How to retrieve funds from a Thai Bank

[TedGuhl]

I have a friend who had lived in Hua HIn for 8 years. He developed dementia and neglected to renew his retirement visa (4 months late) was pulled over for a traffic violation and deported. He is now in California. His retirement has been on automatic deposit into Bangkok Bank.(since stopped) I am trying to get Bangkok Bank to return his existing funds to his USA account. They seemed willing (I had copies of his passport, bank passbook, etc.) However, they said they needed a legal document from him that says I have the right to sign for him here. I am thinking this may be a Power of Attorney or something similar. Question: has anyone done this successfully? What document was required? If it was "Power of Attorney" did it have to be court issued? Or would a notarized version do?

Thank you for any help you can offer.

ps. He also forgot his pin number for his ATM card and it was taken by the ATM machine - so that is not a solution.

Edited January 11, 2018 by TedGuhl

[stevenl]

It is a bank requirement, so I would simply get a standard power of attorney, not notarized. If the bank wants more they will let you know.

[ubonjoe]

23 minutes ago, TedGuhl said:

I am thinking this may be a Power of Attorney or something similar.

That is what you would need.

He could do a power of attorney in California and have it notarized. I think the bank would want it translated to Thai which you could have done here.

[melvinmelvin]

Yes,

I did something similar successfully almost 10 years ago. Also Bangkok Bank.

 

My brother who was living in Sweden at the time had a Swedish lawyer drawing up

a power of A (in English) for me to use re his financial assets in Thailand.

It was notarized in Sweden.

 

I took it to the Swedish embassy in LoS and they verified the lawyer and notarization.

Then off to the MFA to have them give the final nod re the paperwork.

 

Then off to Bangkok Bank, opened a couple of accounts in my name,

transferred all my brothers assets (not small sums) into my two accounts

and then closed down his accounts.

 

No mentioning of translation into Thai.

 

Went smooth - no problems - done in less than a day.

 

(I did not look at ways to transfer assets out of LoS.

 I had a separate paper facilitating the opening of accounts in my name in Bangkok Bank

 (they were quite strict with farang accounts at that time).

 

A breeze really, or smooth as silk if you prefer.

 

 

(and, no mentioning of ID of my brother - passport or the like,

 and no mentioning of passbooks, i just had the account numbers)

 

 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2018 by melvinmelvin

[scorecard]

Good luck and I hope you achieve your good objective.

 

Let me share that I recently wanted to send the equivalent of AUD25- from my K Bank savings account to a bank account in my name in Australia. My plan was to then use internet banking to transfer the same money to pay an annual subscription to a community association.

 

K Bank said 'not possible', foreigners are now not allowed, under any circumstances, to send money out of Thailand. New regulations of the Bank of Thailand

 

Whilst at the bank desk I called K Bank HO and asked if there is waiver possible for such a small amount. No.

 

I asked if the rule applied to farang who have permanent residency. The bank guy had to check with his boss, then said no.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2018 by scorecard

[Media1]

4 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Good luck and I hope you achieve your good objective.

 

Let me share that I recently wanted to send the equivalent of AUD25- from my K Bank savings account to a bank account in my name in Australia. My plan was to then use internet banking to transfer the same money to pay an annual subscription to a community association.

 

K Bank said 'not possible', foreigners are now not allowed, under any circumstances, to send money out of Thailand. New regulations of the Bank of Thailand

 

Whilst at the bank desk I called K Bank HO and asked if there is waiver possible for such a small amount. No.

 

I asked if the rule applied to farang who have permanent residency. The bank guy had to check with his boss, then said no.

 

 

Yes crooks doing there jobs

I would never leave large sums in this place 

[dotpoom]

Sorry to hear about your friend's demencia....sounds serious enough if he forgot the things you say. But it also sounds serious for other road users that he appears to have been druving (comitted a trafic violation) in his condition?

[Pib]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

Good luck and I hope you achieve your good objective.

 

Let me share that I recently wanted to send the equivalent of AUD25- from my K Bank savings account to a bank account in my name in Australia. My plan was to then use internet banking to transfer the same money to pay an annual subscription to a community association.

 

K Bank said 'not possible', foreigners are now not allowed, under any circumstances, to send money out of Thailand. New regulations of the Bank of Thailand

 

Whilst at the bank desk I called K Bank HO and asked if there is waiver possible for such a small amount. No.

 

I asked if the rule applied to farang who have permanent residency. The bank guy had to check with his boss, then said no.

 

 

There are no new Bank of Thailand (BOT) regulations saying farangs can not send money out of the country...fully expect you misunderstood.  Now there are BOT regulations that have been in place for a long, long time where certain requirements have to be met for a Thai or farang to send funds out of Thailand. 

 

What it boils down to is having an accepted reason "and supporting docs."    But generally for farangs it boils down to "salary reparation" and reparation of funds from the sale of a Thai residence where you originally bought the funds into Thailand to buy the residence.  But there are other exceptions to pay some bills, situations like the OP is asking about, death, etc.   All have unique documentation requirements. 

 

All of this will require documentation such as proof of income/salary, original docs showing when the funds came into Thailand, etc---the source of income requirement talked about below.    No new BOT regulations....just the same ones.

 

I know you were talking K Bank but below are some quotes from Bangkok Bank talking the transfer of funds out of Thailand (K Bank follows the same rules)...same rules that have been in effect for a long time.

 

Quote

 

Funds can be transferred for any number of reasons, depending on whether you are a Thai national or foreigner working in Thailand.

For Thai Nationals

 

• Educational expenses    • Family support    • Living expenses    • Payment for goods    • Payment for services

• Travel expenses • Personal expenses • Gifts • Donations

 

For Foreigners

    • Salary repatriation

 

 

Edited January 11, 2018 by Pib

[Slip]

5 minutes ago, Pib said:

There are no new Bank of Thailand (BOT) regulations saying farangs can not send money out of the country...fully expect you misunderstood.  Now there are BOT regulations that have been in place for a long, long time where certain requirements have to be met for a Thai or farang to send funds out of Thailand.  What it boils down to is having an accepted reason "and supporting docs."    But generally for farangs it boils down to "salary reparation" and reparation of funds from the sale of a Thai residence where you originally bought the funds into Thailand to buy the residence.  All of this will require documentation such as proof of income/salary, original docs showing when the funds came into Thailand, etc---the source of income requirement talked about below.    No new BOT regulations....just the same ones.

 

I know you were talking K Bank but below are some quotes from Bangkok Bank talking the transfer of funds out of Thailand (K Bank follows the same rules)...same rules that have been in effect for a long time.

 

 

 

 

 

Absolutely correct.  I transferred funds internationally by internet banking (although from Bangkok bank not Kbank) 2 days ago.

[mrwebb8825]

Why not just contact the Bangkok Bank in NYC and transfer the funds in country?

[MyFriend You]

20 hours ago, Pib said:

There are no new Bank of Thailand (BOT) regulations saying farangs can not send money out of the country...fully expect you misunderstood.  Now there are BOT regulations that have been in place for a long, long time where certain requirements have to be met for a Thai or farang to send funds out of Thailand. 

 

What it boils down to is having an accepted reason "and supporting docs."    But generally for farangs it boils down to "salary reparation" and reparation of funds from the sale of a Thai residence where you originally bought the funds into Thailand to buy the residence.  But there are other exceptions to pay some bills, situations like the OP is asking about, death, etc.   All have unique documentation requirements. 

 

All of this will require documentation such as proof of income/salary, original docs showing when the funds came into Thailand, etc---the source of income requirement talked about below.    No new BOT regulations....just the same ones.

 

I know you were talking K Bank but below are some quotes from Bangkok Bank talking the transfer of funds out of Thailand (K Bank follows the same rules)...same rules that have been in effect for a long time.

  "What it boils down to is having an accepted reason "and supporting docs."  Hypothetical question  -  what if a Farang won a big prize in the Thai Lottery - say 12M baht, could he/she transfer it out to a US account and bring it back in labeled "For Condominium Purchase"   asking for someone else.  Farang was told he couldn't use his winnings to buy property because they didn't come from outside Thailand.

 

 

[Pib]

42 minutes ago, mrwebb8825 said:

Why not just contact the Bangkok Bank in NYC and transfer the funds in country?

That does nothing to provide the required docs for approval.  The Bangkok Bank New York branch is licensed as a U.S. bank under U.S. banking laws; not as a Thai bank licensed under the Bank of Thailand and Thai laws.   

 

Plus, if you are talking  why not just do an ACH "withdrawal/pull" of funds via the Bangkok Bank NY branch, they can not do an ACH withdrawal/pull from Bangkok Bank branches in Thailand; the NY branch ACH capability is for "sending" only. 

 

Plus the Bangkok Bank website states don't even try to do an ACH pull of funds as it will just be rejected.  Understandable, because the pulling of the money is really no different than the sending out of money as money is leaving Thailand in either case so the Bank of Thailand requirements for the outflow of funds must be met.

 

 

[mrwebb8825]

Thank you Pib, I didn't know that. Thailand still impresses me after all these years. Countries like the US could learn a few things like how to keep companies and people from taking their money out of the country and how to control immigration. :)

[Pib]

3 hours ago, mrwebb8825 said:

Thank you Pib, I didn't know that. Thailand still impresses me after all these years. Countries like the US could learn a few things like how to keep companies and people from taking their money out of the country and how to control immigration. :)

Donald is a big fan of Thai immigration and banking policies ever since he had Thailand host one of his beauty contests....and I pretty sure he's trying to model his new U.S. immigration/banking policies on tried-and true Thai policies.

Edited January 13, 2018 by Pib