Sending Money From Australian Bank To Thailand

[torito]

This applies only to cases in where you are in Thailand with your aussie credit card.

I need some money in Bangkok and I send to myself money from Australia.

-The bank charged me a conversion rate of 24.77THB/A$1.00. I paid about A$4038.00 for 100K (plus transfer charges)

One day later I realize later that I would need need more money, so to speed up the process I got a Cash Advance from my aussie credit card in a local Bangkok bank.

- The conversion rate was this time 27.8THB/A$1.00. I paid about A$3598.00 for 100K. (10% less than the transfer).

Note that the credit card charges a fixed amout for cash advance and immediate the interest (not at the end of the month). Even so this is far cheaper than the transfer and depending of the amount of course.

This is the first time that I do this operation from Australia, and I believed that the difference was almots none. Well, it is not so. Hope this help somebody to save some money, and it may apply to other countries also. cheers.

[Maestro]

I need some money in Bangkok and I send to myself money from Australia.

-The bank charged me a conversion rate of 24.77THB/A$1.00. I paid about A$4038.00 for 100K (plus transfer charges)

It appears that you ordered your Australian bank to transfer Thai Baht, not Australian dollars. In this case, the conversion from AUD to THB would have been made in Australia, at the offshore rate, which currently is considerably worse than the onshore rate. As a rule, you should order your Australian bank to remit AUD. For example yesterday, on 27 April, Bangkok Bank paid THB 28.51250 per AUD on an incoming remittance.

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

Maestro

[torito]

It appears that you ordered your Australian bank to transfer Thai Baht, not Australian dollars. In this case, the conversion from AUD to THB would have been made in Australia, at the offshore rate, which currently is considerably worse than the onshore rate. As a rule, you should order your Australian bank to remit AUD. For example yesterday, on 27 April, Bangkok Bank paid THB 28.51250 per AUD on an incoming remittance.

Master, you mean that I can send A$ to a Thai bank account and the conversion is made automatically in here?. If so thanks.

I was totally ignorant of that as I normally I use a HK combo account which has the currencies so no conversion is required.

[Maestro]

you mean that I can send A$ to a Thai bank account and the conversion is made automatically in here?

Yes, absolutely. This is exactly what people usually do, from any country, ie send the currency of the country from which they remit. There is a bank charge of your home country’s bank, usually a fixed amount per remittance, and a small charge of your Thai bank, usually 0.25% but minimum 200 Baht, maximum 500 Baht. Your Thai bank posts the exchange rates daily on its website. The rate for “T/T buying” applies to SWIFT transfers.

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

Maestro

[torito]

you mean that I can send A$ to a Thai bank account and the conversion is made automatically in here?

Yes, absolutely. This is exactly what people usually do, from any country, ie send the currency of the country from which they remit. There is a bank charge of your home country's bank, usually a fixed amount per remittance, and a small charge of your Thai bank, usually 0.25% but minimum 200 Baht, maximum 500 Baht. Your Thai bank posts the exchange rates daily on its website. The rate for "T/T buying" applies to SWIFT transfers.

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

Maestro

Great, thanks for the information Maestro

[Nawtilus]

Also not so long ago the baht was down very low and now is back up over 28. You may have hit that period of a couple of baht change which happened in a relatively short period I believe.

So the normal fluctuation is not that much, making doing what you did again not really work, when you consider the credit card charges as well.

Not only do they charge interest at a high rate on cash advance, but they charge a conversion fee I believe also.

As stated, always get it sent in AUD and you usually also get a better rate than what is advertised on the streets, every transfer i have done, I have gotten slighly better rates than what was advertised on the day.

[Krub]

For big sums it is better to send your home currency through SWIFT transfers to your Thai bank account.

The amount will be converted in Thailand.

For daily expenses, I usualy take out cash advance (20K-40K) from my credit card. The rate is better but there is a charge for the days between the withdrawal and the settlement of your credit card bill. In any cases much better than the cash rate

Edited April 30, 2007 by Krub