How do you transfer money to Thailand?

[4MyEgo]

On 9/28/2018 at 11:14 PM, Peterw42 said:

Swift from Australia is great nowadays, I do it on my banking app at 10pm and its in my account 8am the next morning, $20au flat rate no matter what the amount.

 

Last transfer a couple of days ago, a quick comparison with transferwise for $10,000 and the fees were swift $20, Transferwise $54. Swift ex rate 23.00 baht (BKKbank TT rate), transferwise ex rate 23.36 baht. no fees this end for bkk bank.

 

Transferwise higher fees and only a marginally better ex rate, on a thousand dollars probably a couple of hundred baht difference, and its slower.

 

 

 

According to my calculations, your swift amount of $9,980 after ($20 fee) taken out of the $10,000, so $9,980 x 23 baht = 229,540 baht which is way way way less than what Transferwise would have given you, "based on your quoted figures" above.

 

Transferwise $9,946 after ($54 fee) taken out of the $10,000, so $9,946 x 23.36 baht = 232,338.56 baht

 

In other words for a $10,000 transfer after fees, you would have received 2,798.56 baht more from Transferwise, did you say higher fees, marginally better rate, um, the proof is in the pudding, and I would say it's all in what you get extra in the decimal point, in this case, it was the .36 

 

The lower the amount you send, e.g. $1,000 the lower the fee, i.e. $9.69 Vs your $20 for the swift fee, that said, if I still used your quoted rates above, i.e. $980 ($20 swift fee) taken out x 23 = 22,540 baht Vs Transferwise $990.31 ($9.69 fee) taken out x 23.36 = 23,133.64 baht is not a couple of hundred baht the difference you quoted on $1,000,

it's a whole 593.64 baht you would still save using Transferwise now do that 10 times in a year and its 5,936.40 baht saving assuming the rate remained the same.

 

Transferwise is far better than Swift in these scenarios. 

 

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Edited October 2, 2018 by 4MyEgo

[rwill]

11 minutes ago, Skeptic7 said:

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/Transfers/Transferring-Into-Thailand/Transfer-money-from-US-to-Thailand-via-Bangkok-Bank-NewYork-branch

looking at your link it appears they have updated the info.  Before they were saying the service would end 01 Apr 2019.  Now it says "With effective from April 1, 2019, New York branch only process ACH with appropriate IAT format and all non-IAT transactions will be returned."  

 

So it appears you will have to send the money to them already as an international wire.  So your home bank will have to have that service and most likely charge you a higher fee for it and then Bangkok bank will add it's fees to it too.  So you might as well just send it directly from your home bank anyway.

 

Edited October 2, 2018 by rwill

[JLCrab]

Via Bangkok Bank NYC ACH for now but, if that is as Cinderella's pumpkin next April 2019, the ATM with a reimbursable 220 baht fee will do just fine.

[Pib]

27 minutes ago, Skeptic7 said:

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/Transfers/Transferring-Into-Thailand/Transfer-money-from-US-to-Thailand-via-Bangkok-Bank-NewYork-branch

As you'll see in above link unless your U.S. bank will accomplish an ACH transfer in "International ACH Transaction (IAT)" format (which no known U.S. bank does for retail accounts....they only use the PPD format also called Domestic ACH format), doing an ACH transfer from U.S. banks to Bangkok Bank stop effective 1 Apr 19.  In fact, since around early Apr 18 (eighteen) a person can no longer successfully setup an ACH transfer link on their ibanking to Bangkok Bank unless IAT format is used which no known U.S. banks use.

 

However, International Wires (SWIFT) can still be used after 1 Apr 19 just as they can be used now.

 

Also more info on this Bangkok Bank policy change at this ThaiVisa thread.

 

 

 

[ToddinChonburi]

On 9/28/2018 at 11:36 PM, LosLobo said:

Strange Bangkok Bank always charges me 0.25% of the transfer value  (minimum 200 Baht, maximum 500 Baht per transaction) on overseas fund transfers.

The ACH system will no longer work after April 1st 2019.

[drayger]

I have used transfer wise for years and have one of thier hello world debit cards which gives me the availability of a virtual Thai BAHT account so on any perticular day if the exchange rate is good will change money GDP into BAHT so I can take advantage of the best rate on any particular day when I need money moved to Thai account just send the already exchanged BAHT to Thai bank and normally available next day except for weekend of course

[wgdanson]

40 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

proof is in the pudding

The English saying is 'The proof of the pudding is in the eating'

[wgdanson]

11 minutes ago, drayger said:

I have used transfer wise for years and have one of thier hello world debit cards which gives me the availability of a virtual Thai BAHT account so on any perticular day if the exchange rate is good will change money GDP into BAHT so I can take advantage of the best rate on any particular day when I need money moved to Thai account just send the already exchanged BAHT to Thai bank and normally available next day except for weekend of course

Is it now called The Borderless Account? 

 

[pipbcn]

On 9/29/2018 at 7:41 AM, Phuket Man said:

+2

+3

[drayger]

5 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

Is it now called The Borderless Account? 

 

Yes I believe it is. Works great for me 

[Mister T]

From Australia https://www.bahtsmart.com/

[mfd101]

For transfers from Oz, I use an Oz Citibank debit card. There is NO international transfer fee and, because it's a debit card, the transfer is immediate so you can easily compare the rate you get with what the midrate was at the time. I check with xe.com for the latter.

 

When I'm in BKK as I was last week, I withdraw cash from the Citibank atms at Asoke. There is NO atm fee. The xrate I received during the business days last week was between 0.1-0.2฿ below the midrate. Over this last weekend the rate I received was just ABOVE the weekend midrate.

 

When I'm in Surin here, I have to use  BKKBk atm & pay 220฿ fee and the rate I receive will always be 0.1-0.2฿ below the midrate.

 

So what's the secret? You have to keep a minimum of $A1000 in an interest-free account. In my case I keep minimum $A10,000 in my Citibank account which gives me a better xrate. Why do I do that? Because if I had that money earning the low interest rates of today & taking into account that I would then have to pay Oz tax on those earnings, I figure I'm way better off going the interest-free way with the immediate benefits it provides me.

[newnative]

   I had never heard of Transferwise before this thread.  Has anyone used it to wire money for a condo purchase and, if so, which of the choices did you use with the 'account purpose' field'?  Thanks so much!

[rickb]

It seems many posters above are looking solely at the fees charged by banks to transfer money and not considering at all the exchange rate applied.  TransferWise's fees appear higher than other means of transfer.  But, the exchange rate TransferWise gives is much better than what the local banks or ATMs give.  To best determine the best method for you, you should consider both fees and exchange rates applied.  

 

Personally, I was using ACH transfers to BKK Bank New York until I recently changed to using TransferWise.  

[Peterw42]

2 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

According to my calculations, your swift amount of $9,980 after ($20 fee) taken out of the $10,000, so $9,980 x 23 baht = 229,540 baht which is way way way less than what Transferwise would have given you, "based on your quoted figures" above.

 

Transferwise $9,946 after ($54 fee) taken out of the $10,000, so $9,946 x 23.36 baht = 232,338.56 baht

 

In other words for a $10,000 transfer after fees, you would have received 2,798.56 baht more from Transferwise, did you say higher fees, marginally better rate, um, the proof is in the pudding, and I would say it's all in what you get extra in the decimal point, in this case, it was the .36 

 

The lower the amount you send, e.g. $1,000 the lower the fee, i.e. $9.69 Vs your $20 for the swift fee, that said, if I still used your quoted rates above, i.e. $980 ($20 swift fee) taken out x 23 = 22,540 baht Vs Transferwise $990.31 ($9.69 fee) taken out x 23.36 = 23,133.64 baht is not a couple of hundred baht the difference you quoted on $1,000,

it's a whole 593.64 baht you would still save using Transferwise now do that 10 times in a year and its 5,936.40 baht saving assuming the rate remained the same.

 

Transferwise is far better than Swift in these scenarios. 

 

Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

Yes, transferwise is always better. I probably used the term "a couple of hundred" a bit loosely. I was more trying to just show the different rates and fees for comparison. 

[4MyEgo]

2 hours ago, Mister T said:

From Australia https://www.bahtsmart.com/

 

I used to use Bahtsmart, but when Transferwise came into discussion, once, twice, three times, the penny dropped, gave Bahtsmart the flick and haven't looked back since, they are about half a baht behind transferwise.

 

Transferwise today is 23.23 and BahtSmart is 22.66, like I said (.57 baht) about half a baht behind Transferwise, now on a $10,000AUS without fees taken out, that's a whopping 5,700 baht that BahtSmart put in their pockets.

 

Make the change mate, you won't regret it....

[4MyEgo]

4 hours ago, logres212 said:

I also use swift transfer from Australia every fortnight, using NAB. They charge flat rate of $10 and also cover any costs incurred by the receiving bank, my case Bangkok bank.

 

But do you pay attention to the rate you are getting from NAB, they are usually much lower than Transferwise and you could be costing yourself a lot of baht every fortnight, just saying out loud

[FaFaHead]

Hello all,

 

i have been reading and inquiring from time from time on this forum regarding transferring my SS and pension to Chiang Mai. As we all know, everyone here is more than gracious with their advice and sharing their actual experiences. I thank you all for your generosity. Well, I’d Like to share something that I found that just may be the answer to high fees and the expediency factor. I want you to know that I am in no way associated with this in any way, shape or form, so let’s get that out of the way. Second, I have yet to use this. 

 

When I read the email about XOOM from PayPal the other night, I went to the XOOM site and spent some time reading and re-reading. I then made three successive phone calls to customer service to verify their claim that a transfer from my Bank of America account would only cost me $4.99 per transaction. It took about an hour to do these calls, but I needed to get the same answers from three different customer service reps to feel satisfied. 

 

One drawback is, at the moment they don’t do bank to bank direct. They say that is coming very soon. Instead they list locations where you show identification and you pick up your ฿ at three banks or at a location that comes up when you enter where you live. Siam is one of the banks. You’ll see the three in the drop down menu. When I chose Chiang Mai, there were 39-40 places to pick up, depending where you live. There are over 1100 Thailand-wide. 

 

I have yet yet to use this service, but I plan on it starting in November when we are living there. 

 

You do NOT have to be a PayPal member to sign up for this service by the way. PayPal and their XOOM service is free to join. 

 

Hopefully this is another option for all all of us trying to get our monies to Thailand without the exorbitant fees. Lemme know what you think. 

 

All the best. 

 

[Miami007]

Transferwise

[DavidB1960]

2 hours ago, FaFaHead said:

Hello all,

 

i have been reading and inquiring from time from time on this forum regarding transferring my SS and pension to Chiang Mai. As we all know, everyone here is more than gracious with their advice and sharing their actual experiences. I thank you all for your generosity. Well, I’d Like to share something that I found that just may be the answer to high fees and the expediency factor. I want you to know that I am in no way associated with this in any way, shape or form, so let’s get that out of the way. Second, I have yet to use this. 

 

When I read the email about XOOM from PayPal the other night, I went to the XOOM site and spent some time reading and re-reading. I then made three successive phone calls to customer service to verify their claim that a transfer from my Bank of America account would only cost me $4.99 per transaction. It took about an hour to do these calls, but I needed to get the same answers from three different customer service reps to feel satisfied. 

 

One drawback is, at the moment they don’t do bank to bank direct. They say that is coming very soon. Instead they list locations where you show identification and you pick up your ฿ at three banks or at a location that comes up when you enter where you live. Siam is one of the banks. You’ll see the three in the drop down menu. When I chose Chiang Mai, there were 39-40 places to pick up, depending where you live. There are over 1100 Thailand-wide. 

 

I have yet yet to use this service, but I plan on it starting in November when we are living there. 

 

You do NOT have to be a PayPal member to sign up for this service by the way. PayPal and their XOOM service is free to join. 

 

Hopefully this is another option for all all of us trying to get our monies to Thailand without the exorbitant fees. Lemme know what you think. 

 

All the best. 

 

You need to ck paypals xfer rates. I garantee they are crap.

[Suradit69]

6 hours ago, ToddinChonburi said:

The ACH system will no longer work after April 1st 2019.

I've changed from doing ACH transfer from my broker to doing SWIFT transfers to Bangkok Bank.NY, but my broker wanted me to designate a correspondent bank in the US. I chose Bangkok Bank NY, so pretty sure the fees will be the same as they were for ACH transfer. Doing the first SWIFT transfer next week after years of using the ACH method, but I think I read somewhere that the fees will be the same.

Edited October 2, 2018 by Suradit69

[simoh1490]

22 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

I've changed from doing ACH transfer from my broker to doing SWIFT transfers to Bangkok Bank.NY, but my broker wanted me to designate a correspondent bank in the US. I chose Bangkok Bank NY, so pretty sure the fees will be the same as they were for ACH transfer. Doing the first SWIFT transfer next week after years of using the ACH method, but I think I read somewhere that the fees will be the same.

A correspondent bank is a bank used by another financial institution that doesn't have the ability to complete the transfer to the required destination, it is chosen by the bank, not by the customer.

[featography]

3 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

A correspondent bank is a bank used by another financial institution that doesn't have the ability to complete the transfer to the required destination, it is chosen by the bank, not by the customer.

Agreed, and that correspondent bank, chosen by your bank also charges a fee that in my experience, is hidden. My credit union used Citibank in NY, and I was charged $30 by my bank, 200TBT to receive it by Bangkok Bank with Citibank taking their cut, which took 3 days. By using NY BKB routing number, I eliminated one charge and get it in 2 days. 

[Elad]

I use Transfer-wise as they usually have the best exchange rates and low fees

at the moment to send 1000 GBP you get

 

compared to western union sending cash in minutes

 

 

Then looked at sending through bank with western union and it came out as paying zero transfer fee and the exchange rate is close to transfer-wise. Has anyone tried using this method, is there a catch to it?

 

[simple1]

An update for Australian members.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/02/excessive-foreign-currency-fees-scrutiny-accc

[Suradit69]

8 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

A correspondent bank is a bank used by another financial institution that doesn't have the ability to complete the transfer to the required destination, it is chosen by the bank, not by the customer.

And yet I am a customer and I chose the correspondent bank ... actually was required to do so.

 

 

I know what a correspondent bank is. I'm initiating the transfer from my broker, not a bank and they required that I choose the correspondent bank. So yes the customer is required to choose the correspondent bank that will be used by my broker, Vanguard, and Bangkok Bank in NY is the correspondent bank clearly shown in my brokerage account profile on line. 

Quote

 

Intermediary:

BKKBUS33

BANGKOK BANK PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED, NEW YORK

 

 Account with:

BKKBTHBK

BANGKOK BANK PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED, BANGKOK

 

 

 

Edited October 3, 2018 by Suradit69

[Suradit69]

4 hours ago, featography said:

8 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

 

Agreed, and that correspondent bank, chosen by your bank

 

As stated above my SWIFT transfer are initiated by my broker, not a bank, and their application for the service required me to designate a correspondent bank to use and to provide the SWIFT code for both Bangkok Bank Thailand and Bangkok Bank NY.   I chose Bangkok Bank NY because I knew what their charges are. Other banks tend to pile on much higher fees.

Quote

 

Intermediary:

BKKBUS33

BANGKOK BANK PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED, NEW YORK

 

 Account with:

BKKBTHBK

BANGKOK BANK PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED, BANGKOK

 

 

Edited October 3, 2018 by Suradit69

[Suradit69]

5 hours ago, featography said:

By using NY BKB routing number, I eliminated one charge and get it in 2 days. 

 

Exactly.  And I get a text message when the deposit reaches my Bangkok Bank  account in Thailand that details the charges in NY and in Thailand and the exchange rate used.

[wwest5829]

On 9/29/2018 at 4:32 PM, 55Jay said:

Still using DIY ACH on-line each month, Schwab to Bangkok Bank via their New York branch. 

 

Will be looking at Transferwise very soon as the BBL New York Branch path will be coming to an end early next year, unless they figure something out in the interim.  

 

Edit:  Voted "other online options" since you didn't include ACH. 

Ditto.

[flipside555]

19 hours ago, Pib said:

This Thai bank receiving fee doesn't apply to Transferwise transfers as the Thai bank is just receiving a domestic transfer for the final leg of the transfer.  However, your Thai bank ibanking/passbook may still reflect the Transferwise transfer as an international transfer but there is no receiving fee applied because that was just descriptive/underlying coding in the transfer from the in-Thailand financial company/bank that did the final domestic leg of the transfer. 

 

19 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

My last transfer was indeed labeled as international transfer (but still without deduction).

A previous one was labeled as coming from KTB (Krung Thai bank).

 

I'm wondering if this could be significant for anyone transferring money for a retirement visa. You need a letter from the bank stating that the funds came from outside Thailand. If the code says that it was a domestic transfer it might be a bit of headache to get confirmation from the bank that it actually came from abroad.

Edited October 3, 2018 by flipside555