How to Avoid ATM Fees in Southeast Asia (And Which Cards Charge You the Least)

How to Avoid ATM Fees in Southeast Asia (And Which Cards Charge You the Least)

ATM fees in Southeast Asia are one of those costs that families consistently underestimate before they leave. You look at the daily withdrawal limit on your card, pick a number that feels sensible, and assume that's what it'll cost. Then you discover that the ATM itself charges a fee before your bank adds its own on top. With two young children and a family budget to manage across multiple countries, we've paid close attention to exactly how much this costs and how to reduce it. This is what we've learned.

This article forms part of our broader guide on budgeting for long-term family travel.

Contents

1. The Two Types of ATM Fee (And Which One You Can Actually Control)
2. Local ATM Surcharges: What You'll Actually Pay by Country
3. Which UK Cards Charge the Least Overseas
4. The Dynamic Currency Conversion Trap
5. How Much to Withdraw at a Time
6. What We Actually Do
7. Who This Advice Is and Isn't For
8. Before You Leave

The Two Types of ATM Fee (And Which One You Can Actually Control)

Before getting into card comparisons, it's worth understanding the difference between the two fees you'll encounter at every ATM.

The first is your card's foreign transaction fee or overseas ATM charge. This is what your bank or card provider adds on top of every withdrawal. It's typically a percentage of the amount withdrawn (often 2.75% with a standard UK high-street bank), sometimes with a flat fee added as well. This is the fee you can almost entirely eliminate by using the right card.

The second is the local ATM surcharge. This is charged by the bank that owns the physical machine, not by your card provider. It's fixed, unavoidable regardless of which card you use, and varies significantly by country and by bank. This is the fee most families don't factor in when they budget.

The strategy for minimising your total ATM cost involves eliminating the first entirely and managing the second sensibly. Both matter.

Local ATM Surcharges: What You'll Actually Pay by Country

These are the local surcharges that apply to the machine itself, regardless of which card you use.

Thailand

The most painful in the region. Almost every ATM in Thailand charges a foreign card fee of 220 THB, which is currently around £5. This applies across Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, everywhere. It applies whether you're withdrawing 1,000 THB or 20,000 THB, which is why withdrawal size matters so much here (more on this below).

A small number of machines have recently moved to 200 THB. A few bank branches waive the fee if you use their specific card ecosystem, but as a foreign visitor, you won't have access to these. Budget 220 THB per withdrawal as a fixed cost.

Cambodia

Cambodia runs largely on US dollars, which adds an interesting wrinkle. ATMs typically charge between $5 and $7 per withdrawal depending on the bank and machine. Canadia Bank and ABA Bank are generally at the lower end. Standalone machines in tourist areas often charge more. Withdrawing in USD is fine here; it's the most widely accepted currency in the country and you'll often receive change in riel for small amounts anyway. I recently had a battle with the Cambodian ATM's in Siem Reap, where I had to insert my card into 5 different ATMs just to find out the fees, only three of them shared the same $6 fee, with one being $17.50 and another being $5. My recommendation is to stick with ABA where possible who at the time of writing were always $6, allowed contactless withdrawal and were widely available.

Vietnam

More variable. Vietcombank ATMs typically charge around 20,000 to 30,000 VND per withdrawal (roughly 60p to 90p at current rates), which is considerably cheaper than Thailand. Other banks can charge 50,000 to 85,000 VND. Seek out Vietcombank machines where possible. BIDV is another generally lower-cost option.

Malaysia

Some of the lowest local surcharges in the region. Maybank machines in particular often charge nothing or a minimal amount for foreign cards. This makes Malaysia a useful place to stock up on local currency if you're timing a border crossing. In the majority of Malaysian cities you will find cards widely accepted

Indonesia

Typically 50,000 IDR per withdrawal (roughly £2.30 to £2.50 at time of writing). BCA machines are generally reliable and at the lower end. Avoid machines branded as independent operators at tourist spots; these frequently charge more and are also more likely to present the dynamic currency conversion trap described below.

Which UK Cards Charge the Least Overseas

Here is how the main options compare for a family actually using them on the road.

Starling is what we use for the majority of our cash withdrawals and there is a simple reason for it: there is no cap on fee-free withdrawals. You pay nothing on the card side, you get the Mastercard exchange rate (which tracks closely to the mid-market rate), and the only cost is the local surcharge charged by the machine itself. For a family withdrawing cash regularly across multiple countries, the absence of a monthly cap matters.

Wise is competitive for lower-volume withdrawals. The free monthly allowance (currently £200 per month) covers light cash needs, and there are no foreign transaction fees within that threshold. The per-transaction fee above the limit makes Wise less attractive for heavier ATM use, but if you're primarily using it for currency conversion and transfers (which is how we use it), the ATM allowance is a useful secondary feature. We cover how Wise works in detail in our full review, but if you want to get set up before you leave, you can open a Wise account here.

Revolut's free tier has the same fundamental limitation as Wise for high-spending families: the monthly cap. £1,000 per month in fee-free foreign currency exchange is not enough for most families travelling long-term. At £7.99 per month, the Premium tier gives you more headroom, but Starling covers the same ground at no monthly cost.

The Halifax Clarity credit card has no foreign transaction fees, which makes it excellent for card spending. It is not well-suited to ATM withdrawals because interest on cash advances accrues from the date of withdrawal rather than the statement date. We carry it for situations where a credit card is specifically required (budget airline bookings in Southeast Asia often fall into this category) and for the Section 75 protection it provides on larger purchases. We do not use it at ATMs.

The Dynamic Currency Conversion Trap

This deserves its own section because it catches families who've done everything else right.

Dynamic currency conversion (DCC) is what happens when an ATM or card machine offers to charge you in pounds instead of the local currency. It will usually appear as a helpful-sounding option on the screen: "Would you like to pay in GBP? We'll lock in today's rate for you."

Decline it. Every time. Without exception.

The rate applied when a merchant or ATM converts to GBP on your behalf is set by that machine's bank or payment processor, not by Mastercard or Visa. The markup is typically 3 to 8% above the mid-market rate. The whole benefit of using a card like Starling is that you get the Mastercard rate at the point of transaction. The moment you accept DCC, you hand that benefit back.

When the ATM asks which currency you'd prefer, always select the local currency. When a card machine asks the same question, the same answer applies. If you accidentally accept DCC on a transaction, there is no way to reverse it.

In our experience, DCC prompts are most common in Thailand and Cambodia, particularly on machines in tourist-heavy areas. The machines at airport exchanges and those attached to money-changing desks are the most aggressive about presenting it.

How Much to Withdraw at a Time

Given that the local ATM surcharge is a fixed fee per withdrawal regardless of amount, the obvious way to reduce the effective cost per pound withdrawn is to take out more at once.

In Thailand, where the local surcharge is 220 THB (approximately £5), withdrawing 5,000 THB means you're paying around 4.4% in local fees alone. Withdraw 20,000 THB in the same transaction and that same £5 fee represents roughly 1.1% of the amount withdrawn.

Most Thai ATMs have a maximum single withdrawal of 20,000 THB. Withdraw the maximum each time you use a machine. This is not relevant advice if you're only in the country for a few days and don't need that much cash, but for longer stays it makes a material difference.

The same logic applies across the region. In Cambodia, if an ATM is charging $5, withdrawing $300 rather than $50 cuts the effective fee rate significantly.

The practical constraint is security. Carrying large amounts of local currency is a consideration, particularly in busy areas. We tend to withdraw the maximum and keep most of it locked in our accommodation rather than carrying the full amount on us.

What We Actually Do

We use Starling as our primary cash card across all the countries we've visited since leaving the UK in October 2025. We haven't paid a single foreign transaction fee or card-side ATM fee in that time. The only ATM costs we've paid are local surcharges, which we manage by withdrawing at the maximum limit from bank-branded machines rather than standalone operators.

For currency timing, we convert to a local currency via Wise when the pound is strong and hold it there until we need it. If you haven't opened a Wise account yet, you can do so here before you leave the UK. Verification is straightforward with a UK address.

One specific thing we've avoided is using ATMs at airports on arrival. Airport machines in Southeast Asia frequently combine high local surcharges with aggressive DCC prompts and occasionally worse exchange rates on the machine rate itself. We carry a small amount of local currency or USD into each country to cover the first day, then find a bank-branded ATM once we're settled.

Who This Advice Is and Isn't For

If you are travelling long-term as a family and moving through multiple Southeast Asian countries, the card combination above (Starling as your primary, Wise for transfers and currency conversion, Halifax Clarity for credit card situations) is hard to argue against on cost grounds. It eliminates card-side fees entirely while keeping your options flexible.

If you are on a single shorter trip and the admin of opening multiple accounts feels disproportionate, Wise alone covers most of what you need for light cash use within the free monthly allowance.

If you want everything in one app rather than two, Revolut Premium is a reasonable alternative to the Starling and Wise combination. You pay £7.99 per month for it, so over a year that's around £96 in subscription costs. Whether that's worth the simplification depends on your volume of spending.

What we would not recommend, regardless of trip length, is using a standard high-street bank account as your primary travel card. The foreign transaction fees are significant over any meaningful period and the problem has been solved by the options above.

Before You Leave

Open Starling and Wise before you leave the UK. Verification is considerably easier with a UK address and a UK SIM active. Some accounts use SMS verification codes, which means you need your UK number working before you switch to a local or eSIM abroad. We cover exactly how to manage this in our connectivity guide.

Test a small foreign transaction and a Wise transfer before you depart. Don't discover a card isn't working at an ATM in Phnom Penh.

Starling vs Wise vs Revolut for long-term travel

Budgeting for long-term family travel