I have to go back to the UK to live in a few months and being away over 30 years I doubt my old Nat West account still exists.

My question is how can I transfer money there whilst I'm unable to open an account there till I return?

The only solution I can think of is to transfer money to my trusted UK friend and then have her transfer it to me once I arrive.

Thanks for any useful advice.

 

Have you contacted Nat West. 

Western Union (or similar), to yourself, collect it when you arrive.   Or what Kwasaki suggested...dormant accounts can be revived sometimes.

Edited March 13, 20233 yr by Liverpool Lou

Have you tried setting up a deposit account on-line?

Apart from the usual Highstreet (what's left if it) regulars, then options like Starling might be worth considering.

Take it you have a valid Passport for ID?

2 hours ago, bannork said:

My question is how can I transfer money there whilst I'm unable to open an account there till I return?

One possibility is to open a Wise account, can be done while in Thailand, transfer the money via bank or DeeMoney into your Wise account, then after you sort a high street bank transfer it from Wise.

I can recommend Metro bank if Natwest fails just had one insurance letter in my name and a UK address passport and DL and came out of the bank an hour later with 2 accounts and cards printed on the spot after 20 years just don't mention anything about travel plans past or future ????  

2 hours ago, foreverlomsak said:

One possibility is to open a Wise account, can be done while in Thailand, transfer the money via bank or DeeMoney into your Wise account, then after you sort a high street bank transfer it from Wise.

Agree. Wise will open a £ account with a UK sort code. No need for a high street account. But what currency are you holding? I guess THB. Wise is still about as good as it gets I think for fees and exchange rates. Just link your THB account here to your Wise account, and you can move the THB almost anywhere you like.

2 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

I can recommend Metro bank if Natwest fails just had one insurance letter in my name and a UK address passport and DL and came out of the bank an hour later with 2 accounts and cards printed on the spot after 20 years just don't mention anything about travel plans past or future ????  

I thought they asked for a Council Tax bill. Things must have changed since I last applied.

26 minutes ago, phetphet said:

I thought they asked for a Council Tax bill. Things must have changed since I last applied.

Banks might like them but can't insist on them because in a household only 1 person will have a council tax bill.  Santander, for example, will accept a driving licence as proof of address (also as proof of ID).

45 minutes ago, phetphet said:

I thought they asked for a Council Tax bill. Things must have changed since I last applied.

That is correct, because of money laundering rules. You need proof of an address in the UK. As previously mentioned you are best advised to use Wise . You can keep it in a number of currencies of your choice and they can supply you with a Wise Debit Card.

I think you'll find you CANNOT transfer OUT of Thailand with Wise.

1 minute ago, CharlieH said:

I think you'll find you CANNOT transfer OUT of Thailand with Wise.

You can, but I think only to another Wise account or to an acceptable bank. Certain transactions on Wise have been an absolute non starter for me, very small $ amounts to online Indian pharmacies for instance. But large amounts of £ and $ to overseas banks, no problems at all. I find them oddly inconsistent so have asked the FSO in the UK to get clarification. They're registered there, and regulated by them.

1 minute ago, bradiston said:

You can, but I think only to another Wise account or to an acceptable bank. Certain transactions on Wise have been an absolute non starter for me, very small $ amounts to online Indian pharmacies for instance. But large amounts of £ and $ to overseas banks, no problems at all. I find them oddly inconsistent so have asked the FSO in the UK to get clarification. They're registered there, and regulated by them.

I was referring to Thai Baht out of Thailand.

14 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

I was referring to Thai Baht out of Thailand.

Convert THB from your THB bank account here, into your £ Wise account then. Buying and selling currencies on Wise is simplicity itself. All the fees and the exchange rates, plus the amounts are put on screen before you make the transfer. I sent $ from my $ Wise account to my destination $ Wise bank account in the EU. No fees. No costs. There in seconds.

Transferring say £5000 three times, £15,000 in all, to my trusted friend in the UK, is starting to look like the easiest route. I think you can transfer £3000 a year as a gift but after that the recipient has to pay tax if the sender croaks within 7 years 

7 minutes ago, bannork said:

Transferring say £5000 three times, £15,000 in all, to my trusted friend in the UK, is starting to look like the easiest route. I think you can transfer £3000 a year as a gift but after that the recipient has to pay tax if the sender croaks within 7 years 

Transferring money to her doesn't make it a gift.  It's still your money.

 

You can use DeeMoney to transfer up to 800,000 THB into a pound sterling account ( flat-fee is 133 baht ) per day. That's well over your £15K amount at the current exchange rates.

You can transfer monies(THB-Sterling) from your bank KB,SCB etc.

My wife has used the above three methods to transfer baht from her account into my UK sterling accounts over the last two weeks ( we split as we were picking the method that had the best x-rate when required ). After monitoring them for 2 weeks SCB & Deemoney seem to usually come out best.

NOTE: WISE does not currently allow one to transfer THB to Pound sterling.

does Revolut work in Thailand ? If so just pay with your smartphone everywhere

3 minutes ago, Hi from France said:

does Revolut work in Thailand ? If so just pay with your smartphone everywhere

I don't think so. EU only.

18 hours ago, bradiston said:

Just link your THB account here to your Wise account, and you can move the THB almost anywhere you like.

No can do.

Wise are not a registered bank or financial institution in Thailand, therefore cannot operate within the banking system here.  Which is why they do not send direct to all Thai bank accounts, but use intermediary banks.

A Wise GBP account could only be funded by a SWIFT transfer of GBP from Thailand.  That would mean that the THB would have to be converted to GBP by a local bank.  The exchange rate is not going to be good.  And then there's the SWIFT fee.

Buy your Pounds here.

Put them in your pocket.

If amount is large, report it going out and coming in.  No problem just some paper.

Done.

51 minutes ago, foreverlomsak said:

No can do.

Wise are not a registered bank or financial institution in Thailand, therefore cannot operate within the banking system here.  Which is why they do not send direct to all Thai bank accounts, but use intermediary banks.

Sorry, my comment was sloppy. What I meant was, I can move any amounts from my £ and $ Wise accounts into my Krungthai THB account. Choose the time when the rate is good. And moving £ out from the UK to my Wise £ account is a no brainer, fee free.

34 minutes ago, Foxx said:

A Wise GBP account could only be funded by a SWIFT transfer of GBP from Thailand.  That would mean that the THB would have to be converted to GBP by a local bank.  The exchange rate is not going to be good.  And then there's the SWIFT fee.

I think to a recipient's £ Wise account it would be free and almost instantaneous. I sent a fairly large amount of $ from my Wise $ account to a Wise $ account in a European bank fee free, instantaneous.

Buy Bitcoin and store online, then open a bank account when you get back. The value will be much more, as BTC is going to the moon! 

 

18 hours ago, bradiston said:

Convert THB from your THB bank account here, into your £ Wise account then. Buying and selling currencies on Wise is simplicity itself.

 

1 hour ago, Foxx said:

A Wise GBP account could only be funded by a SWIFT transfer of GBP from Thailand.  That would mean that the THB would have to be converted to GBP by a local bank. 

I assume based on what Foxx said, is what Bradiston means by "Convert THB from your THB bank account here, into your £ Wise account "?

Classic case of no matter what your circumstances, no matter what your intentions always maintain the "basics" like a Bank (churn £50  in and out every year) GP lists, Tax References etc etc even if you consider you'd never use them again because one day you just might....

 

53 minutes ago, Digitalbanana said:

 

I assume based on what Foxx said, is what Bradiston means by "Convert THB from your THB bank account here, into your £ Wise account "?

I can't envisage ever actually doing this, I mean buying £s with THB, as I don't intend repatriating at any time. I think what I was suggesting was a way for the OP to convert his THB into £s, at a fairly decent rate, ready for transferring straight to a UK sterling bank account. Slightly lost the point of this thread now. I wonder if the op has figured it out?

37 minutes ago, bradiston said:

I can't envisage ever actually doing this, I mean buying £s with THB, as I don't intend repatriating at any time. I think what I was suggesting was a way for the OP to convert his THB into £s, at a fairly decent rate, ready for transferring straight to a UK sterling bank account. Slightly lost the point of this thread now. I wonder if the op has figured it out?

Ha ha, thank you for all your suggestions folks 

I think I'll send most of the money to my trusted friend via Swift in two or three lots. That way I can be sure the money is in the UK and I can use it to open an account when I return.

a) If you send it to my account I'll see you alright no worries trust me

b) Load up a credit card that you can use in the UK?

 

a) is better in my opinion but then I'm biased ????