Transferring UK money to a Thai partner's bank

[RandolphGB]

Is there any limit to the amount that a Kasikorn current account can receive from abroad without checks and questions starting to be asked?

[wgdanson]

Depends how much you trust her !    lol

[Peterw42]

I dont think there is a limit as such but maybe important to include a reason. When you transfer money there is usually a "reason" field. (if you leave it blank the xfer desk probably fill it in) This is a Bank of Thailand requirement, money laundering check. Technically BOT ask questions of every transfer.

Maybe that "reason" translates to who gets notified etc, for example, if you called it salary them maybe the tax office gets notified.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Peterw42

[Kwasaki]

We had a joint Thai account and when I wanted to sent UK money it would arrive as baht it was a phone transaction with my UK bank they always asked what it was for, I said building works.

Never had amount problems, at the time if I sent more than £14,000 I got a better rate of exchange.

[dabhand]

If you use Transferwise there is a drop down, as part of the process, where you confirm reason for transfer. I believe they have a maximum transfer value of Bt2million per transaction. Not sure if that is a daily limit or not. Certainly TW tends to give the best rate and usually arrives next working day.

Worth a look if you are not already set up for TW.

[lkv]

Yes, the limit is USD 50,000 for incoming into a Thai account without additional questions.

 

One dollar above that and the Bank would ask you to complete a Foreign Transaction form before they wire the funds, and the transaction would also be reported to the Bank of Thailand.

[Mark1066]

4 hours ago, lkv said:

Yes, the limit is USD 50,000 for incoming into a Thai account without additional questions.

 

One dollar above that and the Bank would ask you to complete a Foreign Transaction form before they wire the funds, and the transaction would also be reported to the Bank of Thailand.

Is the form quite easy to complete, do you know? Someone will be sending me more than that amount soon and they’re not all that bright as far as bank transactions are concerned.

[soistalker]

It is extremely unwise to transfer money into your girlfriend's account. It's basically talked about as being a dumb idea on this forum for decades.

[Pib]

7 hours ago, Mark1066 said:

Is the form quite easy to complete, do you know? Someone will be sending me more than that amount soon and they’re not all that bright as far as bank transactions are concerned.

You can download a sampe FET below....you will find all Thai banks use a very similar version of the form.

https://www.samuiforsale.com/fet-form.html

[lkv]

9 hours ago, Mark1066 said:

Is the form quite easy to complete, do you know? Someone will be sending me more than that amount soon and they’re not all that bright as far as bank transactions are concerned.

He can split the amount in several chunks below that threshold to avoid the FET form.

 

If the above is not an option, the receiver needs to complete that form, in this case the Thai receiving the funds.

 

The FET form can be obtained by calling the Thai bank and asking them to send an email or at the branch.

 

Once the form is completed the funds are released into the Thai account.

Edited October 8, 2018 by lkv

[Mark1066]

Thanks Pib and lkv, Sorry, I misunderstood: I thought the sender had to complete a form. If it's me that has to complete the form, that's not a problem (hopefully). Are the funds released immediately, i.e. as soon as the form is handed in?

[lkv]

32 minutes ago, Mark1066 said:

Thanks Pib and lkv, Sorry, I misunderstood: I thought the sender had to complete a form. If it's me that has to complete the form, that's not a problem (hopefully). Are the funds released immediately, i.e. as soon as the form is handed in?

Likely one or two hours after. The branch would have to send it first to the International Trade Center, which is the department releasing international funds to the respective branches.

Edited October 8, 2018 by lkv

[Mark1066]

6 minutes ago, lkv said:

Likely one or two hours after. The branch would have to send it first to the International Trade Center, which is the department releasing international funds to the respective branches.

OK, thanks again.

[Pib]

1 hour ago, Mark1066 said:

Thanks Pib and lkv, Sorry, I misunderstood: I thought the sender had to complete a form. If it's me that has to complete the form, that's not a problem (hopefully). Are the funds released immediately, i.e. as soon as the form is handed in?

It depends on the Thai bank whether they will require a FET completion before they will release the funds into your account.  Around 10 years ago I sent over $200K USD to our (the Thai wife and I....my name on the account first) Bangkok Bank account via SWIFT....sent the funds so the Thai wife and I could finalize the buy of our dirt & house in Bangkok.  Funds posted to the account next day....no FET completion required for the funds to post.  We were still in the U.S....didn't arrive Thailand until a few weeks later to finalize buy of the house.  When we did get to Thailand we went to Bangkok Bank to get an FET "in order to repatriate the funds in the future if we decided to sell the house and move back to the States."

 

A FET is really need to help finalize the buy of a residence/prove the funds came from outside Thailand and/or to make it easier to repatriate funds in the future.

 

Thai bank really don't care how much you send over---in fact, the more the better.

 

And yea, don't confuse the FET paperwork on the Thailand end with whatever documentation/questions your sending bank in the your home country may want.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[whiteman]

just sent 30k nz yesterday to my Thai bank it arrived from nz with in 3 hours no questioned asked. Except the bloody nz $ has tanked from my last time I did it from 25 to 20.86.

 

Lucky I have enough over here that came over at 25 but I do not want to touch were its at :)

[RandolphGB]

On 10/7/2018 at 11:07 AM, dabhand said:

If you use Transferwise there is a drop down, as part of the process, where you confirm reason for transfer. I believe they have a maximum transfer value of Bt2million per transaction. Not sure if that is a daily limit or not. Certainly TW tends to give the best rate and usually arrives next working day.

Worth a look if you are not already set up for TW.

Yes been using transfer wise for a few years for business and sending to pay rent, girlfriend etc . No more than 150k baht most times and never had problems . This one would be higher, just don’t want it to go missing, be held for checks etc. 

[RandolphGB]

Update on this. Kasikorn say they have a limit of reviving funds of one million baht per day 

[dabhand]

1 hour ago, RandolphGB said:

Yes been using transfer wise for a few years for business and sending to pay rent, girlfriend etc . No more than 150k baht most times and never had problems . This one would be higher, just don’t want it to go missing, be held for checks etc. 

Understand your concern. Given the small fixed charge (Stg1.50?) with the balance of charges on a % basis (0.55%), there is really minimal financial downside to splitting the transfer into smaller chunks.

 

Yes, the charges mount up, in comparison with, say, swift transfers, but, provided the Fx gain is above the 0.55% variable cost, TW will always work out cheaper no matter the size of the transfer (up to their B2m limit). For sterling transfers at the current rate of 43, that means a difference in excess of 0.24 in favour of TW will always provide a better deal. As an example, currently SCB TT rate is 42.54 / TW is 43.09.  

[topt]

7 hours ago, RandolphGB said:

Update on this. Kasikorn say they have a limit of reviving funds of one million baht per day 

Do you mean receiving from abroad - IE inward transfer to Kas? Because that figure is very low.

Or do you mean over this amount they ask you what it is for?

 

[cat handler]

On 10/7/2018 at 1:02 PM, wgdanson said:

Depends how much you trust her !    lol

 

What could possibly go wrong....ha ha ha ha ha