Transfer us retirement $ to thai bank online

[John13]

I live in the US.  I am planning to retire in Thailand soon.  The company I work for will direct deposit my retirement funds to any American bank.  I have an account at the Thai Farmer's Bank in Thailand.  I am looking for an American Bank, that I could "on-line" transfer money to my Thai bank.  Otherwise I would be stuck using my ATM card, or making wire transfers while I am in America.

[Roger13]

Hi John13,

Please see the replies to your other post under:

"Baht bank account

Can you take the money back out of the c"

initiated by Pattaya Steve

Roger

[John13]

thanks for your help guys, i got married in ubon last month and that paperwork was a hassle, trying to adopt her son next.  the INS is a pain.

[mesquite]

John,

I am going through this process right now in Thailand.  

I would suggest you contact your bank in Thailand and ask them for a list of "correspondant" or "affiliated" banks in the United States.  Open an account at one of those US banks and use it to transfer the money to Thailand.

One correspondant bank that is used by Krung Thai, Bangkok Bank and Bank of Asia is J P Morgan Chase bank in New York. You can open an account over the internet regardless of what state in the US you live in.

An Ozzie buddy of mine here in LOS sent money from a minor bank in Australia to a bank in Thailand and they used Citibank as an agent.  It took 3 weeks and the fees were high.  For the next transfer, he  opened an account in an Australian correspandant bank and the transfer took 2 days!

Hope this helps.

[mesquite]

John,

One other point, I don't think you will be able to find a bank that will do online transfers, but you can set it up so that you can call or fax the US bank and they will wire it to your Thai bank.

[LRimmler]

One guy on another forum uses NetBank.  $40 for an international transfer.  Thailand uses SWIFT codes in place of route codes so you might need them for both banks in the transfer.

[lopburi3]

FYI:  Thai Farmers Bank is no longer named that in English:

The General Meeting of Shareholders of the Thai Farmers Bank, No.91, on 3 April 2003, resolved to change the bank's English name from "Thai Farmers Bank" to "KASIKORNBANK."

[earlthepearl]

thai farmers bank has a branch office in los angeles, ca.

[Whiplash]

Hi there,

I can not help you on which American bank to use for online transfers, but when you find one, check with the Thai bank on how much thay will charge you for the transfer..

I am from Sweden and EVERY bank have online transfer services, I transfer 35000 Bht every month to Bank Of Asia about 70 % of my medical pension. On that amount the Thai bank takes only 1000 Bht charge handled thru my Swedish bank.

I tranfered about 250000 Bht recently because I'm extending my current visa to a 1 year marriage-visa, and the bank took 5%

Something I had no idea of until I checked my balance..  

But if you are thinking of transfering funds required for retirement visa ie. 800k Bht, the Thai bank will take out a minimum of 5%..  But I am not surpriced if it rises to 10% on that kind of amount..  

The Thai way of making a fast buck i guess..  

I don't know on which amount the banks 'commision' changes.. but its well worth checking out..

I'm sorry I did'nt before I made the transfer..  

I'll stick to smaller transfers in the future.

I have never used Western Union so I don't know what charges are involved when using them.

[Khun Larry]

I tranfered about 250000 Bht recently because I'm extending my current visa to a 1 year marriage-visa, and the bank took 5%

Something I had no idea of until I checked my balance..  

But if you are thinking of transfering funds required for retirement visa ie. 800k Bht, the Thai bank will take out a minimum of 5%..  But I am not surpriced if it rises to 10% on that kind of amount..  

The Thai way of making a fast buck i guess..  

I don't know on which amount the banks 'commision' changes.. but its well worth checking out..

I'm sorry I did'nt before I made the transfer..  

I'll stick to smaller transfers in the future.

I have never used Western Union so I don't know what charges are involved when using them.

I have transferred small amounts of money, about $1,000, several times from US to BKK. The US bank charged $40 for the wire transfer. I do not recall any 5% fee on the Thai end. Anyone have any comment about charges on transfers from US to LOS?

Also. I think Bank of America, and CITI Bank (Shitty Bank)  has a branch in BKK. Can anyone confirm? Can US deposits be accessed from BoA or CITI BKK?

[Whiplash]

I think when it comes to large amounts of money (to the average Thai) maybe transfers from 100k there is a 5% charge added, but if it is raised to 10% at 800k..

Maybe some kind of money laundering clearence sub-charge..

???

[Thaiquila]

???

Even FIVE percent of the amount of transferred money sounds really outrageous. TEN percent is unspeakable.

Is this for real?

For example,

you initially wire 1 million baht.

Thai "commission" would be 50K baht.

And if you used that money to live on every year, you would need to wire in a similar amount EVERY YEAR.

More "commissions."

I can understand a small set service charge from the sending and receiving bank, but 5 or 10 percent of the total amount???

So, I am wondering if there is a LEGAL way around this financial rape. For example, are there banks that simply DO NOT do this? If not, any other ideas?

The only thing I can think of is to transfer the money once and let it sit there for as long as you are in Thailand, so you only have to pay this "commission" one time.

[Whiplash]

Yep they took 5% from my transfer alright..

I am recieving a document from the bank at the beginning of next week that specifies all the details and costs of the transfer.

I will make a new post here about the details, of what went where or to who.

And, yes it's outrageous.. I bet if you wanted to transfer it back to your home country if you are leaving Thailand sometime in the future, there will be a similar charge for that transfer as well.. Being that the farang seems to be the ever giving milkcow to the Thai government.

 

But I'm letting it sit in the bank, living off my pension that I will withdraw from my VISA card, or by making smaller transfers at the 1k baht charge.

[lopburi3]

Over the last two years the fee charged by Bangkok Bank, for US funds, wire transfer $5 at the New York office, (under 10,000 US dollars) and about .0025% (1/4 of 1 percent) at Bangkok.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Bank of America is in Wireless Road Bangkok. Citibank has offices in Bangkok but I don't have the address

[zen4dummies]

"I think when it comes to large amounts of money (to the average Thai) maybe transfers from 100k there is a 5% charge added, but if it is raised to 10% at 800k..

Maybe some kind of money laundering clearence sub-charge.."

I wire transferred US$20,970 (@42.85tb=898,774baht) into my Thai Farmers account (Kasikornbank) in March.  My American account, Amex charged me about $24 for transfer and TFB charged me 500 baht.  898,274 baht was credited into my savings account.  The above figures came from the transfer document and my bank book.  The transfer was made to the TFB account in Los Angeles.  

Would the outrageous charges (5 or 10%) come from the type of transfer?  Those charges are outrageous.  

       zen

[JonnieB]

i have lived in los for 4 years now.  before i expatted, i too was looking for a good usa bank to handle my finances AND had good internet banking facilities.  at the time, internet banking was just getting off the ground so to speak.

well, at the time, citibank's internet banking was one of the most highly rated ones around (smart money magazine reader's survey) and as it was my bank of choice because of its international presence (offices around the world and in most of the major cities of asia/se asia) i went with them.  i consolidated all my banking and brokerage accounts with them and linked it all together with my citi credit cards and ATM card.

i can say i have been very happy with citi.  through the internet at cit's site, i can do all routine and not so routine banking transactions.  pay bills, credit card, money transfers, even send personal checks to anyone/business in the States if i have too.

as to you personal question, i authorized domestic and international wire transfers before i left the states.  now, i also have a bangkok bank savings account.  all i have to do to transfer money from my us based citi account to my bangkok bank account is a few clicks at the citi's banking site.  the fee is only $20 regardles of the amount of DOLLARS transfered.  Bangkok Bank appears to give me whatever their dollar exchange rate is on the day they receive the money (usually 2-3 days later) and i don't see any other fees/charges at their end.  it's just like i went to their money exchange booth with the dollars in hand and exchanged them and then put them into my account.

i think where some people are talking about these 5-10% charges or fees is when they are BUYING currencies and not just transfering money.  the distinction is suttle but important.  at citi's site, i can also buy/exchange currency.  i.e., buy thai bahts.  if i do this FIRST and then transfer the bahts i have bought to my bangkok bank account, the conversion rate on the buy is so bad that it eats up about 5-7% of the amount i am transfering.  BUT if i just wire transfer the dollars directly to bangkok bank...just the $20 fee.

[caughtintheact]

Also. I think Bank of America, and CITI Bank  has a branch in BKK. Can anyone confirm? Can US deposits be accessed from BoA or CITI BKK?

Citibank's HQ are on Sathorn Road.  I doubt if you want to use Bank America here, as they are not into retail banking.  I recommend Kasikorn Bank (Thai Farmers).  I've done a transfer recently from USAA Federal Savings.  It took about 5 days, the USAA fee was $35, and Kasisorn charged only a tuny fee (it came to about 300 baht).  

Another way is to use USA credit cards in an ATM.  Then put the money in your Thai account.  That's seems to be OK with Immigration as long as you show that you put in the required amount monthly.  I've been doing it this way for many years.

[JonnieB]

yes, citi's office is on sathorn about a block down from convent road (towards the river).  citi's thai and usa operations are separate...the accounts are not linked in that they can access usa accounts and do transactions and such but the ATMs are the same and of course are all linked.

what they can do is if you have a problem or question related to you citi accounts, they can patch you into citi's usa customer service network for free, i.e., they make the call and hand you the phone.

bank america used to have an office next to the hilton on wireless but i think they may have closed this office or like mentioned above, just do institutional banking now.

doing you money transfers with credit cards works but is rather a cumbersome and expensive way to do it.  the exchange rate is usually not to good and/or the cash advance fees rather high.

why not just do a wire transfer?  simple and easy.  citi is even cheaper at $20 per wire and it takes only 2-3 days.