Siam Commercial Bank In Cm

[hill16]

Hi,

I wanted to lodge a Euro cheque to my SCB account today and I was told that there would be a US$10 commission charge. The cheque amount was relatively small so I refused to pay this charge and I didn't lodge the cheque. The last time I lodged a foreign currency cheque to my account (about one year ago) the only charges from SCB for doing this were a 200 baht regulation fee and a 3 baht duty stamp. Given that the the Euro is down against the baht and that there are additional charges, I will probably have the cheque cancelled and the amount lodged to my credit card account for withdrawal from an ATM here, thereby saving myself the extra charge.

I was just wondering if anybody knows why SCB added this commission charge and whether other banks in CM have the same for lodging foreign currency cheques to your account.

Kind regards,

Hill16

[earlofwindermere]

I think that these kinds of fees are standard at most banks in Thailand now. I tried Kasikorn, SCB and Bangkok Bank. They were all pretty much the same.

[Briggsy]

You're very lucky. In the UK, it's a lot more than $10.

[FatherF]

I got charged £20.00 for depositing a sterling cheque with Bangkok Bank!

FF

[NancyL]

I just deposited four US dollar checks into my Bangkok Bank savings account recently. Three of them were relatively small and the charge was 200 baht per check, plus that 3 baht stamp fee. The money showed up in my account immediately upon deposit-- I had expected the funds to be held pending clearing of the checks, but they weren't.

The fourth check was for a larger amount, drawn against an account at a small regional bank and frankly looked a bit odd -- I think the business had printed it up using a laser printer and Quickbooks. It didn't look nearly as reputable as one of the small checks, which was an IRS refund! Bangkok Bank charged something like $30 or $35 for that check and won't give me access to the money until it clears in the U.S. -- a process that could take up to 45 days. They justified the charge because of the amount of the check and the fact that it wasn't familar to them, like a government pension check is.

So, I think the charge for depositing a foreign funds check depends upon your history with the bank, the amount of the check, and whether the Thai bank is comfortable with the organization that issued the check and the foreign bank involved.

[Chaimai]

So, I think the charge for depositing a foreign funds check depends upon your history with the bank, the amount of the check, and whether the Thai bank is comfortable with the organization that issued the check and the foreign bank involved.

History has nothing to with it - unless you have agreed a negotiation facility.

A bank will usually have a small de-minimis limit for negotiating cheques (ie giving you value immediately for the cheque). Other cheques will be collected and the bank usually give value after 6 weeks. I did see one case where a cheque was 'bounced' after 10 weeks.

Depositing currency cheques (ie non-Baht in this case) drawn on an overseas bank is not advisable if there are any other choices - the costs and the exchange rate are usually against you. Get dollar cheques paid in to a bank in the States (you could open a dollar account with a Thai bank - good luck !) and take your money out via ATM. If larger amounts use SWIFT.

Edited February 27, 2009 by Chaimai

[sprq]

So, I think the charge for depositing a foreign funds check depends upon your history with the bank, the amount of the check, and whether the Thai bank is comfortable with the organization that issued the check and the foreign bank involved.

History has nothing to with it - unless you have agreed a negotiation facility.

A bank will usually have a small de-minimis limit for negotiating cheques (ie giving you value immediately for the cheque). Other cheques will be collected and the bank usually give value after 6 weeks. I did see one case where a cheque was 'bounced' after 10 weeks.

Depositing currency cheques (ie non-Baht in this case) drawn on an overseas bank is not advisable if there are any other choices - the costs and the exchange rate are usually against you. Get dollar cheques paid in to a bank in the States (you could open a dollar account with a Thai bank - good luck !) and take your money out via ATM. If larger amounts use SWIFT.

I have used Siam Commercial successively at three different branches for two decades on these terms for any negotiable foreign currency cheques (e.g. GBP, HKD, SGD, USD, JPY, etc ):

200 baht fee

3 baht stamp

45 days clearing

decent exchange rate

The clearing time is a drag but everything else is darned cheap by international comparison. This is one case of Thailand good, elsewhere bad.

I advise anyone to use SCB, but to make sure when opening an account that your chosen branch offers thsse terms for foreign cheque deposit -- some branches differ. Why? TIT.

[BigSnake]

This the norm for most if not all Thai Bank, over my many years in Thailand I have always experience this, somebody got to pay the processing charging, the bank not that's for sure so that only leaves us the in USER to bite the bullets, grin and bear it.

[sassienie]

4 days ago I paid in a personal UK Barclays Bank cheque from my Barclays current account for the amount of £300 into my fixed Bangkok Bank account in Chiang Mai.

Charged 347.something baht.

Told cheque will take about 4 weeks to clear.

[mrmillersr]

Just checked with SCB website and it says:

"Inward RemittanceInward Remittance – Draft

This service is for drafts denominated in foreign currency and drawn on banks in Thailand.

Service Feature

Cheaper than SWIFT transfer

Fee

150 baht/draft, plus 3 baht for stamp duty."

Nothing about size of incoming check so if this is accurate, the total fees would only be 153 baht at the SCB.

[threedot]

Just checked with SCB website and it says:

"Inward RemittanceInward Remittance – Draft

This service is for drafts denominated in foreign currency and drawn on banks in Thailand.

Service Feature

Cheaper than SWIFT transfer

Fee

150 baht/draft, plus 3 baht for stamp duty."

Nothing about size of incoming check so if this is accurate, the total fees would only be 153 baht at the SCB.

The keyword here is "drawn on banks in Thailand"... I should imagine most people with foreign currency cheques on this forum do not have them drawn on a Thai bank. For example, if you write a cheque from a British bank, say Natwest, and try to cash it at SCB, this will not apply.