Best international transfer

[keithet]

I just opened a acount with bankok bank and will be using it to show new monthly deposit method imagration wants to see money deposited to thai acount from abroad each month. 

What is the best way to transfer from US "bank of America" to Bangkok bank? I want the garente that my incomoming transfer says international. They gave me a swift id but I've been reading about ach? Swift I know $35 from my US bank if I send in baht $45 if I send us dollar and not sure what bangkok bank charges when recieved. 

 

Please no "you should use transferwise" they don't always show international... I need consistency of every transfer showing international for imagration. 

[wgdanson]

• Every one of my T'wise to bangkok bank for last two years said FTT = Foreign Transfer. You can also print you T'wise invoice which says to which account the transfer went.

[Pib]

Effective 1 Apr 19 you will no longer be able to use ACH to transfer from your US bank/credit union to your Bangkok Bank account due to Bangkok Bank only accepting  ACH "International ACH Transactions (IAT)" effective 1 Apr 19.    The ACH IAT format is different than the standard issue ACH domestic format that will currently work (up to 1 Apr) in using ACH to transfer to your "in-Thailand" Bangkok Bank account.  IAT format requires more info in the transfer like full name, address, phone of the sender and full name, address, phone number of the receiver....it's pretty similar to the SWIFT format which asks for such info also.   This change is driven by the US Treasury/National ACH Assn.

 

You might be thinking then well I'll just have my US bank send in ACH IAT format.  Unfortunately, no known US bank/CU for retail accounts uses ACH IAT to "send" money.  The can receive ACH IAT but they only use ACH domestic format or pricey international wire (a.k.a., SWIFT) to send money excluding those other possible transfer methods like ZELLE.

 

And even if you tried to set up an ACH ibanking transfer link on your US ibanking right now and your US bank use the "trial deposits method" to validate the new link (many/most do), the trial deposit would probably be rejected by Bangkok Bank since they are not in ACH IAT format.  Bangkok Bank started rejecting such trial deposit mid last year....kinda like taking a step to cutoff any new transfer links being setup unless in IAT format.  But current transfer links using ACH domestic format will continue to work until 1 Apr 19.

 

For an incoming ACH transfer for most typical amounts the Bangkok Bank NY branch will slice off a $5 up to $2K or $10 fee for over $2K as the money flows thru them and then the in-Thailand receiving Bangkok Bank branch will charge 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) receiving fee whether the funds arrive in foreign currency or already converted to baht.   Both of these fees will not appear anywhere on your passbook/ibanking as they are applied/sliced off before posting to your account....this fools a lot of people into thinking no fees were applied but indeed they were.

 

For a SWIFT transfer you will still have the Bangkok Bank receiving fee but not the NY branch fee...but you still "might" have some intermediary bank fee if your sending bank must use one to get the money to your Thailand account.  Such intermediary fees (if applied) are usually $10 or $20 based on many posts I've read over the years.  You will not know for sure if your sending bank must use an intermediary bank until you do a test transfer.

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

58 minutes ago, keithet said:

Please no "you should use transferwise" they don't always show international... I need consistency of every transfer showing international for imagration. 

 

From everything I've read here, Transferwise transfers INTO Bangkok Bank do always get listed as foreign transfers -- at least up to the present time. Obviously, never can know what will/may happen in the future. (By that, I mean, Transferwise doesn't make their Thailand banking arrangements for the purpose of accommodating Thai Immigration's new "no income letter" rules for extensions of stay.)

 

Likewise, from everything I've read here, it's the OTHER Thai banks other than BKKB that seem to NOT list incoming Transferwise transfers as foreign. So presumably, incoming TFW transfers to those other Thai banks are probably not going to satisfy Immigration, unless those banks somehow end up being willing to certify that those TFW transfers are foreign, even though their bank book coding doesn't show them that way.

 

But in broader answer to the original OP question, some of the best fee rates for international wire transfers that are known to folks here are not coming from U.S. banks or credit unions, and instead are coming from U.S. brokerages. For example, if memory serves, Vanguard free, Fidelity $10 if you're willing to jump thru some setup hoops, and Charles Schwab $25 per international transfer, though some members here claim to be getting them for free. Brokerages are another avenue to explore.

 

 

 

Edited January 21, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[keithet]

Thank you for all the info! 

[keithet]

In the past I've always transferred lump sum 3 to 4 times a year. Perfect for my spending needs. 

But now no US embassy letter I am going to try the monthly option. And until we start to get reports from people who went to imagration using the new monthly income and some of the posts are cinsistant from Changwatana and other offices. I will do my first monthly deposit in February using Swift for piece of mind. 

I scrapped my Kbank because they use a middle bank and opened a Bangkok bank account because if the consistency of reports I've read. 

I personally have to start now to show 12 monthly deposits every month for 12 months from abroad. 

Edited January 21, 2019 by keithet