Sending money back to USA from Thailand

[bangkokgalaxy]

Hello everyone.

 

I'm on a retirement visa and use the 65k a monthly income method. I need to transfer money from my Thai bank back to the USA to pay US-based bills.

 

Is it an issue (or raise red flags) to send money back to pay bills that was originally brought into Thailand for retirement income? Just

want to make sure an IO doesn't make an issue when it's time to do my yearly extension. 

 

Thanks in advance.

[Sheryl]

No problem at all. There is no requirement to keep the money in Thailand once transferred in (for the income method) and no rules about how you spend it once brought in.

 

The 800k method of course is different.

[BritTim]

It is not an issue as far as immigration is concerned. However, you may well discover that sending money out of Thailand is a great deal harder than sending money into Thailand. My preferred service for transferring money from Thailand is Skrill, but they can only be used to send money to personal bank accounts. I have sometimes resorted to having my brother pay bills for me, and reimbursed him. If you have an overseas account in the country where you want to send the money it is a lot easier.

 

Discuss this with your bank, and see what they say.

[Skipalongcassidy]

Right now Skill is the best way, there is no fee,  however it will cost you about $10 for every 10,000 baht in exchange rate

[DrJack54]

OP, I believe you cannot use WISE however DEE Money no problem.

Sukhumvit Soi 8.

This is current rate.

 

[Sheryl]

Normal bank SWIFT transfer (assuming he is sending to  bank acct in US) is fine and makes sense if the amount bring sent is large. Dee Money is better for small transfers. 

[DrJack54]

Bit off topic but may be useful to some.

Not long ago I purchased a condo from UK guy who flew over from UK to do settlement.

There was stupid mix up with the Thai agent and as a consequence I obtained 3mil baht to pay cash.

 

The seller had trouble even with DEE Money.

He had to obtain proof of sale of condo etc.

Not huge deal but something to be aware of. 

[bbi1]

What gets the best exchange rate for amounts five figure dollar amount? Changing the THB to your home country's currency while in Thailand, then taking the cash back home, or using DeeMoney or Skrill?

[Misty]

1 hour ago, bbi1 said:

What gets the best exchange rate for amounts five figure dollar amount? Changing the THB to your home country's currency while in Thailand, then taking the cash back home, or using DeeMoney or Skrill?

Traditionally Thai banks such as BBL or KBANK have been very competitive on THB to USD exchanges (or vice versa) for cross-border wire transfers, as compared to their foreign bank counterparts.  So from my observation it's always better to have a bank like BBL or KBANK do the THB-USD conversion.  I can't speak for Dee Money or Skrill's exchange rates, however.

[BritTim]

3 hours ago, bbi1 said:

What gets the best exchange rate for amounts five figure dollar amount? Changing the THB to your home country's currency while in Thailand, then taking the cash back home, or using DeeMoney or Skrill?

Generally speaking, the best rate is achieved by changing your Thai baht to your home country currency at Superrich (Green) headquarters branch and taking the money out in cash.

I found registering for DeeMoney without a work permit difficult to accomplish. Your experience might differ.

If using the bank to do a Swift transfer, to most countries, ensure the currency conversion is done at the Thai end.

[Jenkins9039]

11 hours ago, BritTim said:

It is not an issue as far as immigration is concerned. However, you may well discover that sending money out of Thailand is a great deal harder than sending money into Thailand. My preferred service for transferring money from Thailand is Skrill, but they can only be used to send money to personal bank accounts. I have sometimes resorted to having my brother pay bills for me, and reimbursed him. If you have an overseas account in the country where you want to send the money it is a lot easier.

 

Discuss this with your bank, and see what they say.

Harder? - just use the bank app, can send about 2m THB a day per account.

[connda]

The current rate for short-term Treasuries in the US in 5.5% for a 6 month T-Bill.

I'm getting tempted to send excess funds back to the US in order to actually make some income on my idle cash.

[The Theory]

Bank app, easy. But you need to compare all possible options exchange rate + fees. 

[GypsyT]

Money to grow in the US;

Discover regular savings account pays now 4,3%. New rate offers (you get them automatically) coming almost bi monthly as soon as you open an account.

That's for a regular saving account. CDs pay better but I want to be flexible.

I've been happy with them.

 

As far as taking money out from Thailand best is to get CASH at Super Rich and carry out.

Many seem to like WISE but their rates are lousy... and they won't transfer funds in the same currency (can't pick your pocket...).

 

Based on my experience the best rates are at MoneyGram, from EU to TH & VN.

Same currency to send & receive possible.

 

[bangkokgalaxy]

Thank you everyone. Very useful information!

[Sheryl]

14 hours ago, BritTim said:

Generally speaking, the best rate is achieved by changing your Thai baht to your home country currency at Superrich (Green) headquarters branch and taking the money out in cash.

I found registering for DeeMoney without a work permit difficult to accomplish. Your experience might differ.

If using the bank to do a Swift transfer, to most countries, ensure the currency conversion is done at the Thai end.

I was able to register for DeeMoney without a work permit (I'm on a retirement extension).  I don't recall that being a particular issue, but it was some 5-6 years ago.  My larger issue was living where they had no office so needing to do it all remotely. It worked out but I believe took a few emails and maybe a phone call.

[arithai12]

Last March I transferred several Millions THB (from a condo sale) from Thailand to Singapore. I used Bangkok Bank, they converted to USD using the official interbank rate of the day (35.30) and applied a total of 1150 THB fees, delivered same day. That's a ridiculously low commission.

I would be more worried about the bank accepting the transfer. For small amounts there might be no question, but for significant amounts there certainly will be. If you have proof that you are transferring back money imported from abroad, that's good.

[bhatmasterson]

On 9/8/2023 at 7:39 AM, DrJack54 said:

OP, I believe you cannot use WISE however DEE Money no problem.

Sukhumvit Soi 8.

This is current rate.

 

This was a year ago. Dee Money is in the can at the moment. Transferred a few hundred $ 2 weeks ago and had to message, call and threaten to make a police report to get them to complete the transaction. They sent two messages apologizing and promised to move me up on the cue before I mentioned the police.