Atm Withdrawal In Foreign Currency

[chiangrai]

hi,

just read in the book 'how to buy land and build a house in thailand' that when you withdraw money from a foreign account using an atm in thailand that you should order it in foreign currency and you will get a better rate.

anywone know how to do this or have i missunderstood something,

all help appreciated

[neverdie]

Was it the case that the advice you have is to exchange YOUR CURRENCY, on shore, here in Thailand to get a better rate? As opposed to exchanging the currency at a bank or whatever in your own country?

Generally, you get a better exchange rate when you exchange currency on shore, so if you are sending money from an overseas account to a thai one, send your local currency, not thai baht, you will get an option when you do the electronic transfer request.

Do you follow?

[hhgz]

"have i missunderstood something,"

Nearly everything. You'll get a better THB exchange rate in Thailand. You cannot buy a home with money that you withdraw from an ATM.

[think_too_mut]

hi,

just read in the book 'how to buy land and build a house in thailand' that when you withdraw money from a foreign account using an atm in thailand that you should order it in foreign currency and you will get a better rate.

anywone know how to do this or have i missunderstood something,

Ask your money back.

The money for property transaction MUST come in full (deposits or prepayments do not count, the full sum must come in and the seller will refund earlier payments in a separate transaction) from abroad with clearly stated purpose of "property purchase in Thailand". Even if you live and work and have made the money in Thailand, you must send fresh money from abroad.

Oh, which ATM in Thailand is loaded with any bills other than Thai Baht? Can't believe anyone able to write and sell a book could have said anything like that.

Or I have misunderstood your misunderstanding?

[GOWER]

"have i missunderstood something,"

Nearly everything. You'll get a better THB exchange rate in Thailand. You cannot buy a home with money that you withdraw from an ATM.

oh... i was buying a small house 250,000, i was gonna use an atm machine to draw it out when im back in thailand , so are you saying i cant ?

[think_too_mut]

"have i missunderstood something,"

Nearly everything. You'll get a better THB exchange rate in Thailand. You cannot buy a home with money that you withdraw from an ATM.

oh... i was buying a small house 250,000, i was gonna use an atm machine to draw it out when im back in thailand , so are you saying i cant ?

You can as legally neither you nor your money would exist. The house will just turn up as somebody else's proprety without any mention of you or your money.

[Langsuan Man]

"have i missunderstood something,"

Nearly everything. You'll get a better THB exchange rate in Thailand. You cannot buy a home with money that you withdraw from an ATM.

oh... i was buying a small house 250,000, i was gonna use an atm machine to draw it out when im back in thailand , so are you saying i cant ?

Yes, you can......But that would require 125 trips to the ATM if your bank limits you to 20K in Baht per day. If your bank charges you for ATM withdrawals you would incur 125 charges.

And as other posters have told you the money is not "CLEAN" and if questioned by Thai authorities you could be accused of money laundering. You also MAY run into trouble at the Land Office when transferring the property and finally you could never take the money back out of Thailand.

So just spend a few quid for a wire transfer and stay legal

[think_too_mut]

"have i missunderstood something,"

Nearly everything. You'll get a better THB exchange rate in Thailand. You cannot buy a home with money that you withdraw from an ATM.

oh... i was buying a small house 250,000, i was gonna use an atm machine to draw it out when im back in thailand , so are you saying i cant ?

Yes, you can......But that would require 125 trips to the ATM if your bank limits you to 20K in Baht per day. If your bank charges you for ATM withdrawals you would incur 125 charges.

And as other posters have told you the money is not "CLEAN" and if questioned by Thai authorities you could be accused of money laundering. You also MAY run into trouble at the Land Office when transferring the property and finally you could never take the money back out of Thailand.

So just spend a few quid for a wire transfer and stay legal

It's rather 12.5 trips.

If charges for withdrawal are 500B then multiply it by 13.

And if he is buying a house, authorities will not see him, except maybe to sign a statement that he has no claims over the house (that sits on some land) and that belongs to a Thai national.

That could be the only link between him and "his" house - that he claims "no link".

[GOWER]

I want to send 250,000 tb to my wife in Thailand to a buy a little house/land, what is the best way to do it ?,

is it send it from my bank (HSBC) in sterling to her bank (BANGKOK BANK LTD), when I do it I will tell my bank that's it is to buy house/land. they will give me a receipt, and is that what I show the Land Office when buying the property,

or any suggestion which is the easy way to do it

also can I have the house/land in my daughters name (8 weeks old), as I was thinking if we did ever split up, it would be much harder for her to get her hands on the house/land,

but if it was in my daughters name would that make any difference if I wanted to make the house bigger

mmmm so much to decide

thanks all

Edited April 13, 2009 by GOWER

[Chaimai]

Yes, you can......But that would require 125 trips to the ATM if your bank limits you to 20K in Baht per day. If your bank charges you for ATM withdrawals you would incur 125 charges.

And as other posters have told you the money is not "CLEAN" and if questioned by Thai authorities you could be accused of money laundering. You also MAY run into trouble at the Land Office when transferring the property and finally you could never take the money back out of Thailand.

So just spend a few quid for a wire transfer and stay legal

Just to clarify - if you are from the UK the ATM withdrawal limit is likely to be nearer to 15,000 Baht (GBP 300) so it will take almost 17 trips. You are likely to get a 1% charge from your card provider (assuming it is a debit card, not a credit card) - that is 2,500 Baht. Add to that 150 Baht x 17 charge for foreign card ATM useage = 2,550 + 2,500 = 5,050 Baht, say, GBP 100.

Forget about Money Laundering the Land Office won't give a monkey's about settlement which you will arrange with the vendor and various other parties. Have you consulted a lawyer ? Not a large amount but you will never see it again so you don't need to worry about transferring it back out of Thailand.

It is a simple economic question - transfer via SWIFT to your wife's account, mark the payment for land purchase (nobody really cares but it used to stop the BoT holding back some of the money) and pay up to GBP 25 for the transfer.

[Chaimai]

Yes, you can......But that would require 125 trips to the ATM if your bank limits you to 20K in Baht per day. If your bank charges you for ATM withdrawals you would incur 125 charges.

And as other posters have told you the money is not "CLEAN" and if questioned by Thai authorities you could be accused of money laundering. You also MAY run into trouble at the Land Office when transferring the property and finally you could never take the money back out of Thailand.

So just spend a few quid for a wire transfer and stay legal

Just to clarify - if you are from the UK the ATM withdrawal limit is likely to be nearer to 15,000 Baht (GBP 300) so it will take almost 17 trips. You are likely to get a 1% charge from your card provider (assuming it is a debit card, not a credit card) - that is 2,500 Baht. Add to that 150 Baht x 17 charge for foreign card ATM useage = 2,550 + 2,500 = 5,050 Baht, say, GBP 100.

Forget about Money Laundering the Land Office won't give a monkey's about settlement which you will arrange with the vendor and various other parties. Have you consulted a lawyer ? Not a large amount but you will never see it again so you don't need to worry about transferring it back out of Thailand.

It is a simple economic question - transfer via SWIFT to your wife's account, mark the payment for land purchase (nobody really cares but it used to stop the BoT holding back some of the money) and pay up to GBP 25 for the transfer.

[Chaimai]

also can I have the house/land in my daughters name (8 weeks old), as I was thinking if we did ever split up, it would be much harder for her to get her hands on the house/land,

but if it was in my daughters name would that make any difference if I wanted to make the house bigger

Good to see your confidence at the outset

If this thought is going through your mind, definately consult a lawyer. There are a number of lawyer sponsors on the forum - I used Isaan Lawyers.

[GOWER]

no i havent consulted a lawyer ?

should i ( i think um gonna say yes)

its a littie house for the wife & kids to live, as at the moment she is living with her sister and they dont get on at all, i just want to make sure my daughter has somewhere better to live

im not worried about the money transferring it back out of Thailand

Edited April 13, 2009 by GOWER

[GOWER]

any idea on how much it will cost to transfer the house/land/ paper work and all that, just a rough idea will do

[longball53098]

The cost of the land/house transfer I believe is a percentage of the assessed value and depending on the agreement with the seller maybe paid by the seller or 50-50 with the buyer or all on you. The amount will be small if your place is worth 300k or less as I think the percentage is like 1.5 or so.

Make a swift transfer buy the place. If you plan to live in the place look at the expense as the rent you saved on a condo or house and if you split up no loss just a living expense.