The two fees on every Thai withdrawal

When you take baht out of a Thai cash machine with a UK card, you can be charged by two different organisations, and they work in completely different ways:

The first fee is fixed, so it hurts most on small withdrawals: ฿220 on a ฿2,000 withdrawal is 11%, while on ฿20,000 it's 1.1%. The second fee depends entirely on the card in your wallet, which is what this guide is mostly about. The third is entirely in your hands, and we show you exactly what the screen looks like further down.

There's also a fourth cost that's easy to forget: the exchange rate itself. The best cards here convert at the Mastercard or Visa network rate, or at the mid-market rate, which are as close to the "real" rate as consumers can get. Cards with a foreign transaction fee add that fee to the rate, which is why a typical high-street debit card is a poor choice for cash in Thailand.

The ฿220 Thai ATM fee, explained

Thai banks have charged a fee to foreign cardholders for many years. It rose in steps to ฿220 and has stayed there since, applied by the big Thai banks almost without exception. Some independent machines, particularly at airports, have been reported charging up to ฿250. The fee is always shown on the screen before you confirm the withdrawal, so if a machine shows a higher figure you can cancel and walk to another.

The figures below are what the major banks' machines typically charge and allow in one withdrawal with a foreign card. Maximums vary between individual machines and change from time to time, so treat them as a guide and read the screen:

Remember that your UK card has its own daily limit too, and the lower of the two always wins. Starling and Kroo cap foreign cash at £300 a day — about ฿13,000 — so on those cards you'll never reach a Thai machine's ฿20,000 maximum in a single withdrawal. Chase allows £500 a day, which is enough for a full ฿20,000 withdrawal.

The best UK cards for Thai ATM withdrawals

All the cards below charge no fee for cash abroad, or offer a meaningful free allowance before any fee applies. None of them can avoid the Thai ATM fee, so what separates them is their own charges, their daily and monthly limits, and the exchange rate. They're ranked for cash in Thailand specifically.

Side-by-side: cash in Thailand

Your UK bank's fees and limits only — the Thai ATM fee applies to all of them. Scroll sideways on a phone.

Checked 11–12 October 2026 against each provider's published terms. Credit is subject to status.

How much to withdraw at once

Because the Thai fee is a flat ฿220 however much you take out, the size of each withdrawal matters as much as the card. Here's what it costs to take out ฿40,000 — about £900 — over a trip, depending on how you do it, at ฿44.27 to the pound:

The same amount of cash costs seven times as much in fees if you take it out in small amounts. On a fee-free UK card, the most efficient approach is to withdraw the largest amount your card and the machine allow, as long as you're comfortable carrying it and have somewhere safe to keep it, such as a hotel room safe.

There's a practical catch: Thai ATMs mostly dispense ฿1,000 notes, which taxi drivers, market stalls and street-food vendors often can't change. Break big notes when you buy something at a 7-Eleven, a supermarket or a restaurant, and keep a stash of ฿20, ฿50 and ฿100 notes for small purchases.

If your card has a low daily limit — £300 on Starling and Kroo — you'll get roughly ฿13,000 per withdrawal at most. Over a fortnight that might mean one or two extra ฿220 fees compared with Chase. That's a small price for Starling's lack of a monthly cap if you're staying longer, but it's worth knowing.

Always decline the ATM's conversion

This is the single most expensive mistake British visitors make at Thai cash machines, and it has nothing to do with which card you carry. After you choose an amount, many Thai ATMs show a screen offering to convert the withdrawal into pounds for you, at a "guaranteed" rate. It's called dynamic currency conversion, and the rate is set by the machine's operator, not your bank.

How much does accepting cost? Travellers reporting real withdrawals at Krungsri, SCB, Kasikornbank and Bangkok Bank machines have found the machine's rate between about 6% and 9% worse than their card's. In the example above, at a fair rate of ฿44.27 to the pound, ฿20,000 should cost about £451.77; at the machine's rate, it costs £484.20 — over £32 more for the same cash, and more than six times the ฿220 fee itself.

Using a Thai ATM, step by step

Thai cash machines work much like UK ones, but the screens and the order of things are slightly different. This is what to expect at a typical bank ATM:

1. Choose a bank machine in a safe spot. Ideally one attached to a bank branch, a mall or a large supermarket, in daylight.
2. Select English. Almost every machine offers it on the first screen.
3. Insert your card and enter your PIN. Your normal four-digit UK PIN works. Cover the keypad with your hand.
4. Choose "Withdrawal". If you're asked for an account type, "Savings" or "Current" both work for most UK debit cards. Try the other if one is refused.
5. Pick "Other amount" and type the full sum. The preset buttons are usually small amounts. Type the maximum you want, such as ฿20,000.
6. Check the fee shown on screen. It should say ฿220 (or ฿150 at AEON). Cancel if it's higher than you expected.
7. Decline the conversion. Choose to be charged in baht, not pounds.
8. Take your cash — and your card. On many Thai machines the card comes back after the cash, and forgotten cards are one of the most common problems.

If a withdrawal is refused, don't keep trying the same machine. Try a smaller amount once, then try a different bank's ATM. Repeated failed attempts can trigger your UK bank's fraud checks and block the card — check your banking app for a security alert before you try again.

Which ATMs to use — and which to avoid

You'll never be short of cash machines in Thai towns: they're outside almost every 7-Eleven, in every mall and at every bank branch. Choosing well makes a difference to cost and safety.

At the airport, it's worth taking out just enough for a taxi and the first day, then withdrawing a larger sum at a bank or AEON machine in town. At Suvarnabhumi, the exchange counters down on the Airport Rail Link level generally offer better rates than those in the arrivals hall.

ATM, exchange booth or cash from home?

A fee-free card at an ATM isn't the only way to get baht, and for some travellers it isn't the cheapest. These are the main options compared:

Specialist exchange counters in Bangkok and the larger tourist towns often offer rates for sterling notes that come very close to the rates your card would get, with no ฿220 fee. If you're taking a large sum, exchanging clean, undamaged £50 or £20 notes can work out cheaper than several ATM withdrawals. You'll need your passport, and hotel and airport-arrivals counters usually offer noticeably worse rates.

The trade-off is carrying a lot of sterling through the airport and around Thailand. For most holidaymakers, the simplest approach is a fee-free card for most of your cash, plus a small amount of sterling as an emergency reserve.

Staying safe at Thai ATMs

ATM crime against tourists in Thailand is not common, but skimming devices have been found on machines in tourist areas over the years. A few simple habits protect you:

• Check the card slot before you insert your card. If anything looks loose, bulky or glued on, walk away.
• Cover your PIN with your other hand, every time.
• Prefer machines at bank branches and inside malls over lone kiosks.
• Turn on instant notifications so you see every withdrawal as it happens.
• Freeze the card in the app straight away if anything looks wrong.
• Carry two cards from different banks, ideally one Mastercard and one Visa, kept separately.

If a machine keeps your card, freeze it in your banking app immediately. If the ATM is at a bank branch that's open, go inside with your passport — the bank may be able to return it. Otherwise, order a replacement and use your backup card in the meantime. Most digital banks let you add a new virtual card to Apple Pay or Google Pay instantly, though you'll still need a physical card for cash.

Staying longer or living in Thailand

The ฿220 fee is a minor irritation on a fortnight's holiday. Over a six-month winter or a permanent move, it adds up: two withdrawals a week for six months is over ฿11,000 in Thai ATM fees alone — about £260 — before any UK charges. That's when it's worth thinking differently about cash.

Many long-stay visitors and expats open a Thai bank account. Withdrawals from your own bank's machines are free, and you can pay by Thai QR code at the street stalls and markets that don't take cards. You then send money from the UK in larger, less frequent transfers using a specialist service like Wise, which is usually far cheaper than a UK bank transfer.

A Thai account becomes essential for some visas. Retirement visas, for example, typically require a deposit of ฿800,000 in a Thai bank or a monthly income of at least ฿65,000. Moving that much money from the UK, and keeping your pension and savings working once you're here, is where planning makes a real difference.

Our guides to opening a Thai bank account as a foreigner and sending money from the UK to Thailand go into the detail, including which banks are most open to foreign customers and how to time your transfers.

Before you fly: a cash checklist

Ten minutes in the UK saves a lot of trouble at a Thai cash machine:

• Open a fee-free card early. New cards can take a week or more to arrive at your UK address.
• Know the PIN for every card, including your credit card.
• Check your daily cash limit in the app, and raise it if your bank allows.
• Check any free allowance and when it resets — calendar month or rolling 30 days.
• Turn on notifications and make sure your mobile number is up to date for security codes.
• Pack two cards from different banks and keep them in different places.
• Bring a little sterling as an emergency reserve, in clean notes.
• Save your bank's overseas helpline somewhere other than your phone.