Is it better to withdraw cash from a local ATM in Thailand or transfer funds using Wise?

Please consider Remitley instead of Wise. One can also see every transaction made. I used Wise and had a change in my e-mail carrier and couldn’t update. As a result couldn’t use it. Had to find an alternative, glad I did. Cost is very reasonable.

Friendly reminder that Binance P2P is cheaper than Wise. Albeit requires some initial setup.

Google Wise, it will give you the exact exchange rate on the dollar to baht at any given time

Wise is a lot better way to get Thai baht you’ll pay 220 baht ATM fees plus what ever your bank charges a Charles Schwab Card they return ATM fees

Wise

I believe when I compared the total $US pulled from ATM and deposited into Thai acct vs. Wise transfer, it was cheaper to use Wise even with my ATM fees being refunded. Something about the exchange rate I believe.

Wyse for sure. Fast and cheap.

Wise is always easy and fast. Use it all the time.

I’m not sure there is an exact answer.

Sounds like you get atm fees refunded and if your American bank gives good rates than it is likely the cheapest. But that doesn’t figure in your time or hassle.

If you are going to leave the money in an account vs taking out cash it is likely a wash. Save a bit of money vs save a bit of time.

Just remember if you need this to show as money from outside TH you don’t want to do the atm.

Personally I’d just use wise for a one time bank to bank transfer. And my atm to pull out from the US account if I needed cash. Like you I get atm fees refunded.

did a wise transfer of $1,000 from us account to my scb account last month, took 7 seconds, got a great rate and was less than $9!!

ATM fees are 220 in Thailand an lousy rate

swift rates are much higher.

I just xfer several thousand USD funds in USD from my US institution directly to my Bangkok bank. The Bangkok account number and SWIFT is saved in my account and done in seconds. Does take Bangkok Bank 1day to do whatever they do manually for it to be shown into my Bangkok account. Never had any hiccups. No fees from my US institution, any currency conversion fees are unseen but seem to be minimal. Also use my US ATM card to withdraw cash, also no transaction fees. Max I’m allowed to withdraw from my US ATM is $500, I do THB 15K. Do be aware of ATMs that could be tampered with but that is a caution globally anyway. I have a habit of only using ATMs in 24HR highly visible areas and still inspect the machine for tampering evidence.

It's a wash, both ways work pretty much the same. People's answers make sense (except the Brit with 7 separate answers?) bank to bank is cheaper but takes longer whereas the other 2 ways mentioned are almost instantaneous.

No out of province ATM fees for Bangkok Bank if you use the cardless withdrawal on the app

Open a thai saving account..

Actually it's an interesting idea. My bank in the USA pays the withdrawal fees. The exchange rate is usually good. So it's worth checking the difference overall. Wise charges fees and exchange rates seem similar to what I get with my ATM withdrawals.

If u have Thai bank it will be cheaper to transfer to that and withdraw

That sounds like an insane way to put money in your account mate, lol.

Generally Wise is cheaper rate, good Forex rate and no out of province fees