Australian Aged Pension

[4MyEgo]

15 hours ago, David Walden said:

Yes I just noticed that but my information is current.  It's unbelievable how much fear and miss information is on this site about  Aussie aged pensions overseas which is completely wrong.  But I thank you, I made a few replies and then noticed there are another 97 pages 

                                                        

It's all good, happy reading over the next 6 months, if you dare 555

[4MyEgo]

3 hours ago, David Walden said:

Centrlink payment adjustments are linked to the CPI and are reviewed each March and September.  

 

For anyone interested I have a Citibank Debit Card and Credit card,  never use the credit card.   In 10 years it has cost me nothing, you can use at any ATM anywhere in the world free of fees.  If your ATM docket shows a fee which it will likely Bt220 in Thailand this is credited back to you account.  You can transfer large amount of money anywhere free of charge by Citibank to any bank world wide.  In Aus you must have a TFN to get one you no longer have to advise them of each country change of address it works without advising Citibank now.   Here is a link    https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/banking/everyday_banking/citibank_plus.htm

No doubt they would probably stick it to you on the exchange rate, being less than you would get if you transferred the money with another organisation, just saying, BahtSmart is @ 25.87 on $10,000 as at the time of this post, i.e. 10.50am Thai time, not sure what the others are offering ?

 

[BEVUP]

37 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Do they charge you a fee, and is the rate competitive, the reason I ask is I use BahtSmart, they have an ANZ account in Australia that you deposit your funds into from your Australian account and then they transfer it to Thailand and at a good rate, usually with 24 hours.

May depend on account about a fee

But the going fee is $18 for any amount - Better then some of other overcharges 

& always send in Aud which will get you a good rate or other wise the bank will give you what they think per $ of the Bht, which maybe 3 bht less

[giddyup]

40 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Do they charge you a fee, and is the rate competitive, the reason I ask is I use BahtSmart, they have an ANZ account in Australia that you deposit your funds into from your Australian account and then they transfer it to Thailand and at a good rate, usually with 24 hours.

I always make the transfer in Aussie dollars, otherwise the ANZ will give a poor exchange rate on the baht. It costs me A$18 for the A$10,000 online transfer, but as I only do it once a year or so I can wear that. I see someone has beaten me with the same info.

[David Walden]

17 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

One thing to remember, if your money goes missing in a Thai bank account, they won't reimburse you, so I have read, whereas funds in Australia are guaranteed by the government in Australia for 3 years, and up to $250,000.

 

A safe in Thailand would probably be a better option ?

Yes that is the main reason I don't want to put money in a Thai bank.  It reinforces that feeling you get when you look at the mostly Thai bank financed never occupied condos for sale in Thailand.  Thousands upon thousands.  Just in and about Hue Hin and Cha-am there are thousands and thousand alone, many 3 and 4 years old all over priced .  Like Bt 3.5 million for 35 sq/m lots and lots and lots, and people are building more whilst existing owners are going broke.  If Thailand relaxed just a bit its foreign ownership requirement for property this problem would largely go away and could bring thousands of westerners to live long term in Thailand.... TIT.

[giddyup]

7 minutes ago, David Walden said:

Yes that is the main reason I don't want to put money in a Thai bank.  It reinforces that feeling you get when you look at the mostly Thai bank financed never occupied condos for sale in Thailand.  Thousands upon thousands.  Just in and about Hue Hin and Cha-am there are thousands and thousand alone, many 3 and 4 years old all over priced .  Like Bt 3.5 million for 35 sq/m lots and lots and lots, and people are building more whilst existing owners are going broke.  If Thailand relaxed just a bit its foreign ownership requirement for property this problem would largely go away and could bring thousands of westerners to live long term in Thailand.... TIT.

When was the last time you heard of a run on a Thai bank, or one going bust? I have over $60,000 in a Thai bank and have absolutely no worries about it, but you can go through life waiting for the sky to fall. Once again you are wanting Thailand to act as you think it should with all the "if only's". If land was available for foreign ownership the country would end up being sold from under their feet. There are already plenty of foreigners living here who own condos. I bought a house which has to be in my partner's name, but I have a 30 year lease, which will more than see me out.

[4MyEgo]

9 minutes ago, BEVUP said:

May depend on account about a fee

But the going fee is $18 for any amount - Better then some of other overcharges 

& always send in Aud which will get you a good rate or other wise the bank will give you what they think per $ of the Bht, which maybe 3 bht less

Fark that, BahtSmart has a sale, the higher the amount you send, the higher the amount they give you, no fee and the amount your are quoted at the time stays the same when you send it, i.e. if you were quoted 26.1250 baht, that is what you will get.

[Nemises]

no need to stash the cash in the safe, if this is still around by the time I apply for the OAP.

Yes...but you will have declare your Thai bank account to Centrelink when applying for the OAP.

If in safe, you can "forget" to declare it if it takes you over the assets test threshold.

[David Walden]

9 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

No doubt they would probably stick it to you on the exchange rate, being less than you would get if you transferred the money with another organisation, just saying, BahtSmart is @ 25.87 on $10,000 as at the time of this post, i.e. 10.50am Thai time, not sure what the others are offering ?

 

Well would you believe with my Citibank Debit Card, me being pedantic, I calculate the exchange rate always after I draw money.  It  has been as good as the best available and sometimes better exchange rate.   ANZ on transferring money is dreadful.  If I use ANZ it cost $5 for the transaction, 3% of the amount. plus the Bt220 fee from the Thai bank.  I usually take Bt10,000 at a time ANZ cost about Bt700 for this transaction which is 7% (about $25), Citibank cost nothing not a cracker.

[4MyEgo]

11 minutes ago, giddyup said:

I always make the transfer in Aussie dollars, otherwise the ANZ will give a poor exchange rate on the baht. It costs me A$18 for the A$10,000 online transfer, but as I only do it once a year or so I can wear that. I see someone has beaten me with the same info.

Sending it in AUS sounds good, never done that, I just wait for the rate to go up, as I have enough here to survive for a year, but when the rate is up, I use it as a top up and got 26.1250 the other day which I am happy with as I am out in the sticks, suffice to say a two hour return trip to get AUS exchanged isn't my cup of tea. The last time I exchanged I think was in March for 26.18 baht, or 26.22 baht, can't remember, but has to have a 26 in front of it for me, otherwise I will sit and start using the wife's money if I am low. 

[giddyup]

Just now, 4MyEgo said:

Sending it in AUS sounds good, never done that, I just wait for the rate to go up, as I have enough here to survive for a year, but when the rate is up, I use it as a top up and got 26.1250 the other day which I am happy with as I am out in the sticks, suffice to say a two hour return trip to get AUS exchanged isn't my cup of tea. The last time I exchanged I think was in March for 26.18 baht, or 26.22 baht, can't remember, but has to have a 26 in front of it for me, otherwise I will sit and start using the wife's money if I am low. 

The money is transferred from Australia to my bank in Thailand in Aussie dollars, but it's converted to baht by my Thai bank. I always check the current exchange rate before making the transfer.

[4MyEgo]

4 minutes ago, Gregster said:

 

Yes...but you will have declare your Thai bank account to Centrelink when applying for the OAP.

If in safe, you can "forget" to declare it if it takes you over the assets test threshold.

 

The funds would be in the wife's account, X wife as far as Mr CentreLink is concerned when the time comes, i.e. would have applied for a divorce, and been divorced for two years before applying for the OAP.

 

Question from Mr CentreLink might be on the lines of; where did the money go, well Mr CentreLink, back then, to build a house for the kid/s, she has kept the lot, as I don't have any rights to own land in Thailand, my loss Mr CentreLink, we are divorced now, have been for 2 years, she duped me for another bloke, I had to come back, been here for 2 years, and coincidentally I am able to get my OAP to help me survive here in Australia.

[4MyEgo]

5 minutes ago, giddyup said:

The money is transferred from Australia to my bank in Thailand in Aussie dollars, but it's converted to baht by my Thai bank. I always check the current exchange rate before making the transfer.

If it works for you, then all and good, I just don't like the sound of $18 and then having to wait to know what the rate is going to be, as opposed to locking it in and paying zero $'s at either end, because it enters my Thai account as Thai baht.

[giddyup]

1 minute ago, 4MyEgo said:

If it works for you, then all and good, I just don't like the sound of $18 and then having to wait to know what the rate is going to be, as opposed to locking it in and paying zero $'s at either end, because it enters my Thai account as Thai baht.

Never had a problem. The baht is pretty steady at this stage, so if I transfer at 26.5 today, it's unlikely to vary much in the day it takes to show up here. I don't worry to much about the $18 transfer fee, it's just convenient for me to do it that way.

[Nemises]

The funds would be in the wife's account, X wife as far as Mr CentreLink is concerned when the time comes, i.e. would have applied for a divorce, and been divorced for two years before applying for the OAP.
 
Question from Mr CentreLink might be on the lines of; where did the money go, well Mr CentreLink, back then, to build a house for the kid/s, she has kept the lot, as I don't have any rights to own land in Thailand, my loss Mr CentreLink, we are divorced now, have been for 2 years, she duped me for another bloke, I had to come back, been here for 2 years, and coincidentally I am able to get my OAP to help me survive here in Australia.

Sounds a great plan. Good luck with it.

Just be careful who you tell. You don't some jealous "friend" topping you off to Mr CL.

[4MyEgo]

30 minutes ago, Gregster said:

Sounds a great plan. Good luck with it.

Just be careful who you tell. You don't some jealous "friend" topping you off to Mr CL.

Yes...loose words, sink ships, as the saying goes

[giddyup]

Just now, 4MyEgo said:

Yes...loose words, sink ships, as the saying goes

Loose lips

[4MyEgo]

49 minutes ago, giddyup said:

Never had a problem. The baht is pretty steady at this stage, so if I transfer at 26.5 today, it's unlikely to vary much in the day it takes to show up here. I don't worry to much about the $18 transfer fee, it's just convenient for me to do it that way.

Is it 26.5 baht today through ANZ ?

 

If that is the case, the 477 baht that is costing you to transfer the money, is well worth it, because you would still be at 26.45 baht which sounds too good to be true.

 

Just curious 555

[giddyup]

1 minute ago, 4MyEgo said:

Is it 26.5 baht today through ANZ ?

 

If that is the case, the 477 baht that is costing you to transfer the money, is well worth it, because you would still be at 26.45 baht which sounds too good to be true.

 

Just curious 555

I was just giving a random example, and the exchange rate I get is decided by my Thai bank, not the ANZ as I'm transferring dollars. The current exchange is 26.5 as it happens, so if I did transfer today I'm sure I would end up with very close to that.

[4MyEgo]

9 minutes ago, giddyup said:

I was just giving a random example, and the exchange rate I get is decided by my Thai bank, not the ANZ as I'm transferring dollars. The current exchange is 26.5 as it happens, so if I did transfer today I'm sure I would end up with very close to that.

Wow, SCB is at 25.63 and Smart baht is at 25.87 on $10,000 AUS

 

I think I will have to open an account at your bank, because if the current exchange rate is 26.5 as it happens, "your words", I am missing out.

 

Which bank did you say you bank with ?

[giddyup]

18 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Wow, SCB is at 25.63 and Smart baht is at 25.87 on $10,000 AUS

 

I think I will have to open an account at your bank, because if the current exchange rate is 26.5 as it happens, "your words", I am missing out.

 

Which bank did you say you bank with ?

The exchange rate I quoted is from XE.com, but I have found I get pretty close to that from the SCB. To be quite honest, I take what I can get at a particular time, it's swings and roundabouts. I remember when I bought the house I transferred $150,000 but the SCB didn't change it into baht until I gave them the go-ahead. The rate at the time was 31 baht, I said hang on, I think it will improve. The rate dropped to 27 baht, I think that cost me around $10,000.

[keithpa]

2 hours ago, giddyup said:

When was the last time you heard of a run on a Thai bank, or one going bust? I have over $60,000 in a Thai bank and have absolutely no worries about it, but you can go through life waiting for the sky to fall. Once again you are wanting Thailand to act as you think it should with all the "if only's". If land was available for foreign ownership the country would end up being sold from under their feet. There are already plenty of foreigners living here who own condos. I bought a house which has to be in my partner's name, but I have a 30 year lease, which will more than see me out.

Thai banks wont refund you if your money goes missing. Good luck .

[giddyup]

7 minutes ago, keithpa said:

Thai banks wont refund you if your money goes missing. Good luck .

If you're uncomfortable about having money in a Thai bank then don't do it. In 8 years nothing has gone missing, maybe I'm just lucky.

[keithpa]

1 minute ago, giddyup said:

If you're uncomfortable about having money in a Thai bank then don't do it. In 8 years nothing has gone missing, maybe I'm just lucky.

I dont trust my money to luck. Why risk it? I draw from my Ozzie bank whenever I need money. No risk.

[giddyup]

7 minutes ago, keithpa said:

I dont trust my money to luck. Why risk it? I draw from my Ozzie bank whenever I need money. No risk.

Whatever floats your boat. Not sure how I would have managed to buy a house here, use a Thai bank card to make cash purchases, have the 800,000 baht to qualify for the retirement extension etc. I live here now, this is my home, and has been for 8 years, and no doubt will die here.

[Nemises]

I dont trust my money to luck. Why risk it? I draw from my Ozzie bank whenever I need money. No risk.

Do you pay a fee for withdrawing funds from your AU bank when overseas?

[4MyEgo]

4 hours ago, giddyup said:

When was the last time you heard of a run on a Thai bank, or one going bust? I have over $60,000 in a Thai bank and have absolutely no worries about it, but you can go through life waiting for the sky to fall. Once again you are wanting Thailand to act as you think it should with all the "if only's". If land was available for foreign ownership the country would end up being sold from under their feet. There are already plenty of foreigners living here who own condos. I bought a house which has to be in my partner's name, but I have a 30 year lease, which will more than see me out.

The most I have had in a Thai bank is 2,000,000 when building the family house in 2015. I once read that if there was a fraudulent activity against your account and your money went south or it disappeared in Thailand, the banks wouldn't honour it, well Ubonjoe kindly corrected me recently #1468 with a link saying the banks are good for it, which is now comforting as I recently added 522,501 baht to it when the Oz dollar was up against the baht, i.e. 26.1250 baht because my 3 months spouse extension is coming up in early January 2018, however as my wife once said when I baited her in 2015 and have done so occasionally since our 10 year marriage (forgive me, she is of the other species), not bring money to Thailand, no good business here, leave money Australia, "I listened" and invested there, earning tax free dollars legally, "smart girl" my Mrs 555

 

My moral of this story is only have as much as you need here and keep baiting the trap every now and again and if the mouse does't take the cheese, all and good, might sound bad, but this way, I don;t have to sleep with one eye open and she will get the lot when this old coot is done and dusted.

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, Gregster said:

Do you pay a fee for withdrawing funds from your AU bank when overseas?

I do believe he or someone said $18 to send to his Thai account from Australia.

 

BahtSmart is free and my bank SCB doesn't charge as it goes into the account, rate is good too, goes up every time you increase the amount on their site so as to see if its worth sending more at the time.

[David Walden]

2 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

I do believe he or someone said $18 to send to his Thai account from Australia.

 

BahtSmart is free and my bank SCB doesn't charge as it goes into the account, rate is good too, goes up every time you increase the amount on their site so as to see if its worth sending more at the time.

https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/banking/everyday_banking/citibank_plus.htm   have a look at this.

 

 At the risk of repeating myself I use a Citibank every day account (debit Card).  Free ATM transactions anywhere in the world, any Thai bank charges shown on the ATM dockets are immediately credited back to  your online a/c, free money transfers to any bank anywhere in the world.  It cost nothing and is available to any Aussie who has a TFN.  it has not cost me a penny in 10 years.  Some other bank in the world have similar???

[Nemises]

https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/banking/everyday_banking/citibank_plus.htm   have a look at this.
 
 At the risk of repeating myself I use a Citibank every day account (debit Card).  Free ATM transactions anywhere in the world, any Thai bank charges shown on the ATM dockets are immediately credited back to  your online a/c, free money transfers to any bank anywhere in the world.  It cost nothing and is available to any Aussie who has a TFN.  it has not cost me a penny in 10 years.  Some other bank in the world have similar???

Probably not. You're on a good wicket with Citibank. Well done mate. But for everyone else ( who have been with their respective banks for up to potentially 50 years) is it worth the rigmarole of changing banks to save 18 bucks for an occasional money transfer...