how can i cash a US check in Thailand? can i simply deposit it into my Thai bank account? any other options?

Yes you can deposit it into your Thai bank account. Will take a long time to clear though, TMB takes up to 45 days. As you bank for their policy.

how can i cash a US check in Thailand? can i simply deposit it into my Thai bank account? any other options?

Yes you can. it will take some time to clear. The Baht rate you get will depend on the exact Dollar/Baht rate of the day it clears. (not the day you deposited it). The bank will charge a fee for cashing the check which will be taken out of the Baht amount you recieve for the check. What the exact amount of the fee will be depends on the bank you use. It would be better to deposit a large check for cash than a small one, as the fee will be a smaller percentage of the amount of the larger check.

how can i cash a US check in Thailand? can i simply deposit it into my Thai bank account? any other options?

Yes you can. it will take some time to clear. The Baht rate you get will depend on the exact Dollar/Baht rate of the day it clears. (not the day you deposited it). The bank will charge a fee for cashing the check which will be taken out of the Baht amount you recieve for the check. What the exact amount of the fee will be depends on the bank you use. It would be better to deposit a large check for cash than a small one, as the fee will be a smaller percentage of the amount of the larger check.

Not a problem, at least at the four branches of Siam Commercial Bank I've dealt with for the last lots of years.

I do a monthly deposit via a personal check on my U.S. credit union in baht, largely for purposes of Immigration to show that I've got baht 65,000+ coming in from a foreign source each month. Yes, access to the funds here is delayed by 45 days, which isn't a problem really after the first couple of checks, then you're on a roll.

Regarding the exchange rate, it's figured ON THE DATE of deposit, eg, writing the check there at my local branch of SCB, not when the check clears. Indeed, a couple of times there's been a glitch with the check, unreadable, something, the branch phones me, I go down, do another check, the initial deposit is reversed and a new deposit, with probably a new exchange rate on the new day, is recorded in the bank book. Sometimes up, sometimes down.

It costs me baht 203 at SCB for a check, any amount, baht 200 fee and baht 3 for a Thai tax stamp.

FYI, I've not tried to cash a third party check, usually just mail those out to the U.S. for deposit. Might try it when I receive my wee IRS refund this year.

Mac

baht 203

I cashed a US cheque into my Thai bank account at Bank of Ayudhya in January and was charged B203,deducted when the money was paid .We were offered a choice of,I think,4 weeks and 6 weeks to get the money.We opted for 6 because it was cheaper.I forget the charge for 6 weeks.Anyway,it was paid into our account within 4 weeks.Do check with your bank first.Years ago,I made the mistake of cashing cheques with the now taken over Bangkok Metropolitan Bank,which took 10% and then took B203.