Thailand to US transfers

[Hal65]

Question for anyone who does this:

 

I have a BKK Bank account and have only ever transferred funds to it. But now I would like to do transfers the other way, back to the US. Anyone know if it can be done using their NY branch?

 

What other good fund transfer options do we have from Thailand to the US?

[dayo202]

deemoney

[ChakaKhan]

16 minutes ago, dayo202 said:

deemoney

Count Dee Mo-Nay!!!!     I just take it all out --exchange it at airport and stick it back when I get home

 

Of course it aint much as is why Im heading back anyway ...  Same with coming in..cash and deposit

[Pib]

You can not transfer "from" your in-Thailand Bangkok Bank acct using ACH through their NY branch on the way back to your US bank.   Consider is a one-way soi....you can send using ACH to your in-Thailand Bangkok Bank branch using ACH but not vice versa.

 

To send from your in-Thailand Bangkok Bank branch back to your US/home country bank you must use SWIFT by going to their branch to initiate a transfer.  Or, if you can do it from you Bangkok Bank ibanking/mbaniing if you have got the International Transfer function previously approved/activated which requires some paperwork....and one of those pieces of paperwork is needing to have a Work Permit.  But you don't need a work permit if going to a branch...just whatever proof the branch "might" ask for to support the original source of the funds.

 

But the basic Sending fee is around Bt300-400 and then another optional fee approx Bt800 to cover any intermediary bank fees.  If you don't use the optional fee to have Bangkok Bank cover any intermediary bank fees then any intermediary fee that does possibly occur along the way will be sliced off the money transferring to your bank.  Kinda like how the Bangkok Bank NY branch slices off a fee as your money flows them to your in-Thailand branch.

 

DeeMoney should work fine.  I'm reserving final judgement on using DeeMoney until my first transfer completes its journey which I initiated yesterday....supposed to take 1 or 2 business days to arrive. The DeeMoney signup and use of their transfer system is definitely easy.  However, right now they only have 4 branches in the Bangkok Bank metro area to signup at.  You may be able to signup by completing their short and sweet application form and faxing it to them....there is one TV poster in northern Thailand that did it that way.  Go to the DeeMoney website for more info.  

 

[Suradit69]

13 hours ago, Pib said:

DeeMoney should work fine.  I'm reserving final judgement on using DeeMoney until my first transfer completes its journey which I initiated yesterday....supposed to take 1 or 2 business days to arrive. The DeeMoney signup and use of their transfer system is definitely easy.  However, right now they only have 4 branches in the Bangkok Bank metro area to signup at. 

Do let us know what your experience is when completed ... probably in a new thread with a title that draws attention to the service you used.

 

Quote

However, right now they only have 4 branches in the Bangkok Bank metro area

I assume this service has no connection to Bangkok Bank (??) and you just meant the Bangkok metro area?

 

[TBKK]

My brokerage firm, Charles Schwab, informed me that I could withdraw a Cashier's Check in Thai Baht from my Thai Bank, mail it to them and they would deposit it in my account at the exchange rate on the date it was received. The only charge would be the cost of the Cashier's Check from BKK Bank, Schwab would not charge me any type of conversion fee.

I have not tried to do this, but it may be an option to consider to avoid an 800 BAHT bank transfer fee.

[chicowoodduck]

I had my SCB just wire my funds back to my US bank.....easy peasy...????

[Pib]

On 11/6/2018 at 10:01 PM, Suradit69 said:

Do let us know what your experience is when completed ... probably in a new thread with a title that draws attention to the service you used.

 

I assume this service has no connection to Bangkok Bank (??) and you just meant the Bangkok metro area?

 

Yea, I'll probably detail how my DeeMoney transfer went later on.  But for some interim feedback the transfer was successful...the money has posted to my US bank account.   No intermediary bank fee....total cost to send the money was just the DeeMoney sending fee.  The exchange rate you get is their Money Transfer rate.  By the way the DeeMoney Sending Fee of Bt150 turns out to be  Bt160.50 (a little less than $5 USD) because 7% VAT (Bt10.50 in this case) is applied on the basic fee...just like how the VAT is applied on almost all services/products.

 

And yeap, I meant to say the Bangkok metro area instead of Bangkok Bank metro area....must have had Bangkok Bank on the brain.

[Hal65]

Just signed/scanned/sent back the Deemoney papers also. Looking forward to see how they perform

[Pib]

3 minutes ago, Hal65 said:

Just signed/scanned/sent back the Deemoney papers also. Looking forward to see how they perform

So, you did not have to visit one of their 4 offices in the metro Bangkok area to sign up.  DeeMoney has sent conflicting signals on that....like in some related threads where someone posted a response from DeeMoney saying they must visit an office to signup.  And even in one of the DeeMoney advertisement threads a DeeMoney rep responded in that thread a person "had to come in to sign up."   

 

Summary: even though they have told some they must visit a branch to sign-up it's obviously just DeeMoney's "preferred" way and not their only way.  That's good.

[Hal65]

I was ready to twist their arm on sending me papers based on this thread. This is how it went:

 

"Hi this is Hal, I'm in Pattaya and would like to sign up?"

[they don't catch it the first time so I say it again]

 

    "Oh you in pattaya? Ok I send you papers to your email? What your email address please?"

 

[Pib]

When I signed up about a week ago at one of their offices in addition to completing the application and them making a copy of my passport main page which I expect is the package you faxed in, they also took a picture of me to enter into their system (like how some immigration offices take a picture of you when submitting your annual application for extension of stay renewal), then sent a OTP to my mobile number and asked to see that OTP in order to compare it to what was showing on their computer screen as the OTP sent...make sure they matched.   I'm now done....they hand me my registration card...out the door I go.

 

Since they took a picture of me and did the OTP verification when signing-up in person I wonder if they have different levels of identification?  One level for in-person signup and another level for not physically present. Or once signed-up either by in-person or by fax-in/email-in there is no difference in verification level....it's just they prefer in person sign-up.    

[Hal65]

Did a test send from Thai account to USA account today. Easy to initiate through the Deemoney app.

 

Exchange rate given was a little over 30 THB to 1 USD. Checking google it is 33 to 1 so almost a 10% loss. 

[Thailand J]

1 hour ago, Hal65 said:

Exchange rate given was a little over 30 THB to 1 USD. Checking google it is 33 to 1 so almost a 10% loss. 

 

so what their website shows is not what they'll honor?

Sending money back to US, if they gave you 30THB to US$1 it is 10% gain not 10% loss.

 

[ChouDoufu]

On 11/6/2018 at 11:21 PM, TBKK said:

My brokerage firm, Charles Schwab, informed me that I could withdraw a Cashier's Check in Thai Baht from my Thai Bank, mail it to them and they would deposit it in my account at the exchange rate on the date it was received. The only charge would be the cost of the Cashier's Check from BKK Bank, Schwab would not charge me any type of conversion fee.

I have not tried to do this, but it may be an option to consider to avoid an 800 BAHT bank transfer fee.

i was trying to do that last year, wanting to send cash out of china.  unfortunately, the only bank that offered cashier's checks did not offer them in my province.

 

had looked into check options.....some banks and brokerages have phone apps that allow you to take a photo of the check for electronic deposit.  no need to mail it.  found one that allowed scanned and emailed images of checks for deposit, for those without smart phone skills.

[Pib]

Did a test send from Thai account to USA account today. Easy to initiate through the Deemoney app.

 

Exchange rate given was a little over 30 THB to 1 USD. Checking google it is 33 to 1 so almost a 10% loss. 

As Thailand J showed the DeeMoney exchange rate is over 33. Maybe you want to relook the transaction...relook what you wrote.

 

But if it had been 30 baht to the dollar (which it wasn't) that would have been a 10% gain if you where sending back money you originally brought over at 33 to 1.

 

[Pib]

I think it's straight in everyone's head that when sending money from your home country to Thailand or converting your home country currency to baht over a counter, the highest exchange rate is the best for you.....and Thai banks/money exchangers call that the "Buying" Rate.  They are saying they will "buy" your USD (or whatever your home country currency is) at their Buying Rate.

 

So, if Thai bank A offered say 33 baht for your 1 USD and Thai bank B offered 34 baht for your 1 USD, then bank B's offer is the best for your....you get more baht for your dollar.

 

 

However, when sending money back to the home country the situation is reversed....the lowest exchange rate is best for you....and Thai banks/money exchangers call that the "Selling" Rate.  Or if using DeeMoney if you walk into one of their branch's to manually exchange baht to dollars over the counter they call it their "Selling" Rate....but if you are transferring money DeeMoney calls it their "Money Transfer" rate but it's still just a renamed Selling rate.   The banks are saying they will "sell" you USD to send back at their Selling rate.

 

So, if Thai bank A offered to sell you 1 USD for 33 baht and another Thai bank B offered to sell you 1 USD for 34 baht, then bank A's offer is the best for you as you need to fork over less baht to get that 1 USD.  No different than shopping for a product....if one store offers to sell you a product at 34 baht and another store offers to sell you the exact same product for 33 baht then the 33 baht deal is best for you.

 

So, be sure to keep in straight in your head as to which direction you are sending the money and which exchange rate, Buying or Selling, is being used.  For Buying Rate, higher is better for you.  For Selling Rate, lower is better for you.

 

 

 

[Hal65]

11 hours ago, Thailand J said:

 

so what their website shows is not what they'll honor?

Sending money back to US, if they gave you 30THB to US$1 it is 10% gain not 10% loss.

 

 

What you quote sounds more plausible. 30 thb to 1 USD was quoted in the app on the sending screens though

[Pib]

53 minutes ago, Hal65 said:

 

What you quote sounds more plausible. 30 thb to 1 USD was quoted in the app on the sending screens though

Maybe you are getting confused in how the app displays exchange rate....the app uses the inverse format like right now I'm looking at the USD-THB exchange rate on one of my recent transfer and it's displayed as 0.0301200481927710.  Yeap, they carry it out a lot of decimals positions.   You need to divide that number into 1 to get the rate you are more use to looking at.

 

Maybe below FX snapshot showing the exact same rate in two different formats will help. 

 

[TBKK]

16 hours ago, ChouDoufu said:

i was trying to do that last year, wanting to send cash out of china.  unfortunately, the only bank that offered cashier's checks did not offer them in my province.

 

had looked into check options.....some banks and brokerages have phone apps that allow you to take a photo of the check for electronic deposit.  no need to mail it.  found one that allowed scanned and emailed images of checks for deposit, for those without smart phone skills.

That's interesting..........was not aware that there was a program that would allow you to scan a check for deposit that can be used on your laptop.

Care to share the name of this program?

Charles Schwab has an app which allows you to scan a check on your smart phone and deposit it into your account but they will not allow you to use it to deposit checks in foreign currency. 

I guess every bank and brokerage firm has different rules regarding procedures they will allow their clients to use to deposit checks in a foreign currency.

[Thailand J]

30THB to 1USD sounds too good to be true, excuse me for asking how much THB did you paid Deemoney and how much USD did you received in US? Nevermind what the screen showed, a simple division will reveal the given rate.

5 hours ago, Hal65 said:

What you quote sounds more plausible. 30 thb to 1 USD was quoted in the app on the sending screens though

 

[ChouDoufu]

the check scan is not a program, unlike the apps for mobile devices which are programs downloaded from your bank website.   you use a scanner like any other document, then send the image by email or upload the image directly to the bank website.  no program to download.  navy federal has this, but unfortunately same limits - no foreign bank checks.

 

https://www.navyfederal.org/products-services/checking-savings/scan-deposits/demo.php

 

thought i had run across a bank that would take foreign checks, but can't locate that info now.  maybe it was hsbc...?

[CanuckThai]

35 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

the check scan is not a program, unlike the apps for mobile devices which are programs downloaded from your bank website.   you use a scanner like any other document, then send the image by email or upload the image directly to the bank website.  no program to download.  navy federal has this, but unfortunately same limits - no foreign bank checks.

 

https://www.navyfederal.org/products-services/checking-savings/scan-deposits/demo.php

 

thought i had run across a bank that would take foreign checks, but can't locate that info now.  maybe it was hsbc...?

This thread caught my eye.  I know the bank app for my account back home has a "photo" cheque deposit option, for CAD or USD (no requirement for country of the cheque issuing bank).  Bangkok bank issues USD bank drafts.  Has anyone bought a USD draft from Bangkok bank?