Hypothetical visa/bank question

[KhunFred]

I am paying off credit card debt from the United States, I have been using my Teacher's retirement payment plus my annuity payment in a credit union in the USA, in order to do that. My Social Security has been on direct deposit in Bangkok Bank. If I should move the entire sum here, would there be problems paying the various accounts? I don't see any provisions for setting up monthly payments on the Bualuang I-Banking site. Perhaps I am not looking in the right place. Trying to talk with the staff there is a nightmare. I owe Chase, American Express, DIscover, Citi and Barclays.

[Lacessit]

Why don't you consolidate your debt with a single loan in the USA or online, pay off the five cards, and go from there?

[KhunFred]

2 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Why don't you consolidate your debt with a single loan in the USA or online, pay off the five cards, and go from there?

I am working on that exact plan. The Credit Union is sending paperwork, but I am trying to cover all possible bases. I see the debt consolidation as the best option, but there is nothing but bad news on the Thai front, lately,so I am looking at all possibilities that I can. Thanks for the reasonable answer.

[Pib]

You can't make international bill payments from your Thai mbanking/ibanking.  Like using your Bangkok Bank ibanking to pay a bill in the U.S.

[Yellowtail]

45 minutes ago, Pib said:

You can't make international bill payments from your Thai mbanking/ibanking.  Like using your Bangkok Bank ibanking to pay a bill in the U.S.

But you should be able to transfer it back to a US account and make payments from there,,

[55Jay]

Don't mean to pry but, Is your effort related to loss of USE Income Affidavits for your visa/extensions of stay here?  In that your SS amount into Bangkok Bank, on its own, isn't enough to hit the 65k mark.  Thus loading SS and the other income into Bangkok Bank (in Baht) would put you over the top on paper - then just figure out how to reverse X amount back to the US to pay the cards.  

 

[Pib]

16 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

But you should be able to transfer it back to a US account and make payments from there,,

Yes, but to do a transfer (money transfer) using your Thai ibanking probability is high you "must" have a work permit and get pre-approval from the Thai bank---it's that way with Bangkok Bank.  Otherwise you must physically visit the branch to initiate a transfer and sometimes they can be a pain...other times no problems especially when not a large amount.

 

Plus, to do a funds transfer back to your US bank/credit union the Thai bank direct sending fee will range from around Bt350 to Bt1200.  Plus you must buy the US dollars from the bank using their TT "Selling" Rate which which causes approx a 1% of amount sent back indirect fee over the TT Buying Rate used when then funds first arrived.   

 

Using DeeMoney would be cheaper direct sending fee-wise but they still have an approx 1% markup to buy the dollars to send back.  No work permit required however they can't send to "all" US banks/credit unions...only around 76 different banks/CUs like Bank of America, USAA, pretty much big banks most folks have heard of...but of those 76 only around a half dozen a credit unions.  If he wants to identify his CU I can look a the DeeMoney US banks/CUs list I have to see if his is one of them.

[55Jay]

@Pib  Just curious, where did Krungsi's fee fall within the 350 ~ 1,200 range?  Flat rate or % of amount transferred?

 

 

[Pib]

35 minutes ago, 55Jay said:

@Pib  Just curious, where did Krungsi's fee fall within the 350 ~ 1,200 range?  Flat rate or % of amount transferred?

Their direct sending fee is Bt350 without them covering any intermediary bank fees that might (probably) be along the way.  If you want them to cover any intermediary fee then it's another Bt800 for a total of Bt1,150.  

 

I wanted to find out if there would be intermediary fee along the way and only went the Bt350 route.  There was a $20 intermediary fee along the way (the transfer posted $20 less than what I sent due to that intermediary fee).  $20 worked out to approx Bt650 when I did the transfer late last year. 

 

So, I did find out they needed to use an intermediary bank to reach my US bank and saved Bt150.  End result when the fee dust settled was Bt1,000 to do that transfer plus the approx 1% "indirect" fee loss due to the TT Selling Rate.   The funds posted to my US bank account in 6 (six) hours. 

 

For example: if I had sent back say $500 via Krungsri there would have been that Bt1,000 in fees (approx $31) and assuming when the money came over at a certain TT "Buying" Rate used for incoming transfers that the TT "Selling" Rate resulted in a 1% loss, then 1% of 500 is $5.  So, total direct and indirect fees would have been around $36.    If using DeeMoney, the indirect fee would have been basically the same ($5) but the direct fee would have only be Bt150 plus 7% VAT for Bt160 ($5)...so total direct and indirect fee would have been $10....takes approx 2-3 days to post to your account.

[KhunFred]

14 hours ago, 55Jay said:

Don't mean to pry but, Is your effort related to loss of USE Income Affidavits for your visa/extensions of stay here?  In that your SS amount into Bangkok Bank, on its own, isn't enough to hit the 65k mark.  Thus loading SS and the other income into Bangkok Bank (in Baht) would put you over the top on paper - then just figure out how to reverse X amount back to the US to pay the cards.  

 

My SS payment is about 43 thousand baht. My combined teacher's retirement and annuity payments held in my credit union in the USA are around 33 thousand baht. Together, these amounts put me far above the required amount to stay here. I am trying to set up a debt consolidation plan to help fix the problem. Meanwhile, my Social Security check would cover me if I were married to a Thai, something that is happening soon.

[BritTim]

I have never tried to set up standing orders for international recipients with a Thai bank. I am guessing that it would be a bit expensive as a recurring monthly expense. After all, most banks still have unreasonably high charges for overseas transfers.

 

I certainly understand why you would want to find an automatic system for making the payments, but I suspect you may end up having to make manual payments each month using TransferWise to keep costs under control.

[55Jay]

33 minutes ago, KhunFred said:

My SS payment is about 43 thousand baht. My combined teacher's retirement and annuity payments held in my credit union in the USA are around 33 thousand baht. Together, these amounts put me far above the required amount to stay here. I am trying to set up a debt consolidation plan to help fix the problem. Meanwhile, my Social Security check would cover me if I were married to a Thai, something that is happening soon.

Ah ok, was just spitballing given the recent activity with Immigration policies.