We retiring in Thailand next year, what should we do?

[ubonjoe]

18 minutes ago, NancyL said:

No need for "trial deposits".

I think that is what the problem with Bangkok Bank is. It think a lot of banks and etc are doing the trial deposits with a drawback (return after receiving) request which cannot be done.

[jerry921]

1 hour ago, NancyL said:

I know that there have been reports of difficulty with new ACH transfers between U.S. banks and Bangkok Bank, so to test this on Friday evening, Thai time, I set up a new ACH transfer between my U.S. credit union checking account and the Bangkok Bank account of an organization in Thailand, an account not in my name.  No problem.  They sent me an SMS yesterday (Wednesday) that they had received my donation from the U.S.  I used the credit union's "bill pay" function.  No need for "trial deposits".

Great info. Good workaround to the trial deposits. Did you have to give the name on the account that you're paying or just an account number?
 

[NancyL]

23 minutes ago, jerry921 said:

Great info. Good workaround to the trial deposits. Did you have to give the name on the account that you're paying or just an account number?
 

Gave the name on the account I'm paying.  It's really no different than paying your Visa bill or house mortgage online.

[utalkin2me]

I do not know if we do it "the best" way, but we do not even mess with transfers, although we have done them on occasion. Just go to a yellow atm with a schwab debit and can get one grand usd in baht. 

[joealx]

57 minutes ago, NancyL said:

Gave the name on the account I'm paying.  It's really no different than paying your Visa bill or house mortgage online.

How did your credit union send an ACH payment  to Bangkok Bank by bill  payment. What was the address to Bangkok Bank (not your org.).

[NancyL]

32 minutes ago, joealx said:

How did your credit union send an ACH payment  to Bangkok Bank by bill  payment. What was the address to Bangkok Bank (not your org.).

They did an ACH transfer.  They didn't ask for nor need to know the address of the receiving account.  Just the routing number, account number and name on the account. They did ask for the payee phone number and presumably wanted a U.S. phone number, so I put down my MagicJack phone number and figured if they had questions the call would come to me.  No call.

[jerry921]

36 minutes ago, NancyL said:

Just the routing number, account number and name on the account.

Hopefully if the name on the account doesn't match the account number the payment won't go through. Otherwise if you use this method to transfer money  to yourself but make a mistake on the account number you could have a problem.

[NancyL]

31 minutes ago, jerry921 said:

Hopefully if the name on the account doesn't match the account number the payment won't go through. Otherwise if you use this method to transfer money  to yourself but make a mistake on the account number you could have a problem.

Usually account numbers have a "check digit" where one digit that appears to be part of the account number really isn't, but rather is assigned based on the other digits of the account number.  The bank uses an equation and that check digit is assigned so that the equation works out properly.  This is to prevent someone from making a one digit mistake in an account number and having money go into another account. 

 

Still could happen, thought.  Once had a large sum show up in my Bankgok Bank account and when I brought it to the attention of their customer service dept, turns out it wasn't mine.  I asked if I hadn't brought it to their attention would they have known about it and the bank lady reluctantly said no.  This was 10 years ago, so maybe things are more sophisticated.  

[joealx]

1 hour ago, NancyL said:

 

 

1 hour ago, NancyL said:

They did an ACH transfer.  They didn't ask for nor need to know the address of the receiving account.  Just the routing number, account number and name on the account. They did ask for the payee phone number and presumably wanted a U.S. phone number, so I put down my MagicJack phone number and figured if they had questions the call would come to me.  No call.

Was this routing to Bangkok Bank NY (026008691)? If is was, did they deduct a transfer fee?

[NancyL]

1 hour ago, joealx said:

 

Was this routing to Bangkok Bank NY (026008691)? If is was, did they deduct a transfer fee?

Yes, it was to that routing number and yes, there is a modest fee, which you "don't see" as an itemized charge.  There is a good thread about this subject running in the ThaiVisa banking forum.  Here is a post with a good explanation of Bangkok Bank's conversion rates and fees for ACH transfers.

 

 

[chubby]

I wonder if your international ?ACH bill pay option will also go away  in a few months, as the other  ACH transfered are rumored to do ?