Swift Transfers

[naomisri]

Seen quite a lot of info about transfering money from the UK and the associated costs, have finally settled on SWIFT transfer, but although I can find posts on how to do one I was wondering in your personal experience who you found to be the best

i) Swiftest service

ii) Best exchange rates

iii) Lowest service charges

What about the worst banks to deal with? Any other problems?

Who is the best Thai Bank to deal with?

Who is the best UK Bank/BS to deal with?

I have an account with Nationwide BS, but am prepared to use another bank if advantageous.

Thanks in advance

[fisherd3]

Seen quite a lot of info about transfering money from the UK and the associated costs, have finally settled on SWIFT transfer, but although I can find posts on how to do one I was wondering in your personal experience who you found to be the best

i) Swiftest service 

ii) Best exchange rates

iii) Lowest service charges

What about the worst banks to deal with?  Any other problems?

Who is the best Thai Bank to deal with?

Who is the best UK Bank/BS to deal with?

I have an account with Nationwide BS, but am prepared to use another bank if advantageous.

Thanks in advance 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have transferred GBP5000 to a Bangkok Bank Savings account with Nationwide via swift, the charge was GBP20, you have to go into the branch, take two forms of picture ID, (if driving licence both parts) fill in the form , no problem takes 5-7 days, can't imagine any other bank being much different, I think you have to transfer the money in sterling to Thailand and the exchange rate is determined by the Thai National Bank, so not much room for dealing there.

Edited January 25, 2005 by fisherd3

[taxexile]

i use barclays in the uk and bangkok bank here , either the head office in bangkok or the branch in samui. never had any problems with either branch but i know that the thai banking system is still in the dark ages and the staff can be pretty unhelpful and cold. the money is transferred from my uk account to my thai account.

it takes up to 2 days if weekends are avoided , i.e. authorise the transfer from the uk on a monday and it should be in your account by tuesday p.m. or wednesday a.m.

barclays charge 20 pounds and the local costs are 8 pounds (charged to my uk account , make sure all the charges are incurred to your uk account) , i've never been able to figure out why there should be local costs , transfers from the uk to other countries do not incur a local cost.

make sure the money is transferred in pounds sterling (you specify this on the transfer form) and the exchange to baht is done at this end , if your uk bank buys baht in the uk and transfers them over to thailand you will lose a lot on the exchange rate.

Edited January 25, 2005 by taxexile

[pautai]

it can be a pain , i did a transfer from BK bank in London to BK bank in Bangkok and many weeks later it had not arrived !

Doing BK bank London to Thai farmers Thailand was even worse as there is no facility to do electronic tranfers between them.(they send a cheque locally)

I guess using Barclays /HSBC is the best option , or Nationwide .

Using the thai banks seems to take longer for some inexplicable reason ...

whether someone is dragging their feet in order to squeeze a few baht somewhere on the deal is not unlikely ....

[naomisri]

Great advice. Do you know whether with Nationwide/Barclays/HSBC they transfer directly to the Thai bank or do they have to transfer through another UK bank first? I read about this in an earlier thread.

Should I envisage a better deal going through BKK Bank? I don't have an account currently, but I can open one.

Thanks for the tips so far! I'm transfering 25k GBP so the 20 GBP fee seems fair enough to me. I know Natwest charge 18 GBP, but not sure what their rates are like.

[taxexile]

For more information about SWIFT connect to www.swift.com.

[naomisri]

Tax -

Don't seem to be able to make head nor tail of their website. Seems to be B2B site with info for companies/banks about their products rather than having any details about transfers/exchange rates etc.

Thought somewhere on the net there might be some kind of comparison of rates, but couldn't find anything!

Thanks anyway...

[taxexile]

swift is the way all banks move money around now , its fast, easy and cheap (there's a punchline in there somewhere), shouldnt cost more than 20 quid.

[Harmonica]

>>>> Great advice. Do you know whether with Nationwide/Barclays/HSBC they transfer directly to the Thai bank or do they have to transfer through another UK bank first? I read about this in an earlier thread.<<<<<<<

Its called a correspondent bank and it is not necessary for you, the customer to know these details -- your bank can establish this in a jiffy --SWIFT is the way to go -- only the SWIFT code for your Thai bank, it's name, it's location and your account # are necessary.

SCB is better and quicker than BBL.

[pautai]

just ring up BKK Bank in London and ask them how much .

0207 929 4422

61 st mary axe

London EC3

you send them a cheque and they pass on the money

[taxexile]

just ring up BKK Bank in London and ask them how much .

0207 929 4422

61 st mary axe

London EC3

you send them a cheque and they pass on the money

they stoped doing any banking work there about 2 or 3 years ago. they may support thai businesses in london but that is about all.

i think they are just a "presence" in london now for status reasons and to hob-nob with the thai embassy lot.

send them a cheque at your peril.

Edited January 27, 2005 by taxexile

[Harmonica]

just ring up BKK Bank in London and ask them how much .

0207 929 4422

61 st mary axe

London EC3

you send them a cheque and they pass on the money

they stoped doing any banking work there about 2 or 3 years ago. they may support thai businesses in london but that is about all.

i think they are just a "presence" in london now for status reasons and to hob-nob with the thai embassy lot.

send them a cheque at your peril.

and I might add, at the risk of your blood pressure soaring when you discover it never arrived, but has been CASHED.

[naomisri]

Thanks again guys for all the advice. I'm on the case. Will report back any negative/positive experiences.

N

[fisherd3]

Great advice.  Do you know whether with Nationwide/Barclays/HSBC they transfer directly to the Thai bank or do they have to transfer through another UK bank first?  I read about this in an earlier thread.

Should I envisage a better deal going through BKK Bank?  I don't have an account currently, but I can open one.

Thanks for the tips so far! I'm transfering 25k GBP so the 20 GBP fee seems fair enough to me.  I know Natwest charge 18 GBP, but not sure what their rates are like.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Further to my original post , may I add that if you are transferring the money to buy property, you must put on SWIFT form reason for the transfer ' Buying condo/property/ house' Though on reflection how a falang can be transferring money to buy property other than a condo, might be open for further scrutiny.

[astral]

There are some points to watch.

If you deal with a small town branch of your bank in the Uk they may not really know how to send the money and will post the request to their head office, wasting time.

An account at a big bank dealing with international business is better.

Insist the money is sent in Sterling.

The exchange rate on London is very poor compared to Thailand, sometimes 2-3 baht less.

I bank with Royal Bank of Scotland in Jersey and a TT to my Thailand account at Krung Thai bank takes around 3 days.

[taxexile]

if you are using the money for buying property then you need the thai bank to issue you with a foriegn exchange transaction form. just ask the bank for it after your money is transferred.

when you sell the property , this form will make it easy to send the money out of the country again.

[naomisri]

I bank with Royal Bank of Scotland in Jersey and a TT to my Thailand account at Krung Thai bank takes around 3 days.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So it is just as good tansfering to Krung Thai rather than opening a BKK bank account.

I can do either.

[Flummoxed]

There are some points to watch.

If you deal with a small town branch of your bank in the Uk they may not really know how to send the money and will post the request to their head office, wasting time.

An account at a big bank dealing with international business is better.

Insist the money is sent in Sterling.

The exchange rate on London is very poor compared to Thailand, sometimes 2-3 baht less.

I bank with Royal Bank of Scotland in Jersey and a TT to my Thailand account at Krung Thai bank takes around 3 days.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I transferred 5000 GBP from a rural Barclays to BKK bank. Took less than 24 hrs. 20 something quid charge.

Edited January 29, 2005 by Flummoxed

[naomisri]

I haven't started the transfer yet, but when I do you'll all be the first people to know how it goes...

[bkk_mike]

just ring up BKK Bank in London and ask them how much .

0207 929 4422

61 st mary axe

London EC3

you send them a cheque and they pass on the money

they stoped doing any banking work there about 2 or 3 years ago. they may support thai businesses in london but that is about all.

i think they are just a "presence" in london now for status reasons and to hob-nob with the thai embassy lot.

send them a cheque at your peril.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I still use them occasionally, so they still do some banking work there. If we're in the UK and want to transfer money into the BKK bank account that our mortgage / electric / water comes out of, it's easy to walk in, hand over cash, and fill in the transfer form. (First time you do it, you need multiple forms of ID, and proof of your UK address, i.e. about the same info you need to get a card with BlockBuster, but after that you can just pop in.)

However, I only use them because they're within walking distance of the office I work at when in the UK.

[taxexile]

thats useful to know , thanks bkkmike.

after the thai currency crash they certainly cut back a lot on their activities and told me that they werent doing any "small potatoes" type work.

good to hear that they are up and running again.

[Spee]

just ring up BKK Bank in London and think they are just a "presence" in london now for status reasons and to hob-nob with the thai embassy lot.

send them a cheque at your peril.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I still use them occasionally, so they still do some banking work there. If we're in the UK and want to transfer money into the BKK bank account that our mortgage / electric / water comes out of, it's easy to walk in, hand over cash, and fill in the transfer form. (First time you do it, you need multiple forms of ID, and proof of your UK address, i.e. about the same info you need to get a card with BlockBuster, but after that you can just pop in.)

However, I only use them because they're within walking distance of the office I work at when in the UK.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are they really a problem?

I've done business there a couple of times and never had a problem.

OT a bit, but can a new account be opened there?

[bkk_mike]

Are they really a problem?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No

I've done business there a couple of times and never had a problem.

OT a bit, but can a new account be opened there?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I asked once - and they said they didn't open accounts there. The only business done there (retail-wise) is basically people transferring money to Thailand.