Thee_Rak Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 Hi, okay my Thai Wife is going back to Thailand for the first time in a year and I've just started thinking about cash issues. First question... if she walks into Bangkok Bank or Thailand Farmers Bank and writes a check from our US Bank account and deposits it into an account are there fees or costs involved in that? We want to give some money to her Khun Mae but I don't want to deal with travelers checks or atm w/d fees or anything like that. Okay so that's really the only question I guess... she has a Chase Bank (US) "debit" visa card so she can just use that like a Visa anywhere they accept cards and if she needs cash in hand she can make an atm withdrawal for that (plus she'll have maybe 600usd cash in hand when she arrives to change into baht when she gets there. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaiphoon Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 The fees for foreign cheque clearance will be high because it is a manual process. Plus you may have to wait a month for cheque clearance before you get access to the funds. If the amount is small just withdraw using ATM card. If amount is large then suggest you wire (SWIFT) the funds over to a nominated account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phetaroi Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 The only thing I can add here -- and it is about HSBC (which, BTW, I have had absolutely wonderful experiences with thus far...I am a Premiere member) -- is that they would not cash USD checks for me until I had been a client for 6 months. Although I have some doubts about their reason, they said it was an American government problem due to money laundering and terrorism funds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tywais Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I have written a personal check and deposited it to Bangkok Bank several times, including just a few weeks ago. It is a $10.00 (~340 baht) handling fee and has always taken 3 weeks for it to clear. The exchange rate has always been as posted for onshore rates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longball53098 Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 (edited) Forget cashing a check and wire the funds to the bank in Thailand. Use an ATM until the cash arrives. Edited August 13, 2009 by longball53098 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noahvail Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 Forget cashing a check and wire the funds to the bank in Thailand. Use an ATM until the cash arrives. Agreed. That's the safest and fastest way to go. Just be aware that ATM withdrawal fees for foreign cards are now 150 baht per use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metisdead Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 Forget cashing a check and wire the funds to the bank in Thailand. Use an ATM until the cash arrives. Agreed. That's the safest and fastest way to go. Just be aware that ATM withdrawal fees for foreign cards are now 150 baht per use. I still do ATM withdrawals at UOB ATM's and have not been assessed the 150B fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thee_Rak Posted August 13, 2009 Author Share Posted August 13, 2009 Thanks everyone... Sounds like ATM it is. BTW we have used paypal to send money to a Thai bank b/4 and the last time it seemd like the rate was very unfavorable. Moving $300 seemed to "cost" about as much as a wire transfer from a bank. Last time we used pp to move $250 to a pp account that is set up with a Thai bank and it turned into $239.95 but both accounts showed no "fees". Then we did a pp withdrawal to the Thai bank and the amount was 7,971.40 baht Everytime b/4 that if I move $200 they receive $200 if $600 they receive $600 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imjustagirl Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 Thanks everyone... Sounds like ATM it is.BTW we have used paypal to send money to a Thai bank b/4 and the last time it seemd like the rate was very unfavorable. Moving $300 seemed to "cost" about as much as a wire transfer from a bank. Last time we used pp to move $250 to a pp account that is set up with a Thai bank and it turned into $239.95 but both accounts showed no "fees". Then we did a pp withdrawal to the Thai bank and the amount was 7,971.40 baht Everytime b/4 that if I move $200 they receive $200 if $600 they receive $600 When transfering funds in a paypal account make sure that you select personal payment to the other paypal account as this will mean no charge, if you don't then you will get charged the fees as it is taken as a business transaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hhiser Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 <br />Thanks everyone... Sounds like ATM it is.<br /><br />BTW we have used paypal to send money to a Thai bank b/4 and the last time it seemd like the rate was very unfavorable. Moving $300 seemed to "cost" about as much as a wire transfer from a bank.<br /><br />Last time we used pp to move $250 to a pp account that is set up with a Thai bank and it turned into $239.95 but both accounts showed no "fees". Then we did a pp withdrawal to the Thai bank and the amount was 7,971.40 baht<br /><br />Everytime b/4 that if I move $200 they receive $200 if $600 they receive $600<br /><br /><br /><br />I do not think PayPal trusts the Thai Banks. I did a little research into it and found they only authorized one bank in Thailand. May favorite story about BKK bank was when I took a check from my parents, for my wedding, they bank official told me the fee could be as much as hal;f the value of the check. Amazingly it was and it took several weeks to cash! Go to an ATM Government Savings Bank is said to be free still and Bank of Ayudia (?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianguygil Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 I think I can help with this. For full disclosure I need to tell you I am associated with Bangkok Bank. The best option is for you to transfer funds from your US bank into Thailand via SWIFT. You can route through BBL's New York branch directly into a BBL account anywhere in Thailand. If you send in USD then the exchange rate will be better than sending in baht. If you are with a large bank in the US (such as Chase that you mention) they will be very familiar with how to do this. Cheques take up to 6 weeks to clear, so are not a good option and there are clearing fees. Using an international ATM / Credit card is one option, but there is a fee of 150 bt per transaction which can add up. The way to transfer funds to your account in Thailand this way is provided at the Bangkok Bank website. I tried to paste the full URL to the content but this board will not let me post a URL I hope this helps Ian Hi,okay my Thai Wife is going back to Thailand for the first time in a year and I've just started thinking about cash issues. First question... if she walks into Bangkok Bank or Thailand Farmers Bank and writes a check from our US Bank account and deposits it into an account are there fees or costs involved in that? We want to give some money to her Khun Mae but I don't want to deal with travelers checks or atm w/d fees or anything like that. Okay so that's really the only question I guess... she has a Chase Bank (US) "debit" visa card so she can just use that like a Visa anywhere they accept cards and if she needs cash in hand she can make an atm withdrawal for that (plus she'll have maybe 600usd cash in hand when she arrives to change into baht when she gets there. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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