I transfer it to a card for withdrawal.

I would feel unsafe walking around with 10000 USD cash on me and in my room, that is just asking for trouble to me.
If you only carry one card when you go out and you have just transferred a small amount to it for the day, even if you got robbed,
you could just give up your PIN if they insisted and you would get away and they would get a bit of money but not everything.
This is not your main bank card so it is not really a big deal.

Same if you lose the card it is not a big deal and you can just go transfer your funds to another card.
All cards have daily withdrawal limits too.

Still I have never been scammed through ATMs or any other way in Thailand ever.
I think keeping some in the ATM is the best option as you will never find a shortage of ATMs in Thailand.

[George Pill]

Should I ask the TSA to give me a form so I can write down what cameras, photography equipment, laptops, electronic data SD cards, jewelry, etc. Do I have to visit the US Customs before my trip? How do I declare my property BEFORE I go. About the ATM's. What is the most I can get in Bahts and what is the service charge for each transaction? I have used my ATM card the first year I visited in 2012. Each year they seem give out less and less.

[Rockheart]

You have to take your stuff to US Customs when you are leaving, so you would have to go early for your flight and visit their office.
They will fill out the form, noting the serial numbers and give you a copy.

You can register any goods with serial numbers at your local U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) port of entry, and/or the port from which you will be departing.
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/det...r-to-traveling
https://www.cbp.gov/document/forms/f...s-taken-abroad

ATMs in Thailand your US bank will charge you around $5 International transaction fee.
Then the ATM will charge you 200 baht or so.
The ATM limits are 20,000 -30,000 baht per transaction depending on the bank.

I would advise getting more than one ATM card so if one gets cut off, you can go to online banking and transfer money to the other account.
Cards will occasionally get cut off in Thailand and it is hard to call your bank because you are usually on opposite time from their opening hours.

You can also use an online wallet and Pre paid master card like Paxum where you can load a Mastercard by sending money by ACH or Money Transfer.
Then you can use the mastercard to take money out of the ATM. There is no international withdrawal fee, only any fees it takes to load your card.
I think ACH is in the USA is around $20 and you can transfer in alot to your Paxum account. The Mastercard can only hold $5000 at a time.

https://www.paxum.com/

[outlander5]

Crag have you looked into XE.com transfer through them I haven't tried yet just a thought

[Rockheart]

Crag have you looked into XE.com transfer through them I haven't tried yet just a thought

If you mean Paxum they only do bank transfers in from your registered bank accounts on your profile for $50.

I stopped using XE.com to transfer money because most of the banks in Canada have a similar option that comes right out of your bank account directly.
There is no fee just the rate exchange for international money transfers. These bank transfers were only taking 24 hours while the XE usually took 3 days plus the time to transfer the money to XE. Much better over all and around the same rate as XE, maybe better.
https://www.cibc.com/en/personal-ban...-transfer.html

[George Pill]

One reason I like to carry so much traveler's checks is because of the 2010? coup when ALL the airports were shut down. I think a lot of tourists had to scramble to get on trains and flee to Kuala Lumpur or Singapore to jet back home. Later read that Utapao Airport just south of Pattaya was actually open and you could fly out to destinations nearby to get connecting flights back home. I do NOT want to be stuck with little or no funds. I take all my credit cards, ID's, passport with photocopies (can't make color photocopies), ATM card, American C-note greenbacks in large and small change (They want the exactly change for their Bento lunches at Narita Airport), and tons of Tchecks. Be prepared for the unexpected and ambushes.
Thanks for the info above about ATM charges and how much you can withdraw at the most.

So surprising how you know EVERYTHING.

I once spent almost a thousand dollars a week. So much shopping opportunities. The US Customs hates you if you bring so much stuff back. Now I just dirty, unwrap, or wash my purchases and string them with a steel cable lock and mail them home via Thailand Post Office. Both boxes did arrive unopened in the 2 months promised.

[Rockheart]

Nothing wrong with travellers cheques in Thailand, I have just found in other places nobody even knows about them.
I don't like to carry too much of any type of money that I can lose or have stolen.

To me it seems safer that much of my money remains in the bank. Plus my paychecks are deposited into my bank account at home.

That was 2008 when the airport was closed and it did not affect banking or any electronic transactions.
Nobody was scrambling to leave the country unless they were already needing to leave.
The unrest was confined to the airport and the protestors were actually giving out sandwiches to any travellers stranded there.
It wasn't a coup at that time it was opposition protesters.

Only if your flight was through Suvarnabhumi airport you did have to make alternate plans.
You could still leave through Utapao, Chiang Mai, Phuket and other places.
A guy I work with just phone in and said he was taking a week more of vacation.

With all the civil unrest in Thailand the currency booths and the ATMs never stopped working.
Except probably the ones in Central World when they tried to burn it down.