UK pension via pay pal

[Tweedle dee]

Hi i wish to change my method of having my pension paid to me here via pay pal..can it be done ?

[Estrada]

Your UK Pension can be paid easily from Bangkok Bank London office if you open a Bangkok Bank Account here, or to other banks according to the latest info:  https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad

 

I've been getting mine via Bangkok Bank London for the last 5 years. I have 3 other UK private pensions which they pay via swift direct to my Bangkok Bank account and one annual pension which they insist on sending a cheque and will not accept to pay any other way. Forget IBAN, Thailand does not use this, they use Swift.

[Antonymous]

14 minutes ago, Estrada said:

Your UK Pension can be paid easily from Bangkok Bank London office if you open a Bangkok Bank Account here, or to other banks according to the latest info:  https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad

 

I've been getting mine via Bangkok Bank London for the last 5 years. I have 3 other UK private pensions which they pay via swift direct to my Bangkok Bank account and one annual pension which they insist on sending a cheque and will not accept to pay any other way. Forget IBAN, Thailand does not use this, they use Swift.

I think what you are saying is that first you have to go to the UK and open an account at Bangkok Bank in London. Your pension gets deposited to the London account. And then the London branch can transfer it to you in Thailand. Is that right?

 

If so, won't be possible for expats who no longer have an address in the UK.

 

 

[Patanawet]

Why PAYPAL?

The UK pensions will pay direct into your Thai bank account here.

[Tweedle dee]

2 hours ago, Patanawet said:

Why PAYPAL?

The UK pensions will pay direct into your Thai bank account here.

Yes i am using this at the moment, but i have other plans in the near future .

[fanjita]

The PayPal exchange rate is appalling.  Surprised you haven't noticed.

[billd766]

I have set up an account at TransferWise in the UK and I am due my first payment tomorrow or Friday. I did a dummy run yesterday and the cost to transfer £620 using the fastest method (24 hours) will cost me just over £6.

 

TransferWise rates are better than the Thai forex.

 

I will come back to this thread and post the results in a couple of days.

 

The UK TransferWise set up was a bit fiddly to get started but I believe that it works and that there are a few users on TVF.

[fanjita]

Just now, billd766 said:

I have set up an account at TransferWise in the UK and I am due my first payment tomorrow or Friday. I did a dummy run yesterday and the cost to transfer £620 using the fastest method (24 hours) will cost me just over £6.

 

TransferWise rates are better than the Thai forex.

 

I will come back to this thread and post the results in a couple of days.

 

The UK TransferWise set up was a bit fiddly to get started but I believe that it works and that there are a few users on TVF.

I've nothing negative to say about TransferWise, but would like to inform that Xendpay do have a GBP 2k per annum fee-free allowance.  Not to be sniffed at.  The TransferWise / Xendpay rates are the almost exactly the same being mid-market rates.

[billd766]

But the rates that banks pay are not the same as the market mid rates.

 

I have never heard of Xendpay but here is a link to them

 

https://www.xendpay.com/

Edited November 14, 2018 by billd766
added extra text

[Tweedle dee]

1 hour ago, fanjita said:

The PayPal exchange rate is appalling.  Surprised you haven't noticed.

Thanks for the nod ! the truth be known is .... i will leave Thailand for good next year... i have a fair amount of cash here and upon arrival UK i could get pulled over for carrying too much for the norm re entry allowance.. i think is about 4 K the rest i would transfer what i will have over to my sisters PP acc back in blighty if you get my drift ?

[Kalasin Jo]

10 hours ago, Antonymous said:

I think what you are saying is that first you have to go to the UK and open an account at Bangkok Bank in London. Your pension gets deposited to the London account. And then the London branch can transfer it to you in Thailand. Is that right?

 

If so, won't be possible for expats who no longer have an address in the UK.

 

 

No, if you have a bank account with a UK bank account and a Thai, eg Pattaya, Bangkok bank account you can simply transfer whatever sum you want from your UK bank account to Bangkok Bank London branch using a special code which includes your Thai Bangkok bank account numbers and the sum appears in your Thai account. The Bankok Bank website has the instructions on how to do this. They charge a flat fee of £10 and apply the exchange rate on the day. The only drawback is that the transaction is not recorded on your online transaction statement as a foreign payment, simply " auto". May be it would be on a paper statement, I haven't had one of those for ages.

[Suradit69]

8 hours ago, Antonymous said:

I think what you are saying is that first you have to go to the UK and open an account at Bangkok Bank in London.

Bangkok Bank in London (or in New York) is a branch of Bangkok Bank. If you have an account at Bangkok Bank in Thailand or if you go to a branch here in Thailand and open an account, then that is the account number you use. 

 

There would be no point in opening an account at the London branch, if that's even possible. You have the pension payment sent to the London branch and indicate that it is to be deposited in your existing account, providing them the account number that you already have in Thailand. 

 

Your pound deposit will be translated into Thai baht and will be credited to your account in Thailand.

 

 

[Media1]

9 hours ago, Estrada said:

Your UK Pension can be paid easily from Bangkok Bank London office if you open a Bangkok Bank Account here, or to other banks according to the latest info:  https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad

 

I've been getting mine via Bangkok Bank London for the last 5 years. I have 3 other UK private pensions which they pay via swift direct to my Bangkok Bank account and one annual pension which they insist on sending a cheque and will not accept to pay any other way. Forget IBAN, Thailand does not use this, they use Swift.

4 pensions first l have ever met. Your cruising 

[Media1]

5 hours ago, billd766 said:

I have set up an account at TransferWise in the UK and I am due my first payment tomorrow or Friday. I did a dummy run yesterday and the cost to transfer £620 using the fastest method (24 hours) will cost me just over £6.

 

TransferWise rates are better than the Thai forex.

 

I will come back to this thread and post the results in a couple of days.

 

The UK TransferWise set up was a bit fiddly to get started but I believe that it works and that there are a few users on TVF.

l use transfer wise the best exchange rate and fast service 

[Jip99]

6 hours ago, billd766 said:

I have set up an account at TransferWise in the UK and I am due my first payment tomorrow or Friday. I did a dummy run yesterday and the cost to transfer £620 using the fastest method (24 hours) will cost me just over £6.

 

TransferWise rates are better than the Thai forex.

 

I will come back to this thread and post the results in a couple of days.

 

The UK TransferWise set up was a bit fiddly to get started but I believe that it works and that there are a few users on TVF.

 

 

I know now a lot of TW users on TVF...... and even more on regional and Pattaya forums.

 

Hard to find fault with TW

[Antonymous]

8 hours ago, Suradit69 said:

Bangkok Bank in London (or in New York) is a branch of Bangkok Bank. If you have an account at Bangkok Bank in Thailand or if you go to a branch here in Thailand and open an account, then that is the account number you use. 

 

There would be no point in opening an account at the London branch, if that's even possible. You have the pension payment sent to the London branch and indicate that it is to be deposited in your existing account, providing them the account number that you already have in Thailand. 

 

Your pound deposit will be translated into Thai baht and will be credited to your account in Thailand.

 

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

So what would be the advantage of this over the pension being transferred to your (any) Thai bank account directly from the pension provider (UK Govt or whatever)? Are the exchange rates always better from Bangkok Bank? Does it avoid the dreaded additional 'correspondent bank' middle man fee perhaps?

 

Genuinely interested if you or anyone can answer this.

 

[Suradit69]

3 hours ago, Antonymous said:

Thanks for the clarification.

 

So what would be the advantage of this over the pension being transferred to your (any) Thai bank account directly from the pension provider (UK Govt or whatever)? Are the exchange rates always better from Bangkok Bank? Does it avoid the dreaded additional 'correspondent bank' middle man fee perhaps?

 

Genuinely interested if you or anyone can answer this.

 

My experience for nearly twenty years has been with Bangkok Bank in New York, but unfortunately because of US government regulation this method is ending there. I assume it will still be available in London.

 

I was able to transfer money from my US bank to Bangkok Bank New York with no charge because that part of the process was a domestic transfer from one US based bank to another. For transfers of around $2000, Bangkok Bank NY charged $5 and Bangkok Bank Thailand charged baht 200 to complete the deposit process in Thai baht in my account in Thailand.

 

Since this method will no longer be available in the US, I've switched to using SWIFT transfers to Bangkok Bank Thailand. I designated Bangkok Bank New York as the correspondent bank for my US broker to use. Have done a couple of SWIFT transfers via Bangkok Bank New York and the charges were the same. $5 in New York and baht 200 in Thailand. Larger transfer amounts would attract slightly higher fees.

 

I don't know what the fees would be if using Bangkok Bank London. 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2018 by Suradit69

[sandyf]

On 11/15/2018 at 8:09 AM, Antonymous said:

Thanks for the clarification.

 

So what would be the advantage of this over the pension being transferred to your (any) Thai bank account directly from the pension provider (UK Govt or whatever)? Are the exchange rates always better from Bangkok Bank? Does it avoid the dreaded additional 'correspondent bank' middle man fee perhaps?

 

Genuinely interested if you or anyone can answer this.

 

I had my pension paid direct from the DWP for several years and the rates were always better than you would get through a bank. 

Following the referendum I changed to my UK account to keep some pension in the UK as I go back each year for a month. With the lower rate I saw little point in changing THB back to GBP. With the changes that may come in respect of income letters I may have to rethink that policy.

[Antonymous]

2 hours ago, sandyf said:

I had my pension paid direct from the DWP for several years and the rates were always better than you would get through a bank. 

 

Now THAT's useful to know. Thanks.

 

When making international transfers there are 'fees' and there are exchange rates. The sender makes their real money on the exchange rate that they and only they choose to use and there's nothing the receiver can do to argue that rate down when it is excessive. Banks are notorious for it.

[billd766]

On 11/14/2018 at 6:24 PM, billd766 said:

I have set up an account at TransferWise in the UK and I am due my first payment tomorrow or Friday. I did a dummy run yesterday and the cost to transfer £620 using the fastest method (24 hours) will cost me just over £6.

 

TransferWise rates are better than the Thai forex.

 

I will come back to this thread and post the results in a couple of days.

 

The UK TransferWise set up was a bit fiddly to get started but I believe that it works and that there are a few users on TVF.

I transferred £620 by their quickest routing and the transfer cost was £5.26. The GBP was converted into THB at a rate of 43.95 which was guaranteed at the time of transfer and the transaction took just short of 24 hours. It usually takes 2 to 3 working days using the old method and it would have been paid in at whatever the Kbank Forex rate will be on Monday.

 

I am very impressed by TransferWise. ????????????

[Expattaff1308]

12 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I transferred £620 by their quickest routing and the transfer cost was £5.26. The GBP was converted into THB at a rate of 43.95 which was guaranteed at the time of transfer and the transaction took just short of 24 hours. It usually takes 2 to 3 working days using the old method and it would have been paid in at whatever the Kbank Forex rate will be on Monday.

 

I am very impressed by TransferWise. ????????????

I use the 'normal route'with Transferwise and it is rarely longer than 24hours unless a weekend or holiday is involved.

Edited November 16, 2018 by Expattaff1308

[sandyf]

22 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I transferred £620 by their quickest routing and the transfer cost was £5.26. The GBP was converted into THB at a rate of 43.95 which was guaranteed at the time of transfer and the transaction took just short of 24 hours. It usually takes 2 to 3 working days using the old method and it would have been paid in at whatever the Kbank Forex rate will be on Monday.

 

I am very impressed by TransferWise. ????????????

Smart timing Bill, rate took a hit when Raab resigned, around 42.3 at the moment.

[billd766]

2 hours ago, Expattaff1308 said:

I use the 'normal route'with Transferwise and it is rarely longer than 24 hours unless a weekend or holiday is involved.

The main reason I went the express route was because I did the transfer yesterday and received it about 14:20 this afternoon. If it had been after banking hours I wouldn't have got the money until Monday.

 

Looking at the routing slip it seems to have gone from TransferWise in the UK via Bangkok bank in the UK to BKK bank in Thailand and then to my KBank account.

[billd766]

2 hours ago, sandyf said:

Smart timing Bill, rate took a hit when Raab resigned, around 42.3 at the moment.

It would have been nicer if I had sent £10,000 instead of a measly £600.????

[lungbing]

Then the Transferwise fee would have been considerably higher.

[LucysDad]

5 hours ago, billd766 said:

I transferred £620 by their quickest routing and the transfer cost was £5.26. The GBP was converted into THB at a rate of 43.95 which was guaranteed at the time of transfer and the transaction took just short of 24 hours. It usually takes 2 to 3 working days using the old method and it would have been paid in at whatever the Kbank Forex rate will be on Monday.

 

I am very impressed by TransferWise. ????????????

 

 

Bill, I am delighted that youare finding TW to your liking, but I am confused by your comments on fees.

 

I wasn't aware of a 'quickest routing', I thought all transfers were the same. Except for one transfer all mine have arrive the next day - many around lunchtime. The charge for £620 should be £4.88.

 

Hide fee breakdown

- 4.88 GBP

fee

615.12 GBP Amount we'll convert

42.26496

 

Guaranteed rate (24 hrs

 

 

 

[billd766]

1 hour ago, LucysDad said:

 

 

Bill, I am delighted that youare finding TW to your liking, but I am confused by your comments on fees.

 

I wasn't aware of a 'quickest routing', I thought all transfers were the same. Except for one transfer all mine have arrive the next day - many around lunchtime. The charge for £620 should be £4.88.

 

Hide fee breakdown

- 4.88 GBP

fee

615.12 GBP Amount we'll convert

42.26496

 

Guaranteed rate (24 hrs

 

 

 

There are 3 different rates as I could see but the one I used was guaranteed to be there within 24 hours, I am not worried so much by the transfer fee as I would have saved £1 GBP or 41 ish baht.

 

What I have found is that the old way where my pension providers sent the money to my account, it would take anywhere from 2 working days up to a week and the charge was around £3.

 

It came in at a higher rate than I used to get from KBank anyway 

Edited November 16, 2018 by billd766
added extra text

[sandyf]

12 hours ago, billd766 said:

There are 3 different rates as I could see but the one I used was guaranteed to be there within 24 hours, I am not worried so much by the transfer fee as I would have saved £1 GBP or 41 ish baht.

 

What I have found is that the old way where my pension providers sent the money to my account, it would take anywhere from 2 working days up to a week and the charge was around £3.

 

It came in at a higher rate than I used to get from KBank anyway 

It is horses for courses. I use HSBC and the transfer fee is £4, if I time it right usually the next day. I have tested TW at the amounts I would normally send and the overall difference is not worth making any change. 

If things were to change then it could be a different story.

[topt]

On 11/14/2018 at 6:51 PM, Tweedle dee said:

Thanks for the nod ! the truth be known is .... i will leave Thailand for good next year... i have a fair amount of cash here and upon arrival UK i could get pulled over for carrying too much for the norm re entry allowance.. i think is about 4 K the rest i would transfer what i will have over to my sisters PP acc back in blighty if you get my drift ?

If you want a cheaper transfer method out of Thailand have you looked at Dee Money who have been advertising for the last few moths - several threads in the Banking etc forum from memory?

They were advertising a charge of only 150 baht per transfer but not sure on rates. The only issue for me is you have to go to Bangkok to one of their offices to register at the moment.

 

Can't you just transfer from your Thai bank account to your sisters bank account once you are ready to go?

[Tweedle dee]

6 minutes ago, topt said:

If you want a cheaper transfer method out of Thailand have you looked at Dee Money who have been advertising for the last few moths - several threads in the Banking etc forum from memory?

They were advertising a charge of only 150 baht per transfer but not sure on rates. The only issue for me is you have to go to Bangkok to one of their offices to register at the moment.

 

Can't you just transfer from your Thai bank account to your sisters bank account once you are ready to go?

Will take that suggestion on board, guess i am used to doing my own online work rather than driving into the city from where i am .