Best Debit Card for Withdrawing Cash from International ATMs in Vietnam and Thailand with Minimal Fees?

[rajgopalsinghal]

Hello everyone,

I'm on a trip to Vietnam and Thailand, and I'm looking for a debit card that allows me to withdraw cash from ATMs with zero or minimal withdrawal fees. I'd love to hear about your experiences and recommendations.

- Which banks or financial institutions offer the best debit cards for this purpose?
- Are there any specific cards that have consistently low fees or even no fees for international ATM withdrawals in these countries?
- Any tips on avoiding extra charges or maximizing exchange rates?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[rafzy]

I used Regular cards for withdrawing cash. At Vietnam I almost paid 5-6% per withdrawal and at Thailand I paid 8-10% per withdrawal.

Percentage depends on the amount you withdraw, coz there are some fixed charges like in Thailand you have to pay 220baht for each transaction on ATM plus 100+GST charges from Indian Bank plus currency conversion charges around 4%

Oooh... Thats too much charges you paid. You couldve used fi dc or indusind exclusive a/c dc. I have fi dc, rbl sig+ dc and niyo dc. Will juggle and see

 

[Alexmercer91]

I also used my FI debit card in Bali. Initially I was charged bank transfer fee but the charges were refunded back in 10 days. So final charge was 100₹.

 

[Viper1057]

Indusind exclusive account with Visa Signature exclusive and Mastercard World exclusive Debit card comes with unlimited free international ATM withdrawals and 0 forex markup.

More details here: https://www.indusind.com/content/da...es/savings-account/SOB-SA-Indus-Exclusive.pdf

I would say the most reliable option is this. Also you can get this account for free if you just hold indusind pinnacle card. No other relationship needs to be maintained lol. All other players and options are smaller banks or companies which can't be relied upon solely because you can look upto how many cards and banks neo card has partnered for their products again and again and their performance. There are more cases with others too.

After this option, you may go with indusind indie but still that has some onboarding issue + its basically more like a paytm bank account, even though its indusind its not completely same as having a normal indusind bank account.

When you travel to foreign countries, you should always have reliability in mind. Saving mere 100rs or 200rs or forex is okay but the option which you have should be reliable else its pure luck that it worked or not.

 

[rajgopalsinghal]

Oooh... Thats too much charges you paid. You couldve used fi dc or indusind exclusive a/c dc. I have fi dc, rbl sig+ dc and niyo dc. Will juggle and see

My mistake. Initially I planned for a 15-20 days trip but streched for 3 months. Had I known earlier for this much extension I would have opened acct in indus ind. 🥲

 

[svs_23]

Hotels will sometime allow you to take local currency money from your credit card on their CC machine. They will charge some % as fees.
Sometimes that fee + forexmarkup together are made up by the CC rewards itself so that you end up net 0 charges or in some cases even be positive due to CC rewards.

 

[Satish]

Oooh... Thats too much charges you paid. You couldve used fi dc or indusind exclusive a/c dc. I have fi dc, rbl sig+ dc and niyo dc. Will juggle and see

Did you withdraw money in Thailand & what was the fees?

 

[rafzy]

Did you withdraw money in Thailand & what was the fees?

Yup.
Withdrew from KBank and TTB Bank atms using my fi money dc (infinite plan).
Withdrew 4000 thb (approx 10k inr)
Got 2 charges. Inr 425(3.5% forex markup + 18%gst) and inr 100 (international atm charge).
The 425 charge was refunded the net day as im on infinite plan.
The inr 100 would bormally be charged but since there was a campaign running then, i got that as cashback.
So net cost was 0 for int atm withdrawal.

Seems if you use jcb backed debitcards, there's mostly no international atm withdrawal fee. Also use thr app 'ATM FEE SAVER' to see the charges of atm across the world.
Hope this helps

 

[sourpai]

I withdrew around 22K recently in Thailand (Phuket) using IDFC WoW credit card.

Was charged 236 as one time withdrawal fees + 225 bhat. ~220 INR was recovered from 1% cc bill pay cashback by paying IDFC CC bill after 30-35 days post withdrawal

Got exact visa rates on that day at zero forex. I have kept IDFC Wow primarily for zero forex cash withdrawal only instead of zero forex pos transactions

 

[Satish]

Yup.
Withdrew from KBank and TTB Bank atms using my fi money dc (infinite plan).
Withdrew 4000 thb (approx 10k inr)
Got 2 charges. Inr 425(3.5% forex markup + 18%gst) and inr 100 (international atm charge).
The 425 charge was refunded the net day as im on infinite plan.
The inr 100 would bormally be charged but since there was a campaign running then, i got that as cashback.
So net cost was 0 for int atm withdrawal.

Seems if you use jcb backed debitcards, there's mostly no international atm withdrawal fee. Also use thr app 'ATM FEE SAVER' to see the charges of atm across the world.
Hope this helps

Thanks! Did local bank KBank and TTB charge you extra?

 

[rafzy]

Thanks! Did local bank KBank and TTB charge you extra?

no other charges. see attached for refernce.

 

[Satish]

no other charges. see attached for refernce.

Thanks, will try these to withdraw money

 

[sourpai]

Yup.
Withdrew from KBank and TTB Bank atms using my fi money dc (infinite plan).
Withdrew 4000 thb (approx 10k inr)
Got 2 charges. Inr 425(3.5% forex markup + 18%gst) and inr 100 (international atm charge).
The 425 charge was refunded the net day as im on infinite plan.
The inr 100 would bormally be charged but since there was a campaign running then, i got that as cashback.
So net cost was 0 for int atm withdrawal.

Seems if you use jcb backed debitcards, there's mostly no international atm withdrawal fee. Also use thr app 'ATM FEE SAVER' to see the charges of atm across the world.
Hope this helps

ATM fees of 225 bhat is included in the withdrawal.

So mostly you were charged 4225 bhat.

4225 bhat + 4.13% forex is equivalent to 10,952 INR in your statement

 

[telescope]

ATM fees of 225 bhat is included in the withdrawal.

So mostly you were charged 4225 bhat.

4225 bhat + 4.13% forex is equivalent to 10,952 INR in your statement

This is correct. I also tried to withdraw cash in Thailand, and every bank ATM I went to has that 220THB charge. Finally ditched the plan to withdraw cash, and instead exchanged US$ 50. Used cash at "cash-only" places such as bus/street food stalls. Used CC (scapia/nxwave) as much as possible.

 

[rafzy]

ATM fees of 225 bhat is included in the withdrawal.

So mostly you were charged 4225 bhat.

4225 bhat + 4.13% forex is equivalent to 10,952 INR in your statement

Ya, you're right. I just went over the photos in gallery and got this.
So yes, there is a charge from the ATM company of 220 thb.
Thanks for pointing it out mate.
@Satish pls be informed.

 

[rafzy]

This is correct. I also tried to withdraw cash in Thailand, and every bank ATM I went to has that 220THB charge. Finally ditched the plan to withdraw cash, and instead exchanged US$ 50. Used cash at "cash-only" places such as bus/street food stalls. Used CC (scapia/nxwave) as much as possible.

I too used uni nx wave at all places and it was great. The reason I withdrew cash was to check the real-world exp and charges of Fi card and Indie dc.

 

[telescope]

I too used uni nx wave at all places and it was great. The reason I withdrew cash was to check the real-world exp and charges of Fi card and Indie dc.

Indie dc with megastar is good too.

 

[Chiraggyl]

Indie dc with megastar is good too.

Yes, But one my colleague has issue in withdrawing money through indie card in Dubai, He tried various ATMs but transaction declined everywhere and last machine swallowed the card.
But card worked fine on POS machine internationally

 

[telescope]

Yes, But one my colleague has issue in withdrawing money through indie card in Dubai, He tried various ATMs but transaction declined everywhere and last machine swallowed the card.
But card worked fine on POS machine internationally

Can't say about UAE. Never been there. I used indie dc at ATM in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia. Worked flawlessly, except in Indonesia where there transaction was failing every time I tried to withdraw more than 1 lakh rupiah (~₹540). So, had to withdraw frequently.

 

[codenerd]

Used Fi in bali.. just 100 rs withdrawal charges

Fi website says 200 cash withdrawal charges.

 

[Chiraggyl]

Fi website says 200 cash withdrawal charges.

They increased now, was 100 previously