What is the best American bank for someone living in Thailand?

[Media1]

22 hours ago, Media1 said:

BKK bank are in the US I think 

They are in the US 2 branches

[lopburi3]

9 minutes ago, Media1 said:

They are in the US 2 branches

We are talking about transfer of funds into Thailand using ACH - the US branch is just the conduct for that transfer.  The account and exchange is in Thailand.

[KhunFred]

12 hours ago, james1995 said:

The 1% fee is for purchases I think.  ATM withdrawals don't have any fees whatsoever.  I know because I use it all the time and I get better rates than $100 bills.

I do not need a brokerage account. My investing days are over. I am now living on my investment in an annuity and also two pension checks: SS and state retirement.

[Pib]

KhunFred,

   Specifically how recent (e.g., two weeks, three weeks, one month, etc) did those trial deposit post to your account that you couldn't figure out the dollar amount since they posted in baht?   I'm assuming I understood you correctly in that the trial deposits did indeed "post/deposit" to your Bangkok Bank account.

 

    The reason I ask is to determine if Bangkok Bank may now be letting trial deposit again, because in two other recent threads several people using three different U.S. banks/credit unions were having their trial deposits rejected by Bangkok Bank New York branch due to a Bangkok Bank policy change.   Thanks.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, chingching said:

I looked at Schwab as it was mentioned so much.  As a non-resident of USA you cannot get a checking account only, It must be linked to a brokerage account.  And you must apply through the Singapore Branch ( for anyone living in Thailand) I don't know if the brokerage side charges for inactivity if u don't actively trade stocks.  Also there is a minimum 25K usd to open.

27 minutes ago, KhunFred said:

I do not need a brokerage account. My investing days are over. I am now living on my investment in an annuity and also two pension checks: SS and state retirement.

 

Re Chingching's comment above and for Fred's info, that's not entirely correct.

 

It is correct that if you present yourself as a NON U.S. resident, then yes, Schwab will direct you toward one of their international accounts, which have different rules, and yes, the intetrnational account has a minimum to open.

 

However, if you present yourself as a U.S. citizen with a U.S. address, then you can open the Schwab account with no minimum. It will be both a checking and a separate brokerage account (both available via the same online banking interface), but there is no minimum deposit at all, and there's absolutely no requirement that you actually use or fund the brokerage account.

You can entirely and only use the checking account and let the brokerage account sit for years with zero balance and no trading activity, and that's not going to cause any issues.

 

Edited July 7, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[mgthom63]

12 minutes ago, KhunFred said:

 

post cancelled

Edited July 7, 2018 by mgthom63

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

14 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

We are talking about transfer of funds into Thailand using ACH - the US branch is just the conduct for that transfer.  The account and exchange is in Thailand.

 

That's correct. The BKKB New York branch is not a consumer location. You or I can't walk in there and open an account. For expats' purposes, BKKB is merely using that NY location as a pass thru entity to receive U.S. domestic ACH transfers (which are usually free or very low cost from the sending bank) and then send those funds onward to your BKKB account in Thailand.

 

The advantage of the BKKB NY transfer is that -- between the relatively low fees charged by the NY branch AND the commission charged by BKKB here -- the overall cost typically is going to be considerably less than sending a traditional international wire transfer from the U.S. to Thailand. Most U.S. banks  have pretty high international wire transfer fees, often in the $30-$60 range.

 

[Pib]

Since Transferwise has mentioned several times in this mutating thread in how to move money to Bangkok Bank, below is a Bangkok Bank & Transferwise comparison in terms of exchange rate and total fees...bottomline total baht posting to your Thai bank account taking in full consideration of exchange rates "and" fees. 

 

The comparison was done on 20 Jun 18.  You will notice Transferwise generally puts more baht in your account for lower transfer amounts.  By lower transfer amounts I mean for amounts approx lower than $4,000 based on more detailed analysis I did with more gross amounts than I used below.

 

I recently signed-up for a Transfer acct....have done two transfers....one to Bangkok Bank and one to Krungsri Bank.  My first transfer, which generally takes longer due to the new account verification process, took 4 business days.  My second transfer, with verification process under my belt, only took 2 business days.   Funding of these two transfers was via ACH Debit where Transferwise ACH Debits your U.S. bank account to fund the transfer....once Transferwise receives that funding they then complete the transfer to your Thai bank account. 

 

I doubt an ACH Debit transaction (i.e., ACH pull from your U.S. bank account) can go much faster than one or two business days due to the nature of the ACH Debit process....it just takes time for an ACH transaction to clear the various ACH settlement steps.  Then after Transferwise receives your funding it takes them approx another day to get the money transferred/posted to your Thai bank account. 

 

However, a person can also fund the transfer using their Debit Card which will probably be faster than an ACH Debit since a Debit Card cash transaction immediately hits your bank account where an ACH Debit transaction takes a business day or two to hit your account.  But the drawback to using a debit card is most debit cards are limited to cash transactions of $1000 or less per transaction/day.  If wanting to send more than your Debit card limit you will want to use the ACH Debit method (i.e., authorized pull of funds by Transferwise to fund the transfer).

 

Comparison on 20 Jun 18

 

 

[JimmyJ]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Re Chingching's comment above and for Fred's info, that's not entirely correct.

 

It is correct that if you present yourself as a NON U.S. resident, then yes, Schwab will direct you toward one of their international accounts, which have different rules, and yes, the intetrnational account has a minimum to open.

 

However, if you present yourself as a U.S. citizen with a U.S. address, then you can open the Schwab account with no minimum. It will be both a checking and a separate brokerage account (both available via the same online banking interface), but there is no minimum deposit at all, and there's absolutely no requirement that you actually use or fund the brokerage account.

You can entirely and only use the checking account and let the brokerage account sit for years with zero balance and no trading activity, and that's not going to cause any issues.

 

They also currently offer a $100 bonus for opening these accounts.

[chingching]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Re Chingching's comment above and for Fred's info, that's not entirely correct.

 

It is correct that if you present yourself as a NON U.S. resident, then yes, Schwab will direct you toward one of their international accounts, which have different rules, and yes, the intetrnational account has a minimum to open.

 

However, if you present yourself as a U.S. citizen with a U.S. address, then you can open the Schwab account with no minimum. It will be both a checking and a separate brokerage account (both available via the same online banking interface), but there is no minimum deposit at all, and there's absolutely no requirement that you actually use or fund the brokerage account.

You can entirely and only use the checking account and let the brokerage account sit for years with zero balance and no trading activity, and that's not going to cause any issues.

 

I would agree with you that that would probably work 99% of the time, I certainly have no contradictory evidence.  However, I'm sure the application you sign has you swearing that the information you give is true to the best of your knowledge. If you claim to be living at a certain address and you don't that's considered fraud.  I doubt the bank would initiate this, on its own.  I don't doubt, either, that the government is looking over the banks shoulders once in a while to make sure it is complying with KYC.  To cover it's own ass, the bank would likely freeze your account.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 minutes ago, chingching said:

I would agree with you that that would probably work 99% of the time, I certainly have no contradictory evidence.  However, I'm sure the application you sign has you swearing that the information you give is true to the best of your knowledge. If you claim to be living at a certain address and you don't that's considered fraud.  I doubt the bank would initiate this, on its own.  I don't doubt, either, that the government is looking over the banks shoulders once in a while to make sure it is complying with KYC.  To cover it's own ass, the bank would likely freeze your account.

 

The only answer to your comment above is the scores of U.S. expats who have been using and benefiting from the Schwab account for many years generally without any problems.

 

The other thing to remember, just for context purposes, is most retired folks living in Thailand -- no matter how long they've stayed here -- are living on the 1 year at a time retirement extension regimen.

 

I'm not saying it's likely to happen by any means, but the truth is, most folks don't have any long-term right to stay here and the Thai government could come along at any time and change the rules / income requirements, and retired folks could quickly find themselves having to go elsewhere or return home.  So in that sense, the U.S. is always going to be "home" for most Americans, even if they're staying elsewhere for the time being.

 

Edited July 7, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[suzannegoh]

6 minutes ago, chingching said:

I would agree with you that that would probably work 99% of the time, I certainly have no contradictory evidence.  However, I'm sure the application you sign has you swearing that the information you give is true to the best of your knowledge. If you claim to be living at a certain address and you don't that's considered fraud.  I doubt the bank would initiate this, on its own.  I don't doubt, either, that the government is looking over the banks shoulders once in a while to make sure it is complying with KYC.  To cover it's own ass, the bank would likely freeze your account.

I opened a Schwab account online using the address of a remailing service as my residential address but I wound up abandoning it when their system detected that my address was a business address rather than a residential address.  After it detected that, it still opened the account but it wouldn't let me fund it.  The next step would have been to talk to an agent on the phone but I decided that it wasn't worth it and decided to just leave the account unused and unfunded.

[chingching]

No I agree with you, the likelihood of anything happening in very very small,  Americans like to say, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease",  The Japanese say , "The nail sticking up gets the hammer".   Most countries have a few laws that almost everyone is guilty of, but hardly anyone is ever charged.  Like the computer crime law in Thailand.,   like lying on your bank application in the u.s.a.  ( Michael Cohen, Paul Mannafort, to name two )

[kolohe]

18 hours ago, chingching said:

No matter where you live paying off your debt should be your #1 priority.  Credit card interest is 21% , annually, in the USA.  

 

1

I'm not sure where you're getting your credit cards/info from but "credit card interest is 21% in the USA" is inaccurate. There might be some cards that are that high (and higher) but it's a mischaracterization to say they're all that high. I have several cards that are below 10%. My lowest one is 6.99%. 

 

Yes, the #1 priority should be paying off your debt. However, if you can't pay it off all at once and it is on a card in the 20% range, you really should look at transferring the balance to a lower rate card. You can probably even take advantage of a balance transfer promotion that offers 0%-2.99% APRs for the transfer for 12-18 months. That will help you knock it down faster.

[armadillo215]

I have a checking and savings acct. at USAA and a savings acct. at Bangkok Bank. I did have my retirement direct deposited into my BB acct. however as you now know you must go to a BB branch to access funds and they charge you a considerable fee for deposit. I closed my direct deposit acct. and now transfer from my USAA using the BB routing number for the New York BB branch. I also have access to my BB savings online. USAA does not have a transfer fee between banks. BB's charges, $50 free, to $1999=$5, from $2000 to $50,000=$10 plus .25 conversion fee not to exceed 500 baht. For me transferring $4000 costs 248 baht. You must be former military to get an account at USAA and there are no fees for anything.

Hope this helps. The small deposit fee and transfer fee are small as compared to swift fees.

Good luck

[Pib]

Not sure how you reached the Bt248 result for a $4K transfer whether talking total fees or just the in-Thailand branch fee.  Here is what the transfer would cost using a 32 baht/dollar exchange rate for example purposes:

 

- Your send $4,000 from USAA...they do not charge a Sending fee.

 

- As the funds flow thru the Bangkok Bank NY branch they slice-off a $10 fee (equate to Bt320).  $3,990 continue on to Thailand.  And note the NY branch fee is applied to even U.S. govt payment such as social security, military retirement, etc.

 

- $3,990 arrive your in-Thailand Bangkok Bank where it converted.  At 32 baht/dollar that equates to Bt127,680.

 

- Before posting to your account the 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) fee is applied to the Bt127,680 which results in a Bt319.20 fee. 

  -- Note: This fee is also applied even for U.S. govt payments just as the NY branch fee. This fee and the NY branch fee will "not" appear anywhere on your Bangkok Bank ibanking/statement/passbook which can fool some folks into thinking not fees were applied but they were indeed applied.

 

- That Bt319.20 fee is subtracted from Bt127,680 which leaves Bt127,360.80 which is then posted to your account.

 

Total fees: Bt320 + Bt319.20 = Bt639.20 which is $19.98.

 

 

[armadillo215]

45 minutes ago, Pib said:

Not sure how you reached the Bt248 result for a $4K transfer whether talking total fees or just the in-Thailand branch fee.  Here is what the transfer would cost using a 32 baht/dollar exchange rate for example purposes:

 

- Your send $4,000 from USAA...they do not charge a Sending fee.

 

- As the funds flow thru the Bangkok Bank NY branch they slice-off a $10 fee (equate to Bt320).  $3,990 continue on to Thailand.  And note the NY branch fee is applied to even U.S. govt payment such as social security, military retirement, etc.

 

- $3,990 arrive your in-Thailand Bangkok Bank where it converted.  At 32 baht/dollar that equates to Bt127,680.

 

- Before posting to your account the 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) fee is applied to the Bt127,680 which results in a Bt319.20 fee. 

  -- Note: This fee is also applied even for U.S. govt payments just as the NY branch fee. This fee and the NY branch fee will "not" appear anywhere on your Bangkok Bank ibanking/statement/passbook which can fool some folks into thinking not fees were applied but they were indeed applied.

 

- That Bt319.20 fee is subtracted from Bt127,680 which leaves Bt127,360.80 which is then posted to your account.

 

Total fees: Bt320 + Bt319.20 = Bt639.20 which is $19.98.

Considering you know more about my transaction than I , as usual. I was being very general but since you know more that I, I will show the exact transaction to which I was referring. I actually transferred $3510 of which BB NY took $10 off the top that they do not note on any statement. $3500 was converted to Thai baht at the rate at the time of conversion 32.97 less .25=288.49 baht. The information I just noted is sent to me via SMS when the transaction occurs. But I am sure you will have further insults for me...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

42 minutes ago, armadillo215 said:

Considering you know more about my transaction than I , as usual. I was being very general but since you know more that I, I will show the exact transaction to which I was referring. I actually transferred $3510 of which BB NY took $10 off the top that they do not note on any statement. $3500 was converted to Thai baht at the rate at the time of conversion 32.97 less .25=288.49 baht. The information I just noted is sent to me via SMS when the transaction occurs. But I am sure you will have further insults for me...

 

When it comes to posting banking transactions here, it's always helpful to post accurate numbers so that others reading here can see and understand and confirm the details of what occurred.

 

You obviously have a good sense of how the BKKB NY transfer process works. But there have been many times when people post details claiming one thing or another, and they don't know they're being charged a fee when they in fact are, or other things that require correcting. Accurate details enable confirmation.

 

Edited July 8, 2018 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Pib]

Considering you know more about my transaction than I , as usual. I was being very general but since you know more that I, I will show the exact transaction to which I was referring. I actually transferred $3510 of which BB NY took $10 off the top that they do not note on any statement. $3500 was converted to Thai baht at the rate at the time of conversion 32.97 less .25=288.49 baht. The information I just noted is sent to me via SMS when the transaction occurs. But I am sure you will have further insults for me...

No insult intended...it's just the fee in your first post was not close to the actual fee incurred during your transfer which is misinformation....gives the impression of a much lower transfer cost.

 

And in your clarifying post above you are now using different numbers...like you are now using a $3510 sent amount vs the $4000 in your earlier post. Now saying a Bt288 fee where you said Bt248 before. That's makes a big difference especially when numerous folks read Thaivisa hoping to get info on the best and lowest cost ways to transfer money to Thailand.

 

You should have used the correct/accurate amounts in your first post since you had the info.

 

[tweedledee2]

3 hours ago, Pib said:

No insult intended...it's just the fee in your first post was not close to the actual fee incurred during your transfer which is misinformation....gives the impression of a much lower transfer cost.

 

And in your clarifying post above you are now using different numbers...like you are now using a $3510 sent amount vs the $4000 in your earlier post. Now saying a Bt288 fee where you said Bt248 before. That's makes a big difference especially when numerous folks read Thaivisa hoping to get info on the best and lowest cost ways to transfer money to Thailand.

 

You should have used the correct/accurate amounts in your first post since you had the info.

 

Why don't you start your own thread on money transfers, because it is off-topic for this thread?   This money transfer debate is like flogging a dead horse.  There is no one perfect choice for everyone.   You use the one you think is best, let armadillo use his method, I'll use mine and everyone else can make their own choices.   That said, don't bother replying.  I'm blocking replies because the OP's topic died pages ago. 

[KhunFred]

On 7/7/2018 at 9:50 AM, Pib said:

KhunFred,

   Specifically how recent (e.g., two weeks, three weeks, one month, etc) did those trial deposit post to your account that you couldn't figure out the dollar amount since they posted in baht?   I'm assuming I understood you correctly in that the trial deposits did indeed "post/deposit" to your Bangkok Bank account.

 

    The reason I ask is to determine if Bangkok Bank may now be letting trial deposit again, because in two other recent threads several people using three different U.S. banks/credit unions were having their trial deposits rejected by Bangkok Bank New York branch due to a Bangkok Bank policy change.   Thanks.

 

 

That trial deposit was several months ago, not very recently.

[Sheryl]

I have a checking and savings acct. at USAA and a savings acct. at Bangkok Bank. I did have my retirement direct deposited into my BB acct. however as you now know you must go to a BB branch to access funds and they charge you a considerable fee for deposit. I closed my direct deposit acct. and now transfer from my USAA using the BB routing number for the New York BB branch. I also have access to my BB savings online. USAA does not have a transfer fee between banks. BB's charges, $50 free, to $1999=$5, from $2000 to $50,000=$10 plus .25 conversion fee not to exceed 500 baht. For me transferring $4000 costs 248 baht. You must be former military to get an account at USAA and there are no fees for anything.
Hope this helps. The small deposit fee and transfer fee are small as compared to swift fees.
Good luck

Children of gormer mitary also qualufy for USAA account.

Sent from my SM-J701F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Pib]

1 hour ago, KhunFred said:

That trial deposit was several months ago, not very recently.

Sounds like they were before May or April because it was on 2 May and 25 May when two other ThaiVisa members started threads on their trial deposits being rejected by the Bangkok Bank "New York" branch due to a Bangkok Bank policy change. 

 

That is, their trial deposits never arrived their in-Thailand Bangkok Bank branch because the New York branch, which the trial deposits are routed through, was rejecting them/kicking them back because of not being in the "International ACH Transfer (IAT)" format which was the  Bangkok Bank new policy requirement which appears to have started around Apr.  

 

Edited July 9, 2018 by Pib

[earlinclaifornia]

On 7/5/2018 at 4:12 PM, Sheryl said:

If you are the child of someone with military service you will also qualify for USAA> or maybe that has to be, child of a USAA member, I'm not sure on that point.

 

I know I qualified due to my father.

Yes USAA is great. My qualification was my late father in law

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 7/9/2018 at 6:13 PM, KhunFred said:

That trial deposit was several months ago, not very recently.

 

As I reported in one of the other BKKB threads yesterday, staff at BKKB's New York branch told me they have stopped accepting any NEW ACH links from U.S. bank accounts. Their current domestic U.S. ACH transfer system is coming to an end because of federal banking regulation requirements on international transfers.

 

However, those with EXISTING links between their U.S. accounts and the BKKB NY branch should be able to continuing doing ACH transfers at least for the next few months during a grace period. BKKB is working on some kind of solution to replace the current domestic ACH system, but at present, it's not clear if they'll be able to find one and what that might be for the future.

 

All this above relates to private party funds transfers from the U.S. that have gone thru BKKB's New York branch. The coming changes are NOT supposed to have any effect on people who currently have, or will in the future, their Social Security payments direct deposited to BKKB.

 

[OJAS]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

As I reported in one of the other BKKB threads yesterday, staff at BKKB's New York branch told me they have stopped accepting any NEW ACH links from U.S. bank accounts. Their current domestic U.S. ACH transfer system is coming to an end because of federal banking regulation requirements on international transfers.

 

However, those with EXISTING links between their U.S. accounts and the BKKB NY branch should be able to continuing doing ACH transfers at least for the next few months during a grace period. BKKB is working on some kind of solution to replace the current domestic ACH system, but at present, it's not clear if they'll be able to find one and what that might be for the future.

 

All this above relates to private party funds transfers from the U.S. that have gone thru BKKB's New York branch. The coming changes are NOT supposed to have any effect on people who currently have, or will in the future, their Social Security payments direct deposited to BKKB.

 

Hmm, looks like these changes will go further than those introduced by BKKB's London branch last year, as described in the following thread:-

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

24 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Hmm, looks like these changes will go further than those introduced by BKKB's London branch last year, as described in the following thread:-

 

 

 

I think it's all part of a broader crackdown, increased regulation, on the movement of funds internationally.

 

This thread is obviously U.S. centered. But I believe it was Pib who mentioned recently his perception that the UK BKKB changes made their process so onerous that many Brits went looking for other transfer options as a result.

 

[OJAS]

22 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I think it's all part of a broader crackdown, increased regulation, on the movement of funds internationally.

 

This thread is obviously U.S. centered. But I believe it was Pib who mentioned recently his perception that the UK BKKB changes made their process so onerous that many Brits went looking for other transfer options as a result.

 

Indeed, since the BKKB quasi-internal transfer route is seemingly being closed off, it looks increasingly like the way forward for us Brits and Americans will be a toss-up between SWIFT and money transfer services like TransferWise (which I have been using since the BKKB London branch crackdown). And how soon is the regulatory spotlight likely to be shone on the likes of TransferWise as well, I wonder, leaving the relatively expensive SWIFT route as the sole practical option?

[Pib]

36 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Indeed, since the BKKB quasi-internal transfer route is seemingly being closed off, it looks increasingly like the way forward for us Brits and Americans will be a toss-up between SWIFT and money transfer services like TransferWise (which I have been using since the BKKB London branch crackdown). And how soon is the regulatory spotlight likely to be shone on the likes of TransferWise as well, I wonder, leaving the relatively expensive SWIFT route as the sole practical option?

It's not really a crackdown, its just certain information now being required for "international" transfers like complete name and address of the Sender and Receiver plus a few other tidbits of key info is "not" included in the Domestic ACH Transfer format and apparently not include the UK Domestic BACS transfer since these transfer info formats where always intend only for domestic transfers only...funds staying within country.   

 

Whereas, in the International ACH Transfer (IAT) format the additional info is included/required since around 2009...just as it's included in a SWIFT transfer...and just as it's included in an international money sender transfer such as Transferwise and similar companies. 

 

The IAT format has been in use since around 2009...nothing new about IAT which is primarily used by companies for international payment of goods/services, payroll of foreign staff, etc.,  but I guess there were loopholes and non-mandatory provisions up until recently as world governments continue to tighten-up/monitor international flow of funds. 

 

Unfortunately, I know of no U.S. bank/credit union that uses the IAT format for retail customer account.  They only offer Domestic ACH Transfers, SWIFT, and/or International Wire for retail accounts.  SWIFT and International Wire usually incur a sending fee in the $25 to $50 ballpark where Domestic ACH transfer usually did not incur any Sending fee exceed at the more fee-greed banks/credit unions.  And many times you can not even initiate a SWIFT/International Wire on your ibanking; instead, you must send in a form or call your bank.

 

When it comes to financial and bankster polices they change....the change is either driven by governments and/or just the banksters themselves.  Best to have more than one option...accounts with different banks...credit/debit cards from different banks....so when one bank changes its policy for the worst you hopefully still have other banking options to continue on.  And know it's getting to the point a person probably needs to have money transfer services accounts like Transferwise also.  Preaching to the choir I know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[khaepmu]

   I have mentioned this way of transferring funds from the States to Thailand before and some felt it took too much time and one could not  pinpoint the exact exchange rate. But every year I write a check to myself and deposit it in my Thai bank. The check is from my US bank account. It takes between 4-5 weeks to clear.  The exchange rate has always been favorable .My check is usually for  9,500 to 9,900 dollars and the fee from the Thai bank is about 500 baht. It has never failed  ( have been using it for the last 11 years) and I am hoping that this kind of transfer remains an easy option.