New 'thai Visa' Exchange Rates

[StickKettleOn]

I just received an email from Thai Visa, offering yet another Thai Visa white label promo in which they have branded TV on an affiliate website. This time, seems Thai Visa are offering exchange rates.

I just checked it out, and it seems this new TV site is way off other exchange rate sites. Way, way off. Have I missed something here?

For example;

Based on GBP to THB;

http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html

65.73

http://www.xe.com

66.18

http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic

66.20

All similar rates….. But then Thai Visa states;

http://baht.thaivisa.com/

69.53

Again, forgive me if I have missed something massively obvious – but is that not very unreliable info TV is printing?

Best

SKO

[britmaveric]

On Shore Vs Off Shore rates.... if you are on ground in thailand - the rates TV are providing are quite correct.

http://www.bot.or.th/Bothomepage/databank/.../exchange_e.asp

Edited February 21, 2007 by britmaveric

[StickKettleOn]

Hi Britmaveric. I was not even aware there was a difference. Sigh... something else for me to get my head around.

For the benefit of a rather financially clueless guy, could you explain to me which one is applicable to me?

My money is sent to my through western union. So to anticipate how much I will likely receive prior to me collecting money, which site do I go by? Onshore or offshore? By the way.... which is which?

Is TV relevant to me, or the likes of xe.com?

I am more confused now. Surely on shore/offshore should be the same? Why would it make any difference? It is still GBP, regardless of where the money originates from.

Ok - explain it to me like I am a six year old. The exchange rate booth in town clearly states 66 to the pound. Why would TV offer 69. Only asking as I don’t know.

Confused.... help me understand, thanks very much

Edited February 21, 2007 by StickKettleOn

[Maestro]

As far as I know, the link on ThaiVisa brings you to exchange rates offered by banks in Thailand. The other sources you quoted seem to refer to exchange rates offered by banks or other organisations outside Thailand.

--

Maestro

P.S. What’s with all those blank lines between paragraphs in your post?

[StickKettleOn]

Hi Maestro - blank lines, no idea.

Thank you for the post though. I feel silly asking this, but why on earth would a Thai bank offer you more than a British bank, where the money originates from? Again, just asking as i dont know. Looking for a little education, thanks.

[StickKettleOn]

Ok.... In laymans terms;

Based onposts recieved from BM and Maestro, On shore offers 69, off shore offers 66.

So, if i fly over with £100 in my pocket and exchange at a BKK bank, I get 6,900 Baht. However, i send the money by wire from a British bank to a BKK bank, fly over and then pick it up, I only get 6,600 baht.

Is that right?

Is that fair? I am confused....

Patience please guys....

[britmaveric]

Yes you are quite correct. BOT has set up dual currency rates in order to stop forex speculators.

[DavidOxon]

If I put £100 in my nationwide account here in the UK

and my MIL takes it out in Thailand through an ATM

How much will she get (based on the above example!)

David

[StickKettleOn]

David - it would seem she would get the on shore rate as it was transfered in the UK.... so that would be 6600.

Or would it?

I realy dont understand this. Crazy.

[taxexile]

i dont understand it either.

if i transfer gbp from the uk by SWIFT to my account here in thailand (as gbp) and the money is changed into thai baht by the bank here before it is credited to my account , do i get the low offshore rate ( say 66 )or the higher rate ( say 69).

[britmaveric]

69 if transaction is processed in Thailand. If you wanted to buy BHT in UK then you would get 66.

[StickKettleOn]

Im not so sure if this applies to the everyday joe. I am sure that even if there is an onshore rate, if you walked into a exchange booth on Sukhumvit with £100, you would only get £6600. If there is an onshore and offshore rate, why do the Sukhumvit exchange boothes all advertise the same rate as the internet sites i have mentioned? (which is less than the TV site).

I have a feeling the TV rate is not applicable to us as the TV rate is far higher than the exchange boothes on Sukhumvit which we would use if we needed to.

I hope I am making sense.

[britmaveric]

Stick - think you need to check around. Here is Siam Commericial Bank - another example for you.

https://www.scbbusiness.com/exchange/bk-txtexchange.htm

[StickKettleOn]

Thanks BM.

Just so I am clear..... My money is sent by western union. Is the TV rate relavent to me, or not?

Is the onshore rate on applicable to exchanging cash in Thailand then?

Cheers

Edited February 21, 2007 by StickKettleOn

[britmaveric]

I can't be certain, but since you are collecting your dosh in Thailand, I'd have to go with 69 rate. However proof is in the pudding and you will know when its done.

[oxymoron]

On Shore Vs Off Shore rates.... if you are on ground in thailand - the rates TV are providing are quite correct.

http://www.bot.or.th/Bothomepage/databank/.../exchange_e.asp

Thank you britmaveric, your a genius.

For a week now I have been trying to figure out why the TV exchange rate table did not correlate with my data from Ayudhya, Siam Commercial and Bangkok Bank. I thought I knew the answer but you provided the proof with your link above, the TV table lists the Average Selling rates, which is not much help to those wanting to exchange $AUD or $US etc for Thai Baht, as this is the rate you get when you TAKE THAI BAHT in and want $AUD $US etc ie a transfer out of Thailand.

The AVERAGE SELL RATE (Telex Transfer) column is the one our site should show, as this is the number of Thai Baht you get when you transfer in to Thailand $AUD $US etc as foreign currency and get it converted ONSHORE.

thx again

[Maestro]

So, if i fly over with £100 in my pocket and exchange at a BKK bank, I get 6,900 Baht. However, i send the money by wire from a British bank to a BKK bank, fly over and then pick it up, I only get 6,600 baht.

Is that right?

No. You wire GBP 100 to your Thai bank account, the Thai bank does the exchange, you get the higher “onshore” rate, higher even than for cash. See for example the rates of Bangkok Bank.

Of course, if your UK bank offers you the option of wiring Baht and you order them to do that, then you get the lower “offshore” rate.

--

Maestro

[Maestro]

Hi Maestro - blank lines, no idea.

But I know: it’s called the “Enter” key. Plus, you clicked around on the formatting toolbar like a madman; see attachment. Since you did not do this with any of your previous posts I was wondering if you had a particular reason for doing it with the original post in this topic. Anyway, I am glad to see that sanity returned.

--

Maestro

Format_coding.pdf

[topfield]

I just received an email from Thai Visa, offering yet another Thai Visa white label promo in which they have branded TV on an affiliate website. This time, seems Thai Visa are offering exchange rates.

I just checked it out, and it seems this new TV site is way off other exchange rate sites. Way, way off. Have I missed something here?

For example;

Based on GBP to THB;

http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html

65.73

http://www.xe.com

66.18

http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic

66.20

All similar rates….. But then Thai Visa states;

http://baht.thaivisa.com/

69.53

Again, forgive me if I have missed something massively obvious – but is that not very unreliable info TV is printing?

Best

SKO

Hi TV Admin & readers ,

When the TV baht fx rates list came out a few weeks ago , I foretold the misunderstandings and headaches this would cause and suggested that a unique baht/currency exchange list be posted lising BOTH offshore and onshore rates. This has not happened !

Well the above posting is only the tip of the iceberg with vast majority of readers scratching their head in confusion and disbelief. Perhaps TV should reconsider the format of this list and if its to be an onshore baht only list, with a note explaining why all other websites outside Thailand show completely different rates !

Thanks

[StickKettleOn]

I agree with Topfiled. The TV rate site is not applicable to many of us.

I just checked on Western Union website and £100 sent gives me 6600 (pre charge) so the money is obviously converted into TB in England.

[Maestro]

I aThe TV rate site is not applicable to many of us.

I just checked on Western Union website and £100 sent gives me 6600 (pre charge) so the money is obviously converted into TB in England.

I don’t think there are many ThaiVisa members making remittances from the UK to Thailand and insisting with their bank to transfer Baht, not pounds, in order to get a worse exchange rate.

I have never used Western Union, only banks, and therefore cannot comment on their service.

--

Maestro

[chingching]

If your money comes to u thru Western Union, the exchange rate would be the least of your worries.

[peter991]

Western Union charges a transfer fee (on average) of around 8%. If I wanted to send 5000 baht to Thailand with Western Union, i would have to give their Australian agent (most Post offices), 5400 baht.

Peter

[AlexLah]

I am just confused about how the whole TT things work.

When I send money to Holland BB uses the bank of America to transfer my money to my Dutch account.

I have asked the lady at the bank which was better, I give my Thai Bath and send it as US dollar ore as Euro?

One girl said it was better to convert into US Dollar, another girl said it was beter to convert the Thai Bath to Euro.

Anyone here that can clear up?

Kind regards,

Alex

[topfield]

If only you people scratching their head about the seven percent rate dfferential on the baht knew how lucky they were !

Travelling to Zimbabwe ? The ( official )rate on Bloomberg is 488 Zimbabwe dollars to the pound. When you get to Harare its nearly 10000000 ( ten million ) to the pound on the open market !!

Edited February 23, 2007 by topfield

[dingue2rep]

If only you people scratching their head about the seven percent rate dfferential on the baht knew how lucky they were !

Travelling to Zimbabwe ? The ( official )rate on Bloomberg is 488 Zimbabwe dollars to the pound. When you get to Harare its nearly 10000000 ( ten million ) to the pound on the open market !!

You can thank Robert Mugabe for that...

A real banana republic!

Worthwhile visiting if only for The great Zambezi, and thundering Victoria Falls. Kariba not bad at all!

The ruins are quite impressive, considering they are unique on the whole continent, apart from those in Egypt!

[Maestro]

When I send money to Holland BB uses the bank of America to transfer my money to my Dutch account.

I believe it depends on what currency you send, to what bank in Holland, and on what correspondent banks Brigitte Bardot (BB) has for this transaction.

--------------

Maestro

[Maestro]

The AVERAGE SELL RATE (Telex Transfer) column is the one our site should show, as this is the number of Thai Baht you get when you transfer in to Thailand $AUD $US etc as foreign currency and get it converted ONSHORE.

No. The Thai bank’s buy rate represents the number of Baht you get for a unit of foreign currency.

I do not know which bank’s rates ThaiVisa’s currency link uses or what exactly they mean with “mid-market rates” but I suspect it is the mean value of the T/T selling rate and the T/T buying rate.

At the moment ThaiVisa shows the rates for 21 February, e.g. 35.6786 for USD. For the same date, the afore-mentioned mean rate was 35.69 quoted by Bangkok Bank (BBL), update 1, 35.71 at update 2; 35.70 quoted by Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) at 08:30, 35.69 at 10:38

--------------

Maestro

[OneeyedJohn]

On Monday I got 69.4 Baht to the GB Pound by initiating the bank xfer in UK. The receiving bank in BKK may or may not have deducted 500 for their efforts which would up the rate fractionally.

So that ties in approx with TV' dot com's rate.

But when a transfer costs £ 21 each time then its hardly worth the bother debating decimal points for smallish amounts.

Edited February 23, 2007 by OneeyedJohn

[marshbags]

On Shore Vs Off Shore rates.... if you are on ground in thailand - the rates TV are providing are quite correct.

http://www.bot.or.th/Bothomepage/databank/.../exchange_e.asp

Sorry to disagree but the rates offered at the banks are those quoted by the Bangkok Bank via the Bangkok Post web site which i believe T.Visa used previously.

That is if you are " on the ground " and changing at the local exchange facilities :-

GBP United Kingdom

Buying Rates Selling Rates Sight Bill TT Bill-DD-TT

68.69, 70.53, 69.42000, 69.59750, 70.27750

I have used the current recommended T.Visa site several times recently and found it mis leading regarding actual over the counter exchange transactions.

These transactions are the ones most relevant to on the ground members and consequently are not factual to actual ex. rates. given over the counter.

Hence the confusion IMHO of course.

Perhaps it would help if they were made applicable to the above which after all the majority of people need to refer to.

E.G. Basic baht exchange rates as quoted by the B.Bank. and applicable to the majority of transactions.

My most recent visit was this morning where i found once again the rates from the recommended site were out of sinc. to the pound / baht rates.

Incidently my last overseas transfer was related to the B.Bank quotes as per F. E. Rates and NOT the T.Visa site. ?

Quoted from the following url :-

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok+Bank/We...es/FX+Rates.htm

marshbags

Edited February 23, 2007 by marshbags