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The 250 and 350 Baht Question: Thai ATM Fees, Explained Properly

Last checked: 17 Oct 2026. Pound figures use £1 = 44.59 baht, the Xe mid-market rate on 17 October 2026, rounded. Your card’s own rate will differ slightly.

Most visitors to Thailand meet the same small shock at their first cash machine. The screen announces a fee of 250 baht, or 350, before a single note has come out. Many travel guides still quote 220 baht, but that figure is out of date. What follows explains the real fee, why it varies, and how to keep the total you pay for cash to around 1 per cent rather than 10.

What Thai banks charge in 2026

Thai banks charge a flat fee every time a card issued abroad is used to withdraw cash. Since 2026 the amount has depended on the card network printed on your card, not on the bank that owns the machine.

BankVisaMastercardUnionPayJCBMost per withdrawal
SCB (Siam Commercial)250350250250not stated in schedule
Krungsri (Bank of Ayudhya)250350250250*30,000
Kasikornbank (KBank)250350250not listed30,000
Bangkok Bank250350250not listed25,000 on CDM/ATM+ machines
Krungthai250*350*250*250*20,000*

Fees in baht. Figures marked * come from secondary sources that cite the bank’s schedule. We could not open the bank’s own document directly. See Sources.

At today’s rate, 250 baht is about £5.60 and 350 baht about £7.85. That is the Thai bank’s charge alone. Your own bank may add its own charges on top, as explained below.

Before you press confirm, read the fee shown on the screen. It is the figure that actually applies to your card that day, and schedules do change. Siam Commercial’s current schedule took effect on 1 September 2026 and Kasikornbank’s on 22 September.

Why the network matters

The split between 250 and 350 baht has nothing to do with your bank at home or with the Thai bank whose machine you use. The major Thai banks now publish the same pair of figures: 250 baht for Visa, UnionPay and JCB, and 350 baht for Mastercard. Krungsri’s schedule shows when this changed. It raised the Mastercard fee on 11 March 2026, and other banks followed.

In practice this means:

  • If your card carries the Mastercard logo, every withdrawal costs 100 baht (about £2.25) more than the same withdrawal on a Visa card.
  • If you travel with two cards on different networks, use the 250-baht card at the machine and keep the other as a backup.
  • Moving to a different bank’s machine will not avoid the fee. At the large banks the fee is the same everywhere.

The maths: a flat fee punishes small withdrawals

Because the fee is the same whatever amount you take out, its real cost depends entirely on how much you withdraw.

WithdrawalIn pounds (approx.)250 baht fee350 baht fee
2,000 baht£4512.5%17.5%
5,000 baht£1125.0%7.0%
10,000 baht£2242.5%3.5%
20,000 baht£4491.25%1.75%
30,000 baht£6730.83%1.17%

A traveller who takes out 2,000 baht every couple of days on a Mastercard can easily pay ten times as much in fees as one who makes two or three large withdrawals on a Visa card.

The most you can take out in one go also varies by machine. Kasikornbank and Krungsri state 30,000 baht per transaction. Bangkok Bank states 25,000 on its combined deposit and withdrawal machines. Krungthai is widely reported at 20,000. In addition, your own card may have a lower daily limit. If a large withdrawal is refused, try a slightly smaller amount before assuming something is wrong, and check your limit with your bank before you travel.

The screen to decline

Near the end of a withdrawal, some machines offer to charge you in pounds at a “guaranteed” or “fixed” rate. This is dynamic currency conversion: the ATM operator converts the amount at its own rate instead of your card provider. The convenience is expensive. The rate typically carries a markup of several per cent. One Thai bank’s schedule has been reported to price acceptance at 5 per cent of the amount withdrawn, which would be 1,000 baht on a 20,000-baht withdrawal, on top of the access fee.

Choose the option that keeps the amount in baht. It is usually labelled “without conversion”, “decline” or simply “THB”. Declining does not cancel the withdrawal. The access fee still applies, but the exchange is then done by your own card provider, usually at a rate much closer to the market rate.

The same choice comes up at card terminals in hotels, shops and restaurants: “Would you like to pay in pounds?” The answer is the same. Pay in baht.

Your own bank’s charges

The Thai access fee is only half the cost. Your bank at home may also add:

  • A foreign transaction or non-sterling fee. On many UK current-account debit cards this is around 3 per cent of the amount.
  • A cash withdrawal fee. Some cards charge a fixed amount or a percentage each time you use a cash machine abroad.
  • Cash-advance charges on credit cards. Withdrawing cash on a credit card usually counts as a cash advance. That normally means a fee and interest charged from the day of the withdrawal, even if you clear the balance in full.

Some cards charge none of these, and a few refund overseas ATM fees, though the Thai bank still charges its own fee at the machine. The time to find out is before you leave, by checking your card’s fee page or calling the bank. Ten minutes of checking can be worth more than any amount of care at the machine.

Practical habits

  • Withdraw less often, in larger amounts. Decide how much you are comfortable carrying, keep the day’s cash separate from the rest, and lock the rest in the room safe.
  • Lead with your cheapest card. That means the 250-baht network with the lowest home-bank charges. Keep a second card in a separate place in case the first is lost, blocked or swallowed by a machine.
  • Read the fee screen every time. If a fee or a currency offer looks wrong, cancel and use another machine.
  • Always choose baht. Do this at ATMs and at card terminals alike.
  • Use machines at bank branches or in busy, well-lit places. Cover the keypad, and collect your card and receipt before you walk away.
  • Weigh exchanging cash. Changing clean, larger notes at a licensed exchange counter in town avoids the access fee entirely. For a longer trip, bringing some of your money as notes and taking the rest from ATMs is often the cheapest combination.
  • Pay by card where it is accepted, in baht, and keep cash for markets, street food, small cafés and local transport, where it is expected.

None of this requires much effort. Done consistently, it turns ATM fees from a steady drain into a small, predictable line in the budget. For more on the everyday costs that add up on a trip, we cover them in detail in the Thai Savings Guide.

Sources

All checked 17 October 2026 unless stated.