Daveroc

The system is designed to have the transfers made within 24 hours, 48 hours max. An additional day may be added if the Banks do not have direct correspondent arrangements with each other and a third party is required. Other explanations for additional days could be that Banks on either end of the transaction or the the third party if one is used are having public holidays or weekends are involved. Occassionally the dispersement instructions may not be clear enough and the receiving bank needs to go back to the remitting bank for more instructions. This takes longer if it has to track back through the third party.

Getting out to 7 days without one of the forementioned issues being in play suggests it has got stuck on someones desk.

Thanks for your information, I will look more closely at the website words next time but was charged about 350bts to clear a cheque for 1k last year so was preparing for the worst!

Now I need to get the SWIFT code for my bank, does anyone know what it looks like so I can see if I am being given the right infornation?

Have emailed Bank of Ayudyah, no response yet maybe its to do with school holidays or they have to look through the bins to find it!

Bank of Ayudhya SWIFT code is AYUDTHBK

All major Banks should be in position to complete a transfer within the 24/48 hour timeframe from the time they receive your complete instructions to make the transfer.

If the Bank is a smaller entity at either end of the transaction, a further day may be required in order to route the transaction through a bank that all parties have arrangements with.

The fastest and arguably the smoothest appraoch is to arrange the transfer Bank to Bank via the SWIFT system. I would recheck the commission charge that you have quoted at the Thai end of the deal. For instance Bangkok Bank has a .25% charge with a maximum of 500 baht. The stg amount quoted is pretty standard

If the money is being brought in for property purchase, ensure that this is mentioned in the Transfer and obtain a Exchange Transfer Form from your Thai Bank when the funds arrive. You will need to show evidence that you brought money in to buy the property should you later sell it and want to send the money back offshore.

In Ians absence, and as an employee of BBL I can confirm the documentation required is as set out in our website and replicated in an earlier post. The only possible changes would be in the area of a Passport being changed to providing a Thai ID card if that was more applicable.

Cannot speak for all Banks but the charges applying at Bangkok Bank will be the standard 200 baht minimum or 500 baht maximum dependant on the amount remitted. This is additional to what your overseas bank charges. No further charges apply.

Bangkok Bank has Safe Deposit boxes in a variety of sizes at a number of their Branches. Fees range from 600 baht to 3200 baht per annum

Will the hospital not accept a credit card for payment? Reduces your risk.

A transfer by the interbank SWIFT system will have the funds in your hands within 24/48 hours of instructing your Bank in Thailand. Using Bank drafts, while slightly cheaper intially may cause delays while the Draft is cleared and could incur further costs. The option is yours as to whether you remit in Sterling or THB. However it is likely you will get a more favourable rate by converting in Thailand as the market for THB in UK will possibly be somewhat restricted and hence a factor in setting an exchange rate.

Woulds suggest your wife call at her Bank and discuss requirements by way of documentation needed to remit the frunds offshore. A discussion at this point may avoid frustrations in the future when you wish to remit the funds quickly.

The fastest method to transfer Bank to Bank would be to ask your Bank to do a SWIFT transfer of the funds. While there is likely to be fees of around 500 baht at the Thai end and 20 pounds at the UK end you will have access to your money in the UK within 24/48 hours.

You will be asked what the source of the funds were and did you bring them into Thailand originally to purchase the property. You will need to produce evidence of that. If you have that documentation along with your passport for ID reasons it should go smoothly

Having taken onboard comments made, we have revamped sections of our website in relation to this topic. The attached link should provide clarity for most users

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Online%20Banking/For%20Personal/iBanking/How%20to%20Apply/Pages/Default.aspx

In terms of the discretion given to the BNanks by the Bank of Thailand, evidence of how much you have earned in Thailand should be produced. a letter from your employer is sufficient. Take with you also your passport, passbook and full details of your bank account in home country. May save you multiple trips to the Bank

This is a FACT. In Chanthaburi. NO WORK PERMIT is needed for ibanking. As far as how to do it at the ATM. Put your card in the machine, ask for English, click other services, and slow down and read the instructions, and actually follow them. Not what you want to do, but actually do what the instructions tell you to do.

It is not uranium enrichment its reading.

Exactly. Well said.

I am going to get somebody from the business operations side to open an account on Thaivisa to answer this all directly. This may take a day or 2 as I need to get hold of the right person and I am not sure where he is today as I am in the US (we are a large company). But I think this will be more efficient than me having to get in the middle on all these questions.

But bottom line is that if you can open a normal deposit account, by normal I meant not one where the interest rate is "different". I mean one where the interest rates are the same as published for normal accounts, then you can get iBanking. So if you have a normal savings or fixed deposit account, you are ok. Work permits are, as I said above, NOT required. No "buts" this time..

So please wait for the new "official" ID and I can get involved just when it is IT. .....

I trust all had a good weekend. Weather here is spectacular in San Francisco :jap:

Ian

Thanks Ian. I guess it is time for another Bangkok Bank member to declare himself.

The Branches have instructions to screen customers to ensure that we do not open Internet Banking for people who are here for a relatively short term. e.g. tourists. We are also mindful of the opportunity to undertake money laundering activities via this channel. As such, a customer who does not have the work permit may get asked some additional questions.

The Branch has the discretion to make a recommendation on a customer wanting Internet Banking. If you are living here without a work Permit, discuss it with the Branch and once the manager is satisfied, the account can be opened. Questions may revolve around how long you have been or intend to stay in Thailand. A look at conduct of the account or how long you have Banked with us etc will be undertaken.

Once this step is completed, opening access to the Internet Banking can be done by registering you through the ATM machine. Should this facility be down for any reason, the application will be taken and submitted to our processing centre. Within a few days you will receive information to your email address followed by a password being sent to your mailing address. This should generally happen within 7 days. Should you be waiting longer than this you need to recontact the Branch and possibly start again because something has either gone missing in the mail or our process has fallen short of expectation

To log on intially, you need to bring both pieces of information together to complete your Registeration. Obviously the methiod through the ATM is the quickest and more efficient .

We do extensive training in all our products and services. However, as you would appreciate, we have many. Add this to the occassional communication issues and we unfortunately get mixed messages. Should not happen but changing staff etc keeps it an ongoing challenge to ensure correct answers are given to customer enquiries.

The cheque you bring from England will undoubtedly be sent on a collection basis back to England by which ever Thai Bank you deposit it in. This could take up to 45 days to get access to your funds. There will be charges probably by both banks to clear the cheque.

I was transfered to Singapore for a couple of years and while there I opened a HSBC account, but I still maintained my Bangkok Bank account because I knew I would be coming back.

When I was transfered back I thought I would transfer my HSBC account and close my BKKB account because it doesn't earn interest any way.

They told my I would have to close my Singapore account and open a new HSBC account in Thailand because the regulations were different. When I got here I found that you needed to have a minimum $20,000 US in order to have a interest earning foreigner account, so I gave up on that Idea and just maintained my BKKB account.

So foreigners earning interest is quite a revelation to me. Obviously SOMETHING must have changed that I'm not aware of.

Can anyone clarify?

It could be a minimum amount thing, but I don't think so, at least for my Bangkok Bank accounts as I only keep an average of around $5000 worth of baht (150,000 Baht) in my two Bankgok Bank accounts....transfer more in periodically as needed to maintain that average amount....and I may lower that average amount once I get a US debt card that doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee (I'm working on that...hopefully it's in the mail). But I also know I was getting interest payments on one account when it just had a couple thousand baht in it for about 9 months.

My Bangkok Bank savings account shows the last interest was paid on 17th December. It would appear to be 6 monthly. I note however that if I do not update my passbook regularly, the transactions appear to be bulked rather than showing individual items which may explain why some contributors believe they have not received interest

Bangkok Bank does not have such accounts in the US. People have there accounts at there normal banks and transfer using ACH number of Bangkok Bank New York which forwards to Thailand as the account number is your local account in Thailand. There is no tax payment to New York.

Confused. Are you saying I have to have an American bank account, which I have to have to transfer to Bangkok Bank in NY and then transfer to my local Bangkok bank in Thailand?

As I understand it, Bangkok Banks New York Branch is not set up as a Retail operation, i.e. it does not offer personal banking facilities. It does however offer the transfer services through that office to accounts in Thailand. You may be able to have your pension payments directed through that office for onward transmission rather than going adding another step by involving another Bank. There is a good explanation on Bangkok Banks website regarding the service under the Personal Banking section - Transferring funds.

The amounts discussed in previous posts appear to vary from 5000 baht to 250,000 baht. If it is the lesser, and you state you are returning to the UK, have your bank convert to cash and take it with you. If it is the larger amount, call at the bank that has received the transfers from overseas in the past and ask them to remit it back. If you can prove you brought the funds into the country then the paper trail is there for the banks to remit back.

While the costs may be say 500 baht at this end and 25 pounds at the UK end, it provides you security and quick access to the funds upon your return. While taking a draft is an option, you will find that fees may be deducted as your UK Bank send it for collection. The time factor could be up to 30 days before you eventually have access to your funds.

just updated my passbook and noticed tax deduction of approx 1500 on 10 k baht interest.My mrs updated her book and had no tax deductions. Any advice on the rules would be nice please.

i am banking with SCB and noticed several times tax deductions in the second half of the year. when i asked, i was told as soon as interest exceeds 20,000 Baht in a calendar year 15% witholding tax is deducted. the bank's practice is not to deduct tax below the afore-mentioned threshold. however, i am not sure whether this is according to tax or just bank rules.

The explanation I received from Bangkok Bank was that the same rules applied to residents and non residents. If the funds are held in a Savings account there is no withholding tax deduction on the first 20,000 baht earned per annun. Thereafter a rate of 15% deduction on interest earned is applied.

If the funds are held in a Fixed deposit account, such as the 2.25% for 15 months previopusly mentioned, the deuction is applied to all interest earned.

Buy a series of cashiers cheques from Bangkok Bank (larger branches) made payable to self, denominated in Sterling and drawn on Bangkok Bank London, make sure each cheque has a value equal to less than USD 20k and nobody will ask any questions. Courier the cheques to your UK bank for deposit, DHL courier cost is around Baht 1,200 and they'll be there in about three working days - deposit cheques into own UK bank account, they will clear in three working days or similar. Note: exchange rate used by BB in Thailand to produce the cheques is the same as the TT rate hence it is the best you can get, I think cost of each cheque is around baht 150 or so.

Seems OK . I want to do the same except send some money back to my bank in Australia. (ANZ Perth) Since my bank here (SCB) has records of all the money I have bought in, can I transfer some of it back? The bank account in Australia is in joint names with my Thai wife as is SCB account. Any Ideas.

If you have evidence you have brought the money in or have earned it in Thailand there should be no issues in remitrting the funds back to your Australian Bank account. If the Bank you are using does not have an office in Australia (I am unaware of any Thai Bank that does) they will use a correspondent Bank they have arrangements with. If there are no sensitivities around sending the funds back in one amount, suggest you use Teleegraphic Transfer method. While slighly more expensive, you will have clear funds in australia within hours as opposed to waiting for Cashiers cheques to be cleared. The Cashier check approach will incur additional charges as your australian Bank will need to send them for collection.

When I transfer from the UK, HSBC to Thailand, the money is always in my Kasikorn account the next working day. Absolutely no complaints at all of their service from me.

To be honest, if you only want to exchange 1000 pounds I would exchange the cash at Superich but be sure to bring clean undamaged notes.

Provided there are no public holidays at either end of the transaction the funds should be available to you inside 48 hours. If your home bank does not have a correspondent arrangement directly with your Bank in Thailand, there may be a further 24 hour delay while it is routed through a third Bank. I bring funds from my country in regularly and they have never missed being in my account with 24 hours of my home bank receiving the instructuion.

However for the amount involved you could well be in for charges of 20 pound at the UK end and maximum 500 baht at the Bangkok end. Consider the cash option if you have convenient access to a good note buying rate

Always surprising to hear the various experiences.

Mine was set as soon as I made my account. Went home & set it up.

Also I have no work permit.

You are correct. The staff can also establish the Internet Banking facility by registering you through the ATM facility .

Call at your Branch and request it. if you have a work permit should be no issues. If not, the staff may seek a bit more information. Process should take around one week. You will be issued with two pieces of information, one to your email address and the other to your mail address. Bring both pieces together for your initial log on and then change the allocated password if you wish to one of your choice.

When a Bank purchases cash it applies a Note buying rate. This would be the least attractive of the rates available. It is supposed to incorporate a facter that covers handling and supposedly the repatriation of the cash back to the country of origin. In reality it is likely sold to the next customer wanting that particularly currency. However banks do routinely repatriate cash when they acquire surplus.

Should you bring the funds in by Telegrahic Transfer the most attractive rate is applied. On todays rates if we use the USD70k you would get 2,095,100 baht if bought in by TT and 2,077,600 if by cash. A difference of 17,500 or roughly USD590. On this basis it is obviously more attractive by TT and does more than cover your Bank costs, which would appear high at the stated USD300. I would have thought a max. USD50-80. Then there is the comfort factor of not having to carry the cash.

And yes a Bank will iss the Exhange certificate if you bring in the funds in cash and show the Airport customs declaration.

I make my monthly payment to True vision through BBL internet. When adding a Payee, select the category ALL, scroll down to CATV and that is the payee you are looking for.

My ATM (international) card is gray in colour and does not have my name on it - the main (international) direct debit card is yellow and has the other joint account name on it.

Yes you can use the direct debit Be!st card on line (we have done this from the UK) but probably not the cash point card.

If your BE 1st Card has a three digit number alongside the signature panal on the reverse of the card you should be able to use the card on line. The lack of a name on the card should not prevent this.