U.s Banks In Thailand

[joesohum]

what is the best u.s. bank that i can deposit dollars into it in the states. and draw out baht from its branch in thailand. i know bank of america has a branch. as well as citibank. but if you have an account with them can you draw out baht with out paying transfer fees??

[bernie66]

Siam Commercial Bank has a New York branch that you can open an account with online. Tranfer the account to a branch near where you are staying or keep it in New York. But i dont think you can escape Atm fees as the thai charge fees for thais withdrawing at a branch accross town.

[thaihome]

what is the best u.s. bank that i can deposit dollars into it in the states. and draw out baht from its branch in thailand. i know bank of america has a branch. as well as citibank. but if you have an account with them can you draw out baht with out paying transfer fees??

I don't believe you can do that. The Thailand banks are separate entities and you cannot link to US bank accounts due to regulatory issues.

TH

Edited September 6, 2009 by thaihome

[joesohum]

ok then. what is the best way to get dollars into thailand. other than carrying them

[Langsuan Man]

SWIFT, also known as Wire transfers is the easiest way to get US funds into your Thai Bank Account. Fee's range from a low of $25 to $50 US depending upon your US Bank

Due to the new 150 THB ATM fee, the Wire transfer option has become more viable despite the Wire transfer fee

Obviously the down side is the requirement to transfer large amounts to minimize the fee impact

There are ways to use Bangkok Bank's NY office to EFTS funds into a Thai Bangkok Bank account, but this method still requires fees, but if I am not mistaken, only costs $10 per transfer. Do a search here for full details

[jfchandler]

There has been a lot written on the subject in other banking threads here... Those interested would do well to do a bit of background reading in the Banking Forum...for finding answers to their questions...

But to generally restate what's already been said elsewhere....

When sending money from the U.S. to Thailand, such as via wire transfer, you always want to send the funds in U.S. $ -- NOT Thai baht. If you send from the U.S. in Thai baht, that means your local U.S. bank will do the $ to baht exchange and give you a lousy rate. What you want to do is send from the U.S. in U.S. $, and then have the receiving Thai bank do the conversion to baht, at a better, "onshore" exchange rate. (The rate you should expect right now is between 33.7 and 34 baht to $1).

1. Regarding U.S. banks with some presence in Thailand...

--Bank of America has a single office in Thailand, but it's not a retail, consumer office. You can't make any ATM withdrawals there, and they don't provide retail banking services. However, BofA recently has begun allowing their U.S. customers to initiate international wire transfers from their online banking module, and allowing you to establish saved foreign account for sending to. However, BofA is one of the worst U.S. banks in terms of high fees if you're trying to use your BofA ATM card or credit card outside the U.S., as well as for international wires. So beware...

--CitiBank has a single office and ATMs location in the Bangkok area. CitiBank also is one of the bank's that's been reported to enable online international wire transfers from their U.S. accounts, at least for some kinds of accounts. You should be able to use your CitiBank ATM card (or any other U.S. bank card) to withdraw funds from CitiBank or any other bank ATM in Thailand. But, I don't believe the CitiBank office in Thailand has direct access to your U.S. account. You might search on TV for CitiBank to read more, since I'm not a customer of theirs with direct experience.

--HSBC is another example of this. HSBC has offices around the world, including the U.S. and Thailand. But they really treat their U.S. and Thai-based accounts as separate. You can have online banking with HSBC in the U.S., but cannot generally move funds directly from there to an HSBC account in Thailand, except through an international wire. The one exception to this is what HSBC calls their Premier-level accounts, where you have at least $100,000 in total funds on deposit with them. In that case, they do allow online, international movement of funds within the HSBC online banking module--although, HSBC doesn't have a good reputation for providing good exchange rates on its transfers from the U.S.

2. Various of the Thai banks have offices in the U.S., generally New York or Los Angeles. But, those are not generally retail/commercial offices... You cannot, to the best of my knowledge, open accounts there and then use those to transfer funds without fees to Thailand.

3. For moving money from the U.S. to Thailand, the best route depends a lot on the particulars of the situation... Is it a large amount, one-time transfer? Or are they recurring, monthly, smaller amount transfers? And where is the person located who's doing the sending, Thailand or USA???

For larger amount, single transfers (such as to pay for real estate or buy a car or such), probably a wire transfer will be the best bet, (and may be required in the case of real estate deals as part of establishing a required funding documents trail in Thailand). But U.S. banks charge widely varying fees for international wires, from free to $65 per or more. So it pays to shop around for this service. However, mostly, you need to be in the U.S. to initiate such a wire, or have made a pre-authorization arrangement with your home bank. (There are a few exceptions to this, where U.S. banks will allow online or telephone initiation of international wires).

For smaller, recurring transfers, -- again depending on the amount -- the best route likely will be one of two things.

A. If you're in Thailand and/or the person receiving the funds has the U.S. ATM card for the sending account: Most Thai ATMs will dispense between 20,000 and 30,000 baht per transaction (depending on if your home bank limit allows that much on a daily basis). If you use your U.S. bank card in a fee-free Thai ATM machine (like Government Savings Bank or AEON), there is no fee at the Thai end for this. (As of this spring, all other Thai banks started charging 150 baht per withdrawal when foreign (non-Thai) ATM cards are used.)

There are also a fair number of U.S. banks (though not most of the majors) that either allow fee-free international ATM withdrawals and/or rebate ATM fees charged by the bank that owns the foreign ATM. So if you use GSB or AEON on the Thai end, and have the right bank account back in the U.S., ATM withdrawals in Thailand can be absolutely fee-free. Then, just use a cash deposit machine at your local Thai bank to deposit those funds into your Thai account.

B. If you're staying in the U.S., and want to send money to a third party in Thailand who doesn't have access to the U.S. ATM card: Probably the best bet is to establish a bank account with Bangkok Bank anywhere in Thailand. Then, you can use online banking from your U.S. bank account to link that account with the New York branch of Bangkok Bank, which has its own U.S. ABA/routing number. The link will be verified with the trial deposits method. So after you initiate the link using the ABA # for the New York branch and your Thai account number with BKK Bank, you'll need to call Bangkok Bank in Bangkok (yes, they have English speaking phone staff) to tell you the trial deposits amounts (which they'll record in baht) in the original U.S. $ amounts, so you can use those to confirm the link in your U.S. online banking. Once the link is established, you can ACH funds from your home bank to the New York branch of BKK Bank, which then will automatically send them onward to your local BKK Bank account in Thailand. The New York branch charges a couple bucks, and the bank in Thailand likewise charges I believe between 250 and 500 baht per transfer, depending on the amount sent. Either way, it ends up being cheaper than most international wires, unless your home bank is doing that service for you at a very low rate.

Other Thai banks have U.S. offices and some apparently have U.S. ABA numbers. But, to the best of my knowledge, no one has reported being able to use those to link to their U.S. bank accounts, and then ACH transfer funds to the corresponding Thai bank in Thailand. The Bangkok Bank is a proven, somewhat longstanding approach.

4. The situation is similar to those discussed above for the receipt of U.S. pension and retirement payments. A person wanting to receive such monthly payments in Thailand can arrange for them to be directly deposited into their Bangkok Bank account in Thailand, via the bank's New York office. A retiree also can have those payments direct deposited into their U.S. bank account, and then use its U.S. ATM card to withdraw the funds in Thailand, and either spend them as cash and/or then re-deposit them into any Thai bank account of their choosing.

Edited September 7, 2009 by jfchandler

[TongueThaied]

SWIFT, also known as Wire transfers is the easiest way to get US funds into your Thai Bank Account. Fee's range from a low of $25 to $50 US depending upon your US Bank

Due to the new 150 THB ATM fee, the Wire transfer option has become more viable despite the Wire transfer fee

Obviously the down side is the requirement to transfer large amounts to minimize the fee impact

There are ways to use Bangkok Bank's NY office to EFTS funds into a Thai Bangkok Bank account, but this method still requires fees, but if I am not mistaken, only costs $10 per transfer. Do a search here for full details

I have used SWIFT, but don't like it. The probelm with SWIFT is that the initiating bank takes your word that you gave them correct information. Unlike if you use an ABA (ACH System) code, they take no responsibility for the money once it is "dumped into the chute." This makes me real nervous. It is also less expensive to transfer with an ABA routing nuimber that with a SWIFT code. One poster said Siam Bank has a New York Branch. I now use Bangkok Bank as they have a New York Branch and a very good English language website.

Here are some frequently asked (by farang) questions: http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok%20Bank/...0Questions.aspx

Good Luck!

[joesohum]

i would like to thank you all for your responses to my question. i was really wishing i could just put dollars in a bank here in the states and draw out baht from there branch in thailand.with out having to pay fees. simple enough but i guess not possible. i guess the atm would work for little amounts and the wire transfer for larger ones.

anyhow thanks again for your attention.

joe

SWIFT, also known as Wire transfers is the easiest way to get US funds into your Thai Bank Account. Fee's range from a low of $25 to $50 US depending upon your US Bank

Due to the new 150 THB ATM fee, the Wire transfer option has become more viable despite the Wire transfer fee

Obviously the down side is the requirement to transfer large amounts to minimize the fee impact

There are ways to use Bangkok Bank's NY office to EFTS funds into a Thai Bangkok Bank account, but this method still requires fees, but if I am not mistaken, only costs $10 per transfer. Do a search here for full details

I have used SWIFT, but don't like it. The probelm with SWIFT is that the initiating bank takes your word that you gave them correct information. Unlike if you use an ABA (ACH System) code, they take no responsibility for the money once it is "dumped into the chute." This makes me real nervous. It is also less expensive to transfer with an ABA routing nuimber that with a SWIFT code. One poster said Siam Bank has a New York Branch. I now use Bangkok Bank as they have a New York Branch and a very good English language website.

Here are some frequently asked (by farang) questions: http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok%20Bank/...0Questions.aspx

Good Luck!

[jfchandler]

Joe... it feels like you're getting hung, up for some reason, on needing/wanting the bank you withdraw from in Thailand to be the same banking company you deposit in in the U.S. I'm not sure there's any compelling reason or advantage in that approach. If you think there is one, please let us know here...

Also, it would help some if you mention how much and/or how often you plan to be withdrawing -- in terms of being able to offer pertinent, useful advice.

Nowadays, as long as you have a VISA or MC logo debit card from the U.S., you can pretty much do whatever you want to do, financially, in Thailand. The short answer is to use a U.S. bank that doesn't charge you fees for overseas transactions, or even better, reimburses you for any foreign fees you may incur, and to use GSB or AEON ATMs in Thailand to avoid the 150 baht transaction fee. If you do that, you're basically operating fee-free, which is exactly what I and others here do.

There is another approach that I didn't mention above, and that is to do what's called counter withdrawals here in Thailand using your VISA/MC debit card. It's basically the same as going to an ATM, except, instead, you go into the Thai bank branch with your passport and U.S. debit card, go to the teller, and tell them you want to withdraw $XXX using your card. They'll write it up just like a regular bank withdrawal, and swipe your card to process the transaction.

I've not done this myself, but there have been many reports here on TV of people doing this. One reason some people started doing this more is to avoid the new 150 baht ATM withdrawal fees, but still be able to bank at a convenient location, like BKK Bank or SCB or Kasikorn. By most reports, there is no ATM or other fee charged for this approach. The exchange rate usually is comparable to the ATM rate. And of course, the amount you can withdraw using that card will be limited by the daily withdrawal limit your home bank has placed on the card, which often can be adjusted if you request it from your home bank.

The only wild card about this approach is that different Thai banks seem to have their own different daily limits on how much they'll allow for these kinds of transactions. Most reports say most banks will at least do up to the 20,000 or 30,000 baht amounts similar to their ATM limits. But I believe some TV members reported being able to go to SCB branches and withdraw much larger amounts from SCB. The other downside to this is it means having to carry/bring you passport around with you -- which I prefer not to do just on the safe side, because I like to keep it safe at home.

i would like to thank you all for your responses to my question. i was really wishing i could just put dollars in a bank here in the states and draw out baht from there branch in thailand.with out having to pay fees. simple enough but i guess not possible. i guess the atm would work for little amounts and the wire transfer for larger ones.

anyhow thanks again for your attention.

joe

[joesohum]

JF

i called my bank here in the usa and they said i could go into my bank in thailand with my credit card and withdraw baht. the fee would only be one dollar on this end. and that i would be able to withdraw larger amounts than i could at any atm. that pretty much is what i was interested in doing all along. but i will have to try it to find out for sure. maybe my bank in thailand will add a charge. if so then i am back to square one. all i ever wanted to do was put money in my bank in the states and pull out baht in thailand. avoiding transaction fees. it seems like the credit card at the counter is the best option. ill let you know if it works or not when i return to thailand.

again thanks for all the info.

Joe... it feels like you're getting hung, up for some reason, on needing/wanting the bank you withdraw from in Thailand to be the same banking company you deposit in in the U.S. I'm not sure there's any compelling reason or advantage in that approach. If you think there is one, please let us know here...

Also, it would help some if you mention how much and/or how often you plan to be withdrawing -- in terms of being able to offer pertinent, useful advice.

Nowadays, as long as you have a VISA or MC logo debit card from the U.S., you can pretty much do whatever you want to do, financially, in Thailand. The short answer is to use a U.S. bank that doesn't charge you fees for overseas transactions, or even better, reimburses you for any foreign fees you may incur, and to use GSB or AEON ATMs in Thailand to avoid the 150 baht transaction fee. If you do that, you're basically operating fee-free, which is exactly what I and others here do.

There is another approach that I didn't mention above, and that is to do what's called counter withdrawals here in Thailand using your VISA/MC debit card. It's basically the same as going to an ATM, except, instead, you go into the Thai bank branch with your passport and U.S. debit card, go to the teller, and tell them you want to withdraw $XXX using your card. They'll write it up just like a regular bank withdrawal, and swipe your card to process the transaction.

I've not done this myself, but there have been many reports here on TV of people doing this. One reason some people started doing this more is to avoid the new 150 baht ATM withdrawal fees, but still be able to bank at a convenient location, like BKK Bank or SCB or Kasikorn. By most reports, there is no ATM or other fee charged for this approach. The exchange rate usually is comparable to the ATM rate. And of course, the amount you can withdraw using that card will be limited by the daily withdrawal limit your home bank has placed on the card, which often can be adjusted if you request it from your home bank.

The only wild card about this approach is that different Thai banks seem to have their own different daily limits on how much they'll allow for these kinds of transactions. Most reports say most banks will at least do up to the 20,000 or 30,000 baht amounts similar to their ATM limits. But I believe some TV members reported being able to go to SCB branches and withdraw much larger amounts from SCB. The other downside to this is it means having to carry/bring you passport around with you -- which I prefer not to do just on the safe side, because I like to keep it safe at home.

i would like to thank you all for your responses to my question. i was really wishing i could just put dollars in a bank here in the states and draw out baht from there branch in thailand.with out having to pay fees. simple enough but i guess not possible. i guess the atm would work for little amounts and the wire transfer for larger ones.

anyhow thanks again for your attention.

joe

[jfchandler]

Joe, I notice, you didn't answer either of my questions above aimed at trying to provide you with better advice to your question... how often...and how much...you expect to be withdrawing...

That said, you are seriously off-track, if you mean what you say below about planning to use your CREDIT CARD. That is the WORST thing you could do here... Most credit cards have foreign transaction fees, flat amounts charged when you do withdrawals outside the U.S. In addition, using a credit card to obtain cash will be treated as a cash advance, and probably a] be subject to interest charges starting from the day you withdraw (no month grace period like for purchases) and b] will be assessed by your credit card company at the much higher "cash advance" interest rate vs. a lower purchase interest rate.

You wrote below:

all i ever wanted to do was put money in my bank in the states and pull out baht in thailand. avoiding transaction fees.

If that's what you really want, you just need to do two things: 1. use a U.S. bank DEBIT CARD that doesn't charge you ATM fees for foreign ATM withdrawals, and gives a decent exchange rate. and 2. use Thai ATMS belonging to Government Savings Bank (pink color) or AEON, located in most major shopping malls/centers.

If you do those two things, you'll operate fee-free. If you use your credit card, you're most likely be screwed....

JF

i called my bank here in the usa and they said i could go into my bank in thailand with my credit card and withdraw baht. the fee would only be one dollar on this end. and that i would be able to withdraw larger amounts than i could at any atm. that pretty much is what i was interested in doing all along. but i will have to try it to find out for sure. maybe my bank in thailand will add a charge. if so then i am back to square one. all i ever wanted to do was put money in my bank in the states and pull out baht in thailand. avoiding transaction fees. it seems like the credit card at the counter is the best option. ill let you know if it works or not when i return to thailand.

again thanks for all the info.

[tajartale]

The short answer is to use a U.S. bank that doesn't charge you fees for overseas transactions, or even better, reimburses you for any foreign fees you may incur, and to use GSB or AEON ATMs in Thailand to avoid the 150 baht transaction fee. If you do that, you're basically operating fee-free, which is exactly what I and others here do.

Could you maybe post a short list of which US banks those are?

My cursory search of TV came up with only the investment banks: E*trade, Fidelity, Schwab, etc. I guess that could work, but wouldn't setting up accts with those places entails all kinds of other fees which may not be ideal to the kinds of people trying to avoid fees in the first place?

In the past Capital One or someone like that was reported to have a no fee international card. Now it sounds like they don't?

If I'm wrong about the fee structure of the discount brokers or if there are other options, I'd be interested to know what they are...

(ok, I've now read your post Here's a summary of the Schwab High Yield Savings Account...am going thru the fine print, but assuming you already have this acct...can I open this regardless of whether or not I have any other accts with Schwab? Can I open it online (ie, from here)? Is there really no catch?)

[tajartale]

And if you have experience with the Schwab accts, could you maybe flesh out the difference between the savings and checking accts? Obviously the savings acct offers a (slightly) higher rate, but on the fees and services side, are there differences?

Do you have a regular trading acct with Schwab? B/c the checking acct seems to offer one, so I'm wondering if that is worth thinking about or I should just forget about. Not in a position to be trading any time soon anyway.

Thanks for all your help!

[jfchandler]

Tajartale, sorry, I've been away traveling the past few days...

Yes... I opened the Schwab account from here in LOS.... But I used a U.S. mailing/forwarding address. I didn't try, and don't know, how they respond to a 100% international address.

I actually opened my Schwab accounts before the advent of the 150 baht ATM fee in Thailand. I actually started with their Schwab Invest First Visa credit card, which pays a monthly 2% cash rebate on all transactions, and has zero foreign currency surcharges or other fees. To open that account, they automatically open a Schwab brokerage account for you, but the brokerage account has no fees or minimums, and really, you don't need to ever do anything with it, unless you want to. But they do that because they deposit the credit card rebates to your brokerage account. Once there, you can use in that account or transfer online to any other Schwab Bank account such as their checking account.

The Schwab high yield investor checking is similar. No fees, no minimum, no international surcharge, and they reimburse the 150 baht Thai bank ATM fees when you use your Schwab VISA debit card, if you incur them. But they also will automatically open a Schwab brokerage account when you open the checking account. Same situation as described above.

You can initiate any of these things online with Schwab. But if I recall correctly, you will end up having to do some mailed paperwork in terms of signature cards to open the accounts and enrollment forms if you want to add external bank accounts for linking to your Schwab checking account for purposes of online funds transfers. You can initiate those online, but completing the process requires printing out one page for each account and then mailing it back to Schwab.

Clearly, they're using their banking products to try to encourage their customers to shift their brokerage business/accounts to Schwab. Nothing wrong with that. But if you don't have any brokerage or IRA dealings, then, no problem. You can still take good advantage of their banking products.

In my experience and those of others here on TV who have reported on these accounts with Schwab, there's been nothing but positive comments. I don't know of any "catches" and certainly haven't experienced any. (There are some minor quirks...like not being able to link external accounts solely online, and not being able to do online funds transfers from the checking account (you have to transfer funds from checking to the Schwab brokerage account in real time, and then can do online transfers from there). But all in all, I consider them a very good deal for someone living in LOS.

In the case of E-Trade, to take advantage of their ATM fee-reimbursing Max Rate checking account, you don't need to have a brokerage account with them. But you do need to have a sufficiently large total deposit with them (can be any combination of brokerage, IRA, checking, savings, CD, anything) to avoid their monthly $15 checking account fee. If you can avoid their monthly fee, there's nothing but good with them.

(ok, I've now read your post Here's a summary of the Schwab High Yield Savings Account...am going thru the fine print, but assuming you already have this acct...can I open this regardless of whether or not I have any other accts with Schwab? Can I open it online (ie, from here)? Is there really no catch?)

[jfchandler]

As I indicated above, the nice thing about Schwab is you can have the free brokerage account with them, and never do anything with it or use it for anything... even have a basically 0 balance...and it's no problem. No fees... no minimums, no required trading, when they open the brokerage account for you in connection with either their VISA card or High Yield checking account.

In terms of the differences between Schwab's checking and savings account, both reimburse ATM fees worldwide. The checking account comes with the brokerage account automatically. As far as I can read, you can open the savings account without the brokerage account. But the savings account does have some federally mandated limits on certain kinds of withdrawals... though not on ATM cash withdrawals...

The pertinent language regarding that for the Savings Account is as follows:

The Schwab Bank Savings Account is a variable-rate, interest-bearing savings account. Federal regulations and our Deposit Account Agreement limit outgoing transfers to third parties, preauthorized transfers (including overdraft transfers), and transfers made online or by telephone to six per statement cycle; no more than three of those six transfers may be by check card. See the Schwab Bank Deposit Account Agreement and Pricing Guide for additional information.

The Schwab savings account, as you noted, has a slightly higher interest rate (1.05% at present) compared to the checking account's .75% rate. But at those rates, I don't keep any interest-earning cash there... just use them only for pulling day to day living expenses, after ACH transferring the money in from other accounts that actually earn real interest...

And if you have experience with the Schwab accts, could you maybe flesh out the difference between the savings and checking accts? Obviously the savings acct offers a (slightly) higher rate, but on the fees and services side, are there differences?

Do you have a regular trading acct with Schwab? B/c the checking acct seems to offer one, so I'm wondering if that is worth thinking about or I should just forget about. Not in a position to be trading any time soon anyway.

[tajartale]

As I indicated above, the nice thing about Schwab is you can have the free brokerage account with them, and never do anything with it or use it for anything... even have a basically 0 balance...and it's no problem. No fees... no minimums, no required trading, when they open the brokerage account for you in connection with either their VISA card or High Yield checking account.

In terms of the differences between Schwab's checking and savings account, both reimburse ATM fees worldwide. The checking account comes with the brokerage account automatically. As far as I can read, you can open the savings account without the brokerage account. But the savings account does have some federally mandated limits on certain kinds of withdrawals... though not on ATM cash withdrawals...

The pertinent language regarding that for the Savings Account is as follows:

The Schwab Bank Savings Account is a variable-rate, interest-bearing savings account. Federal regulations and our Deposit Account Agreement limit outgoing transfers to third parties, preauthorized transfers (including overdraft transfers), and transfers made online or by telephone to six per statement cycle; no more than three of those six transfers may be by check card. See the Schwab Bank Deposit Account Agreement and Pricing Guide for additional information.

The Schwab savings account, as you noted, has a slightly higher interest rate (1.05% at present) compared to the checking account's .75% rate. But at those rates, I don't keep any interest-earning cash there... just use them only for pulling day to day living expenses, after ACH transferring the money in from other accounts that actually earn real interest...

And if you have experience with the Schwab accts, could you maybe flesh out the difference between the savings and checking accts? Obviously the savings acct offers a (slightly) higher rate, but on the fees and services side, are there differences?

Do you have a regular trading acct with Schwab? B/c the checking acct seems to offer one, so I'm wondering if that is worth thinking about or I should just forget about. Not in a position to be trading any time soon anyway.

JUST CHECKED BACK ON THIS TODAY. THANKS FOR ALL THE INFO...I ALREADY OPENED THE CHECKING ACCT AND AM WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO SEND ME THE CARD. SEEMS TO BE ALL AS ADVERTISED. THANKS AGAIN.

[jfchandler]

Thanks for the update, Tajartale....

Do chime in with your experience, once you get the account up and running. As I mentioned before, everyone here on TV who has commented on using the Schwab accounts has pretty much had only good things to say about them. And that's certainly been my experience as well.

Cheers, JFC.