Looking for cheapest method. In US I have accounts at Citibank, Bank of America, Fidelity, TRP, Vanguard, Harbor. Can Bangkok Bank NY still be used as intermediary bank? Had read that channel was going to be shut.

Transferwise/Wise.

Your question is not as simple as it appears.

 

For large transfers (>21K US$) a SWIFT transfer will likely give the most ฿ per $.

 

There are debit cards available from some US banks/brokers that add no foreign transaction fees.  These will probably offer the best result up to the limit the bank places on your withdrawal.  A Mastercard (MC) debit card generally offers better rates than one from Visa.  However I have found that the limits are generally lower on MC vs Visa.  On the surface, Wise offers a better exchange rate but that rate doesn't include the fees they add (about ½%).

 

The Wise transfer service may be the best if you don't have/can't get a good debit card.  It will likely be the best choice for medium to smaller sized transfers.

Edited January 27, 20224 yr by gamb00ler

Xe.com

I transfer every month from the US to Thailand using Wise,  it isn't expensive and it's fast, easy, and meets the visa requirements IF you set it up correctly.

 

https://wise.com/

I tried Bangkok bank but nobody in New York answers the phone. So I gave up. Somebody said that the Pattaya  branch can arrange it, but it is too much bother to talk in English with the bank staff.  May be, but I decided not to bother.

 

I have used wise.com (formerly transferwise.com) for a while. Their charges were lower than others. Transfer from a Bank of America account cost me a wire fee of $35 and then they skim off a bit by playing with the exchange rate. The only advantage was the speed. Same with Schwab and Fidelity ( but with a lower $25 wire fee).

 

I now use moneygram.com. It gives what appears to be the prevailing exchange rate, but I'd imagine they also play a little bit with the exchange rate spread, but it seems to be less than the others. Transferring from a debit account in the US is $1.99 each time I transfer $5,000.00. I am not sure if it goes up with a higher transfer amount. A shortcoming is it takes up to 48 hours for the money to appear in my Bangkok Bank account. I expect moneygram kites the money for a couple of days.

Two of the answers seriously disturbing already......its utterly mind boggling it really is

I've said before this more than a few times the Finance sub forum needs a dedicated Mod with decades of experience (no not putting myself forward ) because its the sole subject that affects every single one of us

 

Money and the loss of it no matter how small is important no matter what our status

18 minutes ago, david_je said:

Can Bangkok Bank NY still be used as intermediary bank? Had read that channel was going to be shut.

The Bangkok Bank NY option is still available, but they now require a special international ACH format that few banks seem to support. I have tried Fidelity and Bank of America in the past and neither supported this ACH format. SWIFT transfers are still an option.

 

You can see the details on the Bangkok Bank NY option here:

 

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/Transfers/Transferring-Into-Thailand/Transfer-money-from-US-to-Thailand-via-Bangkok-Bank-NewYork-branch

 

Paul Laew

3 minutes ago, HerewardtheWake said:

I tried Bangkok bank but nobody in New York answers the phone. So I gave up. Somebody said that the Pattaya  branch can arrange it, but it is too much bother to talk in English with the bank staff.  May be, but I decided not to bother.

 

I have used wise.com (formerly transferwise.com) for a while. Their charges were lower than others. Transfer from a Bank of America account cost me a wire fee of $35 and then they skim off a bit by playing with the exchange rate. The only advantage was the speed. Same with Schwab and Fidelity ( but with a lower $25 wire fee).

 

I now use moneygram.com. It gives what appears to be the prevailing exchange rate, but I'd imagine they also play a little bit with the exchange rate spread, but it seems to be less than the others. Transferring from a debit account in the US is $1.99 each time I transfer $5,000.00. I am not sure if it goes up with a higher transfer amount. A shortcoming is it takes up to 48 hours for the money to appear in my Bangkok Bank account. I expect moneygram kites the money for a couple of days.

Are you sending to a Thai bank account? I find it very hard to believe moneygram.com is a better option than Transferwise. I receive transfers from the US weekly and a small fee is charged plus a little difference on the exchange rate and it arrives almost instantly into my Thai bank account.

"Two of the answers seriously disturbing already......its utterly mind boggling it really is"

 

Chivas, could you please elaborate? 

9 minutes ago, Chivas said:

Two of the answers seriously disturbing already......its utterly mind boggling it really is

It didn't occur to you to correct them?  Utterly mind boggling, it really is.

I haven't looked into detail on how they work, but with Wise, etc., I am wary of having to open yet another account or sharing my financial info with with yet another entity -- opening it up to more security concerns and hassles. Thinking would be better to transfer directly from institution where I already have account. Any thoughts on this welcome. 

1 minute ago, david_je said:

I haven't looked into detail on how they work, but with Wise, etc., I am wary of having to open yet another account or sharing my financial info with with yet another entity -- opening it up to more security concerns and hassles. Thinking would be better to transfer directly from institution where I already have account. Any thoughts on this welcome. 

I haven't used Wise or other services. I just transfer directly from my Fidelity account, they don't charge for wire transfers. Setting up regular transfers requires a Medallion signature guarantee, however, which is impossible to obtain in Thailand.

 

Paul Laew

Ohyesuare, I just checked and here are the numbers.

 

$5,000 transferred from a debit account at SchwaB to Bangkok Bank via:

 

Moneywise: B 164,800 deposited into BKK account $1.99 fee

 

Wise: B 164,654 deposited into BKK account. $36.04 fee.

 

I don't know enough about interbank finances, so I concede there is possibly a spread in there some place, but I just look at the final amount in Baht deposited and the attendant fees. I'll glad to learn if there is a catch someplace in all of this.

 

USD

 

RECEIVE

 

 

THB

Change Receiver Countr

1.0000 USD = 32.9600 THB¹

Select a Payment Option

 

 

Credit Card ²

127.99 USD

Transfer Fee

 

 

Debit Card

1.99 USD

Transfer Fee

 

 

Online Bank Account

Learn More

 

Cash at Location

Learn More

-

Select a Receive Method

Some options not supported due to high send amount

 

5,000

USD

• 7.99 USD
  Bank debit (ACH)
  fee
• 28.05 USDOur fee
• –36.04 USDTotal fees

  ---

• =4,963.96 USDAmount we’ll convert
• ×33.1700Guaranteed rate (16 hrs)

Recipient gets

THB

 

12 minutes ago, Paulaew said:

I haven't used Wise or other services. I just transfer directly from my Fidelity account, they don't charge for wire transfers. Setting up regular transfers requires a Medallion signature guarantee, however, which is impossible to obtain in Thailand.

 

Paul Laew

Thank you for all the helpful info.

Would you pls explain briefly how the Fidelity transfer needs to be set up and how it works? The transfers are made from the brokerage/fund settlement account? Goes via Bangkok Bank NY? Only charges incurred are at Bangkok Bank NY and your branch in Thailand?

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

It didn't occur to you to correct them?  Utterly mind boggling, it really is.

Nope because am bored of doing it over and over re money transfers these last few years

Am sure the forum itself has the facility for board members to scroll back through my posts should anyone want to and view them over this topic

45 minutes ago, HerewardtheWake said:

Ohyesuare, I just checked and here are the numbers.

 

$5,000 transferred from a debit account at SchwaB to Bangkok Bank via:

 

Moneywise: B 164,800 deposited into BKK account $1.99 fee

 

Wise: B 164,654 deposited into BKK account. $36.04 fee.

Nice info, I just checked both Moneygram & Wise, and you're correct, MG is significantly cheaper.  

I'll have to research them a bit to see if they are as good as Wise.

Thanks 

9 minutes ago, Chivas said:

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

It didn't occur to you to correct them?  Utterly mind boggling, it really is.

Nope because am bored of doing it over and over

So why even mention it if it bores you so much?    Utterly mind boggling, it really is.

Edited January 27, 20224 yr by Liverpool Lou

56 minutes ago, david_je said:

Thank you for all the helpful info.

Would you pls explain briefly how the Fidelity transfer needs to be set up and how it works? The transfers are made from the brokerage/fund settlement account? Goes via Bangkok Bank NY? Only charges incurred are at Bangkok Bank NY and your branch in Thailand?

You call up Fidelity during US business hours and request an international wire transfer to Bangkok Bank (SWIFT code BKKBTHBK). For security, Fidelity will make an outbound call to your phone number in Thailand (make sure that number is listed in your account profile). You can transfer funds from your brokerage or retirement cash account. Hope this helps.

 

Paul Laew

1 hour ago, Ohyesuare said:

Are you sending to a Thai bank account? I find it very hard to believe moneygram.com is a better option than Transferwise. I receive transfers from the US weekly and a small fee is charged plus a little difference on the exchange rate and it arrives almost instantly into my Thai bank account.

Does it arrive as an International Transfer, acceptable by Immigration?

How to set up a Wise account “correctly” to meet the Visa requirements?  Please elaborate.  

Wise have a comparison section if you scroll down the homepage.  For bringing in USD Moneygram usually shows the best deal, beating Wise itself.  The same is not true for all currencies, as is the oft used comment that nobody provides mid-market exchange rate or better except Wise.  Current screenshot of $5,000 USD transfer costs along with the details of Moneygram fees taken from Wise.com just now.

 

 

ETA:  I don't use them as I don't bring in USD so unaware if there are any pitfalls to watch out for.

 

Edited January 27, 20224 yr by treetops

Wise.com

MoneyGram or Wise. MoneyGram gives better overall rate, but SLOW. Takes a full 5 biz days. Wise much faster.

Edited January 28, 20224 yr by Skeptic7

I use wire transfer (I.e. swift) to Bangkok bank (not the New York branch) for a flat fee of $25.  Money is in my account the next business day.

18 hours ago, david_je said:

Looking for cheapest method. In US I have accounts at Citibank, Bank of America, Fidelity, TRP, Vanguard, Harbor. Can Bangkok Bank NY still be used as intermediary bank?

 

One source?

Frequency?

Amount?

Reasons: cash for living? to satisfy some Immigration requirement?

 

16 hours ago, Paulaew said:

You call up Fidelity during US business hours and request an international wire transfer to Bangkok Bank (SWIFT code BKKBTHBK). For security, Fidelity will make an outbound call to your phone number in Thailand (make sure that number is listed in your account profile). You can transfer funds from your brokerage or retirement cash account. Hope this helps.

 

I am fairly certain that you need to set up a standing wire transfer order for each bank (Bangkok Bank, SCB, etc.) BEFORE requesting a transfer via a phone call. It also requires My Voice verification, and an OTP sent via SMS (I use Google Voice).

 

The standing wire transfer order must be endorsed with a Medallion signature, said to be unavailable here. So this must be set up when you are in the U.S.

 

https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/fidelity/outgoing-foreign-currency-wire.pdf

 

I use this method monthly, Fidelity does not charge any SWIFT fee, nor does their intermediary bank (JP Chase Morgan/CHASEUS33), transfer $2,500 once each month ro satisfy my ext stay/ret/inc. It is equivalent to WISE, maybe ~ 500 baht "better" on ~ 80,000. Bangkok Bank does charge their sliding 200-500 baht fee.

 

 

WISE is probably the simplest, easiest, most cost-effective?

Wise (formally Transfer Wise).

UK to Thailand 49 seconds.

Better with debit card.

Very low charge for high service !!

https://wise.com

9 minutes ago, petertucker48 said:

Wise (formally Transfer Wise).

UK to Thailand 49 seconds.

Better with debit card.

Very low charge for high service !!

https://wise.com

Why better with debit card?

 

An on-line bank transfer is instant and to transfer 1.000 GBP is some 3 GBP cheaper than using a debit card.

I used to have Bank America (40+ years) but when the Justice folks decided that overseas

bank accounts needed to be better monitored (54 nations do this) most US banks cancelled

accounts with people overseas.  I learned that the State Department Federal Credit Union (sdfcu.org) would allow folks overseas to open accts w/credit cards , etc.  It is easy and transfer of monthly monies cost me 30 USD (cheaper than BofA) and it only takes 1 day and the money is here in  Bangkok Bank.  I use the 65K monthly deposits method for long stay extension and sdfcu also sends monthly a advisory message indicating where the funds originate, where they were sent including my home address.  Immigration seems to like these messages.  Just saying...

 

It looks like there are several good ways to transfer money to Thailand, that I didn't know about. As for myself, I transfer from my Chase Bank (USA) to Bangkok Bank (Thailand) and pay a flat fee of $40 for whatever the amount is. They use the SWIFT method. It's simple for me, just a few "clicks" and hit SEND. 24 hours later the money is in my Bangkok Bank account. I guess there are cheaper ways that charge a lessor fee, but I am 71 years old now and I find I like to stay with the ways I understand and know. However, I need to mention that my bank does offer two different transfer fees. The $40 flat rate is when you transfer the money in US dollars ( this way it will show up as a FTT (Bank code), in your Thai account), or if I send it in baht, the bank fee is only $5 (but it shows as a local transfer in my Thai account, which doesn't work for immigration purposes). 

Edited January 28, 20224 yr by Crazy Noobie
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