How we chose the bank and bank cards for Thailand

When we were preparing for the first winter in Thailand, we were faced with a choice of which plastic cards to make, which bank to use. At that moment, we made ourselves a multicurrency Visa card from Alfabank and a ruble Mastercard from Sberbank. A couple of years later, they almost completely switched to Tinkoff, having made a Tinkoff debit card and an AllAirlines travel credit card from them, and are satisfied in principle, but more on that in another post.

Links to other posts about our financial calculations, as well as other topics of interest to independent travelers, you can see in the FAQ Winter in Thailand. If you have any questions, then first of all take a look there..

The content of the article

How we chose the bank and bank cards

When we began to actively travel, and also gathered for the winter in Thailand, a number of questions arose - how can we receive transfers from Russia, how to withdraw money in Thailand, etc. Basically, it was about choosing a bank that can provide all this to us.

I read a number of topics on the forums, a lot of all kinds of reviews, looked at the rating of banks. But I didn’t come across a consensus that this bank is the best in all respects. Unfortunately, you have to choose. Our criteria were as follows:

  • Receiving one-time passwords via SMS and no need to come to the bank for them (needed to confirm transactions when paying on the Internet)
  • Good Internet banking, preferably with the ability to vyh input / output Webmoney and Yandex.Money.
  • More or less positive reviews about the bank.

It seems like nothing supernatural, but not so simple. There are not so many good internet banking services. There are even fewer positive reviews. Having weighed all the pros and cons, I chose Albank and Sberbank, which are not in the best places in the rating..

The first one - for Internet banking with all the possibilities and a multicurrency account tied to one card, and the second one simply because there was already such a plastic card, and did not change it. Moreover, most of my life I live in Russia and the extensive ATM network in the country is very convenient. And almost everyone now has Sberbank cards, so you can instantly get money from someone. And now, in fact, there are already more options, and I am thinking of changing Alpha to Vanguard.

Made for Thailand Sberbank and Alfabank cards

By the way, I did not write about one-time passwords in vain. Some banks issue them only by checks at an ATM, or at the bank's branch itself, which is very inconvenient for travel. Previously, for example, Avangard sinned with this and issued scratch cards, but now they also entered SMS passwords. I wrote more about one-time passwords here: Which bank card to choose.

Pros and cons of Alfabank and Sberbank

Alfa Bank

(+) The most convenient Internet banking, compared with three. You can carry out any operations with your account, make deposits, withdraw or enter electronic money at the moment, switch the account currency, if it is multicurrency.

(-) There are a lot of negative reviews regarding cash withdrawals from ATMs of Alfabank, they say money is debited, but the machines do not issue them. Roofing felts are the intrigues of enemies, or it really is, but I myself have not encountered.
(-) Non-transparent OIF / CBF commissions for conversions, there is no information through which currency they work with payment systems. On the forums they write that 1.7% for both Visa and Mastercard. Also, they work with Mastercard only through dollars, which means that everyone who uses such cards in Europe gets into double conversion..

Sberbank

(+) The largest number of ATMs in Russia, which means that it will almost always be possible to withdraw money without commission. It is also very convenient to put money on it in Russia. To do this, you only need to know the card number, and go to the department, which is in almost every district and every metro.
(+) OIF commission for Visa is 0.65%, which is very small, and 0% for Mastercard. They work with payment systems both through dollars and through euros. For example, Thai baht is converted to BAT => USD => RUB for both payment systems, if the account is in rubles.

(-) Long queues at the bank. It takes a long time to do simple operations, such as connecting / disconnecting a mobile bank and sms notifications, and employees contradict each other if you ask questions. Few issues can also be resolved by phone..
(-) Branches are not connected with each other, all actions on the card are only in the branch where the card was issued.

For more information about payment systems, how the conversion takes place, I wrote here: Which bank card to choose.

Commission for withdrawing cash from ATMs of third-party banks - 1% from Sberbank, and 1.2% from Alfabank.

Internet banking, Webmoney, Yandex.Money

Transfers related to electronic money can now be made in many Internet banking. It was one of the first to appear in Alfabank, it is done in two clicks and instantly after linking the account to the accounts. The commission is really not particularly happy:

POISON => Alpha - 3%
Alpha => Poison - 0%
Webmoney => Alpha - 2.8%
Alpha => webmoney - 1%.

Although such a commission is now everywhere, if we talk about instant payments associated with electronic money. If you want minimum commissions, you can withdraw Webmoney to any bank account through the Guarantee Agency (0.8%), although the transfer takes about a day. Also for withdrawing Webmoney there is a bank Opening with a good commission.

P.S. This post is already out of date. Now we have other maps, details in this post. Although, in principle, the card from Sberbank remains a relatively useful card, if only for the reason that usually everyone has it, and it is not difficult to make a transfer or receive it. It makes sense to do exactly Mastercard from Sberbank, and not Visa, the commissions will be better.

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