Sending Gbp To Thailand

[Boo]

Mr Boo is just about to send 10k GBP of his hard earned to Thailand & wanted to see if anyone has any recommendations on who to send it with. I presume we will get a better rate if we get it exchanged into THB onshore rather than from the UK but wanted to know if anyone had any other tips on how to get the most from the moolah (he's getting screwed on xchange rate compared to 6months ago anyway but alwayy nice to know any money saving tricks)

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[GuestHouse]

The costs of transferring money to Thailand will be in three parts.

Cost of sending the money

Cost of receiving the money

and Costs relating to the exchange rate.

It is most likely that the cheapest transfer he can do will be offered by his own bank (Bank Account holders usually get a cheaper rate than walk in customers).

Tips:

Ask the bank to send money by SWIFT transfer, you'll need some details from your receiving bank but they are easily obtained.

You will have two options - Express and Standard. Express will take a few few days to transfer, Standard may take a week - Standard will be cheaper.

You will have two 'Costs' Options - Pay Charges at Sending Bank or Split Charges - Split Charges are cheaper.

You will have two "Exchange Options" - Exchange by Sending Bank or Exchange by Receiving Bank - Exchange by Receiving Bank (Send Pounds Sterling to be Exchange IN Thailand) gets a better rate.

Finally, if you have never done such a transfer before, I would make two transfers. A first small transfer to test that all the addresses and data is correct - That the money gets to your husband's Thai account. Followed by the second full transfer to after you have proved the system works.

[chiang mai]

Timing is all important with respect to exchange rates - for whatever reason, the early part of the week trends as being the poorer time to transfer GBP to Thailand. Given that the 30% with holding has just been removed it's difficult to say what will happen to exchange rates over the next few days but today GBP has lost about one baht on that news. ere it me I might wait a couple of days and see if there is not a bounce - do so however in the knowledge that there be a further fall. I transfered on Tuesday out of necessity and was pleased to hear that despite the Bangkok Bank rate being 62 something, Tuesday transfer came in at 63.20.

[Boo]

thanks for the advice, good to know the rate you got chaing mai, he moved 5k on wed & 5k on thursday (can only do max 5k gbp over telephone banking) & followed GH above so will find out monday what happened.

[endure]

For info before I got into Nationwide I used to send money via the Bangkok Bank at 61 St Mary Axe in EC3. I'd send them a cheque for the amount I wanted to transfer plus 10 quid transfer charge and ask them to remit GBP. Don't know if they still offer the service as they aren't an ordinary branch, just a UK office.

[egg6447]

ive posted this or similar before. . nationwide bld soc, debit card. walk into any bank, thats half decent, either tranfer cash to your thai account or take it in cash, job done. the benifit is you get bank rate, ie maybe one bart over tourist rate plus no bank charges. this has come up a few times, i,m surprised the brits arn,t onto this by now.

[prakhonchai nick]

Nationwide Flex A/c most definitely the best (limit £300 per day withdrawal), but for those without, it requires a trip back home to open it.

Prior to Nationwide I always found transfers from Barclays to Kasikorn Thai the best way.. A standard request for a transfer on say a Monday (£20 fee) would result in the money being in Kasikorn on Thursday morning. But a priority transfer (£35), requested before 2pm UK time and the money would ALWAYS be in Kasikorn next morning. Kasikorn also generally has the highest telex rate of all the main Thai banks,

[mobile69]

ive posted this or similar before. . nationwide bld soc, debit card. walk into any bank, thats half decent, either tranfer cash to your thai account or take it in cash, job done. the benifit is you get bank rate, ie maybe one bart over tourist rate plus no bank charges. this has come up a few times, i,m surprised the brits arn,t onto this by now.

I've never heard of this. You mean you hand the card to the teller & ask them to do the transfer? Is there a limit other than what's in your flex account?

[Naam]

Ask the bank to send money by SWIFT transfer, you'll need some details from your receiving bank but they are easily obtained.

You will have two options - Express and Standard. Express will take a few few days to transfer, Standard may take a week - Standard will be cheaper.

i have never heard of "standard" and "express", i only know SWIFT = SWIFT. my experience based on nearly two decades of "swifting" concerning duration and cost:

-from Asia to U.S. = same day (due to time difference)

-within Asia = next day

-from Asia to Europe = next day

-from Europe to Asia = next day (in rare cases two days)

-my originating swifting cost USD 20.- amount irrelevant

-USD 30 cost of receiving in U.S. (if transfer is made in USD, amount irrelevant)

-€UR 25 cost of receiving in Europe (if transfer is made in €UR, amount irrelevant)

-THB 300 cost of receiving in Thailand (SCB, amount irrelevant)

[chiang mai]

Ask the bank to send money by SWIFT transfer, you'll need some details from your receiving bank but they are easily obtained.

You will have two options - Express and Standard. Express will take a few few days to transfer, Standard may take a week - Standard will be cheaper.

i have never heard of "standard" and "express", i only know SWIFT = SWIFT. my experience based on nearly two decades of "swifting" concerning duration and cost:

-from Asia to U.S. = same day (due to time difference)

-within Asia = next day

-from Asia to Europe = next day

-from Europe to Asia = next day (in rare cases two days)

-my originating swifting cost USD 20.- amount irrelevant

-USD 30 cost of receiving in U.S. (if transfer is made in USD, amount irrelevant)

-€UR 25 cost of receiving in Europe (if transfer is made in €UR, amount irrelevant)

-THB 300 cost of receiving in Thailand (SCB, amount irrelevant)

Perhaps being confused with DHL courier services, they offer a standard and express service. But seriously, it used to be the case with some UK banks that transfers to Thailand from the UK were subject to a delay of up to a week or ten days. The reason for this that was given to me by Cahoot was that Thailand is on a watch list of countries whereby inbound funds transfers had to be approved beforehand - it was never made clear who had to give that approval and since the funds remained in my account until the day before the transfer I accepted the explanation on face value although I never transfered from the UK thereafter.

Finally, HSBC Hong Kong to HSBC Thailand is same day, a matter of about three hours in fact.

Edited March 2, 2008 by chiang mai

[Marvo]

I've got another thread running relating to this topic re SWIFT transfer. Similar to what naam says, I've never heard of "standard" and "express" SWIFT service, just plain SWIFT.

My transfer was debited from my UK Cahoot a/c six days ago and still hasn't arrived in my Ayudhya account.

[chiang mai]

I've got another thread running relating to this topic re SWIFT transfer. Similar to what naam says, I've never heard of "standard" and "express" SWIFT service, just plain SWIFT.

My transfer was debited from my UK Cahoot a/c six days ago and still hasn't arrived in my Ayudhya account.

Marvo, see the above post - Cahoot is pretty slow at transfers to Thailand.

[Boo]

We have a nationwide account but withdrawing 10k gbp in 300 gbp per day amounts is not convenient for us especially with such an unstable exchange rate so sending it this way is better.

So I sent first amount of 5k on Wednesday & it arrived in BKK bank on Friday & we got rate of 63.5. Which isn't too bad really, 2nd amount sent Thursday will arrive today so will update what rate change might have happened over the weekend. I transferred from Lloyds & there was only one option to send, no standard or express.

[Marvo]

OK, here's the update with the full story, which I hope is useful to the forum.

26th Feb, I called Ayudhya Treasury Dept. to inform that stirling is being sent (SWIFT) to my Thai a/c. They cannot give me a rate but say they will call me as soon as the stirling transfer arrives and we will "negotiate" (their words) the rate by phone.

I have now found out that the transfer actually arrived with them on 27th Feb. (however I got no call as promised).

The transfer was being held by the bank (still in stirling), waiting for me to present myself and sign a "reason for transfer" form, (required if the sum is in excess of $10,000 or equivalent).

As I only presented myself at the bank and signed the form today, then the rate of exchange to be applied has to be today's rate. T/T=62.55bht for £1.00

So, in conclusion it looks like my "problem" was caused by:

a). Ayudhya not telling me, as promised, when the transfer arrived.

b. My not understanding that the funds would not automatically "appear" in my account due to the difference in process for amounts over $10,000 US equivalent.

c). By me not talking directly to Ayudhya sooner (the reality was that I wasn't in a tearing hurry for the baht).

d). There was no communicaton from Ayudhya to my bank (according to my bank) to say that the transfer had in fact arrived next day.

All the above only became an issue when the rate suddenly changed after the BOT's announcement re lifting capital controls.

I hope this info will help someone with future transactions and to avoid making my mistakes and wrong assumptions. , Good luck Boo with your exchange rate.

[mobile69]

OK, here's the update with the full story, which I hope is useful to the forum.

26th Feb, I called Ayudhya Treasury Dept. to inform that stirling is being sent (SWIFT) to my Thai a/c. They cannot give me a rate but say they will call me as soon as the stirling transfer arrives and we will "negotiate" (their words) the rate by phone.

I have now found out that the transfer actually arrived with them on 27th Feb. (however I got no call as promised).

The transfer was being held by the bank (still in stirling), waiting for me to present myself and sign a "reason for transfer" form, (required if the sum is in excess of $10,000 or equivalent).

As I only presented myself at the bank and signed the form today, then the rate of exchange to be applied has to be today's rate. T/T=62.55bht for £1.00

So, in conclusion it looks like my "problem" was caused by:

a). Ayudhya not telling me, as promised, when the transfer arrived.

b. My not understanding that the funds would not automatically "appear" in my account due to the difference in process for amounts over $10,000 US equivalent.

c). By me not talking directly to Ayudhya sooner (the reality was that I wasn't in a tearing hurry for the baht).

d). There was no communicaton from Ayudhya to my bank (according to my bank) to say that the transfer had in fact arrived next day.

All the above only became an issue when the rate suddenly changed after the BOT's announcement re lifting capital controls.

I hope this info will help someone with future transactions and to avoid making my mistakes and wrong assumptions. , Good luck Boo with your exchange rate.

Change bank tomorrow

Never had this problem with K-bank

[chiang mai]

HSBC Bangkok telephones me the same day that an overseas transfer arrives and tells me the rate of conversion - Bangkok Bank Chiang Mai does the same. Suggest you look for a new bank. BTW: might be worthwhile negotiating with them over a credit of some sort for the days the money was held outside your account, they will after all know what "normal" practice is.

[Pib]

Mr Boo is just about to send 10k GBP of his hard earned to Thailand & wanted to see if anyone has any recommendations on who to send it with. I presume we will get a better rate if we get it exchanged into THB onshore rather than from the UK but wanted to know if anyone had any other tips on how to get the most from the moolah (he's getting screwed on xchange rate compared to 6months ago anyway but alwayy nice to know any money saving tricks)

Thanks in advance for any advice.

You assumed right...with the lifting of the 30% Capital Controls this week, the on- and off-shore exchange rates have pretty much equalized, which eliminated the no-brainer decision of always sending the money using your currency and having the currency exchange accomplished when it arrived at the Thai bank/onshore. Some offshore banks have always used wholesale exchange rates which give you less than the onshore rate (i.e., generates a very nice profit for their offshore currency exchange). I expect sending sending the money and having it exchanged onshore vs offshore is still the way go. Now it's pretty much just a matter of figuring out which sending financial organization and receiving Thai financial organization/bank has the lowest sending & receiving fees.

[egg6447]

We have a nationwide account but withdrawing 10k gbp in 300 gbp per day amounts is not convenient for us especially with such an unstable exchange rate so sending it this way is better.

So I sent first amount of 5k on Wednesday & it arrived in BKK bank on Friday & we got rate of 63.5. Which isn't too bad really, 2nd amount sent Thursday will arrive today so will update what rate change might have happened over the weekend. I transferred from Lloyds & there was only one option to send, no standard or express.

boo i understood you to be in los. if you have the debit card for said account, N/W. just go in a bank and ask for what you want. ive never needed more than 500k in one hit so cant say what the ceiling is. as in any bank some amounts would need a warning/notice. for instance when the bt wes hitting 74to pd id go into scb and transfer 500kbt into my thai account, done while sitting there. if the monies were for a perchase,ie house car investment then i take cash, all ive ever needed. easier now than it used to be as the banks get more civilized. realy couldnt be easier. if you only have one card you,d have to be the account holder to do this, but to use the atm anyone can withdraw. good luck.