US dollar FCD a/c at BKK bank

[PJ71]

I've had my account with bangkok bank for 20 years +, is it straight forward enough to open up a USD a/c?

 

Has anyone done this recently?

 

Thanks

[gamb00ler]

7 minutes ago, PJ71 said:

I've had my account with bangkok bank for 20 years +, is it straight forward enough to open up a USD a/c?

 

Has anyone done this recently?

 

Thanks

Your best source can be reached at 1333.  They have staff with decent English speaking abilities.

[PJ71]

1 hour ago, gamb00ler said:

Your best source can be reached at 1333.  They have staff with decent English speaking abilities.

Yeah, i'll pop into the bank, i'm out the country just now.

 

Thx.

[gamb00ler]

1 hour ago, PJ71 said:

Yeah, i'll pop into the bank, i'm out the country just now.

 

Thx.

If you can login to your account using a web browser, you can send Bangkok bank a message via their web page.  I've never done it so I don't know if they will use email to respond or if they will use their web interface to respond.

Edited September 22 by gamb00ler

[RSD1]

In the past I’ve had FCD accounts with both SCB and UOB. They were OK at the time for what I wanted them for, but too many inconveniences and restrictions. So eventually I closed them. IMHO, not worth it. Better to open one with UOB in Singapore or Lloyds in IOM. So much more account flexibility. 
 

Another option would be to open a Wise or a Revolut account and keep the money there. Much easier and faster to open an account with either of those online. And tremendous flexibility and easy access to the money. 
 

Also, if you open an FCD account in Thailand and bring a large sum of money in now then I believe you will be paying personal income tax in Thailand on that money too. Personally, I wouldn’t even consider an FCD account in Thailand at this point. But that’s just me.

[jayceenik]

I have a Euro FCD with CitiBank in Singapore since 2001. Excellent service. I recommend Citi. Note that there is a maintenance fee for accounts below USD 200k or equivalent.

I thought of opening an FCD with BKK Bank in Thailand and went to their main office in BKK to talk about it. Totally inconvenient and impractical BKK Bank FCD compared to my Citi SIN account. I didn't pursue the idea.

[JohnnyBD]

On 9/21/2024 at 10:48 PM, PJ71 said:

I've had my account with bangkok bank for 20 years +, is it straight forward enough to open up a USD a/c?

Has anyone done this recently?

Thanks

I opened a USD FCD account in August at Bangkok Bank Emporium branch at Phrom Phong. It was easy, but they didn't have any USD on hand, so I went to Super Rich to get $1,000 USD for the initial deposit. They wouldn't let me convert THB from my THB acct for the initial deposit. Once opened, the min. balance is $250 or maintenance fees will apply. I was able to set up their App on my phone and internet banking on my laptop. I can do USD to THB conversions online, but only during banking hours. The incoming wire fees are .25% (min. 200B to 500B max). There's no fees to convert from my USD acct to my THB acct. Good luck...

Edited September 23 by JohnnyBD

[RSD1]

1 hour ago, JohnnyBD said:

There's no fees to convert from my USD acct to my THB acct.

But the exchange rate they give you always has a fee built into it. That means the exchange rate is often about 1% lower than the interbank rate. That's the fee. 
 

They will also normally charge you a fee whenever you deposit any physical USD in cash into the account. They call it a fee in lieu of exchange. 
 

And if one day you want to transfer all the money back out in USD to an overseas account then they will charge you a very steep wire fee, which will also include a fee in lieu of exchange. 
 

The point is that all of these accounts that are FCD accounts in Thailand are designed to charge you a fee in lieu of exchange anytime you transfer the money in or the money out of the account in USD. This is because they're not making a foreign currency exchange fee as they normally would if it was a dollar to baht exchange so they add on an extra fee that they call "in lieu of exchange".  
 

As an example, if you wanted to wire $1,000 overseas from your Thai Baht account you would first have to convert the Thai Baht to USD in which case they would make money on the exchange first and then they would charge you the wire fee. But if you already have the $1,000 in your FCD account then they don't make any money on a Baht to dollars exchange, so they charge you an extra fee in lieu of exchange.

[JohnnyBD]

31 minutes ago, RSD1 said:

But the exchange rate they give you always has a fee built into it. That means the exchange rate is often about 1% lower than the interbank rate. That's the fee. 

I just checked the exchange rate converting my USD acct to THB acct at Bangkok Bank. It was 32.78 vs the current spot rate of 32.93 a few minutes ago, which is .15 difference. That works out to a ittle less than .5%. So, if I had completed the exchange, that $1,000 USD would have given me 32,780 THB. That was only 150B difference from spot rate. Not bad

Edited September 23 by JohnnyBD

[jmw]

I've had a USD account for three years. Exchange rate kinda sucks right now so am making no exchanges for the time beig

[RSD1]

1 hour ago, JohnnyBD said:

I just checked the exchange rate converting my USD acct to THB acct at Bangkok Bank. It was 32.78 vs the current spot rate of 32.93 a few minutes ago, which is .15 difference. That works out to a ittle less than .5%. So, if I had completed the exchange, that $1,000 USD would have given me 32,780 THB. That was only 150B difference from spot rate. Not bad

Yes, a fee of 0.5% isn't bad. I guess the exchange fee they give you on converting from a USD acct to THB acct is the T/T rate and not the same higher rate normally given on cash exchanges, which is a fee closer to 1%. 
 

As a comparison, Wise is charging 0.54% right now on USD to Baht conversions. But when you deposit USD into your FCD account at BBL then you are still being charged an additional 0.25% on the incoming wire, so you need to add that to the 0.5% exchange fee and that's your actual total fee to go from USD to THB. Plus, you are often charged an outgoing wire fee of at least $25 (if not more) by most overseas banks. Thus, another possible added cost of getting the money into your Thai FCD account from overseas. 

 

I think some Thai banks like UOB will waive the incoming wire fees when you are a wealth banking customer. But I forget how much money you have to keep on deposit in order to get that privilege.

 

Edited September 23 by RSD1

[PJ71]

1 hour ago, jmw said:

I've had a USD account for three years. Exchange rate kinda sucks right now so am making no exchanges for the time beig

yeah, this is my reason, i have plenty of baht but currently getting paid in USD so would plan to hold it until the rate is more favourable.

[JohnnyBD]

43 minutes ago, RSD1 said:

Yes, a fee of 0.5% isn't bad. I guess the exchange fee they give you on converting from a USD acct to THB acct is the T/T rate and not the same higher rate normally given on cash exchanges, which is a fee closer to 1%. 
 

As a comparison, Wise is charging 0.54% right now on USD to Baht conversions. But when you deposit USD into your FCD account at BBL then you are still being charged an additional 0.25% on the incoming wire, so you need to add that to the 0.5% exchange fee and that's your actual total fee to go from USD to THB. Plus, you are often charged an outgoing wire fee of at least $25 (if not more) by most overseas banks. Thus, another possible added cost of getting the money into your Thai FCD account from overseas. 

 

I think some Thai banks like UOB will waive the incoming wire fees when you are a wealth banking customer. But I forget how much money you have to keep on deposit in order to get that privilege.

I agree with your comments. Luckily, I don't pay any outgoing wire fees with Chase Bank in US due to my relationship level, but I do pay an incoming wire fee with BBL of .25%, and get the T/T rate which is about .455% lower than spot rates, so for example, a $2,500 USD wire xfer will incur a 200B incoming wire fee, and I will get about 375B less with the T/T rates versus the current spot rates.

Edited September 23 by JohnnyBD