Poll :Traveler checks or cash?

[samebb]

That certainly seems like an interesting / useful app and not wanting to skate it without giving it a fair shot I’d just highlight the FREE ATM withdrawal limit of £200 a month for their free App and £400 for their premium App ( which costs £6.99 a month ) - anything ATM withdrawls over those amounts it appears they then charge a 2% fee on all withdrawals.

Again I’m not knocking the app as it does seem to have several very handy features, but just flagging that up as if used over a few trips over month or two I guess that 2% could start to add up - Mind you no more ( less probably) than the banks are probably stoking is all for anyway !

That's right. Although it's not a perfect option, it certainly helps me. The Thai bank account is really the way to go.
More and more places in Thailand and also surrounding places are starting to accept cards without charging additional handling fees. Having this handy app/card makes life very easy. I love how when I make a transaction in a store or restaurant, within seconds of me entering my PIN and pressing ENTER, my phone BUZZES and I have a notification of the exact amount I spent in both the local currency and mine. And I will add, I often check that on XE.COM within a few minutes and it's always pretty much spot on with the exchange rates.

As for the normal banks being more, sure. They are.
When I first got to Thailand and used an ATM with my UK Bank card, I checked my bank the next day and was horrified!
Not only was I paying 220 Baht at the Thai ATM as a fee when withdrawing 10000 Baht, my UK bank was charging me roughly 12 GBP in fees!

With Revolut, even If I pay the 2% on 10220 Baht ( at the time about 235 Pounds ) you are looking at paying only what? 4.70 GBP?

There are lots of options, but I rate this one as a good backup. It costs nothing to carry a back up card that can save you money when needed.

[goji]

Cash is King. By far the cheapest. Put it straight into your Thai bank account after changing it

Correct.

1 Check competitive rates on line before departing.
2 Arrive @ BKK, walk downstairs to the airport rail link, change the cash.
3 Ride the rail link into town, check in, shower.
4 Pay almost all the money into my Thai account using one of those paying in machines.

[Nirish guy]

So, i guess when you see above that 93% of us bring mostly cash I guess you can start to understand why we're all so wide open to getting our wallets dipped or our heads cracked open when back in the room to enabl;e guys to access that cash - however it's also good testament to the general honesty of the average thai guy that we meet, even in the dark and dingy bars we sometimes find ourselves, that so many of us HAVE been going for so long now without any particularily "major" dramas unfolding in our general direction......or maybe of course the guys just assume that we're all actually smarter than we actually are and never DREAM we'd be stupid enough to carry vast quanitities of cash on our person when on holiday - ah HA the old double bluff trick working at it's best again !! ( I'm currenty touching my wooden desk here in work as I type that mind !)

[Maxxy]

Cash is king for me, I used to use travelers cheques but stopped using them a long time ago, now it's cash but I do take a credit card that I use for paying the hotel bills or for emergency use should one arise

[Nirish guy]

Also worth noting that from the 13th of January ALL UK ( and EU) companies will be banned from charging a ANY transaction fee when you use your credit card for any reason - whilst you may think " so what's that got to do with Thailand" - obviously a lot of us book hotels and flights from EU / UK based Companies and those fees must now be waived - which over a year could result in quite a nice saving for the consumer. It'll be interesting to see if and how businesses intend to work around this rule ( as they surely will) either by some new surcharge or simply increasing the end user price, but from the 13th of Jan if you are still charged before sure to remind your supplier they're breaking the rule and insist they remove the 2 or 3 % (or more) transaction fee they have up until now been hitting us with !

[frequent]

Also worth noting that from the 13th of January ALL UK ( and EU) companies will be banned from charging a ANY transaction fee when you use your credit card for any reason ...

Any transaction fee at all? Is that the same thing as capping the transaction fees reported in the UK press? Capping is not the same as banning

[scottish-guy]

If I was one of the businesses affected by having Credit card fees abolished/capped, I'd simply increase my basic prices to recoup or even exceed the loss of those fees.

I'm constantly amazed when my own clients express surprise that it can cost me up to £120 in fees to accept their card for a major purchase - they seem to think that the interest free privilege they enjoy comes at no cost to anybody !

So, although I do not charge credit card fees myself, I rather suspect that's exactly what will happen with big business and it will all turn out not to have been of any benefit to the consumer at all.

For example, Ryanair was notorious for charging ludicrous credit card fees per person per sector whilst advertising flights at 99p. When that was stamped out the 99p flights disappeared and overnight increased to £9.99 or £19.99 - coincidence?

[frequent]

If I was one of the businesses affected by having Credit card fees abolished/capped, I'd simply increase my basic prices to recoup or even exceed the loss of those fees.

Unfortunately for that theory, experience in those jurisdictions where excessive credit card fees were capped at a much lower rate - and I'm think specifically of Australia - shows that that simply didn't happen to any extent (if at all). The airlines - who were major serial abusers - simple copped the lesser fee and got on with their business. I guess NIrish guy will happen along soon and using a sample size of one and his vast experience will argue that that isn't so, and capped = abolished. My favourite story in reverse was when VAT of 7% was introduced in Thailand, and the place where I ordinarily enjoyed breakfast for 40 baht (ah, those were the days) immediately started charging me 47 baht - "new tax"

[scottish-guy]

But I've just given you a specific example of how my "theory" panned out in the UK retail market - do you regularly see those 99p Ryanair fares after the OFT expressed disapproval of their outrageous Credit Card charges?

[frequent]

But I've just given you a specific example of how my "theory" panned out in the UK retail market - do you regularly see those 99p Ryanair fares after the OFT expressed disapproval of their outrageous Credit Card charges?

Yes, the famous sample size of one