Option for regular, small payments from USA to Thailand

[Monomial]

A foreign worker in the USA wants to send regular, small payments (around 1000 baht a month) from the USA to Thailand. What is the best way to do this?

 

A couple of restrictions:

 

1. PayPal is not an option. The receiver in Thailand and all of the immediate family has been permanently banned from PayPal due to previously violating their terms of service.

 

2. The worker in the USA tried to sign up with Coinbase and was refused due to identity verification problems.

 

Given the restrictions above, can anyone suggest a way to make small payments for a reasonable fee? The Bangkok Bank solution requires 200 baht fee every time ... a 20% hit. It has to be cheaper than that.

 

Thoughts or suggestions?

 

[ubonjoe]

For that small amount of money I cannot think of any low cost way to send it related to the amount sent.

Moneygram could be an option (no ID needed to send small amounts). Checked using $35 sent today that would result in the recipient getting 1,100 baht for a fee of $9.99 paid by the sender.

See: https://secure.moneygram.com/estimate/receiverInfo

[lopburi3]

If living in a larger city he might try asking at Thai shops if they have ideas.

[dcasanares]

Get a Pre-Paid VISA/Mastercard and document the information so you can add money to it monthly and then mail it to Thailand hoping that it reaches the destination.

 

[LPCustom69]

There is always Western Union.

[PaulusE]

https://transferwise.com/

[Tedly]

westernunion, although not the best exchange rate, charges 4.99 dollars for a 4 day transfer. More for a next day. if not in a big rush or plan ahead I don't think that's too awful.

[jgarbo]

6 hours ago, Monomial said:

A foreign worker in the USA wants to send regular, small payments (around 1000 baht a month) from the USA to Thailand. What is the best way to do this?

 

A couple of restrictions:

 

1. PayPal is not an option. The receiver in Thailand and all of the immediate family has been permanently banned from PayPal due to previously violating their terms of service.

 

2. The worker in the USA tried to sign up with Coinbase and was refused due to identity verification problems.

 

Given the restrictions above, can anyone suggest a way to make small payments for a reasonable fee? The Bangkok Bank solution requires 200 baht fee every time ... a 20% hit. It has to be cheaper than that.

 

Thoughts or suggestions?

 

A simple ploy that works for a pal.  Wrap the cash flat in a sheet heavy, patterned paper with a note saying , eg "Here's the money you lent me in Thailand, Thanks." and put it a strong envelope, taped shut. Send it Certified. My pal did it for years, never failed and helped some Thais who helped him out once. Cost about $1.50. 

[skatewash]

Any chance that your friend could send say 3,000 once every three months?  That definitely reduces the amount lost to transaction charges.  Of course, there could be reasons why that would be an unsuitable solution.  A premium (penalty) is being paid if it has to be sent monthly.

[MyFriend You]

3 hours ago, dcasanares said:

Get a Pre-Paid VISA/Mastercard and document the information so you can add money to it monthly and then mail it to Thailand hoping that it reaches the destination.

 

I actually have this option for my Niece in Medical School, I top it up about $200 a month for small purchases, nights out w/friends etc etc - she is very responsible and I can check the balance whenever I want.

[lopburi3]

1 hour ago, TunnelRat69 said:

I actually have this option for my Niece in Medical School, I top it up about $200 a month for small purchases, nights out w/friends etc etc - she is very responsible and I can check the balance whenever I want.

But poster is talking about $30 per month and it will cost a good portion of that to use an ATM here so not really viable when he is concerned with the 200 baht that a bank transfer would entail as this would be even more.  

[adisornc]

Check out Bangkok Bank in New York city. I think  for small amounts they don't charge any fee on either end. You just wire money to their NY branch giving them Bangkok bank Thai account number. 

[lopburi3]

10 minutes ago, adisornc said:

Check out Bangkok Bank in New York city. I think  for small amounts they don't charge any fee on either end. You just wire money to their NY branch giving them Bangkok bank Thai account number. 

Believe there is always a receiving fee here in Thailand of 200-500 baht however so suspect that is what OP was talking about.  Fee is .25% of amount transferred but never less than 200 baht nor more than 500 baht.

[LostinSEA]

Don't think this is a realistic option for the OP,  as the amount being sent is so small but nowadays I get my Thai Baht from my mate (who works in Bangkok), he sends money back each month while the Baht is quite strong against the £ so before my trip I simply transfer the money from my UK account to his UK Account & he gives me the THB when I arrive.

 

We use whatever price is showing on XE, e.g. we did £500 last Friday & it was 44.99 so we agreed 22,500 THB - He never would have got £500 for 22,500 THB & vice versa,so we both win... Especially as there's no fees whatsoever either side.

 

Works if you absolutely trust the other person.

 

Like I say, might not be an option for the OP but if you're a regular visitor to Thailand and know somebody who's working there & regularly sends money home it's worth considering.

 

Edit: Should add that I live in Singapore (but like to use my passive income from the UK when I holiday, feels like "Free Money" :) ) and he visits here occasionally so we do the same with SGD$ & THB.

 

 

Edited September 26, 2017 by LostinSEA

[KhunBENQ]

4 hours ago, jgarbo said:

A simple ploy that works for a pal.  Wrap the cash flat in a sheet heavy, patterned paper with a note saying , eg "Here's the money you lent me in Thailand, Thanks." and put it a strong envelope, taped shut. Send it Certified. My pal did it for years, never failed and helped some Thais who helped him out once. Cost about $1.50. 

I hesitated to suggest that.

But really for such a small amount it's worth trying.

Put 30 to 35 USD in clean notes and send it registered.

It's may not perfectly legal to send cash in postal mail but "creative" solutions are needed here.

[lopburi3]

Still believe the informal friend helping friend that might be found from a Thai person/business would likely be the best - many Thai are in USA as students and need USD and have parents willing to pay Baht in Thailand with no exchange loss - but you have to make contact and have some trust.

[asmatullahkhan]

13 hours ago, Monomial said:

A foreign worker in the USA wants to send regular, small payments (around 1000 baht a month) from the USA to Thailand. What is the best way to do this?

 

A couple of restrictions:

 

1. PayPal is not an option. The receiver in Thailand and all of the immediate family has been permanently banned from PayPal due to previously violating their terms of service.

 

2. The worker in the USA tried to sign up with Coinbase and was refused due to identity verification problems.

 

Given the restrictions above, can anyone suggest a way to make small payments for a reasonable fee? The Bangkok Bank solution requires 200 baht fee every time ... a 20% hit. It has to be cheaper than that.

 

Thoughts or suggestions?

 

I am not Thai but live and work in Thailand from last 20 years .Tell me where you want to give money in Thailand. I will give my self later I take from you .small money no problem

[CaptHaddock]

Is the recipient in Thailand a Thai national or an American with a US bank account?  If the latter, then there are a variety of free US bank to US bank transfer methods such as popmoney and zell.  Depends on the banks involved as to which methods are supported.

[Jaybott]

You could try looking into XE.com.

 

I have there mobile app I use for exchange rates and conversions but there is always an ad from them about transferring money from anywhere to anywhere. I never used this service so I've no idea what the fee is. May be worth a look; you can download the app from Playstore, Apple & Microsoft stores.

[Jaybott]

Any chance your friend could open a Bangkok Bank account? He or she would have to do it in Thailand.  If so your friend could transfer say 6000 baht to his BB account, only one transfer fee applied. He could then transfer 1k a month to another BB account free or to another Thai Bank for 20 baht.

 

If he goes this route be sure to sign up for mBanking (mobile app) and/or iBanking (internet banking). He'll need them to initiate the transfer.

[Pib]

For a monthly $100 transfer via ACH using Bangkok Bank the fee would be $3 (their NY branch flow-thru fee) plus Bt200 (in-Thailand branch receiving fee).   This totals-up to around $9 which would be 9% of the total $100 sent.  And this assuming the person's sending bank does not apply any sending fee.  See fee structure below from Bangkok Bank website.   And please note both fees are applied "before" posting to a person's account which means they will not appear anywhere on your Bangkok Bank account which fools a lot of people into thinking no fees were applied but the fees were indeed applied.   

 

[Monomial]

5 hours ago, Jaybott said:

You could try looking into XE.com.

 

I have there mobile app I use for exchange rates and conversions but there is always an ad from them about transferring money from anywhere to anywhere. I never used this service so I've no idea what the fee is. May be worth a look; you can download the app from Playstore, Apple & Microsoft stores.

 

This looked really interesting as a possible solution, but it turns out it is not available for Thailand. The only place in SE Asia that is supported is Singapore.

 

 

[Monomial]

I would just like to say thank you for all the ideas.

 

Transferwise seems the closest so far. They are charging about 7% with no funding fee if paid by debit card. If there are any other suggestions please let me know.

 

Keep in mind the transfer amount is small. The 200 baht Bangkok Bank fee is 20% of the total we are talking about, and that is only about $7.  Any fee has to be significantly less than this.

 

I am aware that bigger amounts would be cheaper. Bigger amounts also mean it probably won't be sent at all because it will be too painful. Small amounts every month are really all that is practical for this situation. It is disappointing there do not seem to be any services targeting this market.

 

So if anyone else can think of an option, please feel free to suggest it.