I Paid £43 To Transfer £100

[astromash]

Being internationally financially naive and never having directly transferred money from any of my UK bank accounts to my Thai account, recently I thought I'd give it a go with a small amount of money, just for the heck of it.

So I phoned Lloyds TSB and requested a transfer. £100, to be transferred in sterling to my Bangkok Bank account. I was told that as the sum was under £5000 it would cost £20. I said okay. "Charges to come out of your account, sir?" "Yes, fine. Thank you."

A few days later I discovered that not only had £100 + £20 been debited from my Lloyds account, but also £23.44 in "agent" charges. I queried with Lloyds and was told this was Bangkok Bank's charge. They added that I could've, if I'd wanted, requested the charges to be "split". This would've resulted in the £23.44 (or a baht near-equivalent, I assume) being charged to my Thai account instead.

So I called Nationwide. They also said they'd charge £20. But they said there wouldn't be any charges at the foreign bank end.

Can anyone explain to me what is usual in these circumstances? Posts on TV have led me to expect a £15 - £20 charge by UK banks. But I wasn't expecting a Bangkok Bank charge as well.

Cheers.

[kennkate]

Time to get a Nationwide Flex Account

I have had the same result from Nat West.

You can opt to pay all the charges or let the reciever pay the local bank charges

If you open a Nationwide account and send the card to them

you will have to trust them to take out amounts you authorised.

You will get automatic overdraft facility so could remove moneys up to this limit

Of course limits apply £300 per day subject to funds.

Get online banking So you can keep your eye on the withdrawls

And if it gets out of hand you just cancel the card

Best not to say you are sending it to Thailand

I have done this for my Wife, so far so good.

Takes out just the amount I tell her is Ok and when to get it

[kennkate]

Sorry just read your post again it's to YOUR bank account.

Anyway Nationwide will do a trasfer for you, at I suspect a better rate

Best to ask them first.

[taxexile]

what on earth are you wasting your time , energy , and money for by transferring such a piffling amount ?

[dr_Pat_Pong]

what on earth are you wasting your time , energy , and money for by transferring such a piffling amount ?

it seemed like a good idea at the time.

[Chaimai]

Being internationally financially naive and never having directly transferred money from any of my UK bank accounts to my Thai account, recently I thought I'd give it a go with a small amount of money, just for the heck of it.

So I phoned Lloyds TSB and requested a transfer. £100, to be transferred in sterling to my Bangkok Bank account. I was told that as the sum was under £5000 it would cost £20. I said okay. "Charges to come out of your account, sir?" "Yes, fine. Thank you."

A few days later I discovered that not only had £100 + £20 been debited from my Lloyds account, but also £23.44 in "agent" charges. I queried with Lloyds and was told this was Bangkok Bank's charge. They added that I could've, if I'd wanted, requested the charges to be "split". This would've resulted in the £23.44 (or a baht near-equivalent, I assume) being charged to my Thai account instead.

So I called Nationwide. They also said they'd charge £20. But they said there wouldn't be any charges at the foreign bank end.

Can anyone explain to me what is usual in these circumstances? Posts on TV have led me to expect a £15 - £20 charge by UK banks. But I wasn't expecting a Bangkok Bank charge as well.

Cheers.

No, you have not read all the posts. Go back and search on Nationwide - you do not have to transfer UK bank to Thai bank you can put your money in Nationwide Flex and draw off as you require. transferring £100 you got what you deserved - bugger all. Search the forum properly or PM if you wish with any questions.

[lopburi3]

The Bangkok Bank fee is 0.25% of transferred amount in the range of 200 to 500 baht. So that would have been charged 200 baht if done in country and that amount would have been removed from baht when credited to your account here. It would seem they used the exchange rate of 3.44 pounds to equal that charge at UK bank. There is also an intermediary bank charge. In US using Bangkok Bank branch office it was $5 removed from total transfer - have not checked in years but it appears your UK bank used a very expensive 20 pound version. I expect your charges were inflated because you asked to pay all costs from sending bank rather than the normal method of only paying home bank the wire transfer fee.

Obviously SWIFT is much more useful for larger transfers.

[GuestHouse]

what on earth are you wasting your time , energy , and money for by transferring such a piffling amount ?

it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I think it was a very wise move - OK he didn't know about the split charges - but he knows now.

The idiots are those who test the transfer to Thailand with large amounts of money.

The only real mistake the OP made was not asking here on TV before he made his transfer - If he'd asked or done a search he would have found advice on split charges and on sending a small transfer first to test the transaction works correctly.

[astromash]

I think it was a very wise move - OK he didn't know about the split charges - but he knows now.

The only real mistake the OP made was not asking here on TV before he made his transfer - If he'd asked or done a search he would have found advice on split charges and on sending a small transfer first to test the transaction works correctly.

Thank you, GH.

I did read the pinned thread on 'onshore/offshore exchange rates and money transfers' at the top of this forum but it makes no mention of charges being levied by the receiving bank. Maybe I needed to know in advance the phrase 'split charges' to search for further advice??

As to the scathing replies of others, I thought my post made clear that the transfer was in the nature of a test.

[astromash]

Anyway Nationwide will do a trasfer for you, at I suspect a better rate

Best to ask them first.

Thanks. I did ask them. And as I noted in my original post, they said THEIR fee was £20. This is the same amount Lloyds TSB charge.

When I asked about further charges, eg from the receiving bank - Nationwide said there weren't any. When I asked the advisor if she was sure about that she put me on hold and came back and re-affirmed this.

Can anyone here confirm this? If you do a transfer from Nationwide to Bangkok Bank are there any additional charges (ie either by Bangkok Bank or by an intermediary agent or 'correspondent' bank)? Or is there really only the £20 charge by Nationwide to be paid?

Cheers.

[astromash]

Thanks. I did ask them. And as I noted in my original post, they said THEIR fee was £20. This is the same amount Lloyds TSB charge.

Another thing. A disadvantage with Nationwide is that you have to go into a branch in order to do an international money transfer. With Lloyds TSB you can do it by phone.

[JohnC]

before retiring here I did many swift transfers from my Nationwide Felxi A/C to my Bangkok A/C and was never charged by Bangkok Bank but did pay the £20 swift transfer fee, however now I live here I just take my flexi card into BB and ask for £xxx to be debited and its done, they tell me the exhange rate they will give me and there are no charges either end. I have drawn a £1000 using this method with no charges and no limit as it is a debit card, does not work at the atm though you have to do it oevr the counter.

[12DrinkMore]

what on earth are you wasting your time , energy , and money for by transferring such a piffling amount ?

Maybe "piffling" to you, but that represents my beer consumtion for a WHOLE month.

[lopburi3]

before retiring here I did many swift transfers from my Nationwide Felxi A/C to my Bangkok A/C and was never charged by Bangkok Bank but did pay the £20 swift transfer fee, however now I live here I just take my flexi card into BB and ask for £xxx to be debited and its done, they tell me the exhange rate they will give me and there are no charges either end. I have drawn a £1000 using this method with no charges and no limit as it is a debit card, does not work at the atm though you have to do it oevr the counter.

Did you examine the receipt from Bangkok Bank? There is a charge for all SWIFT incoming transfers in the range of 200-500 baht. That receipt will also show the amount remitted and I suspect it will be less than sent as the intermediate bank will have deducted there charge from it. If you do not check the receipt you may just assume an exchange rate hit.

[Tafia]

Time to get a Nationwide Flex Account

I have had the same result from Nat West.

You can opt to pay all the charges or let the reciever pay the local bank charges

If you open a Nationwide account and send the card to them

you will have to trust them to take out amounts you authorised.

You will get automatic overdraft facility so could remove moneys up to this limit

Of course limits apply £300 per day subject to funds.

Get online banking So you can keep your eye on the withdrawls

And if it gets out of hand you just cancel the card

Best not to say you are sending it to Thailand

I have done this for my Wife, so far so good.

Takes out just the amount I tell her is Ok and when to get it

I have done the same thing, I manage the account on line and she can only withdraw the amounts I allow. Nationwide dont even question why money is being withdrawn from the account in Thailand, tho they are aware of my pending move there.

[Tafia]

Thanks. I did ask them. And as I noted in my original post, they said THEIR fee was £20. This is the same amount Lloyds TSB charge.

Another thing. A disadvantage with Nationwide is that you have to go into a branch in order to do an international money transfer. With Lloyds TSB you can do it by phone.

That is a disadvantage tho they will accept a Swift Transfer by post...fill in the app on line print and post....or so they tell me.

[Tafia]

Being internationally financially naive and never having directly transferred money from any of my UK bank accounts to my Thai account, recently I thought I'd give it a go with a small amount of money, just for the heck of it.

So I phoned Lloyds TSB and requested a transfer. £100, to be transferred in sterling to my Bangkok Bank account. I was told that as the sum was under £5000 it would cost £20. I said okay. "Charges to come out of your account, sir?" "Yes, fine. Thank you."

A few days later I discovered that not only had £100 + £20 been debited from my Lloyds account, but also £23.44 in "agent" charges. I queried with Lloyds and was told this was Bangkok Bank's charge. They added that I could've, if I'd wanted, requested the charges to be "split". This would've resulted in the £23.44 (or a baht near-equivalent, I assume) being charged to my Thai account instead.

So I called Nationwide. They also said they'd charge £20. But they said there wouldn't be any charges at the foreign bank end.

Can anyone explain to me what is usual in these circumstances? Posts on TV have led me to expect a £15 - £20 charge by UK banks. But I wasn't expecting a Bangkok Bank charge as well.

Cheers.

No, you have not read all the posts. Go back and search on Nationwide - you do not have to transfer UK bank to Thai bank you can put your money in Nationwide Flex and draw off as you require. transferring £100 you got what you deserved - bugger all. Search the forum properly or PM if you wish with any questions.

Can you not deposit a Nationwide Cheque with your Thai Bank for smaller amounts (3mths expenses for eg) and use Swift for large amounts (If you dont want to use the ATM)???

[astromash]

before retiring here I did many swift transfers from my Nationwide Felxi A/C to my Bangkok A/C and was never charged by Bangkok Bank but did pay the £20 swift transfer fee,

What you're saying supports what the Nationwide advisor told me.

Can anyone else confirm there are absolutely no further charges besides the £20 to Nationwide?

Cheers.

[JohnC]

Did you examine the receipt from Bangkok Bank? There is a charge for all SWIFT incoming transfers in the range of 200-500 baht. That receipt will also show the amount remitted and I suspect it will be less than sent as the intermediate bank will have deducted there charge from it. If you do not check the receipt you may just assume an exchange rate hit

.

I did not do a swift transfer therefore there was no charges, in fact when i got my next N/w statement I had been debited with £992 as by they allowed a higher exchange rate, the Bangkok Bank just gave me a slip (like a credit card receipt) for I think it was 65000 baht which at the time was £1000 according to their exchange rate, no charges. I must emphasise this is a debit againts the visa card not a swift transfer which is something completely different. i was also told by Nationwide that to do a swift transfer I had to be present in a branch! Abbey on the other hand allow you to fax them the swift form along with copy of you passport and uk driving licence and they will authorise the transfer for the usual £20. I no longer use swift transfers as my Nationwide Flexi Account comes with a visa card so its either atm with its £300 a day limit or the debit as described as above.

[libya 115]

To the OP. Bad luck. I have been stung before with this, now I know always insist on SPLIT charges. If you open a Lloyds TSB offshore account, then international moneymover is just 13 GBP and takes 2-4 days.

You already have a Lloyds account so don't hang about; go offshore IOM.

[aurelius]

From my experience, Lloyds Bank can transfer fund directly to your Bangkok Bank account in Thailand without having to go thru another bank in UK. I pay Lloyds Bank’s charge for GBP 20.- and Bangkok Bank in Thailand (THB 200 - THB 500 fee) before crediting funds into your account in Thailand. No agent bank charge. Try asking Lloyds to send funds to Bangkok Bank, Bangkok directly next time.