Extension Funds

[Shannoblic]

I have been asked a question by a friend in the UK to which I do not have the answer.  It could be very simple - but there again it may not.

 

My friend asked me if he could deposit pound sterling cash in the UK at the London branch of Bangkok Bank for payment into his account at Bangkok Bank in Pattaya.  He has come into some money and would like to send several thousand pounds to Thailand to give him the 800,000 ThB required for retirement extension prior to coming to Thailand.

 

His two questions were - 1] can he do this 2] would the payment in his Pattaya account show as a 'foreign transfer'.

 

I do not have the knowledge or experience to answer his questions.  Could anyone advise please?

[tonray]

No...Bangkok Bank outside of Thailand does not accept individual accounts. He must deposit/transfer directly to Pattaya account

[Shannoblic]

Thank you Tonray,

 

He does already have the individual account in Pattaya.  He merely wants to use the Bangkok Bank in London to deposit money for transfer.

[BritTim]

There is a procedure provided by Bangkok Bank to transfer money into your Thai account via their London branch. See https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/Transfers/Transferring-Into-Thailand/Transfer-money-from-UK-to-Thailand-via-London-Branch for information on this. That said, using Wise for the transfer is usually preferable as you get a better exchange rate.

[tonray]

2 minutes ago, BritTim said:

There is a procedure provided by Bangkok Bank to transfer money into your Thai account via their London branch. See https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/Transfers/Transferring-Into-Thailand/Transfer-money-from-UK-to-Thailand-via-London-Branch for information on this. That said, using Wise for the transfer is usually preferable as you get a better exchange rate.

Thanks...I did not realize....I was pretty sure the US option for that was discontinued

[Moonlover]

3 minutes ago, BritTim said:

There is a procedure provided by Bangkok Bank to transfer money into your Thai account via their London branch. See https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/Transfers/Transferring-Into-Thailand/Transfer-money-from-UK-to-Thailand-via-London-Branch for information on this. That said, using Wise for the transfer is usually preferable as you get a better exchange rate.

Yes I agree with your last comment. A transfer via Wise will be cheaper, deliver a better exchange rate and the transaction slip will provide proof of a foreign deposit. Immigration are familiar with Wise.

[ubonjoe]

11 minutes ago, tonray said:

Thanks...I did not realize....I was pretty sure the US option for that was discontinued

It was not discontinued in the US. The transfer can still be done but it has to be in the IAT format that most banks in the US do not do.

Transfers from the US government still go through without a problem.

[walt1]

If you use Wise make sure to choose the correct reason for sending the funds. It should be the last one on the drop down list. Funds for a long term stay in Thailand.

[sanuk711]

1 hour ago, Moonlover said:

Yes I agree with your last comment. A transfer via Wise will be cheaper, deliver a better exchange rate and the transaction slip will provide proof of a foreign deposit. Immigration are familiar with Wise.

I think only one Bank ---will automatically mark it as FTT Moonlover...that is BKK bank.

 

I would approach them for a quote shannblic--I did last year, the amount was too large for Wise--got a great rate & into my bank acc within 20 hours, if you just send without speaking to anyone then yes your get a bad rate. I use Wise for smaller amounts and they are good.

 

1 - Bangkok Bank > Bangkok Bank is one of TW's partner banks, and the easiest to have when dealing with this 'international vs domestic transfer' issue.  

When you make the transfer from your foreign account using TransferWise you need to select the "long term stay in Thailand" option as reason for the transfer.  

But it is ONLY Bangkok Bank Headquarter - where your money arrives - that will act on this, and they will then transfer the money to your local Bangkok branch with the 'FTT' code, which is the Bangkok Bank specific code to indicate that the funds originated from abroad.  And that code will be printed next to the amount transferred on your bank statement / bankbook.  

2 - Kasikorn Bank > Also Kasikorn is one of TWs partner banks, but contrary to Bangkok Bank, when the money arrives at their HQs (even when you clicked the "long term stay in Thailand" as reason for the transfer), Kasikorn Bank Headquarters will not act on that info but will simply transfer the funds to your local Kasikorn branch, where they will show up as a 'domestic' transfer.  

3 - Thai Military Bank > TW has one more partner bank in Thailand - TMB, but they are useless for such international transfers according to TVF members that banked with them.  

4 - Any other Thai Bank > When you have an account with any other bank than those 3 partner-banks (e.g. SCB - Siam Commercial Bank or KrungSri Bank or other), the money you transfer from your foreign account always goes FIRST to one of the 3 partner-bank Headquarters.  And it is then transferred to your account at your other Thai bank than those three.  Obviously, the transfer will thus always show up as 'domestic'.

Edited June 27, 2021 by sanuk711

[Eff1n2ret]

I stand to be corrected, but I'm not sure that for anyone using the '800k in the bank' method it is particularly important to have any inward transfers shown as 'FTT'. I have used OzForex for the last 11 years, making Thai Baht transfers from the UK to my Bangkok Bank account here. The receipts are shown in my book as 'BTN'. OzForex (formerly  UKForex) have a correspondent bank here, which used to be HSBC, I'm not sure what it is now. Bangkok Bank make a small deduction from the transferred amount. Formerly I used Kasikorn as my main account, but their charges got a bit high, and they never responded when I asked them to justify these.

 

The point is that Immigration have never queried the source of funds, they are only concerned about the balance being maintained. Monthly income payments are of course different

[Moonlover]

44 minutes ago, sanuk711 said:

I think only one Bank ---will automatically mark it as FTT Moonlover...that is BKK bank.

I been using Krungsri for all my income deposits thus have never had an 'FTT' code. But I've never found that to be a hindrance. Immigration are familiar with Wise and recognize the 'transfer confirmation' slip as evidence of a deposit from abroad.

 

But thanks for the tip anyway. ????

 

[OJAS]

3 hours ago, BritTim said:

There is a procedure provided by Bangkok Bank to transfer money into your Thai account via their London branch. See https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/Transfers/Transferring-Into-Thailand/Transfer-money-from-UK-to-Thailand-via-London-Branch for information on this. That said, using Wise for the transfer is usually preferable as you get a better exchange rate.

 

That, of course, assumes that the OP's pal has access to a UK account into which he can first deposit the GBP cash before sending it on its merry way electronically to his Bangkok Bank account in Pattaya.

 

In any event, he could not use this particular transfer method without first going through a cumbersome registration process as described under the "How to transfer funds from the UK to Thailand, using your UK bank's Online Banking or Counter Services" heading in the link which you have provided.

 

Furthermore, I'm not sure whether Wise - or even the Bangkok Bank London branch method - would necessarily provide the optimum rate for a single transfer of up to £20,000 (roughly equating to 800,000 THB). It may be that a SWIFT transfer would offer the best value-for-money for such a large transfer. This is something which the OP's pal might need to investigate further.

 

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by OJAS

[Shannoblic]

Thank you all for your replies.

 

I have decided to advise my friend just to do a series of transfers using WISE and to make sure he puts the right reason for the transfer to get an FTT entry in his bankbook.

 

One little aside - can anyone update a bankbook at a bank?  We have talked before about him sending me his bankbook and me updating it but again, I have never done this.  I update my own bankbook in the branch and have never been asked for ID or anything.  

[Pib]

10 minutes ago, Shannoblic said:

Thank you all for your replies.

 

I have decided to advise my friend just to do a series of transfers using WISE and to make sure he puts the right reason for the transfer to get an FTT entry in his bankbook.

 

One little aside - can anyone update a bankbook at a bank?  We have talked before about him sending me his bankbook and me updating it but again, I have never done this.  I update my own bankbook in the branch and have never been asked for ID or anything.  

Yes...anyone can update a person's passbook.   And no reason to do the update at the bank counter (i.e., handing it to a bank employee); instead, just slide the passbook into a "Passbook Update Machine PUM)" that are usually right outside the bank...or just inside.   You can use any PUM for that bank....does not have to be the person's home branch.  

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by Pib

[Shannoblic]

Thank you PiB

[OJAS]

22 minutes ago, Shannoblic said:

I have decided to advise my friend just to do a series of transfers using WISE and to make sure he puts the right reason for the transfer to get an FTT entry in his bankbook. 

 

Might also be a good idea to get your pal to do what I have done as a "belt and braces" measure by asking Wise to "tag" his account so as to ensure that they they always use Bangkok Bank as their partner bank at the Thai end, which, in turn, will guarantee the coveted FTT coding in his passbook - although, as pointed out by @Eff1n2ret above, such a coding may not be crucial in the case of those using the 800k THB method of proving finances for annual retirement extensions (as distinct from those using the 65k THB monthly income method).

 

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by OJAS

[BritTim]

47 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Furthermore, I'm not sure whether Wise - or even the Bangkok Bank London branch method - would necessarily provide the optimum rate for a single transfer of up to £20,000 (roughly equating to 800,000 THB). It may be that a SWIFT transfer would offer the best value-for-money for such a large transfer. This is something which the OP's pal might need to investigate further.

 

The very best rate would be achieved by bringing in the UK pounds as cash, and changing the money at SuperRich Green or Vasu. Clearly, you would not then have proof that the money originated from abroad.

 

As a practical matter, a SWIFT transfer may be the way to go. That is not because it is the most economical. It is because it both guarantees it shows up as a foreign transfer, and reliably satisfies all the regulations around large foreign transfers.

[BritTim]

49 minutes ago, Shannoblic said:

One little aside - can anyone update a bankbook at a bank?  We have talked before about him sending me his bankbook and me updating it but again, I have never done this.  I update my own bankbook in the branch and have never been asked for ID or anything.  

 

You can update someone else's bankbook at a branch. However, if worried about suspicious staff, you can just use a passbook update machine (PUM) to do it.

Edited June 27, 2021 by BritTim

[OJAS]

4 hours ago, BritTim said:

The very best rate would be achieved by bringing in the UK pounds as cash, and changing the money at SuperRich Green or Vasu. Clearly, you would not then have proof that the money originated from abroad.

 

You would also have to declare the cash before leaving the UK if the amount exceeded £10,000:-

 

https://www.gov.uk/bringing-cash-into-uk

 

[roath]

On 6/27/2021 at 9:19 AM, tonray said:

No...Bangkok Bank outside of Thailand does not accept individual accounts. He must deposit/transfer directly to Pattaya account

That's not correct. You can deposit funds at the London branch for a Thailand account. I have done exactly that, although I would recommend against it for several reasons including that you would get a much better rate of exchange using Transferwise/Wise and it would be received more quickly also

[Tony125]

On 6/27/2021 at 9:28 AM, tonray said:

Thanks...I did not realize....I was pretty sure the US option for that was discontinued

No the US option was not cancelled. If your US bank does not do ACH transfer in the correct format ( I think it's ITT ) then you can do a Domestic wire tranfer to Bangkok Bank NY  and the funds will show in your Bangkok Account in Thailand.  When they stoppped the ACH transfer to BKK Bank in NYC  I simply sent the money by same day domestic Wire tranfer from my US bank.