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Banks begining to deny use of ATM overseas


unit731

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Americans who can provide an USA address (even if it is an "in care of")should get a Charles Schwab Bank Investors High Yield checking account. It requires that you open an investors account too but....neither account requires a minimum balance, both are fee free and ALL ATM charges are credited back to your account at the end of the month. YES...ALL ATM FEES. You can't get international transfer of money any cheaper than $0.00.

 

Additionally, you are provided with free checks and postage paid (USA) envelopes to mail deposits. You can also set up electronic transfers at no charge. I have it set up to run my house rent through and payy all my bills and paypal purchases with. My buddy accepts the rent check (doesn't have to be signed by me if deposited in my account), places it in the envelope, mails it and voilla...deposited. I have my mortgage paid by the bill pay. There are even email notices for transactions and the FREE bill pay. There is ALWAYS a human being available to talk to......it really is a no-brainer.

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Americans who can provide an USA address (even if it is an "in care of")should get a Charles Schwab Bank Investors High Yield checking account. It requires that you open an investors account too but....neither account requires a minimum balance, both are fee free and ALL ATM charges are credited back to your account at the end of the month. YES...ALL ATM FEES. You can't get international transfer of money any cheaper than $0.00.

 

Additionally, you are provided with free checks and postage paid (USA) envelopes to mail deposits. You can also set up electronic transfers at no charge. I have it set up to run my house rent through and payy all my bills and paypal purchases with. My buddy accepts the rent check (doesn't have to be signed by me if deposited in my account), places it in the envelope, mails it and voilla...deposited. I have my mortgage paid by the bill pay. There are even email notices for transactions and the FREE bill pay. There is ALWAYS a human being available to talk to......it really is a no-brainer.

 

Thanks so much for this suggestion! I just opened one online in about 15 minutes...it does sound "too good to be true," but appears to totally be all it says it is! I'm going to try this out on my next trip to Thailand, it'll be so great not to pay those stupid $4 fees for every ATM withdrawal...

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I pull money from my Citibank account in the USA via the Aeon ATM machines here in BKK, no fees charged. The exchange rate is a few 0.x Baht lower then what is posted on Yahoo Finance, so an OK exchange rate.

 

I will give Schwab a look, as one always need a Plan B :dunno:

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Americans who can provide an USA address (even if it is an "in care of")should get a Charles Schwab Bank Investors High Yield checking account. It requires that you open an investors account too but....neither account requires a minimum balance, both are fee free and ALL ATM charges are credited back to your account at the end of the month. YES...ALL ATM FEES. You can't get international transfer of money any cheaper than $0.00.

 

Additionally, you are provided with free checks and postage paid (USA) envelopes to mail deposits. You can also set up electronic transfers at no charge. I have it set up to run my house rent through and payy all my bills and paypal purchases with. My buddy accepts the rent check (doesn't have to be signed by me if deposited in my account), places it in the envelope, mails it and voilla...deposited. I have my mortgage paid by the bill pay. There are even email notices for transactions and the FREE bill pay. There is ALWAYS a human being available to talk to......it really is a no-brainer.

 

Okay, so a friend told me he thinks the "catch" to this is that while they refund your ATM fees, they screw you on the exchange rate...what do you have to say about this? In your experience, what kind of exchange rate do you get on these [schwab ATM card] withdrawals in Thailand? And, forgive my ignorance, but who exactly determines what the exchange rate is when you withdraw money from a Thai bank's ATM with a foreign ATM card? I always assumed it was determined solely by the Thai bank that owns the ATM...??

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I've always assumed the exchange rate was from the Thai bank. :dunno:

 

A Brit colleague has a Bangkok Bank account in Bangkok and another in London. When he is in the UK or in Thailand, he just draws on his own account at the current Bangkok Bank exchange rate. Bangkok Bank does have a branch in NYC. It's the one my money goes through.

 

I don't really have enough to worry much about though. :(

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..., but who exactly determines what the exchange rate is when you withdraw money from a Thai bank's ATM with a foreign ATM card? I always assumed it was determined solely by the Thai bank that owns the ATM...??

 

I believe it is decided by the ATM network, i.e. Visa/Plus or Mastercard/Cirrus.

 

TH

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