Moving Larger Amounts of Money From Thai Banks to UK Banks

[Troy Tempest]

Dear all,

I am very reluctantly considering moving back to the UK as with my age and health conditions it is becoming increasingly expensive or in many cases impossible to get health insurance.

I have two Thai Bank accounts. KTB in which I keep Thb 1m approx. for Retirement Visa purposes and Bangkok Bank which I use for day to day expenses.

I already have a Dee money account set up, but have never used it.

Can anyone explain the best way to move the money back to the UK if not Dee Money.

Dee Money said that I could use them to do the transfers, but they have a daily limit of 

Thb 800k and so I would potentially need to make the transfers over 3 days.

Has anyone used Dee Money successfully to transfer large amounts such as this?

Would you trust Dee Money?

Many thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[CharlieH]

Banking Forum 

 

MOVED

[Henryford]

I would try Dee a few times using small amounts. See if it works.

[Troy Tempest]

4 minutes ago, Henryford said:

I would try Dee a few times using small amounts. See if it works.

That is the plan HF.

 

Dee Money have been around for some time now and as you probably know they regularly advertise Asean now.

 

I am hoping to hear from someone who has actually used them for larger transactions.

[MRToMRT]

Could you not just send in one go from your bank? Swift charge is 25-30 USD. Banks have a limit of 50,000 USD/day I think?

[Troy Tempest]

10 minutes ago, MRToMRT said:

Could you not just send in one go from your bank? Swift charge is 25-30 USD. Banks have a limit of 50,000 USD/day I think?

I could probably just do the tranfers interbank, but I believe that in many cases both the sending bank and receiving bank charge fees and the exchange rate might be better with Dee Money and they only charge 125 Thb per transaction.

 

 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Troy Tempest

[lkn]

I have access to international transfers via Kasikorn (online K+ app) and they show both the exchange rate and fee, it’s limited to the equivalent of 100,000 USD/day.

 

Currently, if I set up a THB → EUR transfer it gives me an exchange rate 0.8-0.9% worse than the mid-market-range and a flat fee of 250 baht.

 

DeeMoney shows an exchange rate 0.74% worse, so slightly better than Kasikorn, unsure about flat fee, and as you point out, you would need to execute the transfer over 3 days.

 

In absolute numbers, Kasikorn will probably be 3-4,000 baht more expensive than DeeMoney for a 2 million baht transfer. Though if you have a fee for incoming international transfers, you will pay this 3 times instead of 1, but that fee is probably not more than 250 baht (in your local currency).

[Troy Tempest]

1 minute ago, lkn said:

I have access to international transfers via Kasikorn (online K+ app) and they show both the exchange rate and fee, it’s limited to the equivalent of 100,000 USD/day.

 

Currently, if I set up a THB → EUR transfer it gives me an exchange rate 0.8-0.9% worse than the mid-market-range and a flat fee of 250 baht.

 

DeeMoney shows an exchange rate 0.74% worse, so slightly better than Kasikorn, unsure about flat fee, and as you point out, you would need to execute the transfer over 3 days.

 

In absolute numbers, Kasikorn will probably be 3-4,000 baht more expensive than DeeMoney for a 2 million baht transfer. Though if you have a fee for incoming international transfers, you will pay this 3 times instead of 1, but that fee is probably not more than 250 baht (in your local currency).

Thanks for your reply.

 

I have not yet approached either KTB or Bangkok Bank to find out their charges and likely exchange rates. Nearer the time I will of course do that.

 

In the 12  plus years I have been living in Thailand my international tranasactions were one way only (UK to Thailand) for which in recent years I have used Wise many times as it is simple and they give good exchange rates.

 

I was hoping Dee money could provide a similar service in the other direction....As I am sure you know Wise does not currently offer this service.

 

 

 

 

[Brick Top]

I sent 13.3 Million using Dmoney in one transaction from the sale of a Condo in 2020 , back then they gave me 39 baht to GBP. They normally have a restriction of 800,000 per day but I contacted there head office by email and they requested some documents such as :

Sales contract 

Land office tax receipt.

For smaller amounts like 1 to 1.5 Million I have just sent from my phone in one transaction using either the  SCB app or the Dmoney app , no paperwork required.

I found the SCB just as competitive as Dmoney with rates of exchange and fees and the SCB daily limit is higher at 1.5 Million per day and the fee was if I recall 250. I have never been charged anything at the UK end for incoming funds.

 

[Troy Tempest]

2 hours ago, Brick Top said:

I sent 13.3 Million using Dmoney in one transaction from the sale of a Condo in 2020 , back then they gave me 39 baht to GBP. They normally have a restriction of 800,000 per day but I contacted there head office by email and they requested some documents such as :

Sales contract 

Land office tax receipt.

For smaller amounts like 1 to 1.5 Million I have just sent from my phone in one transaction using either the  SCB app or the Dmoney app , no paperwork required.

I found the SCB just as competitive as Dmoney with rates of exchange and fees and the SCB daily limit is higher at 1.5 Million per day and the fee was if I recall 250. I have never been charged anything at the UK end for incoming funds.

 

Great reply BT...I will do more research.

 

I am surprised at the few answers I received on this topic....there must be many in a similar situation to myself!

 

I thank you for your reply Sir!

[Pmbkk]

 

I'm in a similar situation

 

I've used DeeMoney in the past for x hundred thousands. ( their standard limit is still 800,000). - which is limited.

We've used them many times - very straight forward via app. 

 

We contacted them yesterday re sending larger amounts of cash back and they did ask for additional docs as described above. 

 

Their rate seems to be still better than banks ( fee 125 + VAT 7% = 134 )

 

There seems to be limited ways.; Deemoney or bank ( I checked Wise and they're still not doing it )

 

When I sold a place in Spain a few years ago there were numerous currency exchanges that gave much,much better rates than bank rates resulting in significant cash savings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Troy Tempest]

15 hours ago, Pmbkk said:

 

I'm in a similar situation

 

I've used DeeMoney in the past for x hundred thousands. ( their standard limit is still 800,000). - which is limited.

We've used them many times - very straight forward via app. 

 

We contacted them yesterday re sending larger amounts of cash back and they did ask for additional docs as described above. 

 

Their rate seems to be still better than banks ( fee 125 + VAT 7% = 134 )

 

There seems to be limited ways.; Deemoney or bank ( I checked Wise and they're still not doing it )

 

When I sold a place in Spain a few years ago there were numerous currency exchanges that gave much,much better rates than bank rates resulting in significant cash savings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for your reply.

 

I am not sure when I will need to do the tranfers, but I anticipate the total will be around Thb 2m.

 

My main concern was whether or not Dee Money could be trusted as the amounts are fairly large.

 

You have answered that question.

 

I thank you once again!

 

 

 

 

 

[In the jungle]

Which UK bank are you sending the money to?

[Pmbkk]

2 hours ago, In the jungle said:

Which UK bank are you sending the money to?

 

We've done it to Natwest

[dddave]

"DEE MONEY"  was recently acquired by or merged with another company and their old app no longer functions.   I had used them for 2 years for frequent transfers to the Philippines.  The replacement app, "Dee Money Neo" has been impossible for me to sign in on using my old account.  I was told I had to come in person and present many documents including work permit, residency certificates and several more items to use the new app.  

[Liverpool Lou]

On 2/6/2023 at 9:22 AM, Troy Tempest said:

Has anyone used Dee Money successfully to transfer large amounts such as this?

 

Would you trust Dee Money?

Yes, and yes.

[Troy Tempest]

On 2/8/2023 at 1:14 PM, In the jungle said:

Which UK bank are you sending the money to?

Barclays.

[In the jungle]

1 hour ago, Troy Tempest said:

Barclays.

My experience is with Santander UK.  If my Santander account in the UK receives just about any significant amount from abroad they demand to know who the funds are from and the source of the money.  They threaten to suspend my account in the event that such information is not provided.

 

As an example of this last year I spent five months in the UK.  I covered my living costs in the UK from funds in my Santander account but I had underestimated the cost of living there.  I therefore asked my wife in Thailand to transfer 3000 Sterling to me (I do not have online banking on my Thai account).

 

That relatively small transfer from abroad was sufficient for Santander to write to me as described in the first paragraph.

 

I have no way of knowing whether my account is flagged for some reason though I can think of no legitimate reason for them doing so. 

 

My experience is, of course, not Barclays specific but I mention it as forewarned is forearmed.

[Liverpool Lou]

24 minutes ago, In the jungle said:

My experience is with Santander UK.  If my Santander account in the UK receives just about any significant amount from abroad they demand to know who the funds are from and the source of the money.  They threaten to suspend my account in the event that such information is not provided.

 

As an example of this last year I spent five months in the UK.  I covered my living costs in the UK from funds in my Santander account but I had underestimated the cost of living there.  I therefore asked my wife in Thailand to transfer 3000 Sterling to me (I do not have online banking on my Thai account).

 

That relatively small transfer from abroad was sufficient for Santander to write to me as described in the first paragraph.

 

I have no way of knowing whether my account is flagged for some reason though I can think of no legitimate reason for them doing so. 

 

My experience is, of course, not Barclays specific but I mention it as forewarned is forearmed.

Their legitimate reason for enquiring about the source of funds is an anti-money laundering question that they are obligated to ask by UK authorities and as long as the transfer was legitimate an account holder should have no issue answering.  Those making legitimate transactions do not need to be "forewarned" or "forearmed".

[In the jungle]

1 minute ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Their legitimate reason for enquiring about the source of funds is an anti-money laundering question that they are obligated to ask by UK authorities and as long as the transfer was legitimate an account holder should have no issue answering.  Those making legitimate transactions do not need to be "forewarned" or "forearmed".

I think they do need to forearmed and forewarned.

 

The funds may be legitimate but the bank may require them to document that they are.  I have been required to do exactly that at times.

[Troy Tempest]

On 2/14/2023 at 4:52 AM, In the jungle said:

My experience is with Santander UK.  If my Santander account in the UK receives just about any significant amount from abroad they demand to know who the funds are from and the source of the money.  They threaten to suspend my account in the event that such information is not provided.

 

As an example of this last year I spent five months in the UK.  I covered my living costs in the UK from funds in my Santander account but I had underestimated the cost of living there.  I therefore asked my wife in Thailand to transfer 3000 Sterling to me (I do not have online banking on my Thai account).

 

That relatively small transfer from abroad was sufficient for Santander to write to me as described in the first paragraph.

 

I have no way of knowing whether my account is flagged for some reason though I can think of no legitimate reason for them doing so. 

 

My experience is, of course, not Barclays specific but I mention it as forewarned is forearmed.

Thanks for the information.

 

I can easily come up with a "paper trail" to show that the money is legit if needs be.

 

In all cases the money was transferred by me to me either by bank transfer or using Wise.