Take USD or PHP to Thailand?

Bring USD

Your other options will have additional cost: bad ROE, ATM charges, Bank or Cc fees.

Consider to use a Wise (or similar) card, so that you can pay in THB and fund that with any currency you like at the official interbanking rate.

I would just use ATM's there. I would not exchange Php to Baht as they will give you a low exchange rate, at least that happened to me once so I just kept it and used ATM.

Did anybody look at buying THB when still in the Philippines? I think, but I am not shure, that THB are equally unwanted here as PHP in Thailand.

Actually, I ahve good experience, over years, with chanhiing EUR at a moneychanger. The rate was always acceptable compared with the official inter-banking rate.

I will be in BKK very soon and carry my Wise card (with THB account) and cash EUR.

I will be in Bangkok very soon also from 8 Mar- 13 Mar, then flying onwards to Da Nang. Flying from the UK though so just exchanged £500 here in the UK to Thai Baht. Taking credit and debit card with me also and some GBP

@Cherryann01

May i know how many THB you got ?

And, have you considered Wise?

I used that on Dubai.

@Cherryann01
May i know how many THB you got ?
And, have you considered Wise?
I used that on Dubai.
-@emvaningen

I exchanged £500 which equals just over 20, 000 THB. Never considered Wise although I have read comments from other members on different subjects on this Forum and most seem to recommend Wise.

Just for comparison: This is what you would have gottn with Wise : 21395

From tomorrow, I will bein BKK and I will check what the ove-the-counter rates are.

We will also try Wise as follws. Our base currency is EUR.

I will put THB in my wise account. The expected charge is EUR 1.50 max for the conversion at official ROE.

If your card was issued in Europe or the UK: You can take out money for free twice a month — as long as the total amount is 200 GBP/EUR and under. But after that, we'll charge you 0.50 GBP/EUR per transaction. This is a fixed fee. If you take out over 200 GBP/EUR in one month, we'll charge you 1.75% on top of that.

I will also try to charge using the debit card.

As promised

I use EUR, but the pattern will be same for other currencies.

Official rate: Thb @37.07

Money changer @36.50

PHP @ .590

Other changer @36.30

Wise ATM THB5000 = EUR142 thus35.21 incl all charges.

Other cards, much worse.

Airport 33.82 scandalous, watch out

Good insights on this topic.  many thanks for sharing this info. very useful for others.!

Honey and I are going to Thailand next week for 4 days. Three options for cash. I need suggestions based on experience.

Bring only USD and exchange. Least wanted as I want to hold USD.
Use ATM's over there.
Bring PHP and exchange there.


Convenience and ease of exchanging are most important to me. The rates won't be a big difference.
-@Larry Fisher

Since you are an American, the true no-brainer in Southeast Asia and the rest of the world is the Schwab Visa debit card.

No account fees, no foreign exchange fee, no foreign transaction fee and all of your ATM withdrawal fees are rebated at the end of every month.

@OceanBeach92107 here's one for you. Thirty days before leaving the states I went to the local Schwab office in Las Vegas to open an account with checking and brokerage. I deposited $30k. One week later I can't get into the brokerage acct. I enquire, only to find out my account was being closed. Because my credit sucks. I went through some real rough times before trucking and couldn't unbury myself. Also so broke I couldn't AFFORD bankruptcy! Even a self filed one. Once I started making money trucking, I didn't qualify for BK, and I couldn't pay old shit while catching up with current. So heck with it. Eat the bad credit. I'm too old to give a hoot. Put a savings together to retire here and collect social security.

Funny though, got a cash account closed for bad credit. Really?

@OceanBeach92107

ATM fee of Thai banks is THB220. Have not found a bank that doesn't charge that.

take USD

stuleer said. . . .take USD

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What is the reasoning for that stuleer?

OP Said . . . .The least thing he wanted to use was USD, I can agree with that, being an American and I brought some dollars when I came to the Philippines.

It's probably mute anyways because he posted on Feb 28th and said he was going in four days, that's today.

in Thailand USD worked for me. In philippines, since i came from HK, HK dollars were fine to change in the Philippine bank to Peso. So just saying, it worked for me.  I usually stay one month in Philippines ( I live in HK) But last year my wife and i were in the Phil from Dec 21 to April 22 because of the pandemic.

Anyway i'm sure USD would be fine either places.

in Thailand USD worked for me. In philippines, since i came from HK, HK dollars were fine to change in the Philippine bank to Peso. So just saying, it worked for me. I usually stay one month in Philippines ( I live in HK) But last year my wife and i were in the Phil from Dec 21 to April 22 because of the pandemic.
Anyway i'm sure USD would be fine either places.
-@stuleer

***********************************************************

The reason why I questioned it, for me and possibility other expats from the states who have dollars in our possession, we like to keep them and not waste them. I have a dollar account and a peso account at BDO, in five years I never touched the dollar account.

Someday I may make a trip back to the states and even the possibility move back. My stepson a nurse in the UK has accepted a nursing position in the US (Arlington, VA) That gives my wife and I food for thought about moving back. I can't imagine getting of the plane in the US and trying to spend a fist full of Pesos.

Enzyte Bob - A Fist Full of Pesos - Is that he Philippines film version of A Fist Full of Dollars, not quiet got the same ring to it.

stuleer said. . . .take USD
******************************************

What is the reasoning for that stuleer?

OP Said . . . .The least thing he wanted to use was USD, I can agree with that, being an American and I brought some dollars when I came to the Philippines.

It's probably mute anyways because he posted on Feb 28th and said he was going in four days, that's today.
-@Enzyte Bob

We leave Monday for four days.

Like EnzyteBob mentioned, I want to keep what USD in my possession that I have. Never know when I may need it. After being here 90 days, I finally went to the local BDO branch here in Argao and used the ATM. Limited to 10k pesos, but the exchange rate wasn't bad and the fee to my account was only $1.50 USD. Wish I checked that out back in November. I'd have a few more USD in my stash. I'm going to bring some USD, minimal amount. And rely on debit card. Should be fine.

@Larry Fisher

When I visited the Philippines I found the same, transactions limited to 10, 000 pesos but on my second visit found out that you can actually put your bank card back in the machine and withdraw another 10, 000 so it is not a daily limit. Of course you do get charged for two transactions.

Enzyte Bob - A Fist Full of Pesos - Is that he Philippines film version of A Fist Full of Dollars, not quiet got the same ring to it.
-@Cherryann01

Go ahead and make my day.

haha. love it.

It is amazing what people will do For a Few Dollars More.