Transfer Money To Thailand From Uk

[dragonfly94]

phutoje2 and dragonfly94

the same way works in my krung thai bank account coz i bought over a few hundred quid there about two years ago but for the life of me a cant remember why

must be my age

Tried to do this today but no success at all. Went into my bank siam city (but not my branch) and they said they did not do it and try 'a bigger bank' not sure if they meant bigger one of theirs or bigger as in bigger company. So tried largish K bank where I have no account who said use ATM, when I showed them the Nationwide card (with visa on it) and explained I wanted to withdraw money on it they said I have to give them the swift code, were they right? never seem to have much luck with bank staff!

[Penkoprod]

Western Union and the like must rank as one of the MOST expensive ways to send money abroad

Not only are the fees excessive, but they also rip the punter off on the exchage rate, to the tune of a couple of Baht per Pound

Just to send £100 via one of them (Western Union) costs £9:80. Plus the discrepancy in the exchange rates adds another 150-200 Baht to the deal. So the £100 soon shrinks to about £97

Halifax do Swift transfers online for £9:50, or, if thats no good to the OP, how about a prepaid debit card being sent to the recipient, where the most they will pay is the 150 TBH ATM fee?

There are cards that charge nothing to load them and even one (CaxtonFX) that charge no fees whatsoever to use them abroad as well

The latter would be my choice if it were to be on a regular basis

Penkoprod

[johng]

I posted this in the Pattaya forum but think its usefull here too.

On the 12th september I went into the Tuk Com (Pattaya ) branch of Siam Comercial Bank

and asked if I could "swipe" my card ( yes ) and if there would be any charges ( no )

so I ask for 80,000 baht the teller takes my card ( Nationwide Visa Debit ) and passport.

I sign 2 bits of paper.... 5 minutes later I'm holding the cash.

On arriving home I check my bank account online to find the transaction has not been processed yet.

I check online again today and see.

15-Sep.-09 Cash SCB.Tukcom Pattaya Sub BR CHONBURI TH 80,000.00THB at 55.775. £ 1434.31

so it took 4 days ( 2 weekend days ) for the transaction to go through...in the meantime the exchange rate worsened a bit

12-Sep.-09 Cash Bay/Com Building Pattaya CHOLBURI TH 1,000.00THB at 55.991. £17.86

We can see from these 2 transactions that,

1. doing a "cash advance" as SCB calls it.... incurs no charge from them,

the 0.85% Visa charge is passed on as usuall by Nationwide though.

2. Ayudthaya ATM's are still fee free.

3. The pound is sliding again

CaxtonFX will charge 2.5% on transactions here in Thailand

if using thier Euro or Dollar card.

Please note that if you use your Euro or Dollar card outside the Euro zone or United States respectively there is a 2.50% charge on all transactions, including ATM withdrawals.

As for the Global card they still get you with 2.5%

# The exchange rate applied is fixed at 2.5% from the prevailing interbank rate.

Nationwide still seem to be the best deal...........

Edited September 22, 2009 by johng

[dmax]

Hi can anyone tell me the cheapest way to transfer money to thailand, i only want to send small amounts up to £100 british pounds at a time to help a friend out, i bank with the HSBC and i recently sent her £100 and they charged me £15 to do this then a few weeks later i get a letter telling me i have been charged another £20 exchange rate, so £35 to send £100 seems a lot of money to me surley there is a cheaper way of doing this, i was going to send her a moneygram but that way i cant send it to her bank account she would have to go to another bank and take some id with her which sounds simple enough but to try and explain this to her as she knows very little english and i know no thai i dont want to risk it,

Open to any suggestions

Hazel

western union they get money with in 5 mins of you sending

please read the post properly,,the op doesnt want to pay huge amount of money to send £100,,,western union charge 28 in 100 i believe.

[hazelandhoward]

Hi can anyone tell me the cheapest way to transfer money to thailand, i only want to send small amounts up to £100 british pounds at a time to help a friend out, i bank with the HSBC and i recently sent her £100 and they charged me £15 to do this then a few weeks later i get a letter telling me i have been charged another £20 exchange rate, so £35 to send £100 seems a lot of money to me surley there is a cheaper way of doing this, i was going to send her a moneygram but that way i cant send it to her bank account she would have to go to another bank and take some id with her which sounds simple enough but to try and explain this to her as she knows very little english and i know no thai i dont want to risk it,

Open to any suggestions

Hazel

western union they get money with in 5 mins of you sending

please read the post properly,,the op doesnt want to pay huge amount of money to send £100,,,western union charge 28 in 100 i believe.

Thanks glad some one understands what im on about, also apart from feeling a bit ripped off with these charges like my husband said he would sooner give the extra to our friend as the £35 that it cost us to this money to her is more than a weeks wages for her.

[dave2]

dragonfly94

re ... I showed them the Nationwide card (with visa on it) and explained I wanted to withdraw money on it they said I have to give them the swift code, were they right?

no ... maybe they thought you wanted to use it as a credit card not a debit card

try asking again while doing the swiping motion and tell them its a debit card NOT a credit card

if they wont even try go to another bank and ask again.

none of my three banks here belived me when i asked them to swipe it the first time .... but they do now : )

good luck .... dave2

ps .. johng .... got 80.000 doing it my way ... so can you !

[Tafia]

Hi can anyone tell me the cheapest way to transfer money to thailand, i only want to send small amounts up to £100 british pounds at a time to help a friend out, i bank with the HSBC and i recently sent her £100 and they charged me £15 to do this then a few weeks later i get a letter telling me i have been charged another £20 exchange rate, so £35 to send £100 seems a lot of money to me surley there is a cheaper way of doing this, i was going to send her a moneygram but that way i cant send it to her bank account she would have to go to another bank and take some id with her which sounds simple enough but to try and explain this to her as she knows very little english and i know no thai i dont want to risk it,

Open to any suggestions

Hazel

western union they get money with in 5 mins of you sending

please read the post properly,,the op doesnt want to pay huge amount of money to send £100,,,western union charge 28 in 100 i believe.

Thanks glad some one understands what im on about, also apart from feeling a bit ripped off with these charges like my husband said he would sooner give the extra to our friend as the £35 that it cost us to this money to her is more than a weeks wages for her.

OK here it is again, the cheapest way with you in control.

As already stated use Nationwide, open 2 Flex accounts, send one card (from one account) to your friend and manage the account on line (transfer into account on line). You have complete control over it in the UK; yes there is a small 0.84% charge by Visa but the Government Savings Bank still does not charge for withdrawels via ATM.

Edited September 23, 2009 by Tafia

[dragonfly94]

dragonfly94

re ... I showed them the Nationwide card (with visa on it) and explained I wanted to withdraw money on it they said I have to give them the swift code, were they right?

no ... maybe they thought you wanted to use it as a credit card not a debit card

try asking again while doing the swiping motion and tell them its a debit card NOT a credit card

if they wont even try go to another bank and ask again.

none of my three banks here belived me when i asked them to swipe it the first time .... but they do now : )

good luck .... dave2

ps .. johng .... got 80.000 doing it my way ... so can you !

Anyone know of a bank it bkk that has heard of this? Went to our own branch of siam city today with mrs and spent 15 mins trying to convince them it they could do it- no was the answer only from ATM or swift. Why are thai bank staff so incompetent? this was on sukhumvit road as well.

[PattayaParent]

Surely if you get the VISA debit card this can be used as a credit card (mine can from HSBC) and if it's in your name you would be liable for all charges made against it?

[Pattel]

Aeon is still free (no 150 baht charge). The only trouble is that there aren't that many branches.

I live in Pattaya and the only branch is in Tesco Lotus on Pattaya North Road. There are ATMs in other locations in Pattaya but these always seem to be offline. Hope this is helpful.

[hazelandhoward]

I really wanted to try the nationwide so went to open the necersary account there but because i am self employed but dont actually take a wage from my business ( my husband keeps me in the life i am accustomed to bless him ) and you had to give details of your income which i cant so havent bothered with that one but am trying something else it called a travel money card which you get from the post office, it is called a visa electron, you load it in the uk by taking cash to the post office or i can do it by phone or internet and i can use it where ever you see a visa electron sign or in atms with the visa sign, it costs 1.5% or a min of £3 to load it and a small transaction fee for withdrawels etc so for us to get £100 to our friend it will cost about £4 so not too bad, we will take the card with us in november when we go to thailand and and leave it with her so whenever she needs money we just put a bit more in the account and you can only spend whats in there so quite safe,

Fingers crossed it works ok

Hazel

Edited September 30, 2009 by hazelandhoward

[PattayaParent]

But warn your friend that it's likely that it will take 150 Baht from her each time she makes a withdrawal so not to do take lot of small amounts.

[hazelandhoward]

But warn your friend that it's likely that it will take 150 Baht from her each time she makes a withdrawal so not to do take lot of small amounts.

Will do thanks

[hazelandhoward]

"...surley there is a cheaper way of doing this..."

Give your money to a friend in England.

simple, just open another account , have 2 ATM (international usage cards) cards issued , send one to your friend in Thailand,,with instructions to use only at ATM

problem solved.

The reason we do not give the money to a friend in England is quite simple, £100 it would mean nothing to them, this money was to help our friend pay for her mother to go to hospital as she is very ill with a heart proplem and as i am sure you know Thailand does not have a NHS system like we do here in England and this £100 is more than one months wage for our friend even though she has quite a good job as a waitress in a 5* hotel but still could not afford to pay herself and as my husband says the £35 it cost us to send it isent much to us but he would sooner give it to her, sadley my mother died a few years ago but if she was still here how terrible it must be to know she could die because i couldent afford the treatment for her.

[taffylee]

The small amounts are going to attract high transfer fee's no-matter what method you use.

Another option that you may like to consider is a pre-paid credit card, you send this over to her and she makes only 1 withdrawal per month.

The fee's are lower than standard transfers providing she only makes one withdrawel per month from her local ATM.

[Tafia]

But warn your friend that it's likely that it will take 150 Baht from her each time she makes a withdrawal so not to do take lot of small amounts.

Will do thanks

Government Savings Bank ATM still DO NOT Charge the 150 Baht

[gdhm]

But warn your friend that it's likely that it will take 150 Baht from her each time she makes a withdrawal so not to do take lot of small amounts.

Will do thanks

Government Savings Bank ATM still DO NOT Charge the 150 Baht

The Khon Kaen main branch of GSB started asking for the 150 baht fixed Fee yesterday (3rd October 10:15am) for my NW Flex (visa based) debit card.

I cancelled as I was only seeking 10,000 Baht (well below my daily max limit). This followed a week where GSB ATM's in Khon Kaen kept giving "communication Error" every time I tried withdrawals.

I suspect they were upgrading their programs (possibly fed up with foreign cards draining their ATMs of cash thus restricting their own customers ability to make ATM withdrawals from their GSB Savings accounts

[Tafia]

But warn your friend that it's likely that it will take 150 Baht from her each time she makes a withdrawal so not to do take lot of small amounts.

Will do thanks

Government Savings Bank ATM still DO NOT Charge the 150 Baht

The Khon Kaen main branch of GSB started asking for the 150 baht fixed Fee yesterday (3rd October 10:15am) for my NW Flex (visa based) debit card.

I cancelled as I was only seeking 10,000 Baht (well below my daily max limit). This followed a week where GSB ATM's in Khon Kaen kept giving "communication Error" every time I tried withdrawals.

I suspect they were upgrading their programs (possibly fed up with foreign cards draining their ATMs of cash thus restricting their own customers ability to make ATM withdrawals from their GSB Savings accounts

Still free in Udon

[clinique]

I posted this in the Pattaya forum but think its usefull here too.

On the 12th september I went into the Tuk Com (Pattaya ) branch of Siam Comercial Bank

and asked if I could "swipe" my card ( yes ) and if there would be any charges ( no )

so I ask for 80,000 baht the teller takes my card ( Nationwide Visa Debit ) and passport.

I sign 2 bits of paper.... 5 minutes later I'm holding the cash.

On arriving home I check my bank account online to find the transaction has not been processed yet.

I check online again today and see.

15-Sep.-09 Cash SCB.Tukcom Pattaya Sub BR CHONBURI TH 80,000.00THB at 55.775. £ 1434.31

so it took 4 days ( 2 weekend days ) for the transaction to go through...in the meantime the exchange rate worsened a bit

12-Sep.-09 Cash Bay/Com Building Pattaya CHOLBURI TH 1,000.00THB at 55.991. £17.86

We can see from these 2 transactions that,

1. doing a "cash advance" as SCB calls it.... incurs no charge from them,

the 0.85% Visa charge is passed on as usuall by Nationwide though.

2. Ayudthaya ATM's are still fee free.

3. The pound is sliding again

CaxtonFX will charge 2.5% on transactions here in Thailand

if using thier Euro or Dollar card.

Please note that if you use your Euro or Dollar card outside the Euro zone or United States respectively there is a 2.50% charge on all transactions, including ATM withdrawals.

As for the Global card they still get you with 2.5%

# The exchange rate applied is fixed at 2.5% from the prevailing interbank rate.

Nationwide still seem to be the best deal...........

Same for me, I can use all banks except KBank and Krung Thai to withdraw over the counter cash advances with no fees using my o/s cards. Some branches will give up to 300,000- baht, some 500,000- per day.

KBank will only do 20,000- per day over the counter or by ATM.

If i am stuck I can also use the ATM outside to get more. But this then is subject to any limit your issuing bank has put on the card for ATM withdrawals ie: if the card is limited to $1,000- per day then thats what you an get, BUT over the counter no problems. Best is BBL, SCB or UOB.

[gdhm]

Still free in Udon

Delighted to here it Tafia and "long may it last" in Udon and other areas.

Sounds like GSB they are working through their ATM's like the Bank of Ayudhya did. In Khon Kaen Ayudhya said they were they were charging "on screen" but for a while the Fees were not actually made. Then the ATMs started rejecting my card completely just shortly before the 150 Baht fee actually kicked in and was deducted.

I will try one of the Khon Kaen GSB ATMs at a Mall and see if they have got to that one yet.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

Dave

[weescotsguy66]

Aeon do not charge the ATM 150 baht fee for withdrawal for foreign cards and Dave2 you will not see it on your Nationwide slip it will just be 150 baht less on your total amount.

I normally use Halifax and they charge 20GBP or a special deal of 15GBP depends if there is a promotion on that week.

Has anyone used the post office and what do they think of it, and sorry I shift a little more than 100GBP maybe around 20K GBP?

[JetsetBkk]

Aeon do not charge the ATM 150 baht fee for withdrawal for foreign cards and Dave2 you will not see it on your Nationwide slip it will just be 150 baht less on your total amount.

I normally use Halifax and they charge 20GBP or a special deal of 15GBP depends if there is a promotion on that week.

Has anyone used the post office and what do they think of it, and sorry I shift a little more than 100GBP maybe around 20K GBP?

Sorry, never used the post office. The S.W.I.F.T. charge at Nationwide is normally 20 GBP for transferring 20,000. And now you can do it all over the Internet if you have one of those card reader gizmos - no need to send signed papers to the UK. The money usually arrives 24 - 48 hours later in Thailand.