Money Transfer From Uk In Gbp To Kasikorn Bank

[Khun Bob]

I would like to transfer money from the UK to a Kasikorn Bank account and have been exploring options.

From research on this forum - some good advice I have heeded and taken into account are :

* Do transfer in GBP (Pounds Sterling) to the beneficiary account

* Be careful of transfers over $20000 equivilant (not transfers in USd - just the equivilent value - ie at the mo around £10000 or so. This is because a Thai witholding tax of 30% **may** be imposed)

* Find out what the correspondent banks of kasikorn are for the currency/country sending from

* Talk to the sending bank to find out intermediaries they will use

* Find out what the sending banks charges will be

* Find out what the beneficiaries (receiving) bank charges will be

There are also other issues like limits on amount of transfer, the method of making the request and ability to specify what the money is top be used for.

On Kasikorn's side here is what I found :

* To receive a transfer there is a .25% charge - with a minimum charge of 200 baht and a maximum charge of 500 baht

* Kasikorn will use their TT (Telex Transfer) Buy exchange rate for the converion from GBP to THB

* Kasikorn's correspondent banks in the UK for GBP are Lloyds TSB, Bank of America, Barclays, American Express, Standard Chartered

* I was informed by Kasikorn CS that transfers over $20000 would have the 30% witholding charge imposed unless I provide documentation of an actual property purchase.

* To do the SWIFT transfer to a Kasikorn account I need to specify the following information SWIFT code (KASI TH BK) and 13 digit account no, The name of the bank, the name of the Branch, first and last name of the beneficiary

To do the transfer from the UK I have spoken to Nationwide and Lloyds TSB. Nationwide because several TV members have mentioned using their service and Lloyds TSB as they are a correspondent bank of Kasikorn

Heres what I found out about Nationwide :

* Fee is £20

* Nationwide use HSBC as an agent to transfer the money to Thailand

* The £20 fee covers Nationwide and HSBC

* HSBC should not convert the GBP to THB, should not charge to receive or to send the money onto Kasikorn, also should not take excessively long over the transfer

* Transfer form can be submitted in branch or downloaded, completed and posted to a branch/head office in UK

Here I am concerned that I have heard of HSBC charging or doing the transfer to THB at an unfavorable rate or just taking money for some non specified reason. I have seen this on posts here over the past 2/3 years. I am not clear if it is possible to specify a purpose for the money on the transfer form.

And Lloyds TSB

* Confirmed that they are a correspondent bank of Kasikorn's and money sent would go direct

* Charge £20 for transfers below £10000, and £30 for transfers of £10000 and over

* Would take 2/3 days for money to arrive in beneficiary account

* Again not clear if it is possible to specify on the transfer what the purpose of the money is

From the above 2 options, I would tend to want to go with Lloyds TSB for amounts up to £10000, as this would be the same cost as Nationwide and seems the safer (ie not involving a 3rd party) option.

Could anyone comment on actual experience of using Nationwide, Lloyds TSB or another bank to transfer GBP from the UK to a Kasikorn THB account. I'd be particularly interested to know if HSBC have done anything funny and if a Lloyds transfer is as straigh forward as explained to me - not that I think HSBC will introduce complications, but it is an extra layer. Also, when you do a transfer, I would imagine that there would be the opportunity with any organisation to put some comments on the transfer - ie what the money is to be used for.

Thanks in advance...

PS I have just done some more research. At the moment Kasikorn bank are showing a rate of 68.3 for TT Buy

http://www.kasikornbank.com/GlobalHome/EN/..._fx/rate_fx.jsp

Interestingly they have a rate of 68.92375 for TT Sell. So that means there is approx a .6 baht spread - so the mid point is 68.6 approx.

I have just checked the visa (credit card) website and they are quoting 68.63 for transactions submitted today :

http://corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_serv...HB&rate=0.0

So it looks like Kasikorn has a roughly .6 baht spread. I'm not sure of this is typical of Thai banks, but I am surprised at visa giving such a good rate - it is a pity I'm not in Thailand right now as I could do the swipe the Nationwide Flex Account card in the bank and deposit in the savings account trick to get a better rate than kasikorns TT Buy and save over £20 as well. Still I would prefer to transfer when GBP is stronger than I think it will be in a couple of months time. The credit, bank and housing situation in the UK is concerning me and I believe will have further negative effect on GBP in the coming months.

[Khun Bob]

Bump - any one for comments on the questions above please ?

Someone must have transferred money from the UK to Kasikorn recently...

Thanks in advance

[roietjimmy]

I have not transfered money from UK but have from US. Regarding the "purpose for the transfer", each time I recieve a transfer, the bank calls me and asks "What do you intend the money to be used for?" I simply answer "It is for personal use." This then allows them to tick the personal use box on the form they are required to submit to the govt.

Edited September 21, 2007 by roietjimmy

[mikethevigoman]

I would like to transfer money from the UK to a Kasikorn Bank account and have been exploring options.

From research on this forum - some good advice I have heeded and taken into account are :

* Do transfer in GBP (Pounds Sterling) to the beneficiary account

* Be careful of transfers over $20000 equivilant (not transfers in USd - just the equivilent value - ie at the mo around £10000 or so. This is because a Thai witholding tax of 30% **may** be imposed)

* Find out what the correspondent banks of kasikorn are for the currency/country sending from

* Talk to the sending bank to find out intermediaries they will use

* Find out what the sending banks charges will be

* Find out what the beneficiaries (receiving) bank charges will be

There are also other issues like limits on amount of transfer, the method of making the request and ability to specify what the money is top be used for.

On Kasikorn's side here is what I found :

* To receive a transfer there is a .25% charge - with a minimum charge of 200 baht and a maximum charge of 500 baht

* Kasikorn will use their TT (Telex Transfer) Buy exchange rate for the converion from GBP to THB

* Kasikorn's correspondent banks in the UK for GBP are Lloyds TSB, Bank of America, Barclays, American Express, Standard Chartered

* I was informed by Kasikorn CS that transfers over $20000 would have the 30% witholding charge imposed unless I provide documentation of an actual property purchase.

* To do the SWIFT transfer to a Kasikorn account I need to specify the following information SWIFT code (KASI TH BK) and 13 digit account no, The name of the bank, the name of the Branch, first and last name of the beneficiary

To do the transfer from the UK I have spoken to Nationwide and Lloyds TSB. Nationwide because several TV members have mentioned using their service and Lloyds TSB as they are a correspondent bank of Kasikorn

Heres what I found out about Nationwide :

* Fee is £20

* Nationwide use HSBC as an agent to transfer the money to Thailand

* The £20 fee covers Nationwide and HSBC

* HSBC should not convert the GBP to THB, should not charge to receive or to send the money onto Kasikorn, also should not take excessively long over the transfer

* Transfer form can be submitted in branch or downloaded, completed and posted to a branch/head office in UK

Here I am concerned that I have heard of HSBC charging or doing the transfer to THB at an unfavorable rate or just taking money for some non specified reason. I have seen this on posts here over the past 2/3 years. I am not clear if it is possible to specify a purpose for the money on the transfer form.

And Lloyds TSB

* Confirmed that they are a correspondent bank of Kasikorn's and money sent would go direct

* Charge £20 for transfers below £10000, and £30 for transfers of £10000 and over

* Would take 2/3 days for money to arrive in beneficiary account

* Again not clear if it is possible to specify on the transfer what the purpose of the money is

From the above 2 options, I would tend to want to go with Lloyds TSB for amounts up to £10000, as this would be the same cost as Nationwide and seems the safer (ie not involving a 3rd party) option.

Could anyone comment on actual experience of using Nationwide, Lloyds TSB or another bank to transfer GBP from the UK to a Kasikorn THB account. I'd be particularly interested to know if HSBC have done anything funny and if a Lloyds transfer is as straigh forward as explained to me - not that I think HSBC will introduce complications, but it is an extra layer. Also, when you do a transfer, I would imagine that there would be the opportunity with any organisation to put some comments on the transfer - ie what the money is to be used for.

Thanks in advance...

PS I have just done some more research. At the moment Kasikorn bank are showing a rate of 68.3 for TT Buy

http://www.kasikornbank.com/GlobalHome/EN/..._fx/rate_fx.jsp

Interestingly they have a rate of 68.92375 for TT Sell. So that means there is approx a .6 baht spread - so the mid point is 68.6 approx.

I have just checked the visa (credit card) website and they are quoting 68.63 for transactions submitted today :

http://corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_serv...HB&rate=0.0

So it looks like Kasikorn has a roughly .6 baht spread. I'm not sure of this is typical of Thai banks, but I am surprised at visa giving such a good rate - it is a pity I'm not in Thailand right now as I could do the swipe the Nationwide Flex Account card in the bank and deposit in the savings account trick to get a better rate than kasikorns TT Buy and save over £20 as well. Still I would prefer to transfer when GBP is stronger than I think it will be in a couple of months time. The credit, bank and housing situation in the UK is concerning me and I believe will have further negative effect on GBP in the coming months.

I have to say bob i wasnt aware of any of this and last month had 880.000 and 800.000 sent to me, one lot from the us, one lot from the uk, this was to the thai military, not a murmour, rang up and was told it had arrived and went in and drew 600.00 in cash ( vehicle purchase ) but i wasnt asked what it was for or the source,.

[cheshiremusicman]

I would like to transfer money from the UK to a Kasikorn Bank account and have been exploring options.

I transfered 12,500 pounds sterling from NatWest to my account at the Siam Commercial Bank this week and got exchange rate of 68.3 after conversion when the rate was at 68.5. No problems with the 30%, they never even phone up to ask what the transfer is for. NatWest charge me 25 pounds sterling for 'Urgent trasfer' and the costs at this end are about 10 pounds sterling equivalent. As you said ' always specify the transfer to be in Sterling'. I got rotten 'advice' from my 'estate agent' when we first started to send over the payments and it was not until I saw on his own web site that the transfers should be in sterling that we changed over.

Edited September 21, 2007 by cheshiremusicman

[sumrit]

I've used LloydsTSB several times to transfer larger amounts to Thailand and never had a problem. Just make sure you tell them to send the money in GBP and not in Thai Baht. The last time was in March when I transfered £11,000 for a car purchase. I spoke to my Thai bank (Siam Commercial) first about why I was sending the money the 30% withholding rule and they said they would not withhold any of the money.

[apetley]

I use HSBC to Kasikorn and have always had my money the next working day.

Never had any problems calling HSBC from Thailand and never had any problems receiving the money in Thailand.

[PattayaParent]

I use HSBC to Kasikorn and have always had my money the next working day.

Never had any problems calling HSBC from Thailand and never had any problems receiving the money in Thailand.

I had a shed load of problems transferring money from HSBC Jerssey to Kasikorn Bank (Pattaya Klang Branch) to buy a condo. So much so that I closed the Kasikorn Account (the staff just did not know how to make a TT3 or handle the transactions) and almost closed the HSBC account but in fairness they were just following the new US anti terror paranoia requirements of determining where the funds are going and the intended purpose.

[Khun Bob]

Thanks for all the feedback - interesting to hear the comments on Lloyds TSB and HSBC.

Somewhere on TV there are threads that state some quite nasty events with HSBC, which I why I am reluctant to go with Nationwide who use HSBC as an agent.

Today I tried to find out from Kasikorn what I need to specify on the SWIFT transfer that the purpose of the money is for Condo/Property purchase. Not good - Lesson learned here (and I should of known better) is don't call Kasikorn English customer service outside of working hours. I gave up. However, a couple of days ago got some great service, but during Thai working hours.

So, after a trip to Lloyds TSB the other day and getting a copy of their "International MoneyMover Application" form, followed by a call to their International Payments Support - more has become clearer. On the form there is a an "Additional Payment Information" box. In there I can write the purpose of the transfer and this will be sent through SWIFT as an additional information field to Kasikorn. And, according to Lloyds TSB guy, it is typical banking practice for this info to be stored for some time. Now this is important to me as I would like to get a Foreign Exchange Transfer form or a credit note/advice leter from Kasikorn so that when it comes to buying a condo, I can present the required info to the Land department to get it in my name.

Of course I will have a copy of the form used to send the money to kasikorn in GBP, but I need to get kasikorn to produce the docs I need for the land department (or whoever deals with transfer of condo's on the thai gov side).

I get a better feeling about using Lloyds TSB to Nationwide, plus if USD continues its weakness against GBP, I could send just over $20000 equiv for £9999.99 (£20 Lloyds TSB transfer fee) so I could then get a Foreign Exchange Transfer form and maye not have to pay 30% witholding tax. But I am concerned as all the Kasikorn CS representatives seem to be saying over $20000 then 30%. Maybe, it is in the banks interest to do this ? However, few people on TV are reporting this happen. But, few people are commenting on Kasikorn. Seems to be Bkk Bank or SCB mainly. As I am not in thailand, if Kasikorn want to contact me, it could be a problem. However, I think as has been suggested above, it is a good idea to let Kasikorn know what I am going to do in advance and what the purpose of the transfer is for.

All comments appreciated - particularly if you have transferred from Nationwide ot Lloyds TSB to kasikorn recently.

Got to do it quick as GBP is going down... So they tell me. Wish I knew how to short GBP or USD...

[Lickey]

Does Lloyds charge for ATM use overseas? Nationwide doesnt..

[sumrit]

Does Lloyds charge for ATM use overseas? Nationwide doesnt..

Yes, LloydsTSB does which is why I opened a Ntionwide account on my last trip to the UK. I told them the reason I wanted to open an account was because they offered free banking abroad and had no problems. I've been told though that to get the onshore exchange rate the debit card from Nationwide must be a visa card. If it's not you only get the offshore rate. Not sure if this was true or not but my HSBC debit card is a Maestro card and I only get the offshore rate with that. I explained that to Nationwide and they gave me a visa card anyway.

[Khun Bob]

So, any comments/experience/further advice from anyone who has used lloyds or nationwide to transfer GBP to a kasikorn bank account recently - please, review some of the posts above - thanks

Edited September 22, 2007 by Khun Bob

[Lickey]

I havent made a big transfer recently, but ive always used NW and their swift transfer with just the 20 quid charge, I do online banking with NW and tranfer money from savings to Flex acc with a few clicks, and its avaiable amost imediatly at an ATM, no charge for this, NW online history goes back 18 months, so no having to save reciepts from atm or shops ect, just print them off,

With the latest retirement visa rule [in my case] show you have 800.000bht in a thai bank for 3 months before you apply for a new retirement visa, the money must be seen to come from outside Thai, my acc shew the movement of large sums but no destination, I e-mailed NW for proof of this, and in 5 days got a land letter with all the details as to the deposits in Kasikorn bank, A brilliant service by a brilliant bank,

Works for me, Cheers, Lickey..

[TBWG]

Bump - any one for comments on the questions above please ?

Someone must have transferred money from the UK to Kasikorn recently...

Thanks in advance

Hi Khun Bob

I have recently 12/09 transferred £20k to Thailand from Natwest bank in the UK to Kasikorn Bank, Bangkok.

I clearly stated on the transfer form Pounds Sterling to be transferred and in the special instructions section of the form wrote....The £ transfer should only be converted to Thai Baht by the correspondent bank or receiving bank using the onshore rate.

Transfer cleared in a couple of days with no 30% witholding tax. I stated on the form that the monies were for a car purchase don't know if that had input.

Natwest charged £20 for service.

TBWG

PS Normally I just use my Nationwide Flexaccount via the ATM as I have found this is the most economical option.

[TBWG]

I havent made a big transfer recently, but ive always used NW and their swift transfer with just the 20 quid charge, I do online banking with NW and tranfer money from savings to Flex acc with a few clicks, and its avaiable amost imediatly at an ATM, no charge for this, NW online history goes back 18 months, so no having to save reciepts from atm or shops ect, just print them off,

With the latest retirement visa rule [in my case] show you have 800.000bht in a thai bank for 3 months before you apply for a new retirement visa, the money must be seen to come from outside Thai, my acc shew the movement of large sums but no destination, I e-mailed NW for proof of this, and in 5 days got a land letter with all the details as to the deposits in Kasikorn bank, A brilliant service by a brilliant bank,

Works for me, Cheers, Lickey..

Hi Lickey

When you say it is available almost immediately do you mean any amount or up to the £300 daily limit?

TBWG

[Lickey]

Hi TWGB, just to clarify, yes its the daily limit on a NW visa/debit card, in my case, 200quid or the Bht equiv, on other posts, posters have said that they can go in a Thai bank and ask for more, as yet, i havent tried this, and by ATM, it really is a 24 hour rule, ive withdrew at one ATM and gone to another, it will not work for 24 hours,

Hope this helps, Lickey,

[TBWG]

Hi TWGB, just to clarify, yes its the daily limit on a NW visa/debit card, in my case, 200quid or the Bht equiv, on other posts, posters have said that they can go in a Thai bank and ask for more, as yet, i havent tried this, and by ATM, it really is a 24 hour rule, ive withdrew at one ATM and gone to another, it will not work for 24 hours,

Hope this helps, Lickey,

Hi Lickey

See attachment from Nationwide blurb re flexaccount ATM daily withdrawal amount.

TBWG

[prakhonchai nick]

I used to use Barclays for transfers in £ sterling to Kasikorn Thai. Their fee was £20 for normal transfers and £35 for priority. Basically if you requested a transfer before 2pm UK time and paid £35, the money would be transferred same day, and would ALWAYS be in Kasikorn the following morning around 11am.. Kasikorn charged a 0,25% commission (max 500) + a 0.1% charge for something else, + a 20bt fee for transferring the money from their HO in Bangkok to your account.

I believe the fees are still the same, but now I use Nationwide Flex account -maximum withdrawal £300 a day (appx 20,000bt)

As you say the rate is always better than the Kasikorn telex transfer rate, by around 20/30 stang

With wild fluctuations of the baht, if using a telex transfer, it has mostly proved beneficial to pay the £35 priority servce and get the money the next day. The standard service for £20 would take 3 days (request the money on Monday in the UK and receive it on Thursday)

[intumult]

Bump - any one for comments on the questions above please ?

Someone must have transferred money from the UK to Kasikorn recently...

Thanks in advance

Transferred £3,000 from Barclays to K Bank about 1 month ago using phone banking facility with Barclays Bank.

I got 68.9 Baht to the £. Money was sent as £ sterling to K Bank.

No hiccups at all on the transfer. Major prob was getting through to Barclays on the phone, so much so that they gave the SWIFT transfer for free - bless 'em. Usually total cost of transfer is £35 including both banks fees.

Previously I got a little over 70 Baht to the £. But always had a good rate on SWIFT.

As an aside - using Visa card I often get higher rate than quoted on the day at K Bank itself (if I were to change cash, but pay for privelege of using Visa card).

[Mobi]

I have been transferring funds from Barclays and Abbey National to Kasikorn for years - never any problems. always good rates.

Usually in my account within 48 hours for 20 quid a pop.

Last week I went into my K branch at Naklua and enquired about the 30% withholding. They advised that there would be no withholding for amounts over 20k US Dlrs, but I would have to complete their usual Bank of Thailand form stating the purpose of the transfer (i.e. living expenses). This is nothing new, as I have been doing it for years for large transfers.

I have recently withdrawn cash at ATM's using my Abbey Visa card. I will see what rates I get.

[brewsterbudgen]

I have just transferred GBP 62,000 from Lloyds-TSB to The Bangkok Bank to buy a condominium. The money was transferred using the International Moneymover SWIFT form. I stipulated that the transfer should be in pounds sterling but when I went to my Thai bank today to get the Foreign Exchange Transaction letter, they told me the money had been received by them in Thai baht.

Although they were still able to issue me with the FET letter, the receipt I received for the transfer did not show the exchange rate. It just showed the total amount received in baht. I received 3,914,742 baht, less the Bangkok Bank's 500 baht fee. On my calculation this represents an exchange rate of about 64 baht to the pound which seems very low. I was expecting about 4 million baht as a minimum.

How is the exchange rate determined and by whom? How can I find out the rate that was applied? Presumably I have to query this with Lloyds-TSB?

[wineman]

My HSBC branch in the UK has a Diary Note to transfer a certain amount of UK £'s to my Kasikornbank branch here in Pattaya on the same date (weekend's allowing) every month. I have used this method for 14 months now, and have never had a problem.

On 21st September last, Kasikorn exchanged that transfer at 68.05275 TBT.

HSBC charged £21.00

Kasikornbank charged 200.00 TBT Inward Commission; 70.00 TBT Domestic Fee Transfer, 20.00 TBT Lease Line Charges.

HSBC transferred the money on 21st September and it was in my Kasikornbank account on the same date.

All very simple and straightforward.

This is not really relevant I know, but just as a point of interest, when I bought my property here in September 2005 I got an exchange rate of 74.00 TBT

Edited September 25, 2007 by chelseatops

[tracer]

Bump - any one for comments on the questions above please ?

Someone must have transferred money from the UK to Kasikorn recently...

Thanks in advance

Kasikorn has a bank in Londo and I used to drop of cash or checks off with them to send to Thai Bank (also Kasikorn)

Used to be cheap but last time I tried it was 20 years ago as one time they managed to mislay about 900000 baht for 3 months....

[brewsterbudgen]

I have just transferred GBP 62,000 from Lloyds-TSB to The Bangkok Bank to buy a condominium. The money was transferred using the International Moneymover SWIFT form. I stipulated that the transfer should be in pounds sterling but when I went to my Thai bank today to get the Foreign Exchange Transaction letter, they told me the money had been received by them in Thai baht.

Although they were still able to issue me with the FET letter, the receipt I received for the transfer did not show the exchange rate. It just showed the total amount received in baht. I received 3,914,742 baht, less the Bangkok Bank's 500 baht fee. On my calculation this represents an exchange rate of about 64 baht to the pound which seems very low. I was expecting about 4 million baht as a minimum.

How is the exchange rate determined and by whom? How can I find out the rate that was applied? Presumably I have to query this with Lloyds-TSB?

As an update on the above...

I have just transferred 62,000 GBP from my Lloyds-TSB account to my Bangkok Bank account to buy a condominium. Unfortunately I had not read this thread before transferring the money and the money was transferred in Thai baht and not sterling.

I have received a fax of the Lloyds-TSB International Moneymover form used for the transfer.

My mother has authority for my UK bank account and she completed the form with my (emailed) instructions and advice from Lloyds-TSB. I emphasised that the transaction should be made in sterling and not Thai baht. However, the "currency equivalent" box was ticked and although the amount was shown in GBP (62,000), "Thai baht" was written in the currency name box. Strangely, although the "sterling" box was not completed, the bank have typed "STERLING" in the currency box in the Sterling section.

Lloyds also print a warning on the form, next to the Sterling section, which reads:

"Sending sterling may result in delays and additional charges". This may have been the reason why my mother/the bank thought they were doing me a favour by transferring the currency equivalent instead.

The mistake is therefore mine (I can hardly blame my 78 year old mother!) although I am disappointed (to say the least) that Lloyds-TSB were not aware of the ramifications of ticking the wrong box.

Do I have any recourse? I have emailed Sunbeltasia (I am buying my condominium through them) but I fear there is not much that they can do. Am I right?

I will also write to Lloyds-TSB as I do feel they should have been aware of the procedures for transferring large sums to Thailand (having said that, the form was completed at the, very small, Sherborne branch, although it was sent from Lloyds-TSB main branch).

It would seem that I have lost in the region of 300,000 baht due to the wrong box being ticked! I am also kicking myself as I only read the pinned advice on this subject after making the transfer (it's pinned in the business/financial forum rather than the property forum so I had overlooked it - maybe it can also be pinned in the property forum?).

I also now have a problem with the Foreign Exchange Transaction certificate, as the money was received in Thai baht. The Bangkok Bank have provided me with a letter/receipt showing the money is for a condominium purchase and Sunbeltasia have told me this is sufficient for the Land Department. However, when I come to sell the condo and take the proceeds out of Thailand, will the lack of a FET certificate cost me?

I haven't really come to terms with the fact that I have lost in the region of 300,000 baht but it's slowly sinking in!

Any advice would be most gratefully received.

Thanks.

[Khun Bob]

Thanks for all the good info.

It is good to hear that transfers with Barclays and LloydsTSB generally go quickly - I guess this is because they are correspondent banks of Kasikorn.

The poster who mentioned Kasikorn in London 20 years ago (I guess they were Thai Farmers then) - I searched and cant find anything on that. The kasikorn Customer Service person I spoke to was very good and knew her stuff - best watch the Thai times you call though - only in working hours !

Nationwide Visa Debit Card on a Flex account is the way to go for ATM or withdraw in branch and deposit into account. Search the forum for experience of the swipe in branch and deposit in account trick - I got more info from 1 or 2 people on here and there are a few threads on this. Also Topfield wrote about this. If anyone has a Nationwide account and is in Thailand, I would say this is the way to go as you get a very good rate and there is no sending fee, however, I dont know if the Thai bank will charge to receive. Even so it should be a small amount. Plus, it has been reported that the bank can tell you what exchange rate will be.

An alternative to the Nationwide Visa Debit card is the Post Office master card with a positive balance. No one has reported using this in a Thai ATM and if indeed there were no charges - but when I did my research on this last year I was advised that this would work fee free. **But** the account must be in credit - ie there is a positive balance - they have your money - normally on a credit card you owe the org money but by overpaying you are in credit with the org. I hope you get this. There is an Australian credit card that this works with as well.

brewsterbudgen - sorry to hear about what happened - I saw that warning too and I believe that the real reason is that the Lloyds TSB can make more money by doing the conversion locally. When I spoke to Lloyds TSB international payments help desk in London they were not aware of the dual (onshore/offshore) rate of conversion in Thailand. Suggest it may be an idea to make a thread on here - but I would suggest the UK website moneysavingexpert as a way to get good free advice for this. I guess your already doing this, but gather as much information about the event as possible, names, times, places. If the LTSB person read your instructions and advised against them - that could be something to pursue with LTSB.

Well, I think I am going to go with LTSB and transfer below $20k, just to be on the safe side as I am not in Thailand. I still cinge every day at getting my forex reports. Interesting that other people confirm that Kasikorn's TT Buy rate is 30 satang below the visa rate, which I guess is close to interbank. From the kasikorn website I can see the TT Buy and Sell rates and just take the midpoint. The problem I have is finding a good source for THB interbank at the onshore rate. Still I guess I could just compare a handful of rates published on some of the bigger Thai banks websites.

[Mobi]

On Tuesday afternoon I called Abbey International and arranged a transfer of 15,000 pounds to my account at Kasikorn Thai in Thailand. It was a 'non urgent' transfer and cost 20 pounds.

Yesterday (Wednesday), K Bank head office called me and said they had received my transfer and would be crediting the funds to my account, and was I happy with the rate of 68.44? I confirmed that would be fine (it was their posted buying rate on their internet site) and I asked if they needed me to complete any forms. They advised this was not necessary as I had marked the transfer as for "living expenses."

I have been checking the rates that were used for 2 recent withdrawals using my Abbey debit card from ATM's in Thailand. In each case the rate charged was approx 1 Baht below the K Bank buying rate on that day. That meant that a withdrawal of 20,000 Baht cost me about 5 pounds more than if had I arranged a bank transfer. So for me it's not a good way to access my money, but for smallish amounts/ emergencies, 5 quid won't break the bank.

[willi2006]

If transfering more than about 5000 GBP (7500 €) have look at http://www.moneycorp.com/. See also this thread More On Nationwide Debit Card.

Edited September 28, 2007 by willi2006

[Khun Bob]

A nationwide visa debit gives you a better rate than kasikorns TT buy rate by approx 3 satang to the 1 GBP. As the thread willi2006 has highlighted discusses taking large amounts out by using the visa debit in bank - this gives you a good rate and little or no transfer fees (none from the UK side and it is not reported to be any from the thai side in the case of SCB in Chiang Mai)

If any body else has experience of using the nationwise visa debit card like this for large transfers, please do share, for the benefit of all.

On Tuesday afternoon I called Abbey International and arranged a transfer of 15,000 pounds to my account at Kasikorn Thai in Thailand. It was a 'non urgent' transfer and cost 20 pounds.

Yesterday (Wednesday), K Bank head office called me and said they had received my transfer and would be crediting the funds to my account, and was I happy with the rate of 68.44? I confirmed that would be fine (it was their posted buying rate on their internet site) and I asked if they needed me to complete any forms. They advised this was not necessary as I had marked the transfer as for "living expenses."

I have been checking the rates that were used for 2 recent withdrawals using my Abbey debit card from ATM's in Thailand. In each case the rate charged was approx 1 Baht below the K Bank buying rate on that day. That meant that a withdrawal of 20,000 Baht cost me about 5 pounds more than if had I arranged a bank transfer. So for me it's not a good way to access my money, but for smallish amounts/ emergencies, 5 quid won't break the bank.

[DocTom]

Bump - any one for comments on the questions above please ?

Someone must have transferred money from the UK to Kasikorn recently...

Thanks in advance

For interest, I have been transfering each month a sum from HSBC to the BKK Bank. The exchange was done by HSBC. I have discovered that their rates recently have been very poor, so I am looking for an alternative. BKK Bank shows good rates, but their local branch here in northern Thailand cannot accept GBP; they require me to open an acct with their BKK branch, which is inconvenient. The same applies to SCB. So the Kasikorn option seems interesting. They do seem to have a number of (relatively) small fees, which I think are not imposed by the BKK Bank. Does anyone have any knowledge or recommendations about other banks?

[charlesfrith]

Hello I wish to transfer money to Kasikorn Bank from the UK and would like to call my branch tomorrow to get the correct details. I guess I need the Swift Code but is there anything else I will need to ensure a smooth transfer?

Many thanks

CF