Perplexing Frustration At The FX Office

[sammieuk1]

Today after a week of transferring sterling to my Thai Baht account via Wise and mixed time delivery ranging from instant to 4 days causing stress and my 800k retirement account to be broken into due to a house deposit had to be paid, I had what I thought the very easy task of changing £7.500 cash in sealed bank bags I brought with me in August.

 

But not a bit of it was easy . First went to SK money exchange gave her the 3 sealed bags of £50 notes  and she forensically inspected every note 20 times and  and proclaimed £1150 not acceptable due to some previous owners writing on them very minor in all cases, stress now building as the notes will be phased out next year for polymer ones.

 

Trying to look on the bright side and failing rapidly my next stop the bank to deposit said notes in my FCD account got my queue number and presented my passbook notes and passport then No can do Mr cant touch notes due to Covid change them for Bhat then my reply! No can do Mr cant accept any notes only Bhat! this is a bank I queried ?

 

Go to the foreign exchange change to Bhat bring back and I can Accept there is one 150m, Imagining scalping her with a blunt knife I left exasperated and took up her suggestion.

 

Next exchange office poured over the rejected notes for 20 minutes and proclaimed £500 of the previously rejected notes were ok leaving £650 of here now worthless fifties what a palaver this has turned out to be .

 

Any ideas on how to change I have no plans on returning to the UK having spent 4k and 19 months getting back here when Covid broke end of Rant!!!         

[FritsSikkink]

Try to change them with individuals who want to go back for X-mas.

[sammieuk1]

1 minute ago, FritsSikkink said:

Try to change them with individuals who want to go back for X-mas.

Got no one left here I know and moving to Hua Hin in the next few days but your suggestion is noted thanks ????

[FritsSikkink]

3 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Got no one left here I know and moving to Hua Hin in the next few days but your suggestion is noted thanks ????

Might post in the Hua Hin Cha Am forum to see if somebody would like to take them over.

[pollyog]

You are lucky anyone took any in your area.  Here in Phuket the old notes have been refused for at least 3 months; banks and money changers will only take the new polymer notes.   

[mosan]

I have a hard time imagining someone today still traveling around with bank notes. I know hindsight is 20/20, but people, there must be at least 10 options to transfer money from point A to point B these days.

[Tuvoc]

Yes, Wise can be both good and frustrating. Sometimes instant, sometimes "we need more time to process your transfer".

 

As for your notes, this has always been an issue so I inspect the notes in the UK first to make sure they are unmarked and in good condition. Only option now seems to be for you to find another expat who is returning to the UK to exchange with.

[Bangkok Barry]

I've sometimes had the same thing with banknotes being refused because of some perceived imperfection, after I've been paid in US$ cash for work done elsewhere. One 2mm pen mark is enough, in Thai eyes, to make the money invalid. Imbeciles. So I simply take the offending notes to another booth where, amazing Thailand, they are perfectly acceptable.

[worgeordie]

I had the same problem , 600 quid in 50's that the exchange would

not accept because writing on them , no intention of ever returning

to the UK, my daughter cannot come , so what to do....

 

I got a carboard box  widened the corrugation a bit in bottom of the

box, rolled up the 50's one by one and inserted into the box ,filled the

box with dried fruit , cashew nuts and some other stuff, got to PO , only

to be told  cannot send dried fruit ,nuts now, F#ck ! had to open box and

take them out, so now paying 2 Kg price, for just over a Kg, 

 

She got the parcel and money OK , Lucky ? , so I told her to send 300 quid

back to me same way, hidden in corrugation , parcel arrives  600 quid hidden

between 2 John West Kippers , so really Lucky ???, says she could not get the

new plastic 50's to roll up.......

regards Worgeordie

 

[bojo]

5 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

I had the same problem , 600 quid in 50's that the exchange would

not accept because writing on them , no intention of ever returning

to the UK, my daughter cannot come , so what to do....

 

I got a carboard box  widened the corrugation a bit in bottom of the

box, rolled up the 50's one by one and inserted into the box ,filled the

box with dried fruit , cashew nuts and some other stuff, got to PO , only

to be told  cannot send dried fruit ,nuts now, F#ck ! had to open box and

take them out, so now paying 2 Kg price, for just over a Kg, 

 

She got the parcel and money OK , Lucky ? , so I told her to send 300 quid

back to me same way, hidden in corrugation , parcel arrives  600 quid hidden

between 2 John West Kippers , so really Lucky ???, says she could not get the

new plastic 50's to roll up.......

regards Worgeordie

 

You're showing your true colours here Mr. Geordie!!!!..Great idea to send em home if you wanna chance it and the OP could also consider offering an incentive to a friend or thrid party..............eg sell the notes for less than their face value and just be done with it if all other options fail or perhaps consider some ink remover/equivalent and test a sample area first of course............................................

[Tropicalevo]

Surely banks stopped taking foreign currency more than a year ago?

(Foreign notes can carry Covid but apparently Thai notes are safe....)

As far as I know, the rule still applies.

FX booths still taking it though.

[robblok]

One has to wonder how hard it is to transfer money from the UK.

 

I mean in the Netherlands you must go to your banks website, log in. Do a swift transaction. for a 20 eur fee and then the kasikorn takes 600 bt. But you get the rate mentioned that day by Kasikorn.

 

I hear that its similarly easy from Germany.

 

Are the banks in the UK that bad taking too much of a cut, or can't it be done for some reason ?

 

Why would anyone go through this kind of stuff to send money from one country to an other. 

 

I believe wise could help but it gives problems at times too. 

[berrec]

In hindsight, I learned this lesson the hard many years ago, bringing Aussie $100 notes from on my regular trips back Aus returning to cash them out in Thailand.

 

On all future trips I carefully examined each Aussie dollars note I got from my local Aussie bank and rejected any if they even the showed the slightest marking.

 

I noted that this practice is a one way street; I have examined 1,000 Baht notes from money exchangers with marking worst them my $100 AUD notes.

 

Take a look at your 20 Baht notes occasionally many are riddled with all sorts of markings, even got a few phone numbers on some.

 

Also been stung with shops passing off these types of marked notes in change from transactions, later finding out other establishments not accepting them.  

 

 

[Orinoco]

3 hours ago, mosan said:

I have a hard time imagining someone today still traveling around with bank notes. I know hindsight is 20/20, but people, there must be at least 10 options to transfer money from point A to point B these days.

Cash can get you out the dodo.

in many places round this world. West Africa for one.

been there done that.

Cash is still king, in some parts of the world.

[FritsSikkink]

5 hours ago, mosan said:

I have a hard time imagining someone today still traveling around with bank notes. I know hindsight is 20/20, but people, there must be at least 10 options to transfer money from point A to point B these days.

There are enough professions where cash is king.

[FritsSikkink]

3 hours ago, bojo said:

You're showing your true colours here Mr. Geordie!!!!..Great idea to send em home if you wanna chance it and the OP could also consider offering an incentive to a friend or thrid party..............eg sell the notes for less than their face value and just be done with it if all other options fail or perhaps consider some ink remover/equivalent and test a sample area first of course............................................

Ink remover on a banknote, ROFL

[MrJ2U]

10 hours ago, pollyog said:

You are lucky anyone took any in your area.  Here in Phuket the old notes have been refused for at least 3 months; banks and money changers will only take the new polymer notes.   

 

........Also banks/exchange booths in Thailand have never excepted torn,written on,fold lines on any currency.

 

China Town merchants in Bangkok used to be the place to go as a last resort.  Of course terrible exchange rate.

 

Next time put crisp brand new bills in the ziplock bag for emergencies.

[rickudon]

For emergencies, i carry a credit card. Actually two.

 

I have had the bank refuse notes here before, and anyway the exchange rate isn't very good - i only bring enough notes to get me back to my UK home from the airport in the UK.  Ten years ago i used to bring travellers cheques until the banks upped their fees to about 150 baht per cheque - never used them again.

 

Credit cards, internet banking - simple. Been doing that the last 7 years.

 

Lots of places in UK will not accept cash these days. And the idea of having thousands in cash laying around, not earning interest and vulnerable to theft, very odd.

 

Only British person i knew here who dealt mainly in cash, was because it wasn't obtained legally ........

[treetops]

On 11/30/2021 at 3:30 AM, robblok said:

One has to wonder how hard it is to transfer money from the UK.

It's not and I could have transferred money in less time than it took you to post.  That a few individuals have problems does not mean that all do.

[robblok]

11 minutes ago, treetops said:

It's not and I could have transferred money in less time than it took you to post.  That a few individuals have problems does not mean that all do.

Just strange that you guys need to use wise and other stuff and cant just do a SWIFT from your bank like in countries like the Netherlands and Germany. Anyway people will always have problems if they are not that good with computers. But i read a lot of bad news about wise and retirement money method. 

 

But im sure most manage ok.

[Robin]

I often send money from UK (Nat West Bank) to Kasikorn in Thailand.  never had any problem with amounts between  50,000 1nd 300,000 baht.  Bank in UK has questioned this on occasions, thinking I am being scammed. (Sending money to my own bank account in Thailand!) but never any objection to sending money abroad.  Usually take 5-7 working days, as I send he cheapest way.  Kasikorm never seems o comment on these transfers, jus take their fee.