Bank Payments To Abroad

[ZeroNull]

My wife, she is a thai, has a small company.

I think its a registered partnereship or similiar.

In the past she told me often that she has problems to do bank transfers

to outside of thailand. I dont belived that thats realy a problem.

During last holidays i examined this. It was a payment to a company

in austria i think. Amount about 200 EUR. First she told me that its absolute useles

to go to bank with the receivers account data alone. THE BANK WANTS TO SEE

AN INVOICE. So she taked the invoice and we gone to bank.

The clerk at the bank looked at the invoice long time and the she tolds

she needs more documents. So we have to return home and pick up more documents

from the folder (contract i.e.).

Returned to the bank the clerk again studied these documents long time.

Then she asked for her boss. The intensive view process started again.

Then the have done something like a phone conference with there main branch in Bangkok.

This begins to become boring. I will only say: They the have done

the transfer after 3 (THREE) HOURS.

Today i got a phone call that the bank makes problems again.

Its a payment to microsoft, she has only the invoice seems not to

be sufficiant. The bank wants a phone number to call microsoft !

I have never heard about such practices before. From no country on the globe

(except the former GUS states).

She has allready tried an other bank institute, the same problems.

Have you the same experiences ? How do big thai companys do there payments ?

Whats wrong here ?

Sorry for my english (not native)

ZeroNull

[Morden]

Some employees of large Thai businesses and government departments do seem to delight in making things difficult with inefficient procedures and apparent ignorance. They would rather waste time fobbing you off or telling lies in the hope that you give up and leave than look for the solution that you want. True TV offices have lying down to a fine art.

However, this problem seems to go further than that and I wonder whether it is an example of the government's reluctance to let money leave the country. It has serious implications for exporting businesses too. For example, money has been paid by a customer for exported goods but, for some reason, the Thai exporting business needs to make a refund. How would you produce paperwork acceptable to the bank for that? That might well dissuade some customers from dealing with Thai businesses.

Could PayPal or ThaiPay be the answer? Doesn't the money transfer happen without the interference of the banks?

Businesses do import and export so there must be an answer to this problem. Perhaps it's easier if you represent a very large business and know the right people.

[3zie]

I have had the same experience. In the past it was possible without questions asked but since 3-4 months it is practicaly impossible to do so without an Invoice. I am very curious to know how we can get passed this as I don't want to use Western Union all the time with there outrageous exchange rates and added fees

[opalhort]

Yes an invoice is required by most banks (I'm using TFB), but it is not a big deal.

I have often sent small amounts (500-1000€) to my sister in Germany.

The invoice was a product of MS-Word, had signature from sister on fax. They only need a copy or e-mail, no need for original signature.

Reasons for payment given at various times:

Services rendered finding customers for us in EU,

Commission for orders placed by said customers or

repayment of private loan I received from her etc.

As for refunding an importer for goods exported is also easy:

The importer will send a claim notice/invoice giving reason for claim and the bank may also want to verify that the importer has actually sent the money to the exporter.

opalhort

[dave111223]

Seems like it would be a lot easier to use Paypal, Thaipay, moneybookers, or even Western Union. Banks are terrible for sending small amounts of money.

[ZeroNull]

Thanks a lot for your confirmation !

Some time a thought i am at holliday in a parallel Universe.

Or she is listed on a black-list or something like that.

ZeroNull

[bkkflyer]

Thanks a lot for your confirmation !

Some time a thought i am at holliday in a parallel Universe.

Or she is listed on a black-list or something like that.

ZeroNull

An option could be to find someone you know in Europe (who maybe live here in Thailand and can receive payment here locally) who can do online payments. It is quick and cheap (usually costing something like EUR5 or even free). Here in this Banana Republic it is slow, time-consuming and relatively expensive (at least if you consider your time an asset).

[Rtwo]

Thanks a lot for your confirmation !

Some time a thought i am at holliday in a parallel Universe.

Or she is listed on a black-list or something like that.

ZeroNull

Not not a parallel universe but definitely a Mickey Mouse country. 60 years ago the American O.S.S. used to call it 'Toyland', I don't think much has changed, do you? Try looking around, sorry but the signs are everywhere and it's getting worse.

[psdone]

Seems like it would be a lot easier to use Paypal, Thaipay, moneybookers, or even Western Union. Banks are terrible for sending small amounts of money.

Yup,

But large Asian corporations seem to think Paypal is only used by Pakistani fur traders and they would rather pay a 500 baht wire fee on a 3000 baht order

[eljeque]

You are not being singled out.

The rules make it more difficult now than before.

They want to know everything, and then some.

And then, they want to know more.

[Khun Jack]

Most of the suppliers / manufacturers in the US or Taiwan for my business will never accept PayPal because wire transfer is way more secure than PayPal who can limit accounts in a flash. For transferring money most of the local bank branches have no clue how to do that. For Phuket where we live was a long time the Bangkok Bank main office in Phuket town the only bank where we could do a wire transfer. Last week I went to the SCB branch in Rawai where we have our business account and surprise surprise with invoice, checkbook and company stamp the miracle happened we made a wire transfer to the US. Time needed 75 minutes!.

[h90]

Any invoice will do, if the bank make problems just switch to a different branch...problem fixed.