Take a chip and signature card preferably with no FTF and let the issuer know you are traveling. Depending on where you are going will determine how much you can use your card. Cash is still king. i personally will use a local bank branch ATM to with get cash using my debit card, getting a few days worth at a time.
Current Score: TU: 674 | EQ: 722 | EX: 717 | Last Inq. 2/16/15...Locked Up in The Garden
Visa and MasterCard never an issue. Small street vendors may not use but most real businesses will. Take a NFTF card, does the CSP have FTF?
Not a fan of ATMs. I usually take enough cash with me and convert while I'm there. Your bank may charge a fee as well as the ATM fee from the actual ATM. Exchange rate is usually horrible as well. Just a money pit IMO.
I was in thailand last september i will give you my take on what to use in thailand. I was in Chiang Mai, Bangkok and HuaHin. If you are going to an touris,ty area any MC/VISA that has no FTF should be fine. Just make sure they use local currency, because if they transfer to USD you proably won't get best of rates.
In general though cash is what I used for 90% of all my purchases. For my flight from BKK-CNX they wouldn't take an foreign based credit card which was weird. I had to use to pay cash for my flight they didn't take my discover, CSP, or QS. I would make sure to bring cash, but see if they take an cc. If they don't just use cash.
@Jansroom726 wrote:Hi all.
Going to Thailand later this year.
Based on the cards in my signature, which card should I use for spending?
Also - for anyone who has visited, what is the likeness that I will be able to use a C.C. at all.... are they generally accepted?
Thanks - I appreciate the help.
First have an awesome time in the Land of Smiles. Its my second home. As far as where you can use credit cards. Hotels and the major shopping malls. Even sometimes at Chatuchuk. But cash is perfered. I always just pull cash out at the ATM in 20,000฿ increments. As far as to which one of your cards to use. I have never had any problems with Chase, CapOne, or Barclay cards in Thailand. Amex is less accepted. And Discover while it is technically possible just forget about it. In BBK I have seen merchants that will accept Visa or Mastercard but not both. Also most merchants use Bangkok bank which will process discover but most merchants wont even try. Most Thai citizens don't have credit cards. My boyfriend didn't even know he could use his ATM card as a visa card.
Use the card you want points for and has no FTF and you will be fine.
I am going to give my Amex card a try this week when I am there. If you need any tips on where to go our what to do in Thailand let me know. Also AIS is better than Dtac and TrueMove for your cell phone.
After reading the other posts I have to disagree with people about using ATM in Thailand. I have accounts with both CapOne and Schwab bank. I pull money from each of them when I am in Thailand. Schwab charges no ATM fees. And even refunds me the $5 charge to use an ATM there. CapOne doesnt charge me but doesnt refund the ATM charge.
When I land at Suvarnabhumi I take out 20,000฿ About $650. The blue ATMs only charge 150฿ where the others charge 180฿ Thats about $5 vs $6. I have always found this better than the exchange rate I can get at the money exchanger. The conversion is based on the international exchange rate and not marked up/down by anyone. If insted you exchange the same 650 and and only get 31฿ to the dollar you will pay about $15 in exchange fees. Current exchange rate is about 32.5 to the dollar.
That being said you do need to make sure you bank doesnt charge FTF. I travel quite a bit and therefore selected banks that do not charge any fees. BofA has an arrangement with some international banks do not charge a fee. But I don't know much more about their program than that.
@Jansroom726 wrote:Hi all.
Going to Thailand later this year.
Based on the cards in my signature, which card should I use for spending?
Also - for anyone who has visited, what is the likeness that I will be able to use a C.C. at all.... are they generally accepted?
Thanks - I appreciate the help.
Hi Jansroom726,
The CSP is good to avoid the foreign transactions fees. Always take a back up with you just incase. Also make sure you have a Visa Signature card if you want to rent a car, you can use it as an insurance back up so you don't pay for insurance outright (AMEX does this too but since Visa is accepted more often take the Siggy). In Thailand the major restaurants or stores will take mostly Visa, however make sure to have cash on you since a lot of the smaller vendors and kiosks you will probably be purchasing from as a traveling tourist will take cash only. I had no problem pulling cash from ATMs (of course use the ones with no fees). At the airport there was a very small transaction fee at one of the currency exchange kiosks which I used when traveling back.
