Bangkok Bank New York office no longer accepting transfers

[montereyjp]

My last two transfers from my U.S. bank to the Bangkok Bank New York office did not go through... After three days the funds where credited back into my U.S bank account. I just got off the phone with a Bangkok Bank rep and I was informed that US regulators shutdown New York office. So the service is no longer available. She did mention they partnered with some other US Banks that your bank might be able to work through.. just thought I'd let the USA guys who use this method know..if anyone knows some cheap ways to move money from USA to Thailand please share..

Edited November 28, 2019 by montereyjp
Fix spelling

[Berkshire]

This topic has been discussed at length on this forum.  BKK Bank NY has stopped accepting domestic ACH transfers, but are still accepting other types of wire transfers and IAT.  Did you send money by domestic ACH?

 

If the NY office has in fact closed, that would be big news.   

[topt]

1 hour ago, montereyjp said:

just thought I'd let the USA guys who use this method know..if anyone knows some cheap ways to move money from USA to Thailand please share..

61 pages - Transferwise gets mentioned a few times in the latter pages.

[Somewhere In Time]

1 hour ago, montereyjp said:

I just got off the phone with a Bangkok Bank rep and I was informed that US regulators shutdown New York office.

Most likely a Bangkok Bank rep here in the Kingdom who generalized their response to you concerning the soon-to-be legacy domestic U.S. ACH internet bank transfers via Bangkok Bank's New York Branch to your Bangkok Bank account here in the Kingdom.   

 

<<<  IF  >>>  it was actually a Bangkok Bank New York Branch rep you talked with in the last 24 hrs...and

 

1 hour ago, Berkshire said:

If the NY office has in fact closed, that would be big news.

...big news it would be, indeed.

 

SIT

[Pib]

Yea....the NY branch is not shutdown...the Treasury regulators has just forced them to stop/phase out doing "domestic ACH format" transfers to Thailand unless in the "ACH "IAT" format."   The IAT format requires more info than the domestic format to fully identify who is sending the money, who is receiving the money, the reason for the transfer, etc.  Info very similar to what is required in a SWIFT transfer.  

 

The process of the NY branch phrasing out ACH transfer to Thailand unless in ACH IAT actually started last year....a phased approach.  Bangkok Bank NY announced it in mid 2018.  Their initial stop date was 1 Apr 2019 but the regulators gave the NY branch a couple of extensions in order for some US govt agencies like the SSA to prepare and to have less impact on customers/govt payment beneficiaries.  These extension also allow non-govt agency transfer to continue to get through for many.

 

Right now unless something changes early Jan 2020 will be the final cutoff date...and that cutoff date really just applies to ACH transfers not in IAT format "from govt/civilian pension paying entities."  But as we are now seeing in quantity personal transfers are being rejected.   After that Jan 2020 point if the transfer is not in IAT format "regardless of who sent the money," it's suppose to be rejected.

[ronjomtien]

Use IDD for SSA. SEND FORM TO MANILA. Use new Thai Remittance Form and process for everything else. Send to NYC. Easy.

[Pib]

16 minutes ago, ronjomtien said:

Use IDD for SSA. SEND FORM TO MANILA. Use new Thai Remittance Form and process for everything else. Send to NYC. Easy.

IDD for SSA payment is fine...Manila can indeed fix you up.

 

But using the NY branch Thai Baht Remittance method for everything else is slow and expensive....and not really easy.  Are you using it?

[soisanuk]

10 minutes ago, ronjomtien said:

Use IDD for SSA. SEND FORM TO MANILA. Use new Thai Remittance Form and process for everything else. Send to NYC. Easy.

That is one method if you want your entire SSA or other Gov't pension funds sent to your Thai bank account (Bangkok Bank or other Thai bank). 

 

Many, including myself, switched to using Transferwise - they have several different funding methods for the transfer including pulling the funds from your USA bank account using the ACH system (this is the method I use).  A friend of mine who had been using the NY Bank transfers for his direct SSA deposit, changed to using a Transferwise Borderless account (his SSA is routed through an ACH number of a Transferwise affiliated bank) and held there - he then instructs Transferwise to send the funds from this "borderless" account to his Bangkok Bank Account -- done quickly as they already have the funds, whereas in my case it usually takes a business day or two to pull the funds from my bank and another day to send it on to my account.   If using this method and needed to show the amounts transferred to Thai Immigration, it is best to have a Bangkok Bank Account and in the drop down menu on Transferwise to show the reason for the transfer, go to the bottom and select for "Long Stay in Thailand" - so far those doing so do have the transfer go to direct to their Bangkok Bank Account (instead of through a partner bank such as Kasikorn) and coded FTT (foreign transfer).  If it goes through a partner bank, it gets coded as a domestic transfer into your Bangkok Bank account.

 

Bangkok Bank has also set up a Baht remittance Service through their NY Branch -- takes longer and is sent in Baht (using offshore exchange rate) with the same fees applicable that the NY Branch charged for the ACH transfers. One reason for delay in receiving is the funds need to be in the form of a paper bank check mailed to the NY Branch (they also wait for check to clear before remitting the funds on to your Bangkok Bank account here in Thailand). However, you can have it sent in US dollars for a flat fee of US$55 - if done that way, Bangkok Bank here converts it to baht using the onshore exchange rate (still the slow route to getting funds).  But, if sent by this method, it will ensure that it gets coded as a foreign transfer by Bangkok Bank.

 

[spornb]

Bangkok Bank LONDON BRANCH have said changes are coming there as well, does anyone know if this will apply to London, its all to do with anti money laundering regulations

[Max69xl]

Why not try TransferWise? Cheap,easy to use and reliable. 

 

https://transferwise.com/

 

[mushroomdave]

I travel / bank between Taiwan and Thailand often and just this past week, Bangkok Bank in Taipei doubled all transaction fees between the 2, and even just deposits.  

[Wake Up]

On 11/28/2019 at 10:32 PM, Max69xl said:

Why not try TransferWise? Cheap,easy to use and reliable. 

 

https://transferwise.com/

 

I know people claim Transferwise is cheap but it is only cheap compared to western union and others.
 Transferwise charges you  almost one percent in fees To transfer your money. For 1000 USA dollars transferwise charges a fee of 8 USA dollars or 80 percent of one percent.  They charge 80 dollars per 10,000 USA dollars.  If that sounds cheap to you then we simply disagree.  To get 8 dollars for every 1000 dollars to transfer other people’s money and have them say It is cheap Is a great profit making business. 
 

Why not get a Charles Schwab atm card and take out 25,000 baht a day in the Bangkok atm for free. And get a capital one credit card and get 1.5 percent cash back on all the credit card charges in Thailand with no annual fee. And bring cash back with you if you travel to the USA or Cambodia and exchange it at SuperRich Green (not SuperRich Orange) or Vasu? 

Edited November 30, 2019 by Wake Up

[earlinclaifornia]

My direct deposit to NY branch was transfered to Thailand but returned. The bank manager here in Saraphi contacted NY and was told the law effecting the NY branch had a change where the recipient, myself has to provide the address I reside in Saraph, Thailand must be on record at NY now. I used email to the right contact and was able to resume since. [email protected]

[longball53098]

13 minutes ago, earlinclaifornia said:

My direct deposit to NY branch was transfered to Thailand but returned. The bank manager here in Saraphi contacted NY and was told the law effecting the NY branch had a change where the recipient, myself has to provide the address I reside in Saraph, Thailand must be on record at NY now. I used email to the right contact and was able to resume since. [email protected]

Can you please explain in more detail what you did to allow the ACH transfer to be processed to you after it was returned? What US bank did you make the transfer from?

[sletraveler]

Yea I had to switch to using Transferwise.  Works just fine and I think it works out cheaper than what it cost in the exchange rate Bangkok Bank used.  Just remember to scroll down in the list of Purpose of Transfer and pick it is for Thailand immigration requirements.  Otherwise it'll look like a domestic transfer. 

[Pib]

10 hours ago, Wake Up said:

I know people claim Transferwise is cheap but it is only cheap compared to western union and others.
 Transferwise charges you  almost one percent in fees To transfer your money. For 1000 USA dollars transferwise charges a fee of 8 USA dollars or 80 percent of one percent.  They charge 80 dollars per 10,000 USA dollars.  If that sounds cheap to you then we simply disagree.  To get 8 dollars for every 1000 dollars to transfer other people’s money and have them say It is cheap Is a great profit making business. 

Incorrect because you only focused on fees; you didn't consider exchange rate.   It' like only using half of an equation to get an answer. 

 

In any transfer fees and exchange rate must be priced-out...not just fees...not just exchange rate.   Below is a snapshot of a 1 Nov 2019 spreadsheet where I compared a SWIFT transfer to a Transferwise transfer which includes all fees and "exchange rates."  Please note that using Transferwise gave you the most baht in your acct through $10,000.

 

[Pib]

10 hours ago, Wake Up said:

Why not get a Charles Schwab atm card and take out 25,000 baht a day in the Bangkok atm for free. And get a capital one credit card and get 1.5 percent cash back on all the credit card charges in Thailand with no annual fee.

And below is a 15 Mar 2019 comparison of using Transferwise, SWIFT, and a card counter withdrawal (a.k.a., cash advance) at the Thai bank counter. 

 

For the debit/credit card being used it's assumed the card does not have any foreign transaction fee.  Although below reflects a counter withdrawal the price-out results would be the same for an ATM withdrawal assuming you have a debit card that reimburse ATM fees. 

 

But a downside to using credit/debit cards is the great, great majority have daily withdrawal limits ranging from around $500 to $1,000.  Like the US Schwab debit card is $1,000 per day/transaction.  And I don't know if I needed say around $10,000 worth of baht "now/real fast" that I would want to be doing a daily withdrawal of $1,000 for 10 days straight.  I also expect Schwab would surely block your card after a few days concerned about fraudulent activity and maybe even take a closer look at your  Schwab account to see if you are costing them more money in ATM reimbursement fees than they are making off your deposits with them....or maybe determine you actually live in Thailand and decide to cancel your acct which has happened to a few people (not many, but some). 

 

I too have a Schwab debit card and use it a couple time each year....also have a Cap1 Debit card that allows $5,000 per day/withdrawal at a bank counter (I use that several times per year...it's my main way of getting money...I get Bt150K at a time)....also have a variety of other debit cards and cash back credit cards I use all the time on Thailand to include a couple of  Cap1 1.5% cash back credit cards...but I'm using them less now days since getting a couple of 2% cash back credit cards from SDFCU and PenFed.  

 

Yeap...agree....using debit/credit cards that do not have foreign transaction fees, reimburse ATM fees, pay cash back for purchases, etc., is definitely a good way to go....to get cash and make purchases within Thailand.  It makes the need to use money transfer services like your bank, Transferwise, govt pension payments from SSA/DFAS/VA/etc., pretty much unneeded other than as a backup way of getting money.....getting "BIG" money fast....needing to show monthly transfer of funds for extension of stay purposes...etc.

 

[surat04]

On 11/29/2019 at 3:01 AM, spornb said:

Bangkok Bank LONDON BRANCH have said changes are coming there as well, does anyone know if this will apply to London, its all to do with anti money laundering regulations

Can i ask where you got your info. about the London branch. There is nothing on the website.

[Caldera]

On 12/1/2019 at 8:25 AM, earlinclaifornia said:

My direct deposit to NY branch was transfered to Thailand but returned. The bank manager here in Saraphi contacted NY and was told the law effecting the NY branch had a change where the recipient, myself has to provide the address I reside in Saraph, Thailand must be on record at NY now. I used email to the right contact and was able to resume since. [email protected]

That's interesting! I thought the reason for requiring the IAT format was to give the participating banks more information about both sender and recipient. The recipient's Thai address should be part of that record, so I do wonder why they want that separately.

 

When the first deadline for non-IAT transfers was announced, I checked with Bangkok Bank who told me that my transfers are already in IAT format and I won't need to change anything. Now I'm not sure about that, I'll probably contact the New York branch and ask them if they need my address. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[gamb00ler]

On 11/30/2019 at 7:12 PM, Pib said:

But a downside to using credit/debit cards is the great, great majority have daily withdrawal limits ranging from around $500 to $1,000.  Like the US Schwab debit card is $1,000 per day/transaction.  And I don't know if I needed say around $10,000 worth of baht "now/real fast" that I would want to be doing a daily withdrawal of $1,000 for 10 days straight.  I also expect Schwab would surely block your card after a few days concerned about fraudulent activity and maybe even take a closer look at your  Schwab account to see if you are costing them more money in ATM reimbursement fees than they are making off your deposits with them....or maybe determine you actually live in Thailand and decide to cancel your acct which has happened to a few people (not many, but some). 

I just had an online chat with a Schwab rep.  You're correct about the default limits on their debit card. You can ask them to raise it to 2K max and even higher but that requires special approval.  The rep also told me that the limits for teller transactions were the same as for ATM transactions.

 

I've been a Schwab customer FOREVER.  Twenty+ years ago I had a Schwab debit card but I closed that account and until recently didn't get one for the joint account I opened with my new bride.  With the older version of the Schwab card I could get up to 5K when asking for a cash advance at a teller.  The Schwab rep also said if I wanted higher limits I could open a Schwab checking account and use the associated debit card.

[gamb00ler]

 

On 11/30/2019 at 7:12 PM, Pib said:

And below is a 15 Mar 2019 comparison of using Transferwise, SWIFT, and a card counter withdrawal (a.k.a., cash advance) at the Thai bank counter. 

Thanks for that.  May I ask does the SDFCU offer a Mastercard debit or credit card?  It seems from your chart that Mastercard has a slightly better exchange rate.  Is it consistently better or did it just happen to be better on the day you tested the various methods?

 

I'm going to follow the same path you took to join SDFCU by first joining ACC.  SDFCU have what they call a Co-op Shared Branch near my house in Las Vegas.  They don't mention accepting deposits at that type of branch but I'll stop by and see if that is possible.

 

I'm preparing our financial arrangements including backup before we depart the USA.  We still have a few weeks to get everything finished.

 

[Pib]

5 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

With the older version of the Schwab card I could get up to 5K when asking for a cash advance at a teller.  The Schwab rep also said if I wanted higher limits I could open a Schwab checking account and use the associated debit card.

I have "US" Schwab brokerage and checking accts....actually the checking acct is linked to the brokerage acct...and when initially opening the brokerage and checking acct it was a combo type deal....you got both at the same time....you couldn't open only a brokerage acct or only a checking acct.  And there was only one debit card you got....not a debit card for the brokerage acct and another for the checking acct.  This debit card carries a $1000 per day/transaction limit at an ATM or bank teller. 

 

Now I think an International Schwab brokerage acct I think you can get a debit card for that....but really not sure.  The acct opening requirements/policies/rules for an International acct are different from a US acct.

[Pib]

4 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

 

Thanks for that.  May I ask does the SDFCU offer a Mastercard debit or credit card?  It seems from your chart that Mastercard has a slightly better exchange rate.  Is it consistently better or did it just happen to be better on the day you tested the various methods?

 

I'm going to follow the same path you took to join SDFCU by first joining ACC.  SDFCU have what they call a Co-op Shared Branch near my house in Las Vegas.  They don't mention accepting deposits at that type of branch but I'll stop by and see if that is possible.

 

I'm preparing our financial arrangements including backup before we depart the USA.  We still have a few weeks to get everything finished.

 

The Visa/Mastercard exchange rates used in my chart represents a card that does not charge any foreign transaction fee....like the Schwab debit card.   Debit/credit cards that do not charge any foreign transaction fee are in the minority as many charge 1 to 3% (and a few even higher).    I expect the card you have charges a foreign transaction fee so that is why your exchange rate is lower.

 

And yes, it seems for the last few years the Mastercard exchange rate is a "tad" better on most days than the Visa exchange rate....it use to the other way around.

 

Your "card-issuing" bank/CU/credit card company/etc, not Visa/Mastercard, determines if a foreign transaction fee is charged to you.  Actually Visa/Mastercard do charge an approx 1% foreign transaction fee (they call it an International Service Assessment fee) but they bill your card-issuing bank for that fee and not you directly and then it's totally up to your bank to either absorb that fee or pass it along to you....and how they display such a fee on your banking statements.

 

So, if your bank does not absorb that 1% fee then they are effectively charging you a 1% foreign transaction fee....and many banks "add-on" another percent or two which means your card carries a 2 or 3% foreign transaction fee.   Now with the Schwab debit card (and similar 0% foreign transaction fee cards) Swhwab absorbs the Visa 1% foreign transaction fee...does not pass it along to you.  So, you have a 0% foreign transaction fee card that also happens to reimburse User ATM fees like the Thai bank ATM Bt220 ripoff fee on foreign cards.

 

SDFCU issues a "Visa" debit card and they do not absorb the Visa network 1% foreign transaction fee...it gets passed along to you....so the card carries a 1% foreign transaction fee.  Nor does it reimburse ATM Use fees.  Using the card in Thailand would result in a 1% foreign transaction fee and no reimbursement of the Bt220 fee.  So, unless you are using it in the States at a ATM that does not charge any User Fee then it's probably a card that should reside in the darkness of your safe....that's where my SDFCU card lives. 

 

But I didn't open my SDFCU acct because of its debit card.  I opened it because they are expat-friendly and accept foreign addresses (I used my Thailand address when applying)...no worries of the bank kicking your to the curb if finding out you live outside the US....yeap, expat-friendly. 

 

And they also have a 2% Cash Back Visa Credit Card which does not have any foreign transaction fee plus pays a $200 cash back bonus if charging at least $3,000 within 3 months of credit card application's approval.   This 2% cash back is on every thing....not just selected products.   I got that $200 bonus recently because I bought myself a new laptop and the wife & I use our US credit cards to the max for our day-to-day living costs here in Thailand...and pay-off each card statement in full monthly.   2% cash back, or even 1.5% like many credit cards offer, adds up to real money if your use your card frequently. 

 

Partial Quote of SDFCU Fee Schedule Relating to Debit Card

 

 

 

 

Edited December 8, 2019 by Pib

[gamb00ler]

Thanks to Pib, the money access/transfer/expat banking guru, I think I've got my financial services sorted out before our move to Chiang Mai.

 

Thank you Pib!

 

Schwab accounts with free ATM withdrawals and free international wires(sometimes Schwab offers no fee other times I have to ask).  SDFCU credit card for 2% rebate and no foreign transaction fee.  Google Voice(primary) and TextNow(backup) for two factor authorization on financial accounts.  FREE is my longtime favorite attribute.