Talking about Thai bank accounts I have a question is it better for me to send money to account and then withdraw it for spending money or should I just keep using my debit card on my American bank account. I wasn’t sure what the transfer fees would be sending it to my Thai bank account. Right now I just have the ฿430,000 for my marriage visa.
The good news is my  ฿430,000 has been in the Thai Bank, K Bank for 2 months. I just had my visa agent fill out all the paperwork so I can get my one month visa. With in the next 2 weeks the police will come to my house to make sure I really live with my wife as a husband. Once that is completed I can get the one year extension. Thanks for all of the information in this group!!!
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TLDR : Answer Summary
The discussion revolves around whether it's more advantageous to transfer money to a Thai bank account for easier access or continue using a US debit card while in Thailand. Key considerations include transfer fees, ATM withdrawal limits, currency conversion rates, and the convenience of payment methods such as QR payments and banking apps. Many contributors emphasize the importance of having multiple financial solutions, such as using local bank accounts alongside US debit cards that refund foreign ATM fees.
Just buy crypto on coinbase/other exchange then send to wife have her cash out and send it to you. Can have cash moved from your accounts in less than 5 minutes
As far as I know, all of them. It's a Thai national payment system. I think there is also an app ThaiTag that lets inbanked use the quickpay system but I've never really looked into it
using your American debt card to withdraw from Thai Atms incurs a ฿250 ATM fee whereas your Thai debit card or cardless atm transaction doesn't attract the ฿250 fee
Its whatever works best for you. For me it's much easier to send to my thai bank and use scan and pay through my banking app. But I also have a US bank card that refunds all foreign atm fees, so I use that to have cash to carry. You always need backup, so have multiple ways get your money.
If you have a debit card/bank account that refunds ATM fees, it might turn out a bit cheaper to use the ATM. But you're going to be limited to getting smaller amounts at a time. I believe the maximum is 35 or 40k baht from certain ATMs, I can't remember exactly. As long as you're not accepting the ATM conversion rate, you'll be getting whatever conversion rate your bank gives you, so it'll be a little bit of a mystery until everything settles.
With Wise or other transfers you can send much larger amounts and have the full amount available in your Thai bank account to use QR payments and such. And at least with Wise you'll know the exact transfer rate and fees before you ever click accept.
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