I've got some questions regarding money transfer :

- I am going to Thailand and neighbouring countries at the 14th of december, plan to stay there several months, up to a year.

I will bring some money via Travellers Cheque (v good experience with it) and from my Swiss Bank Account (via ATM)...

but since TC takes you off 1% when you buy them and getting smaller amounts of money from ATM is quite costly i was wondering if it isn't easier and practical to set up an account in Thailand and bring all the money in Cash...

Now :

- any problems regarding a banking acount as an alien ?

- which type of bank account, costs, which bank ?

- would i get an ATM card with about 150'000-250'000 baht on it ?

Thanks for any advice, it's greatly appreciated !

Sleir

I've got some questions regarding money transfer :

- I am going to Thailand and neighbouring countries at the 14th of december, plan to stay there several months, up to a year.

I will bring some money via Travellers Cheque (v good experience with it) and from my Swiss Bank Account (via ATM)...

but since TC takes you off 1% when you buy them and getting smaller amounts of money from ATM is quite costly i was wondering if it isn't easier and practical to set up an account in Thailand and bring all the money in Cash...

Now :

- any problems regarding a banking acount as an alien ?

- which type of bank account, costs, which bank ?

- would i get an ATM card with about 150'000-250'000 baht on it ?

Thanks for any advice, it's greatly appreciated !

Sleir

Hi Sleir,

First off, I have an apology to make. I think it was you who I replied to a while back with an, I thought, witty response to your witty question. You took it the wrong way, however, and were'nt too impressed. Anyway, no malice intended.

Using your normal ATM card from Switzerland is the easiest option IMHO. Travellers checks ok but a bit of a pain really. Some banks don't charge you for making withdrawals overseas nowadays.

With regard bank accounts here...it's not, strictly, legal for a tourist to have a Thai account, but Kasikorn (formerly Thai Farmer Bank) and Bangkok Bank will let you have an account as a tourist and maybe some others. It will cost 250 baht, which will get you an ATM card and whatever you want to put in there to open it. Once you have the account, you should wire over the bulk of your money rather than physically carrying it in and taking the risk (some Swiss banks require you to be there but some will do it by phone). Use the SWIFT system to transfer. Should take a day or two and cost about 0.3% of your total, plus a nominal charge. If you do this, make sure you transfer in your home currency and not Baht as they will take their cut and you will lose out.

Hope this helps

jackr

Hi Sleir,

First off, I have an apology to make. I think it was you who I replied to a while back with an, I thought, witty response to your witty question. You took it the wrong way, however, and were'nt too impressed. Anyway, no malice intended.

Using your normal ATM card from Switzerland is the easiest option IMHO. Travellers checks ok but a bit of a pain really. Some banks don't charge you for making withdrawals overseas nowadays.

With regard bank accounts here...it's not, strictly, legal for a tourist to have a Thai account, but Kasikorn (formerly Thai Farmer Bank) and Bangkok Bank will let you have an account as a tourist and maybe some others. It will cost 250 baht, which will get you an ATM card and whatever you want to put in there to open it. Once you have the account, you should wire over the bulk of your money rather than physically carrying it in and taking the risk (some Swiss banks require you to be there but some will do it by phone). Use the SWIFT system to transfer. Should take a day or two and cost about 0.3% of your total, plus a nominal charge. If you do this, make sure you transfer in your home currency and not Baht as they will take their cut and you will lose out.

Hope this helps

jackr

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi jackr,

can't remember your witty answer to my witty question, so no harm done.

not forgiven but forgotten

Thanks anyway for your answer, concerning swiss ATM card you should know that they charge me around 150+ baht on small amounts and a certain percentage on bigger amounts, so not really worth it all the time IMO.

I have seen many Bangkok Banks around the country and think i'll just go in there

and ask for a banking account ?

Is there a daily/monthly limit on your ATM-card, what's the cost if you go to another bank's ATM ?

Cheers,

Sleir

The normal Bangkok Bank atm card is limited to 50,000 baht per day withdrawals. There is no charge in bank atm at the location (city) you bank but upcountry believe it is 10 or 20 baht per transaction. Using another banks atm (ATM pool) is free for believe first 3 times each month (although I used 4 times last month with no charge).

Thanks for the reply.

I have now decided to keep most of the money on my swiss account when i fly to LOS, buy some TC's and transfer the money on my new thai account

via Phone when i'm there. Only costs me around 6Euro ! No further costs except the money change in the Thai Bank since i will want to send my money in Swiss Franks.

Thx again for the advice,

Sleir