Old Chestnut, New Times - Transfer Money Into Thailand.

[can123]

A lot has happened in the last few years. So, can some kind person tell me how to send the proceeds of a house sale in the UK to Thailand efficiently and at a reasonable cost, please? I have a bank account in Thailand and know that bank to bank transfer is ordinarily the cheapest but what broker should I use, please?

Thank you.

[proton]

Most banks now have 50k baht limit, which bank is yours?

[billd766]

1 minute ago, proton said:

Most banks now have 50k baht limit, which bank is yours?

That is not strictly correct.

 

If you use Wise in the UK then that is correct except that transfers to Bangkok Bank, Kasikorn Bank (and one other whose name I forget) you can transfer up to 2,000,000 per day.

 

IMHO Bangkok Bank is better as if you tick the box for long term stay in Thailand the entry in the bank account and in the bankbook show as FTT and means that the money came legally from offshore.

 

Als o you can ask the branch for a credit advice note and they will issue that showing that the funds came from offshore. This helps you greatly should you wish to return the funds back offshore.

[sammieuk1]

In December to January I shipped via wise £100k plus in up to 10k amounts daily to Kbank check the rates out before you send all easy most instant- 5 days max ???? 

[treetops]

14 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

In December to January I shipped via wise £100k plus in up to 10k amounts daily to Kbank check the rates out before you send all easy most instant- 5 days max ???? 

Did you price it up against doing a one-off SWIFT transfer or even 3 Wise transfers at their max of 2,000,000 THB daily?

[CharlieH]

5 days ? In my experience its less than 5 seconds !

[treetops]

2 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

5 days ? In my experience its less than 5 seconds !

Easy if you don't want it automatically marked as an International Transfer for Immigration or property purchase requirements.

[The Hammer2021]

Broker? Just use a bank using swift 9999k BPS at a time

Or use Wise

Bank/swift about 20 quid per transaction

With the Thai  baht predicted  to fall consider your actions

[can123]

Thanks to all who have replied. The state of the Thai Baht is a worry and I can appreciate that even a small fall in its value can make a big difference to my finances. It's a gamble either way. 

 

My present account is with Bangkok Bank and I would be looking at an immediate transfer of £!50,000, in installments if needed. 

 

[can123]

1 hour ago, treetops said:

Easy if you don't want it automatically marked as an International Transfer for Immigration or property purchase requirements.

Can you explain this, please? My money is intended for immigration and the building of a house on land my wife owns. How does it being "marked" make a difference, please?

[treetops]

21 minutes ago, can123 said:

Can you explain this, please? My money is intended for immigration and the building of a house on land my wife owns. How does it being "marked" make a difference, please?

For both these purposes you must be able to show that money was brought in from overseas.  With SWIFT transfers this was, and is, fairly easy but as companies like Wise moved in on the market it became more problematic.

 

Wise responded to this requirement, and the current method to get it marked appropriately is to select the correct reason when asked (long stay in Thailand, or property purchase, or words to those effects from their pull down list) and transfer to Bangkok Bank (or Kasikorn Bank I think).

 

Doing this will delay the transfer slightly but will ensure that it is marked as an international transfer when arriving in your Thai bank account.

 

Posts proclaiming how quick they got it either don't need or don't understand this requirement or method to achieve it.

[Onerak]

49 minutes ago, can123 said:

Can you explain this, please? My money is intended for immigration and the building of a house on land my wife owns. How does it being "marked" make a difference, please?

800K in Thai bank for immigration purposes is not required to be marked as foreign sourced unless it is also used for obtaining a Non-O visa from a TB/visa exempt entry. Expenses to build a house is also not need to be marked as a foreign sourced. 

[treetops]

5 minutes ago, Onerak said:

800K in Thai bank for immigration purposes is not required to be marked as foreign sourced unless it is also used for obtaining a Non-O visa from a TB/visa exempt entry. Expenses to build a house is also not need to be marked as a foreign sourced. 

Yes, I wasn't clear enough as thinking more about Wise than the end use.

 

Buying a condo then the money needs to be brought in but not building a house which you won't own anyway.

 

Immigration if using the monthly income method, and as you describe.

[Onerak]

1 hour ago, can123 said:

My present account is with Bangkok Bank and I would be looking at an immediate transfer of £!50,000, in installments if needed. 

If I were you, I would bring the money as need. 

[theoldgit]

9 hours ago, can123 said:

My present account is with Bangkok Bank and I would be looking at an immediate transfer of £!50,000, in installments if needed. 

 

Have you thought about using the Bangkok Bank branch in the UK to transfer funds to your account here, I've heard that for larger amounts you might be able to negotiate a better rate? bangkokbank/Transfer-money-from-UK-to-Thailand-via-London-Branch

 

Do you need to bring all the funds to Thailand now, or might you want to consider leaving some in your UK bank, always a gamble when you factor in possible future exchange rates and changes of plans.

[jippytum]

My advice would be to open a Bangkok bank account in London on line then swift code the funds free of charge to the London branch of Bangkok Bank who will transfer the funds in one transaction in either Thai baht or pound sterling for a charge of 20/25 pounds to your Thai account in one day . .As the rate of exchange currently  is very low i would recommend a pound sterling transfer and you can change to Thai baht any time in the future at no cost.

[The Hammer2021]

10 hours ago, can123 said:

Thanks to all who have replied. The state of the Thai Baht is a worry and I can appreciate that even a small fall in its value can make a big difference to my finances. It's a gamble either way. 

 

My present account is with Bangkok Bank and I would be looking at an immediate transfer of £!50,000, in installments if needed. 

 

I believe with Bangkok  Bangkok  it will automatically  be classified as an international  transfer  by Wise BUT  You are not a Wise member so JUST DO THE SIMPLE EASY thing use your UK bank to transfer the money to a Thai bank using Swift.

Swift provides an options list of reasons for your transfer.

Send 10k then come here and sort it out as is required- no need to rush at all.

Keep your money in a relatively safe place till you need it.

Why send it all here?

[soisanuk]

15 minutes ago, jippytum said:

My advice would be to open a Bangkok bank account in London on line then swift code the funds free of charge to the London branch of Bangkok Bank who will transfer the funds in one transaction in either Thai baht or pound sterling for a charge of 20/25 pounds to your Thai account in one day .

If the London Branch operates the same way as their New York branch, you cannot open an account with the Bangkok Bank branch. The New York branch is a commercial bank and does not provide retail accounts.  Instead, it acts as a pass through for funds from a USA bank to the customer's Thai bank account. 

[KannikaP]

10 hours ago, can123 said:

Can you explain this, please? My money is intended for immigration and the building of a house on land my wife owns. How does it being "marked" make a difference, please?

Put WISE in the search box and you will get HUNDREDS of answers, some quite differing

[phetphet]

10 hours ago, can123 said:

Can you explain this, please? My money is intended for immigration and the building of a house on land my wife owns. How does it being "marked" make a difference, please?

You may require FET certificate as proof if you ever want to take your money out of the country in the future.

[billd766]

13 hours ago, Onerak said:

800K in Thai bank for immigration purposes is not required to be marked as foreign sourced unless it is also used for obtaining a Non-O visa from a TB/visa exempt entry. Expenses to build a house is also not need to be marked as a foreign sourced. 

But if they are marked up and an advice credit note is obtained, you can transfer it back out again should you need to.

 

But using Wise and funds for long term stay in Thailand you can get it out again fairly easily.

[can123]

5 hours ago, theoldgit said:

 

Have you thought about using the Bangkok Bank branch in the UK to transfer funds to your account here, I've heard that for larger amounts you might be able to negotiate a better rate? bangkokbank/Transfer-money-from-UK-to-Thailand-via-London-Branch

 

Do you need to bring all the funds to Thailand now, or might you want to consider leaving some in your UK bank, always a gamble when you factor in possible future exchange rates and changes of plans.

At first glance this is attractive because Bangkok Bank's fees are low. Unfortunately, their exchange rates are very poor and I have ruled them out. Thank you, anyway.

[can123]

Once more thanks to all who have taken the trouble to reply, I am very grateful.

[billd766]

5 hours ago, can123 said:

At first glance this is attractive because Bangkok Bank's fees are low. Unfortunately, their exchange rates are very poor and I have ruled them out. Thank you, anyway.

Using Wise you get a better rate than transferring direct to Bangkok Bank. I agree that their forex rates directly are lower, but transferring via Wise always gives a better rate.