Transferring Funds Usa Bank To Bbl Account

[mackayae]

Does anyone know why Bangkok Bank has stopped allowing online transfers from US banks to a Bangkok Bank account? Previously, the transfers went thru the Bangkok Bank New York branch. Supposedly they discontinued this service on Jan. 26.

Did the same thing happen with the London branch?

[Jingthing]

I don't know for certain but I am surprised it was allowed as long as it was. I have read previous reports of people using similar methods to transfer money to Thailand with a domestic US transfer, which worked for awhile, and then later blocked. The US regulators do not like to see people avoid the SWIFT system because each and every SWIFT transfer is recorded by the US government.

Edited February 9, 2009 by Jingthing

[skipvice]

still works for me.I did it last week with no problems.

[thaihome]

The explanation I received from BofA several years ago when I was stopped from doing this is the ACH provider that BofA uses does not allow money to go to accounts not located in the US. Though there is not legal basis for this, I always suspected it was because the ACH provider did not want the hassle that could come about from US regulators if questioned on a specific transfer.

TH

[mackayae]

still works for me.I did it last week with no problems.

Which bank is that? I used to use Bank of America, but the interbank transfer has been stopped. Wire transfers are the only option now.

[skipvice]

still works for me.I did it last week with no problems.

Which bank is that? I used to use Bank of America, but the interbank transfer has been stopped. Wire transfers are the only option now.

I use Mcchord AFB Credit union in washington State ,also have a some of my retirement sent through Bangkok Bank NY. As do a lot of Thais living in the States.

[IMA_FARANG]

Does anyone know why Bangkok Bank has stopped allowing online transfers from US banks to a Bangkok Bank account? Previously, the transfers went thru the Bangkok Bank New York branch. Supposedly they discontinued this service on Jan. 26.

Did the same thing happen with the London branch?

I did a wire transfer via swift to Bangcok Bank on 5 February..and it showed all normal.

[Pib]

still works for me.I did it last week with no problems.

Which bank is that? I used to use Bank of America, but the interbank transfer has been stopped. Wire transfers are the only option now.

Per my call with Bank of America (BOA) Internet Banking Technical Support last week, Bangkok Bank PCL New York is no longer one of the authorized finance agencies/banks on BOA Internet Funds Transfer function. That is the function where you can transfer funds from your BOA account to one of your "Outside Bank" accounts, like your Bangkok Bank account. BOA no longer has an Automatic Clearing House (ACH) agreement with Bangkok Bank. The BOA rep said Bangkok Bank had been dropped from BOA internet transfer list due to possible fraudulent activity/transfers. If you look for Bangkok Bank by using the "Add Account" function and entering Bangkok Bank or their ACH routing number, you will no longer find them on the BOA authorized list...you just get an error message saying the bank can't be found on the list. I expect you experienced the same transfer problem as me, when you selected the transfer from account (BOA) to transfer to account (Bangkok Bank), enter an amount and then clicked Continue, the screen just looped back to the initial screen instead of continuing to the Confirmation screen.

Now, I fully expect you can use the Bangkok Bank PCL ACH routing number for "paper-based wire transfers" as that number is issued by ACH. It's just Bangkok Bank is no longer one of the authorized banks listed on the BOA Internet Banking functions. It's totally up to BOA what banks it authorizes/lists on the BOA Internet Banking and Bangkok Bank has been dropped from that BOA authorized list.

[Pib]

I fully expect the Bangkok Bank PCL New York ACH routing number will continue to work fine for paper-based wire transfers from any bank (to include the BOA) and maybe even the BOA Military Internet Banking transfer function/system which is a different system from the regular BOA internet banking transfer function...for those of you which maybe have account with both the regular BOA and BOA Military Banking, you will know what I'm talking about...very different funds internet fund transfers systems with different fees. And their ACH will probably continue to work fine for monthly pensions being automatically sent from government agencies like DFAS. It's just Bangkok Bank PCL New York has been dropped from BOA's Internet Banking Funds Transfer list, which means with just a few mouse clicks you can transfer funds to/through Bangkok Bank PCL New York for a BOA $3 charge (not including Bangkok Bank fees which are additional). It sure was nice having a quick, easy, and cheap way to transfer funds to Bangkok Bank.

As FYI, below is the Bangkok Bank link which gives more info on using their ACH routing number, and if you click their Fees link on the link you will see Bangkok Bank PCL New York takes a $3-$20 cut of the amount being transferred and then there is another dollar-to-baht conversion fee of 200-500 Baht when it arrives at your Bangkok Bank branch in Thailand (I also included a cut and paste of the fees). At many U.S. banks/credit unions using an ACH routing number versus a SWIFT code usually significantly reduces the wire transfer fee charged by that initiating/sending bank because an ACH routing number is charged as a domestic transfer and a SWIFT code is charged as an international transfer.

But you will still get below charge taken from your funds by Bangkok Bank "if using their ACH." No such fee for using their SWIFT code to the best of my knowledge, except what your sending/initiating bank charges and that charge is probably going to be about double for sending via SWIFT code (international transfer) versus ACH routing number (domestic transfer)...plus the dollar to baht transfer fee at your Bangkok Bank branch (you get charged this dollar to baht transfer fee regardless of transfer method used). But when the fees/charges dust settled it is/was usually significantly cheaper to use the Bangkok Banks ACH routing number unless you were sending a BIG amount (i.e., over $50,000) as the Bangkok Bank PCL New York fee then reached $20. But the biggest cost was usually the transfer fee charges by your local/initiating/sending bank which could easily be in the $25-$50 range regardless of amount sent--sweet little business the banks/credit unions have going here as they know it's about the only option you have to quickly transfer funds so they charge you a pretty penny for the transfer.

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok+Bank/Pe...ds+from+USA.htm

Fees

Bangkok Bank in New York charges the following fees for funds transfers initiated via the US ACH system:

Transferred Amount Fee

Less than USD 50.00 Free

USD 51.00 - 100.00 USD 3.00

USD 100.01 - 2,000.00 USD 5.00

USD 2,000.01 - 50,000.00 USD 10.00

USD 50,000.01 or more USD 20.00

Bangkok Bank in Thailand also charges a fee of 0.25% of the amount in the Baht currency (minimum of THB 200; maximum of THB 500) when the funds are deposited into the recipient's Bangkok Bank account in Thailand.

Edited February 10, 2009 by Pib

[mackayae]

Are there any other commercial banks that allow you to transfer funds like BOA used to do?

[funlovinkid]

still works for me.I did it last week with no problems.

Which bank is that? I used to use Bank of America, but the interbank transfer has been stopped. Wire transfers are the only option now.

Per my call with Bank of America (BOA) Internet Banking Technical Support last week, Bangkok Bank PCL New York is no longer one of the authorized finance agencies/banks on BOA Internet Funds Transfer function. That is the function where you can transfer funds from your BOA account to one of your "Outside Bank" accounts, like your Bangkok Bank account. BOA no longer has an Automatic Clearing House (ACH) agreement with Bangkok Bank. The BOA rep said Bangkok Bank had been dropped from BOA internet transfer list due to possible fraudulent activity/transfers. If you look for Bangkok Bank by using the "Add Account" function and entering Bangkok Bank or their ACH routing number, you will no longer find them on the BOA authorized list...you just get an error message saying the bank can't be found on the list. I expect you experienced the same transfer problem as me, when you selected the transfer from account (BOA) to transfer to account (Bangkok Bank), enter an amount and then clicked Continue, the screen just looped back to the initial screen instead of continuing to the Confirmation screen.

Now, I fully expect you can use the Bangkok Bank PCL ACH routing number for "paper-based wire transfers" as that number is issued by ACH. It's just Bangkok Bank is no longer one of the authorized banks listed on the BOA Internet Banking functions. It's totally up to BOA what banks it authorizes/lists on the BOA Internet Banking and Bangkok Bank has been dropped from that BOA authorized list.

I can confirm what Pib says above. I had been unsuccessfully trying to transfer cash from my Bank of America checking account into my Bangkok Bank account for the past two weeks via the online transfer method on the BofA website, which has worked fine over the past several months. So, in exasperation, I called BofA, and while on the phone with the customer service representative, I happened to read Pib's entry above, and shared it with her to see if she could confirm that this was indeed the source of my inability to execute the transfer. She went away for a couple minutes to consult with her manager, and then came back and confirmed that this is in fact the problem.

BofA will no longer allow ACH transfers to Bangkok Bank because of some fraudulent activity occuring here in Thailand which apparently resulted in a loss to some BofA customers. According to her, some phishing scams (fake emails sent out to BofA customers resulting in the compromise of confidential information) allowed some criminals in Thailand to gain access to the BofA customer's online accounts, and then transfer cash to a Bangkok Bank account. According to BofA, the criminals thereafter managed to withdraw the funds from the Bangkok Bank account without proper identification or verification, either because of sloppy standards at Bangkok Bank, or because of the participation of someone inside Bangkok Bank. Because Bangkok Bank wouldn't supply BofA with the necessary (and contractually agreed upon) information to identify the specific cause of the fraudulent activity, BofA couldn't be sure exactly how the fraud occurred, and decided it had no choice but to terminate its relationship with Bangkok Bank. I don't blame them, and now I'm questioning whether I can trust Bangkok Bank with my own money.

Of course, I'm sure Bangkok Bank would rather not lose my (or anyone's) business because of this little unpleasantry, and I doubt if they appreciate my post here, but outspokenness seems to be an exclusively Western concept. Yeah, TIT.

Edited February 13, 2009 by funlovinkid

[Lost in LOS]

this is BofA policy since they say it is not really a local bank. i do it all the time with ameritrade

[mackayae]

Thanks for the info funlovinkid.

Are they any other US commercial banks that have this transfer service? I have accounts with WF and BOH, but they do not have the online transfer option.

[busybeee9]

hello, me too hear somthing here www.onlinebankingz.com. You try to catch thethings from 20th page I think