sumrit

There appears to be a lot of the usual panicking by some people on various threads here on TV when they have used Transferwise but very little actual facts supplied and it might be helpful to put the problems into perspective.

It would be interesting to find out exactly what problems people have PERSONALLY had, how many times they've had them and exactly when they've had them (dates) when using TW, etc.

For example, since January this year, when the new Immigration rules came into force, I have made 18 transfers at an average of two per month with a couple of 'test' transfers added. In January I also had my account tagged to use my preferred 'BKKB partner transfer route' whenever possible. Of those 18 transfers, 17 DID go directly to my BKKB account with a FTT coding. Just one payment, on 2nd July, went via the Kasikorn bank with a SMT coding. I contacted both TW and BKKB who both told me the problem occurred during a software update initiated by TW. I was advised to contact TW when making my next transfer to confirm my account was still correctly tagged to use BKKB as my 'partner transfer route' whenever possible (yes I know it's not 100% guaranteed). I have made three transfers since then and ALL have been sent directly to my BKKB account with a FTT coding.

For the single 'ROGUE' transfer I contacted the Kasikorn bank and, at a cost of 200 baht, obtained a Credit Advice Receipt which confirms it was an International transfer, which satisfies Immigration. Not Ideal of course but not difficult to do and I can live with using that option once/twice a year.

Of course everybody else might have had continual problems and I might be the only one with a virtually smooth passage since January. 

But for those that have used TW it would be useful to know:

Did you ask TW to tag your account to use your preferred 'partner bank route' whenever possible?

Assuming your TW account was tagged:

• How many times have you made a transfer since January this year?
• How many arrived with the correct coding and how many have not?
• Of the rogue transfers you had, when did they occur? Were they during the TW software update during early July?
• Have any ‘rogue transfers’ occurred at other times even though your account was tagged?

For me, I'll keep using TW but just keep a close eye on the coding after each transfer.

1 hour ago, possum1931 said:

I didn't know that, I have these things you mention. So will a hotel or guesthouse maybe refuse your driving licence if your passport number is not on it?

I've always used my pink ID card when registering at hotels instead of my passport. It's always been accepted for me. A couple of posters have said they've been asked for their passports at Bangkok hotels but, personally, I've never had a problem. Last weekend we went to a hotel in Chantaburi and I didn't even take my passport with me. My ID card was accepted (with just my Thai ID number), no problem.

Your Thai ID number will only be on your driving licence if you used both your ID card and tabien baan when applying for your licence. If you used your passport instead of your pink card for ID purposes when applying yor passport number will be on your licence.

2 hours ago, DFPhuket said:

it would be possible to register someone with just information from a driver's license, since it includes the person's passport number.

2 hours ago, possum1931 said:

Your passport number is on your driving licence.

Not always.

For those of us who used our Pink ID card (for ID) and yellow babien baan (for our registered address) our renewed Driving Licence has our Thai ID number on I, NOT our passport number. 

11 minutes ago, otherstuff1957 said:

Your Thai drivers license has your passport number on it (in place of a Thai national id number).  

 

Can they fill out the TM 30 with just your name and number?

1. Your drivers licence only includes your passport number IF you used that as your ID  when applying for it. For me and many others, we used out pink ID card for ID and our yellow tabien baan as proof of address so our Driving Licence shows our Thai ID number, not our passport number.

2. The hotel also needs your current TM6 number to complete the TM30 and your driving licence doesn't include that so it can't be used as a replacement for your passport.

2 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Why should we, in effect, be required to police the 1979 Immigration Act on behalf of the Immigration Bureau?

Because those a the rules. There rules, their country.

2 minutes ago, OJAS said:

No skin off our noses if the hotel subsequently got found out for not lodging a TM30 – they would be the ones who were fined, not we!

Until you are fined for not completing a TM30 on your return. The rules (as interpreted by some IOs) says you must complete a TM30 on your return, it doesn't say complete a TM30 in response to what a hotel mignt have/have not done.

11 hours ago, petedk said:

I often just show Thai driving license.
My passport number is printed on it!

But not your TM6,  the number of which also needs to be recorded on the TM30.

2 hours ago, Tanoshi said:

using bank statement of 65K transfers, all FTT except one SMT.

TW pdf receipts accepted as proof of foreign transfer.

It's good to hear they accepted the SMT transfer accompanied by a corresponding TW pdf. That's exactly in line with two other reports I've already read.

I've also read of somebody supplying a Credit Advice Receipt to accompeny a SMT transfer. Not sure whether Immigration asked for the CAR or whether it was supplied automatically because it has been suggested it was necessary in various threads over the past few months.

It'll be good if accepting the TW pdf's as proof of transfer becomes the norm as we go forwards. 

4 hours ago, Johnny Rotten said:

surely a TM6 entry form would suffice

Every person who enters Thailand completes a TM6 but only a small percentage of those would need to complete their own TM30. Impossible for IO's to sift through all the TM6's to change relatively few TM30 details.

(Almost) everybody using the monthly income method would/should have applied for an Embassy letter at the end of last year which would (should) have been valid up until the end of June (last month). We have now had almost a month since then where everybody applying for an extension has had to show a monthly income (40/65k baht) coming into a Thai bank from abroad. 

So how many people have used the monthly income method since then? How did you transfer your money to Thailand (Swift via your bank, Transferwise, or any other method) to show it originated from abroad? Were all your transfers coded FTT, International transfer, etc? If you had some transfers coded as local, SMT etc did Immigration accept that? Did you need a Credit advice Receipt for those shown as local transfers to be acceptable? Did Immigration query any part of your finance documents and the way you presented it? Did you need to show where your income originated from, pension etc,etc?

Can you also say which Immigration Office you used for your extension because that might help others.

So far there has been a couple of reports on TV where people have been successful (even when including some SMT codes in their bank statement) but I haven't seen any posts where people have been denied because their finances weren't acceptable because of the new rules.

I'm not interested in reading about people speculating on what they think might happen in the future, we've already had page after page of those comments in a whole host of threads and they're just speculation. Likewise I don't want to hear about people who chose to change their method away from monthly income or use an agent. I'm only interested in how people got on when they actually applied using the monthly income method since 1st July.

29 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

It's an FET (Foreign Exchange Transfer) they issue.

You were fortune you lived near a Kasikorn Trade centre.

The nearest one to me is 270Kms in Nakhon Ratchasima.

I lived fairly locally (about an hours drive) but the guy from Chang Mai didn't. I don't know the details but he went into his local Kasikorn branch and they arranged everything from there, even though the actual document came from Pattaya.

29 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

You need to take Passport

BKK passbook showing the transaction.

Copy of Visa/extension.

200 baht admin fee.

The bank in Pattaya only needed a copy of my passport photo page (which I already had with me), a copy of the TW transfer confirmation PDF that's linked on the 'transfer sent' email and 200 baht admin fee.

She certainly didn't ask for a copy of my extension or my BKKB passbook.....although of course my BKKB account details are on the TW PDF along with the transfer details.

8 minutes ago, pontious said:

So you may have to drive 2 hours every month for a piece of paper, Up to you.

NO, I don't have to go every month do I. If necessary I can go every three/four months I I want.

Plus you're assuming TW  will send the transfers  to the wrong partner bank every time. Even by your pessimistic outlook that is highly unlikely. I've been using TW for two years now, averaging two transfers per month. All bar two of those transfers have come via BKKB. I'll use my law of averages before yours. 

21 minutes ago, pontious said:

Be useful to say what office. At Jomtien they want a bank letter showing the foreign transfers. No TW pdf;s just the letter.

Have you been refused personally at Jomtien??

8 hours ago, wgdanson said:

9 hours ago, sumrit said:

That one went via Kasikorn so I went to them and got a Credit Advice Receipt

Do you mean you went to your local Kasikorn bank, showed them the TWise and your Krungthai paperwork and they gave you the Credit advice? I, and many others are in the same boat with Bkk Bank last month. Thanks.

First try, I went to my local Kasikorn in Chonburi. Just young girls who didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

Second attempt, I phoned Kasikorn call centre who (eventually) said I needed to get a 13 digit transfer number from BKKB.

Next I called BKKB call centre on 12-7 who promised to get back to me with the number. Still waiting for that call.

While waiting for the call back I read a thread on TV about somebody from Chang Mai who needed a CAR from Kasikorn and went to his local branch there. They said they would organise it and sure enough he got what he wanted. He also said the CAR had come from Kasikorn in Pattaya.

So, thinking that somebody in one of the Pattaya branches might be able to help I drove there (it's only an hour away) and went to the Kasikorn branch near the bottom of Pattaya Klang. There I was directed to their International office upstairs on the first floor and spoke to a young lady who new exactly what I needed. She said she needed to contact BKKB first and it would take a few days to process, then took a copy of my TW transfer PDF plus my phone number and promised to phone me. I  obtained the CAR from her a few days later and she said if I had a similar problem in the future go straight to her, it should save time.

So next time, if there is one, should be straight forward. I personally will continue using TW, I hopefully won't need to lose money on SWIFT transfers.

The lesson learned is be persistent and don't be fobbed off at small branches, go the a large Kasikorn branch if possible.

I think also, if at all possible obtain the relevant 13 digit transfer number from BKKB first. 

2 minutes ago, Ling Kae said:

My TW transfer to my bkkb account last week was coded as a local transfer.  Before it was coded a Foreign transfer.

 

Will it be coded a foreign transfer if I have it sent to my Kasikorn Account?

 

Anyone know for sure?

Only if it is sent directly to your Kasikorn bank.

TW have three partner banks in Thailand. Bangkok, Kasikors and TMB.

Firstly you must choose the bank account you want the money sent to. They will use one of those partner banks.

You can ask TW to transfer via your preferred bank and most of the time they will oblige, but occasionally they can't and they will use  one of the other two. 

Personally, I've used TW for two years but, like everybody else, only needed the FTT coding since January. so I looked through previous transfers to see where the majority went to. At the time I was using the Krungthai bank and all but two transfers last year went via the BKKB so I plumped for them. This year the only transfer that hasn't been FTT has been one at the beginning of this month. That one went via Kasikorn so I went to them and got a Credit Advice Receipt to show that the transfer actually originated from TW. That cost 200 baht.

17 minutes ago, OJAS said:

I have personally found the BKKB London branch service to be about half the cost of SWIFT and around double the cost of TransferWise, based on a number of transfers using all 3 methods which I have performed. And the coveted FTT coding is always guaranteed with the GBP-to-THB-conversion-in-Bangkok option in my experience.

Do the BKKB in Thailand also make a charge when receiving the transfer?

1 minute ago, JDGRUEN said:

Okay Folks... 

What does the SMART code designation mean... or signify? 

 

Is the SMART transfer designation used by other financial institutions?

 

Or is the SMART code designation used only by Transfer Wise?

 

Thank you in advance 

I asked a similar question in another thread.

I know it's used by Thai banks and signifies a local transfer made between two Thai banks within Thailand.

I have only known people having that Transfer code when a Thai intermediary bank has transferred funds to another, final destination, Thai bank account that originated from TW.

One person replied that they had received a SMART code on their account that didn't relate to an international transfer but was purely an internal transaction. OJAS has posted this transaction information in the post above

Personally, I transfer regularly between my own three accounts plus my wife's (2), daughters(2) and Thai family (5) and never seen a SMART on any transaction.

22 minutes ago, phuketrichard said:

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

According to a survey, most Americans don't have $500 they could pay in an emergency.

Why you (or anyone else) would think we all have a spare $25,000 to park in a Thai bank is beyond me.

BUT,
how many of those american's are trying to live in Thailand full time?

You're asking the wrong question.

You should be asking: 

How many Americans already living in Thailand fall into the 'don't have $500 they could pay in an emergency' catagory.

2 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

All Swifties I've ever done from Citibank to BKK Bank - going back 4 years - have shown as FTT. I have them all in my BKKBk book to prove it. Latest one I did was earlier this month (just to prove to myself that it still works) and, as a result, I have no need this month to do a TW transfer.

OK, sorry I must have mis-read the article I was reading.

5 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

Thai immigration has turned the screws on everyone, rich and not so rich.

That, supposedly, was to try and eliminate/reduce those doing things illegally.

What appears to have happened though is those of us that comply with the system and do things correctly are penalised with the rules being made more difficult compared to what seems to be a much easier route for those who use the illegal route and pay people off.

3 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

(2) IN ADDITION I have an extra 70K at the ready for a Swifty from Citibank in case the TW transfer does not show up as FTT ... Better safe than sorry.

I might be wrong, but I'm sure I read elsewhere recently that Citibank in Oz didn't have a direct 'partnership' with BKKB and they used an intermediary bank so all transfers arrived SMT.

8 minutes ago, mosan said:

Ok so what did you learn about how to obtain this summary page?

I assume they would be referring to the PDF we all get a link to in the 'transfer sent' confirmation email. That contains all the relevant information.

58 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Me Too!

Previously all my 40k TWs came to my Bangkok Bank account as FTT.

Start of this month SMT, did another 40k yesterday, another SMT.

Did you phone/email TW again to request your account was re-tagged to send your transfer via your preferred route before your transfer yesterday? 

Likewise, since the beginning of the year and, after I'd requested all transfers be routed via BKKB, they all were (FTT) until the beginning of July. After I had an SMT on 2-7-19 I phoned BKKB and TW and was told by both of them that a software update by TW was the reason for the problem. I was advised by both that I would need to contact TW when I did my next transfer to re-insert the tag on my account requesting again that all future transfers were routed via the BKKB. I have made two transfers since, one on the 11th when I did phone TW first (they told me the tag was highlighted permanently so I wouldn't need to phone each time, but future 'technical issues' might still mean the odd transfer could be routed via Kasikorn/TMB). The transfer arrived 'FTT'. I did a second transfer on the 13th without phoning and that transfer also arrived 'FTT'.

3 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

The average American household has $175,510 in savings as of June 2018

Is that immediately accessible savings that they can use/spend as and when required???

If they all have that much why do they need to use agents to obtain extensions using illegal financial documents?

12 minutes ago, a977 said:

On 7/24/2019 at 1:20 PM, giddyup said:

Doesn't answer my question as to how an agent overcomes the 90 day updated bank book, and of course the 800K is supposed to be in the bank 3 months prior to the extension, how do they show that?

Just a small brown envelope under the table works every time  See problem solved.

See problem (ILLEGALLY) solved.

51 minutes ago, pontious said:

You have been lucky. TW have repeatedly said in there emails if there is a technical problem with BB it will automatically use KB or TMB. That is automatic with no humans involved. Phoning, tagging, makes no difference at all.

As will the UK Banks, using Swift, use an intermediary if required due to technical issues.