800,000 Baht question

[mtraveler]

Sorry if this has been asked before.  

 

I need to have money transferred from overseas to meet the 800,000 Baht requirement for my "retirement visa" renewal.  The biggest issue I see here is the conversion rate (when sending a substantial sum).  Of course, all fees must be considered.

 

I have the option to have the money sent as Baht, instead of as US Dollars.  Assuming that I get a fair rate on the Baht, does that mean my Thai bank, when it receives the transfer, would only charge me the nominal transfer fee (500 Baht)?  And is there any reason that immigration would question that the money came from overseas, if it came in as Baht?  I understand that for renewals, I need to prove the money came from overseas; is that correct?

 

If I cannot get Baht sent at a good rate, what is the consensus of the best/cheapest option?  From what I understand, using Transferwise or doing a wire transfer to a Thai bank are pretty close in total overall costs (within .2%).  Am I correct, or am I missing something?  

 

Again, sorry if I'm asking something that has been asked many times, but I've tried to look this up, and am still confused. 

[Mike Teavee]

No need to prove the 800K came from overseas or for it to have done so  for your extension.

 

If you use TransferWise they’ll tell you how much THB will be deposited in your account net of fees, I’ve used them dozens of times & have never not received this exact amount in my Bangkok Bank account.

 

[scubascuba3]

Is it a retirement extension renewal or you need non Imm O first? if the former it doesn't need to be foreign but that makes me wonder how you got it in the first place. 

 

As for money transfers, the US guys are best to advise but TransferWise is usually the best or a wire transfer sending your currency rather than Thai baht. For wire transfers the Thai bank usually charges 500 baht to receive it plus their exchange rate which is never the best. TransferWise no additional fees except the ones shown when you order the currency

[mtraveler]

Thanks for the answers.  

 

I just was told that I cannot have funds sent as Thai Baht as I was originally informed.  So that's no longer an issue.  

 

Scubascuba3:  I'm here several years already.  I've renewed my non-immigrant O already once, so this is my second renewal.  I just thought that once and for all I'd get clarity on the most cost-effective way to transfer money to Thailand from overseas.  

 

Please tell me if I'm missing something here: 

 

If I go to Transferwise, and input how many dollars I want to transfer, it will show me all the costs (wire transfer fee, their percentage), as well as the net amount of Baht that I will receive in my Thai bank account.  But, I also need to factor in the cost of the wire transfer from my bank, since that is not included in their costs.  Is that correct?  And so, the actual net I receive via Transferwise must be adjusted for the Wire Transfer fee by my bank. 

 

On the other hand, if I have money wired to my Thai bank directly, I must again account for the wire fee, and for the 500 baht the bank charges, plus their conversion rate.  I looked up Bangkok Bank's TT Buying rate.  It is currently at 29.97.  So, if I multiply US Dollars I want to send by 29.97, that is how many Baht will be credited to my Thai bank account.  So, total Baht less whatever wire fee I pay less the 500 Baht fee is what I really net from the transaction.  

 

By my calculations, it appears that the overall costs for transferring money (if it's a large sum) is .7%-.8%, regardless of whether I use Transferwise or Wire Transfer.  Which is a substantial chunk of money.  

 

Did I get everything right?

  

 

 

[fishtank]

Your bank should not charge you anything when transferring to Transfer wise.

It should be free.

[Salerno]

2 hours ago, mtraveler said:

I just was told that I cannot have funds sent as Thai Baht as I was originally informed.

 

A bad idea anyway, you always get a better rate in Thailand (to date anyway).

 

2 hours ago, mtraveler said:

If I go to Transferwise, and input how many dollars I want to transfer, it will show me all the costs (wire transfer fee, their percentage), as well as the net amount of Baht that I will receive in my Thai bank account.

 

Correct.

 

2 hours ago, mtraveler said:

But, I also need to factor in the cost of the wire transfer from my bank, since that is not included in their costs.  Is that correct?  And so, the actual net I receive via Transferwise must be adjusted for the Wire Transfer fee by my bank. 

 

Incorrect. Go have a play yourself, for example the below (obviously you already have the required 400K in the bank) shows your total costs:

 

 

2 hours ago, mtraveler said:

On the other hand, if I have money wired to my Thai bank directly, I must again account for the wire fee, and for the 500 baht the bank charges, plus their conversion rate.  I looked up Bangkok Bank's TT Buying rate.  It is currently at 29.97.  So, if I multiply US Dollars I want to send by 29.97, that is how many Baht will be credited to my Thai bank account.  So, total Baht less whatever wire fee I pay less the 500 Baht fee is what I really net from the transaction.  

 

Thereabouts but compare the rate above.

[tonray]

46 minutes ago, fishtank said:

Your bank should not charge you anything when transferring to Transfer wise.

It should be free.

Some banks don't charge anything. My Bangkok Bank acocunt has a fee but my Kasikorn account does not. Also...using Charles Schwab is a great option if you have an account already. Transfers initiated online for any amount are a flat $15 dollar US fee. So basically about 450 baht for any size transfer.

[Suphawk]

2 minutes ago, tonray said:

Charles Schwab is a great option if you have an account already

Just curious, are you saying you transfer direct from your Charles Schwab to your Thailand bank? I've used TransferWise , it's great.

[tonray]

Just now, Suphawk said:

Just curious, are you saying you transfer direct from your Charles Schwab to your Thailand bank? I've used TransferWise , it's great.

yes...direct wire

[jacko45k]

3 minutes ago, tonray said:

Some banks don't charge anything. My Bangkok Bank acocunt has a fee

For receiving funds, Bangkok Bank do charge a fee when they receive in foreign currency. They have not charged me when I have sent Sterling via Transferwise. (Bangkok Bank receive it as baht from  them).

[tonray]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

For receiving funds, Bangkok Bank do charge a fee when they receive in foreign currency. They have not charged me when I have sent Sterling via Transferwise. (Bangkok Bank receive it as baht from  them).

Yes...once I learned that...I always transfer to my Kasikorn now and then move to Bangkok bank as needed via the app or ATM. But the initial retirement 800K i did get hit with 500 baht or something like that

[DrJack54]

OP, your making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Transfer funds using Transferwise. 

I recently transferred larger amounts for a real estate purchase. I have used OFX and other companies also have returned from Au with cash and exchanged a super rich green.

Transferwise imo is the best. This is a financial question not really related to this forum.

[mtraveler]

Thanks for all the answers.  Just a few final points.  

 

1-  Sorry if I posted in the wrong forum.  I thought this was visa related, inasmuch as we're all required to do this to maintain our visas.  

 

2- Salerno, I've played with the Transferwise site (and have used Transferwise in the past to send money).  I could be wrong, but as I understand, the $5.34 wire transfer fee shown in your example is separate from the wire transfer fee that my bank would charge me.  So, there's still an additional charge ($15-$25) that needs to be factored in.

 

3- I'm sorry if this seemed like making a mountain out of a molehill.  I consider giving up .6%-.8% of my money when it moves here considerable. 

 

I was just trying to confirm my math, and see if there were any less expensive options.  Apparently there are not.  

 

Thanks again to all for the input.  

[scubascuba3]

36 minutes ago, mtraveler said:

Thanks for all the answers.  Just a few final points.  

 

1-  Sorry if I posted in the wrong forum.  I thought this was visa related, inasmuch as we're all required to do this to maintain our visas.  

 

2- Salerno, I've played with the Transferwise site (and have used Transferwise in the past to send money).  I could be wrong, but as I understand, the $5.34 wire transfer fee shown in your example is separate from the wire transfer fee that my bank would charge me.  So, there's still an additional charge ($15-$25) that needs to be factored in.

 

3- I'm sorry if this seemed like making a mountain out of a molehill.  I consider giving up .6%-.8% of my money when it moves here considerable. 

 

I was just trying to confirm my math, and see if there were any less expensive options.  Apparently there are not.  

 

Thanks again to all for the input.  

2- in the UK banks don't charge to transfer £ to TransferWise £ account. In US maybe this is the same, someone can confirm. 

 

Also with the retirement extension, seasoning is required, you probably know that 

[chuang]

What is happening here....

[Salerno]

3 hours ago, mtraveler said:

Just a few final points.

 

No 2 - no idea, as per @scubascuba3 talking about UK transfers, similarly I don't get charged by my bank in Australia and we have more options than you appeared to have when I did a dummy run transferring US$.

 

[Mike Teavee]

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

2- in the UK banks don't charge to transfer £ to TransferWise £ account. In US maybe this is the same, someone can confirm. 

 

Also with the retirement extension, seasoning is required, you probably know that 

I can understand the OPs point if his US bank charges a fee to transfer to the TransferWise account or he’s sending USD there from overseas (e.g if I want to send GBP-THB from a a GBP account with Citibank in Singapore, they’ll charge me s$25 for the GBP transfer to the TransferWise UK account).

 

But when I’m sending from my Citibank SGD account (SGD-THB) or from my Barclays account in the UK (GBP-THB) the only charges are on the TransferWise side.

 

Have never been charged anything by Bangkok Bank.

 

[fishtank]

There should be no fee to move your money from your bank to Transferwise.

[zanaka]

In the US, your account holding bank will charge $20-40, if you use the domestic wire transfer which is an immediate transfer option from your bank to Wells Fargo (the bank that holds the TransferWise account). However, no fees would be charged if ACH option is used but it can take up to 48 hours for the funds to be cleared between banks and TransferWise may not honor the exchange rate you have initially started the transaction. The below link gives the domestic outgoing wire transfer rates.

 

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/banking/wire-transfers-what-banks-charge

[FatVern]

I did it last year about this time. I use a Dollar account so never converted to Baht. Here was the cost: 

 

Transfer USD 28K from Schwab to Bangkok Bank 

 

Schwab charged me 

$25.00 “Transfer Fee”

$20.71 “Other Fee”

 

Bangkok Bank charged me:

$16.56 “Processing Fee”

[natway09]

From 30 years of transfering monies, NEVER try to get the sender bank transfer to Baht.

Send in the currency of origin as the banks here are much  more gentle when comes to conversion than the

remitting banks that do not like dealing in Baht & will find any excuse to use a lower exchange rate

[tonray]

1 hour ago, FatVern said:

I did it last year about this time. I use a Dollar account so never converted to Baht. Here was the cost: 

 

Transfer USD 28K from Schwab to Bangkok Bank 

 

Schwab charged me 

$25.00 “Transfer Fee”

$20.71 “Other Fee”

 

Bangkok Bank charged me:

$16.56 “Processing Fee”

If you initiate transfer online Schwab fee is now $15

[murraynz]

8 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

OP, your making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Transfer funds using Transferwise. 

I recently transferred larger amounts for a real estate purchase. I have used OFX and other companies also have returned from Au with cash and exchanged a super rich green.

Transferwise imo is the best. This is a financial question not really related to this forum.

Dr Jack, please advise me...

In Febuary,im going to transfer sbout 15mil thb for property purchase.

Im sending it from my nz bank to my Bkk bank.

It seems transferwise gives a better xchange rate,but i can only do 2mil thb per transaction.

Im not worried about doing several transactions,just want the very best rates,and secure transaction.

Prefer it to be shown as FTT..

I bank ASB in Nz..

Where will i get the best rates???

 

 

[KannikaP]

10 hours ago, fishtank said:

Your bank should not charge you anything when transferring to Transfer wise.

It should be free.

I don't understand what you mean. Your UK/USA bank should not charge you for transferring TO T'wise, who  will then charge you their transfer fee, and your THai bank should recieve it for free.

[gearbox]

7 hours ago, mtraveler said:

Thanks for all the answers.  Just a few final points.  

 

1-  Sorry if I posted in the wrong forum.  I thought this was visa related, inasmuch as we're all required to do this to maintain our visas.  

 

2- Salerno, I've played with the Transferwise site (and have used Transferwise in the past to send money).  I could be wrong, but as I understand, the $5.34 wire transfer fee shown in your example is separate from the wire transfer fee that my bank would charge me.  So, there's still an additional charge ($15-$25) that needs to be factored in.

 

3- I'm sorry if this seemed like making a mountain out of a molehill.  I consider giving up .6%-.8% of my money when it moves here considerable. 

 

I was just trying to confirm my math, and see if there were any less expensive options.  Apparently there are not.  

 

Thanks again to all for the input.  

I transferred 800k with Transferwise around 2 weeks ago,  their commission came within 0.6-0.7 percent of the total.  I'm not aware of any channels which can achieve 0.2% commission. If within Thailand that's doable with ATM withdrawals, but I doubt you can recognise them easily as foreign transactions unless the bank is willing to cooperate and issue you appropriate paperwork.

 

[DrJack54]

4 minutes ago, murraynz said:

Dr Jack, please advise me...

In Febuary,im going to transfer sbout 15mil thb for property purchase.

Im sending it from my nz bank to my Bkk bank.

It seems transferwise gives a better xchange rate,but i can only do 2mil thb per transaction.

Im not worried about doing several transactions,just want the very best rates,and secure transaction.

Prefer it to be shown as FTT..

I bank ASB in Nz..

Where will i get the best rates???

 

 

I was in similar situation last week. The only difference is that I only needed 6million baht.

I needed to do 3 separate transfers using Transferwise. The transfer fee with that company is very transparent. It cost me ~ 470aud per transfer. So I spent almost 1500aud transfering. However Transferwise use mid market exchange rate. 

I compared it to other options. In past I have used OFX in the main because they allow you few days to transfer funds to them. Also they have office in Sydney. I like that. 

Also looked into WU as they have good option for AU, not so for USA is my understanding.

I suggest you start a thread in financial forum and also look into Real Estate forum. Has been discussed often.

[DrJack54]

13 minutes ago, gearbox said:

I transferred 800k with Transferwise around 2 weeks ago,  their commission came within 0.6-0.7 percent of the total.  I'm not aware of any channels which can achieve 0.2% commission. If within Thailand that's doable with ATM withdrawals, but I doubt you can recognise them easily as foreign transactions unless the bank is willing to cooperate and issue you appropriate paperwork.

 

You are completely overlooking exchange rate.

Frankly ATM withdrawals are to access money as LAST resort.

In addition this thread is about transferring much larger amounts than ATM provide. 

[Salerno]

8 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

You are completely overlooking exchange rate.

Frankly ATM withdrawals are to access money as LAST resort.

 

I beg to differ, ATM is number 1 in my books with the right card and reading the damn screen. 

[gearbox]

Just now, DrJack54 said:

You are completely overlooking exchange rate.

Frankly ATM withdrawals are to access money as LAST resort.

Absolutely not. The ATM withdrawals are at mid market rates, and I have cards which avoid the 220 baht fees by the Thai banks.  If you are losing money on ATM withdrawals you have wrong cards. If you have big enough withdrawal limit and a friendly bank branch, you can do ATM withdrawals and immediately deposit there, and the bank will issue you FTT like paperwork. However I'm outside Thailand and can't be bothered,  so TW was easy enough option. I've used both ways to get Baht and have done the comparison many times.

 

In theory the visa money can be done even cheaper - you can open AUD account with a Thai bank, then transfer directly AUD without exchange rate conversion. I have a Citibank account which has zero fees for FX transfers, so it will be only the charge by the Thai banks. However I want a bit of diversification, as I'm not sure if the AUD is not heading back to 20 baht.

 

[DrJack54]

4 minutes ago, Salerno said:

 

I beg to differ, ATM is number 1 in my books with the right card and reading the damn screen. 

#1 for what? The thread is about transferring 800k+ baht. 

Citibank?