Best way (and cheapest) to transfer money to Thailand

[SunsetT]

On 11/12/2018 at 4:12 PM, observer90210 said:

Best way to bring in money with 0 fares and a far better exchange rate ?....carry ca$h and change it at Super Rich exchange booth in Bangkok...

....And there is now a super rich  booth at Suvarnabhumi airport next to the rail link in the basement.....not quite as good a rate as their main branch in the city but still good. You can check the rates online.

[Jumbo1968]

TransferWise currently pay £18817.72 to transfer 800000 baht, fee is £104.42 and exchange rate is 42.75 baht.

Am I right in saying I cannot ‘Hand Carry’ the sterling, change here into baht avoiding the fee and deposit it in my Thai Bank Account for my Extension of Stay/Retirement Visa ?

[steve73]

48 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

TransferWise currently pay £18817.72 to transfer 800000 baht, fee is £104.42 and exchange rate is 42.75 baht.

Am I right in saying I cannot ‘Hand Carry’ the sterling, change here into baht avoiding the fee and deposit it in my Thai Bank Account for my Extension of Stay/Retirement Visa ?

As I understand it, if you are simply extending a non-O for retirement, you don't need to show that the 800k has been imported.

But since the GBP equiv. is above the limit for bringing into T/L, you would need to declare it at customs anyway (or risk getting it confiscated..??). Get the paperwork from them and there's your proof whether you actually need it or not.

Of course, TW is much simpler, and you know what rate you will get, if the GBP does crash before you manage to exchange the cash.

Edited November 14, 2018 by steve73

[SunsetT]

1 hour ago, SunsetT said:

Just go onto the transferwise.com website and enter £19000 into the transfer box and it will show u the live rate, the fee u will pay, and the net amount that u will receive in your Thai bank account. It is all very straightforward and upfront with no hidden fees. And If u use this link to sign up u will get your 1st transfer or part transfer free: 

 

transferwise.com/u/terencep15

 

See my post above to see other advantages with using transferwise.

 

 

I just checked it and the transferwise fee was about £105. So actually for such a large amount a fixed fee of about £20 for a SWIFT transfer from your UK bank might be cheaper, but make sure u request it sent in Thai baht not GBP as the exchange rate is much better, or it was last time I did a SWIFT transfer many years ago. The exchange rate will still be inferior to Transferwise but overall it should work out much cheaper than £105. But as an afterthought, there was a time when I received secondary charges to my Nationwide BS account about a month later for 2 SWIFT transfers I made. I disputed this with them and they claimed they were from the Thai receiving bank, but when I proved to them there were no charges from the receiving bank except 200thb taken from my Thai account, they did eventually refunded the charges. But I think there was an intermediary bank taking a cut back then and maybe there still is. Perhaps someone who has more recently made SWIFT transfers can update on this. If these retrospective charges are still being applied then afterall you are probably best to stick to Transferwise where u know exactly what exchange rate u will be getting and exactly what u will be paying and exactly what u will receive in your Thai bank account.

Edited November 14, 2018 by SunsetT

[Jumbo1968]

15 minutes ago, SunsetT said:

I just checked it and the transferwise fee was about £105. So actually for such a large amount a fixed fee of about £20 for a SWIFT transfer from your UK bank might be cheaper, but make sure u request it sent in Thai baht not GBP as the exchange rate is much better, or it was last time I did a SWIFT transfer many years ago. The exchange rate will still be inferior to Transferwise but overall it should work out much cheaper than £105.

Check this comparison out, £1000

https://transferwise.com/gb/compare/hsbc-gbp-to-thb

 

This one too transfer the equivalent of 800000 baht.

https://transferwise.com/

Edited November 14, 2018 by Jumbo1968
Edit

[Jumbo1968]

1 hour ago, steve73 said:

As I understand it, if you are simply extending a non-O for retirement, you don't need to show that the 800k has been imported.

But since the GBP equiv. is above the limit for bringing into T/L, you would need to declare it at customs anyway (or risk getting it confiscated..??). Get the paperwork from them and there's your proof whether you actually need it or not.

Of course, TW is much simpler, and you know what rate you will get, if the GBP does crash before you manage to exchange the cash.

I would be extending a 90 Day Non O based on me being in receipt of my U.K. State Pension for 1 year.

i was told rightly or wrongly depositing cash in my Thai Acount wasn’t acceptable you had to show it was transferred from out with Thailand.

What paperwork would I have to show at Customs, a letter from my U.K. Bank ?

[SunsetT]

22 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

Check this comparison out, £1000

https://transferwise.com/gb/compare/hsbc-gbp-to-thb

 

This one too transfer the equivalent of 800000 baht.

https://transferwise.com/

So my afterthoughts were correct......Thanks Jumbo1968.

[steve73]

22 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

I would be extending a 90 Day Non O based on me being in receipt of my U.K. State Pension for 1 year.

i was told rightly or wrongly depositing cash in my Thai Acount wasn’t acceptable you had to show it was transferred from out with Thailand.

What paperwork would I have to show at Customs, a letter from my U.K. Bank ?

You don't need to be in receipt of a UK state pension to extend your non-O. you just need to be over 50 and with adequate funds, for which 800k in a Thai Bank (seasoned for 2 months for a first extension or 3 months for subsequent extensions) is soon to be the only acceptable solution - for Brits).

My understanding is that you would only need to show the cash coming into T/L if you are converting a Tourist Visa or Visa Exempt to a non-O within T/L.

I'm unsure of the procedure for declaring cash to Thai customs, I assume they would have the necessary paperwork, but I would suggest using TW is probably safer anyway (for the amount you might save).   

[topt]

1 hour ago, Jumbo1968 said:

What paperwork would I have to show at Customs, a letter from my U.K. Bank ?

Have a read of this thread which I think also contains a link to the forms. 

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1067438-maximum-about-of-money-you-can-bring-in-to-thailand/

 

You are more likely to need proof to exit the UK as you also need to fill in a declaration for sums over Euros10k - however note you can be stopped and questioned for anything over 1k.

https://www.gov.uk/bringing-cash-into-uk

 

Personally I would be a bit concerned at carrying 20 grand in cash for the amount of time you will need before changing it and then depositing it......

[fanjita]

3 minutes ago, topt said:

Personally I would be a bit concerned at carrying 20 grand in cash for the amount of time you will need before changing it and then depositing it......

I used to bring about 3 grand in cash over from UK for each holiday and gave it up as a bad idea just in case I lost it.  Ended up opening a Bangkok Bank account and send the funds over now when the rate is most favourable.

[topt]

2 hours ago, SunsetT said:

So actually for such a large amount a fixed fee of about £20 for a SWIFT transfer from your UK bank might be cheaper, but make sure u request it sent in Thai baht not GBP as the exchange rate is much better, or it was last time I did a SWIFT transfer many years ago.

My bolding - Nobody seems to have picked this up but this is absolutely the worst thing to do. Never change baht in the UK with a bank as the rate will always be inferior to what you get compared to sending GBP to Thailand and getting the Thai bank to change it.

You can check the current exchange rate with most Thai banks online.

Eg. https://www.scb.co.th/en/personal-banking/foreign-exchange-rates.html

 

NB - I am not referring to changing with a specialist forex provider like TW or HiFx or similar.

[Jumbo1968]

1 hour ago, steve73 said:

You don't need to be in receipt of a UK state pension to extend your non-O. you just need to be over 50 and with adequate funds, for which 800k in a Thai Bank (seasoned for 2 months for a first extension or 3 months for subsequent extensions) is soon to be the only acceptable solution - for Brits).

My understanding is that you would only need to show the cash coming into T/L if you are converting a Tourist Visa or Visa Exempt to a non-O within T/L.

I'm unsure of the procedure for declaring cash to Thai customs, I assume they would have the necessary paperwork, but I would suggest using TW is probably safer anyway (for the amount you might save).   

Maybe you misread my post I qualify for a Non Immigrant O 90 Day Single Entry Visa as I am in receipt of my U.K. State Pension irrespective of how much it is. I will pick it up at the Hull Consulate, it has already been granted in the next week or so.

 I will extend it, Extension of Stay some times called a Retirement Visa for another 12 months just before it is due to expire.

[SunsetT]

10 minutes ago, topt said:

My bolding - Nobody seems to have picked this up but this is absolutely the worst thing to do. Never change baht in the UK with a bank as the rate will always be inferior to what you get compared to sending GBP to Thailand and getting the Thai bank to change it.

You can check the current exchange rate with most Thai banks online.

Eg. https://www.scb.co.th/en/personal-banking/foreign-exchange-rates.html

 

NB - I am not referring to changing with a specialist forex provider like TW or HiFx or similar.

Im sorry but I found the opposite to be true 12 years ago. The exchange rate given by Nationwide building society for a SWIFT transfer in THB was better than sending it in GBP to be exhanged at the Thai end of the transfer. Im not talking about exchanging GBP for THB currency over the counter at a bank, Im referring only to the exchange rates they use when sending SWIFT transfers.

[Peter Denis]

22 hours ago, Griffo63 said:

I think it depends on how much you’re transferring in. If you bring in (say) £1000

in my case then Transferwise is good value because of their low charges and good rates. If you bring in £10000 then a regular Foreign Exchange house is better because they won’t charge on a large amount and will give a good rate whereas with Transferwise you’ll get the same rate as previous but pay 10x the charges. 

Not entirely correct.  The TransferWise fee consists of a fixed part (3 Euro) and a variable part according to the amount you transfer.  For 1000 Euro the total fee is 7.96 Euro (approx 0.8%), and for 10.000 Euro the total fee is not ten-fold but 52.74 Euro (approx 0.5%). 

There have been many posts in the Forum that for really big amounts there are cheaper solutions than TransferWise, but they would be hard to beat in the 1000 - 5000 Euro transfer range.

 

[Jumbo1968]

2 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Not entirely correct.  The TransferWise fee consists of a fixed part (3 Euro) and a variable part according to the amount you transfer.  For 1000 Euro the total fee is 7.96 Euro (approx 0.8%), and for 10.000 Euro the total fee is not ten-fold but 52.74 Euro (approx 0.5%). 

There have been many posts in the Forum that for really big amounts there are cheaper solutions than TransferWise, but they would be hard to beat in the 1000 - 5000 Euro transfer range.

 

Could you inform me of a cheaper way to transfer the equivalent of 800000 baht in sterling rather than use TransferWise to my Thai Bank Account ?

[craighj]

As mentioned, I tried both TransferWise and OFX, both delivered as advertised and not a lot of difference in the exchange rate.  Though I felt the process and updates were better from TransferWise.

 

Anyway, I know have a couple of better ways of getting money from Australia to Thailand.

 

Thanks all

 

Craighj

[steve73]

1 hour ago, Jumbo1968 said:

Maybe you misread my post I qualify for a Non Immigrant O 90 Day Single Entry Visa as I am in receipt of my U.K. State Pension irrespective of how much it is. I will pick it up at the Hull Consulate, it has already been granted in the next week or so.

 I will extend it, Extension of Stay some times called a Retirement Visa for another 12 months just before it is due to expire.

I understood what you meant with your first non-O.. I was trying to make sure you were fully aware that that this would be inadequate for you to extend it.  Just make sure you have the 800k funds in your Thai account for 2 months before trying to extend it, since you only have the non-O for 3 months.

 

TW fees for GBP is 1.50 then 0.55% of what you convert... significantly less than for Euros. 

In my experience TW is by far the cheapest way to get 800k here (except bringing cash, and hoping the rate doesn't fall further, and even then there'll no be more than a few quid in it).

[Peter Denis]

1 hour ago, Jumbo1968 said:

Could you inform me of a cheaper way to transfer the equivalent of 800000 baht in sterling rather than use TransferWise to my Thai Bank Account ?

Hi Jumbo, as I am not a UK citizen I am not familiar with different UK options. If you do not get the response from a fellow Brit on the present post, you could consider posting a new thread explicitly asking for cheaper ways than TransferWise to transfer the equivalent of 800.000 THB in GBP to a thai bank account.

[Kevbo]

32 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Hi Jumbo, as I am not a UK citizen I am not familiar with different UK options. If you do not get the response from a fellow Brit on the present post, you could consider posting a new thread explicitly asking for cheaper ways than TransferWise to transfer the equivalent of 800.000 THB in GBP to a thai bank account.

I have just spoken to Lloyds in UK, there is a flat fee of 9.50 gbp plus Thai banks conversion rate, 20,000 pounds can be transferred in a single transaction.....

[Jumbo1968]

45 minutes ago, Kevbo said:

I have just spoken to Lloyds in UK, there is a flat fee of 9.50 gbp plus Thai banks conversion rate, 20,000 pounds can be transferred in a single transaction.....

Check the Thai Bank Exchange Rates, currently Bangkok Bank less than 42 baht too the £, On £20k it’s nearly it’s over 8000 baht less thann TransferWise even after the TransferWise fee.

[topt]

40 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

Check the Thai Bank Exchange Rates, currently Bangkok Bank less than 42 baht too the £, On £20k it’s nearly it’s over 8000 baht less thann TransferWise even after the TransferWise fee.

Not sure where you got your rate from (bank notes?) but currently showing 42.3925 for TT transfer

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/View-Rates/Foreign-Exchange-Rates

 

In other threads some people did the calculation to compare and depending on bank charges the higher the transfer the less advantage TW had - but TW's cost varies a lot by different currencies so you need to work it out with all charges. With TW you lock in the exchange rate agreed but with a TT you are at the mercy of the market for a day or 2 - the rate may go up or down in that period.

 

The other issue to consider is that should you ever want to repatriate the 800k (or any amount) unless you have a WP  you will probably need to have paperwork showing it has come from abroad - which at the moment it doesn't appear you can get with TransferWise.

[topt]

Here is the long running thread covering TransferWise for those that have not seen it

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/790395-transferwise-now-available-for-baht-transactions/?page=6&tab=comments#comment-13563498

[topt]

4 hours ago, SunsetT said:

Im sorry but I found the opposite to be true 12 years ago. The exchange rate given by Nationwide building society for a SWIFT transfer in THB was better than sending it in GBP to be exhanged at the Thai end of the transfer. Im not talking about exchanging GBP for THB currency over the counter at a bank, Im referring only to the exchange rates they use when sending SWIFT transfers.

That would have been unusual but as you say that was 12 years ago.

Example as of 20 minutes ago -

Lloyds Bank online rate 41.36

SCB current rate - 42.26

Bangkok Bank current rate - 42.39 - https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/View-Rates/Foreign-Exchange-Rates

 

Over 1 Baht per £ difference.

 

[Kevbo]

1 hour ago, topt said:

Not sure where you got your rate from (bank notes?) but currently showing 42.3925 for TT transfer

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/View-Rates/Foreign-Exchange-Rates

 

In other threads some people did the calculation to compare and depending on bank charges the higher the transfer the less advantage TW had - but TW's cost varies a lot by different currencies so you need to work it out with all charges. With TW you lock in the exchange rate agreed but with a TT you are at the mercy of the market for a day or 2 - the rate may go up or down in that period.

 

The other issue to consider is that should you ever want to repatriate the 800k (or any amount) unless you have a WP  you will probably need to have paperwork showing it has come from abroad - which at the moment it doesn't appear you can get with TransferWise.

Noted, which is why I prefer to go into a Lloyds branch and get the printout which includes the reason for the transfer, at my request (i.e. retirement fund)

[Jumbo1968]

5 minutes ago, Kevbo said:

Noted, which is why I prefer to go into a Lloyds branch and get the printout which includes the reason for the transfer, at my request (i.e. retirement fund)

Just withdraw it out, I can withdraw 50k baht a day, I wouldn’t hopefully want too repatriate it as a lump sum.

i am also sure TransferWise could provide paperwork, my U.K. Bank Statement would indicate the funds arrived in Thailand via TransferWise.

Edited November 14, 2018 by Jumbo1968
Edit

[Jumbo1968]

3 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

Just withdraw it out, I can withdraw 50k baht a day, I wouldn’t hopefully want too repatriate it as a lump sum.

 

Edited November 14, 2018 by Jumbo1968

[SunsetT]

2 hours ago, topt said:

That would have been unusual but as you say that was 12 years ago.

Example as of 20 minutes ago -

Lloyds Bank online rate 41.36

SCB current rate - 42.26

Bangkok Bank current rate - 42.39 - https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/View-Rates/Foreign-Exchange-Rates

 

Over 1 Baht per £ difference.

 

Can u provide a link to the Lloyds rate please?

[topt]

10 hours ago, SunsetT said:

Can u provide a link to the Lloyds rate please?

I had to go into the online International transfer option in my account and it allows you to put in figures and cancel out without actually making a transfer. Unfortunately the UK banks don't seem to publish their TT exchange rates like the Thai banks do.

[steve73]

17 hours ago, topt said:

That would have been unusual but as you say that was 12 years ago.

Example as of 20 minutes ago -

Lloyds Bank online rate 41.36

SCB current rate - 42.26

Bangkok Bank current rate - 42.39 - https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/View-Rates/Foreign-Exchange-Rates

 

Over 1 Baht per £ difference.

 

When I first came here in 07, I sent over 2MM from RBOS to my Thai bank in June at 67.059bt/GBP.  At that time the RBOS rate offered was around 1.5 bt less than my Thai bank, so I sent GBP. 

Until I discovered Transferwise last year, UK banks were always lower than Thai banks (when I checked).  With TW using (close to) the MMR it has always beaten a bank transfer.

Note that for USD, thai banks FX is much closer to the MMR, and TW benefits are marginal.

[SunsetT]

6 hours ago, topt said:

I had to go into the online International transfer option in my account and it allows you to put in figures and cancel out without actually making a transfer. Unfortunately the UK banks don't seem to publish their TT exchange rates like the Thai banks do.

Yes I recall not knowing the exchange rates until after making the transfers. I think this was because the actual exchange rates at the time were those of an intermediary bank that the Nationwide BS used for SWIFT transfers. So would your bank's 'online international transfer' actually be a SWIFT transfer or do they have a different means of transfer?