Thorn Tree travel forum

1

DOnt think Nationwide charge at all do they? its the host bank that MAY levy a charge on the transaction.

as for rates - i am sure they are as close to the XE suggested rates as they can be. (Will annoy a mate with a NW acct (havent used mine abroad yet!) and see what i can find out)

"Say what you will about Jesus, but leave "The Rings" alone."

2

Normally BKK Airways will charge your bank in baht because that's the currency they do business in, and your bank will do the conversion to £ and charge your account. So you'll get the OFFSHORE rate. As I understand it, Nationwide levies no further charges on your account for using their debit card. (There's usually a difference between the Interbank rate the bank gets on the foreign exchange market and the retail rate it charges you. This is called "spread" and it's the bank's profit margin.)

3

with a nationwide flex debit card you seem to get a rate near to the onshore rate, i dont think they even apply the spread mentioned above, although i know they do for their credit card.

i bought two nok air flights on 27th March and got 68.704 (no other charges).

latest two wdls i made were cash from atm and got 69.441 (25th April) and 68.888 (4th May) - (again no charges).

the actual exchange rate, when it is set and by whom seems to be a bit of a mystery, i think it may be set by visa. there were some LONG threads about it on thaivisa.com in their business/banking forum if you want to read more about it or confuse yourself even more like i did.

4

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the actual exchange rate, when it is set and by whom seems to be a bit of a mystery

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Exchange rates are determined by the market. Interbank traders will buy and sell one currency against another in huge volumes (billions of dollars per day) in response to a range of economic factors, technical factors, and pure speculation, in an attempt to make a profit.

To name just one of many many examples of a situation that might cause exchange rate movements - a central bank deciding to raise interest rates (or is rumoured to be about to raise interest rates), will potentially make the currency of that country a more attractive proposition for investment (higher interest rates give a higher return for investors).

Traders will therefore buy that currency and sell another, in anticipation of that currency increasing in value, when the trader can then sell that currency again to make a profit. If done in sufficient volume this will move the market, and therefore the exchange rate between the two currencies, purely based on the economics of supply and demand (a currency that is in demand will become more expensive to buy). The very fact that currency speculators are trading a particular way will also move the market in itself, regardless of any concrete economic factors like interest rate hikes.

(I'm pleased to say I was better at trading currencies than I am at actually explaining what causes the markets to move ;-))

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(There's usually a difference between the Interbank rate the bank gets on the foreign exchange market and the retail rate it charges you. This is called "spread" and it's the bank's profit margin.)

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billp is correct - and I agree with #3 that Nationwide does give rates very close to the prevailing "interbank" rate for debit card transactions. But rest assured that they will still be making a profit from your transaction! ;-)

NW Thailand Motorcycle Trips, June 2008 and January 2009

5

what i meant was who actually sets the rate that nationwide uses and when that rate changes, the visa rate is different to the mastercard rate, for example, exchange rates are dynamic and change constantly, the rate you get for withdrawals does not. it remains the same for, usually, 24 hours. although i think this can change more often if big swings happen. i also think it can be changed retrospectively as there is a lag between a transaction being made and this transaction being posted to your account. some of the american banks were doing this earlier this year or late last year.

and if you read this article, you will see its not correct that nationwide loads anything on the visa rate. banks offer many services that they dont make a profit on, but make their profit on you in different areas.

link

6

My American Express account explains how the rate is set on the back of the statement, in small print.

I understand that you are not interested in the "basic" interbank rate the market sets, but the relationship between this rate and what you will pay -- for example if your bank is going to charge you the highest interbank conversion rate during the particular day of the transaction it constantly varies for a freely tradeable currency , or tack on a flat fee or a percentage. AMEX states that they will charge "not more than"(a) "the highest official rate posted by a government agency I think this is where there is a fixed official rate or the highest interbank conversion rate identified by us from customary banking sources, on the conversion date or the previous business day" this probably applies to baht. Amex then tacks on 2%.

7

Yep fair point #5, I misread your final paragraph in post #3.

Interesting article re. credit and debit card transactions. I have had a Nationwide debit card for a while now, and always knew the exchange rates I got with them were very good - and it seems they are even better than I had thought!

cheers

NW Thailand Motorcycle Trips, June 2008 and January 2009

8

as you would have gathered from the responses, its not like there is a nice website you can go to for the actual rate that will apply to the specific transaction.
but remember, unless is thousands of currency units, the overall variation isn't going to break you, and is the 'price' for the convenience of making the payment by that method.

9

This question always astounds me. Surely one can't be that concerned with the exchange rate buying a couple of online flights. For the sake of a few bucks (even if you get a crap rate) think about the convenience of the booking itself and how much a travel agent at home would charge you to book these in advance. sheesh. You are going on holiday, people tend to spend money on holidays.

10

Bangkok Air's website makes no mention of them accepting Debit Cards only Credit cards. Have you checked that they will accept? Debit card usage is not very common in Thailand and S E Asia. Why not keep things simple and get money from an ATM and pay the fares in cash. Nationwide make no ATM transaction charges. You mention elsewhere that you arrive in about a week and are busy with exams so that's the best route. There are few bargains on Bangkok Air but they have exclusive flight use to Samui as they built the airport there.

Nationwide is a terrific Bank with generous exchange rates and low charges. I think that they add 1% to the Interbank rate. I got 68.2 for the £ recently which was a full point more than local banks offer in Thailand. So it's even better than onshore.

adambroadhurst - you seem to have little sympathy for those travelling on a really tight budget for a long stay. Personally I have little sympathy for most banks (Nationwide is a Mutual Society) and would not give them a satang ( a hundredth of a baht ) more than I need.

11

#10 - You're 100% correct. I have no sympathy whatsoever. Obviously the OP's budget is not that tight considering they are flying to Samui for a start. And if they can't come up with an extra couple of bucks for a flight I would think seriously about even going in the first place. How much fun is it going to be if they have to worry about buying a Coke at the airport because that's all it equates to. I've seen some pretty tight people travelling in Thailand but to have a serious concern about the exchange rate for these flights is beyond tight. It's laughable.

12

you can look at it as one transaction, but people multiple transactions with their bank.

if you look at the link i posted further up, it shows 1750GBP drawn out with a Lloyds bank card will cost you 90GBP more than with a Nationwide debit card. over many years this can really start to add up. this is for exactly the same service as well. It's almost like going to buy a new computer and one shop is selling it at 1840GBP and one next door at 1750GBP, which would you choose?

i used to bank with lloyds and mailed them as to why their costs were so high. they mailed back and told me that fraud levels were high and they needed to compensate for this. so there you go, use lloyds and pay for fraudsters, there is no need for them to spend any money tightening up security because, if it happens, you will just pay for it anyway.

13

wowpow -

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Bangkok Air's website makes no mention of them accepting Debit Cards only Credit cards. Have you checked that they will accept?

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I booked and paid for a couple of Bangkok Airways flights online last week using my Nationwide debit card - as it is a Visa debit card, the OP will have no problems doing this.

NW Thailand Motorcycle Trips, June 2008 and January 2009