Request regarding TT Currency Exchange

Just a request to anyone presently in Pattaya who might be passing any of the many TT Currency exchange shops today/tomorrow, who could post the updated £poundSterling to Baht showing there with the approximate time they noted it. It would be a great help for me to compare all my various rate levels here in UK to the 'real world' rate level in Pattaya.It will allow me to consider how best to convert my Sterling to Baht for/during next week's visit to Thailand. When changing £1-2,000 at a time, even small fluctuations can make a difference.

Great timing (again) for a visit! ha! Last trip in June I was getting Bt52 to £ the day before the Brexit vote and I was due to change another £2,000 but held off in the 'expectation' of a Brexit remain outcome and increase in the rate...well that decision cost me as it fell to Bt47! Now the prospect of an even worse rate than that!

Any replies would be appreciated.

I suggest you leave your pounds/sterling at home because they're virtually worthless and instead bring old clothes, furniture and general bric a brac with a view to implementing a new barter system.

I think I've said this before, but the most efficient way to change sums of £1k+ is (I think..):

1) Open an account with the Bangkok Bank. You'll need your passport and an obliging Thai who will let you use their address. It takes about twenty minutes and you get your bank book and ATM card there and then. (Other banks are a bit fussier)

2) Open an account with SAT Worldwide or one of the other specialist currency transfer outfits. These people are not competitive for small sums but they generally work on the basis of giving you the quoted exchange rate that you see on the BBC etc. - less a fee which is their only profit.

3) You buy your Thai baht through them, you BACS them the sterling and they send the THB to your BB account.

4) You then draw your cash from BB ATMs, and there are no fees deducted.

With the volatility in sterling, I really question the value of finding out exchange rates in Pattaya today, tomorrow or whenever considering there may be a major difference upwards or downwards by the time you get here. Old git's advice is great because the bank to bank rate on the amounts you are changing are way better than those at the currency exchange booths. But you're still taking a risk on little or no change in value by the time you open the account. Why not split the difference? Get half in Baht at the best rate you can find in the UK and then either open an account here next week or bring sterling and cash it.

Are you really bringing Sterling in cash?

if a few cents makes such a huge difference then perhaps financially one should just remain at home.....

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Originally Posted by Uranus

Are you really bringing Sterling in cash?

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Sometimes not the worst idea, I've done it myself over the years a few times and at least you know what you've got - as half times Ive also loaded cards and filled my atm bank account only to be hit with ridiculous charges or more annoyingly the card companies putting a stop on your card ( even after notifying them of your travel dates) meaning you have to fuck around trying to ring them to get the block lifted etc. So whilst carrying a few grand about with you it's also not just as mad as it sounds, I tend to do a bit of both now actually - and thats after years of trying various methods.

And before anyone starts about opening bank accounts and finding a willing Thai address holder etc etc - all totally impractical for most ordinary short term travellers, especially if you tend to visit more than Thailand as a destination - a bundle of hard cash still works just fine I find - and it's also a very handy way of getting rid of a bundle of hard "cash" should one still be lucky enough to come across such a rarity in todays business world !

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Originally Posted by Uranus

Are you really bringing Sterling in cash?

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Not sterling but a ton of ¥! When I worked in Japan I was paid mostly in ¥ into a Japanese bank account. I wanted the cash I did not need in my Hong Kong account. Transferring cash bank to bank out of Japan at that time was a very expensive exercise. So every few months I'd take ¥2 million or more with me to Hong Kong.

Once, though, I could have had a major problem. I had to stopover in Seoul for a couple of days en route. As I was leaving, the metal strips in the notes triggered the security alarm! I was aware that South Korea had currency controls. I had declared the ¥ on arrival and so had the paperwork to export it - thankfully!

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Originally Posted by fountainhall

... As I was leaving, the metal strips in the notes triggered the security alarm!

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I've told you before to stop keeping your money in your underwear :D

Scottish, I was only trying to be polite. It's the metal underwear that triggered the alarm. My boyfriend insisted on a chastity belt :D

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Originally Posted by Uranus

Are you really bringing Sterling in cash?

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What would be the problem with that? I always travel with a lot of cash as you get the best exchange rates/lowest fees. I used to transfer Euros to Indonesia, but the fees and bad rate they applied made me stop doing that.
You can take 10k€ out of Europe without a problem, when I take more, reporting it and showing the bank slips you took it from your saving account is all you need to do. Entering the foreign country, Indonesia in my case, you just report the money and that's it. Nothing charged or difficult to do. Did that several times already and even with very big amounts it all goes smooth.

Saturday October 8, GBP 43.15 at 1800

How are the expat brits getting on with the low exchange rate ? A friend of mine who lives in Pattaya full time , has told me he may have to think about returing to the UK , if the rate fall much further, as he would find it hard to make the 800 000 needed for his next visa app

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Originally Posted by aot871

he would find it hard to make the 800 000 needed for his next visa app

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Of course if stuck he can simply do what I believe many others do which is borrow the required excess amount needed to bring him up to the 800000+ mark on a two or three day short term loan - expensive way around the problem but does the trick I'm told.

I take a big wad of sterling cash with me, no problems.

For opening a bank account, since you walk out of the bank with the passbook and card, it is possible to use the hotel address. It's worked just fine for 5~6 years so far with me.

As for the effect of exchange rates on us Brits, well those on fat final salary pensions, with no control on where the money is invested & no other investments just have to live with the exchange rate risk.
Those of us who do not have the fat final salary pensions can often choose to our defined contribution schemes & ISAS elsewhere.
My portfolio is so diversified that both the Sterling and Dollar value has gone up since the Brexit vote. There will be a psychological hit when converting my money, but considering the way my portfolio has compensated for the fall in sterling, I shall get over it very quickly.

Anyhow, since the UK has been running a fairly extreme trade deficit for a few years, a fall in sterling has been inevitable.

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Originally Posted by Nirish guy

Of course if stuck he can simply do what I believe many others do which is borrow the required excess amount needed to bring him up to the 800000+ mark on a two or three day short term loan - expensive way around the problem but does the trick I'm told.

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Nirish, it would need to be at least a 91 day loan! That Bt. 800,000 balance has to be in the account for a minimum of 90 days prior to the date of renewing the retirement visa.

I'm an expat Brit but thankfully most of my cash is in Hong Kong where the local $ is linked to the US$. I don't have enough diversification, though, and have to get round to that soon.

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Originally Posted by neddy3

Saturday October 8, GBP 43.15 at 1800

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Thanks neddy3, precisely what I was after! Date, time, rate. On seeing the amount of replies I thought great, but when I started reading them I was glad to find there was at least one which actually answered the question. Much appreciated.

Monday October 10, GBP 43.23 at 1100

At 13:55, the xe currency converter has the rate at 43.3986. Since currency exchange booths will normally give a little less than that, you can easily get a very good idea of the rates here on-line at -
http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/...rom=GBP&To=THB

"I take a big wad of sterling cash with me, no problems."

Well at little over 43 per GBP, you will need a much bigger wad than last year when it was 52+.

In answer to the question..."what will the Brits be doing?"...well Ive already booked so wont cancel (this year) but I will certainly be cutting back when I get there due to the roughly 20% reduction in my baht.

It really adds up over 3 months of whoring and drinking!

newalaan2 - I wonder how you resolved your currency diiemma, the more so in the light of the latest 2% overnight drop in the value of sterling.

If I've learned anything over the years it's that currency rates will always change one way or the other before I depart on a trip. This year I was lucky. I went to Tokyo in May. In January I thought the Japanese ¥ buying rate was especially favourable at around ¥120 to the US$ and I was paying for the hotel in ¥. So I bought enough at that rate to cover my 4 nights. By the time I departed for Tokyo, the rate was ¥103. So I gained nearly 15%.

Yet 4 years ago for a similar Tokyo trip, I paid for my hotel in advance when the ¥ was around 87, the rate it had been hovering around for more than 2 years. By the time I got there a few months later, it had risen to around 100. So I lost on that transaction. I try to get some indication of likely future rates and act on that, but basically I see it all as swings and roundabouts.

I have already booked and payed for my airfare for next Jan but if the exchange rate drops much more I am thinking of cancelling my trip , even if I loose my fare £550, , better than spending much more on the trip itself

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Originally Posted by aot871

I have already booked and payed for my airfare for next Jan but if the exchange rate drops much more I am thinking of cancelling my trip , even if I loose my fare £550, , better than spending much more on the trip itself

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Well-you can always at least claim back the unused taxes etc-should/could be in the range of nearly 100 GBP. May take some time and pressure-airlines differ in how eager they are to do it, but they are obliged to. Otherwise more such tips on moneysavingexpert.com. But I DO hope for you you can scrape by enough to come over in that most lovely time of year. ALT/Plan B: shorten stay, the fee for this should be somewhere in the ticketing conditions.
(BTW flying als from EUR in jan-for 60 day-stay, I could use miles and had to pay less as 400 EUR.