Bangkok Bank's 'bualuang' Service To Transfer Us$

[ding]

My Thai wife and I have a joint Bangkok Bank acoount in Thailand and I want to transfer funds from my US bank into our account in Thailand. Is Bangkok Bank's Bualuang program set up to do that? Or is there a way to use the New York branch to avoid fees, US bank to US branch of Bangkok Bank?

-or-

Any new tips on a low fees way to do this? Things change so fast!

[jazzbo]

I have recently used the New York City Office of Bangkok Bank for wire transfers. I used it for transferring funds into my Bangkok Bank account from my OTHER USA bank while in the USA and so that other persons' banks could wire funds into my account.

Bangkok Bank is the ONLY Thai bank with a (domestic) FED routing number -- with any other bank the routing must be by international SWIFT code.

The BKK Bank Fed routing Number is: 026008691

Exactly how to originate and for what fees depends on YOUR bank in the USA. With my bank, it certinly is not free. The simplest way for any bank is to set up a recurring transfer -- I have read here on TV of guys using their online accounts from THEIR USA banks for this function and one-time transfers, but my bank, as of now, will only provide the recurring function once set-up from the USA.

Also, Bangkok Bank cannot accept third party checks i.e. 'bill pay' programs from a USA account.

My experience. Yours and others may vary.

[wallyc]

This is my experience:

Opened a Bangkok Bank account. Have a Bank of America account. Transfered a few hundred US dollars (have done this 3 times). BofA to the BBK bank in NYC using the BBK NYC routing number and my BBK Thailand account number. Transfer was made within 4 business days. Cost $3US charged by BofA and 500 baht charged by BBK Thailand. About 1/2 the SWIFT charges - my estimate ... Will be a better deal, either way, when I send larger amounts next year - when I move to Thailand.

Hope this helps,

wallyc

[richard10365]

There is no getting around the "hefty" $5 fee that Bangkok Bank NY charges to transfer money to Bangkok Bank here in Thailand. I have my penison check sent monthly to Bangkok Bank here in Chiang Mai (200 baht fee). They are very reliable.

[Upcountry]

I do the same thing. I closed my BoA account a couple of years ago because they were disabling my transfers to BB's NY routing number. I opened a USAA account, and have had no problems since.

I think BB's fee depends on the amount you transfer, but I don't remember how that works now.

Nevertheless, it is the least expensive way to do it, unless you plan to transfer a huge amount. I just wish the daggone dollar bath ratio wouldn't stop killing me.

UC

[thaihome]

BofA has also prevented me from using the ACH transfer function to Bangkok Bank, despite the validation transfers being done.

First Internet also stopped them after making the validation transfers and 2 regular transfers.

In both cases they used the excuse that even though BB has a NYC branch and Fed number, the account is outside the US which violated the terms of service with their ACH transfer provider. (I suspect that the ACH provider is run by a woman whose husband ran off to Thailand).

TH

[ding]

In both cases they used the excuse that even though BB has a NYC branch and Fed number, the account is outside the US which violated the terms of service with their ACH transfer provider. (I suspect that the ACH provider is run by a woman whose husband ran off to Thailand).

TH

A bitter gal ONLY if there was a rock solid prenupt in place... and THEN he ran off.

Does ACH need to be done this way?

1 -An ACH entry starts with a Receiver (my BKK Bank) authorizing an Originator (my US bank) to issue an ACH debit or credit to an account. An Originator can be a person, the gas company, your local cable company, or your employer. Depending on the ACH transaction, the Originator must receive written (ARC, POP, PPD), verbal (TEL), or electronic (WEB) authorization from the Receiver.

2 -Once authorization is received, the Originator creates an ACH entry to be given to a Payment Processor like NCMS.

3 -The Payment Processor then submits the data to an Originating Depository Financial Institution (ODFI), who can be any financial institution that does ACH origination.

4 -This ACH entry is then sent to an ACH Operator (usually the FED).

5 -Then it is passed on to the Receiving Depository Financial Institution (RDFI), where the Receiver's account is issued either a credit

I know I don't qualify for USAA Bank.

[thaihome]

I am truly impressed with your grasp of the acronyms of the electronic banking world.

All I know is that from my BofA account, I can “push” money to an account in another bank from my BofA account. In order to do this, BofA initially makes 2 small deposits the amounts of which I need to enter into a transfer validation screen from my BofA online banking screen. Once that is done, I am then free to make “push” deposits to that account, within the dollar amount limits. BoA makes a small charge for each transfer for this privilege.

I can also “pull” money into my BofA account from another bank account. There is no setup validation process for this and BofA does not charge a fee for incoming money.

I have used BofA as an example here, but my other 2 banks follow the same process. One of them has identical screens to BofA, so I assume they both have subcontracted this service to the same third party vendor.

How this fits into your description of the ACH process I have no idea, all know is from my perspective this is how it works. I also have the nearly identical e-mails from both banks stating that ACH transfers to an overseas account (even though the bank has a FED number) are not allowed by their “ACH Provider”