Transfer Money To Thailand From Uk

[hazelandhoward]

Hi can anyone tell me the cheapest way to transfer money to thailand, i only want to send small amounts up to £100 british pounds at a time to help a friend out, i bank with the HSBC and i recently sent her £100 and they charged me £15 to do this then a few weeks later i get a letter telling me i have been charged another £20 exchange rate, so £35 to send £100 seems a lot of money to me surley there is a cheaper way of doing this, i was going to send her a moneygram but that way i cant send it to her bank account she would have to go to another bank and take some id with her which sounds simple enough but to try and explain this to her as she knows very little english and i know no thai i dont want to risk it,

Open to any suggestions

Hazel

[walterego]

Hi can anyone tell me the cheapest way to transfer money to thailand, i only want to send small amounts up to £100 british pounds at a time to help a friend out, i bank with the HSBC and i recently sent her £100 and they charged me £15 to do this then a few weeks later i get a letter telling me i have been charged another £20 exchange rate, so £35 to send £100 seems a lot of money to me surley there is a cheaper way of doing this, i was going to send her a moneygram but that way i cant send it to her bank account she would have to go to another bank and take some id with her which sounds simple enough but to try and explain this to her as she knows very little english and i know no thai i dont want to risk it,

Open to any suggestions

Hazel

Paypal!

online. I use it quite a bit. (you can also buy imaginary goods from the person you want to send to on ebay using your credit card. Have your friend sell something etheral like 'imaginary friend' on ebay. works quite well. even a pen or greeting card or something equally small and useless. as long as you let ebay know you received the goods)

Always interested in better ways so I hope we get some responses to this thread.

Edited September 16, 2009 by walterego

[walterego]

As you are in the UK I dont know what alternative there is... but I am sure that the UK has one.

(I am Aussie so...) I went into the ANZ bank in Laos (australian/new zealand bank) when I was on a visa run with an ANZ cheque, they converted the cheque to Aussie dollars for me then and there. I told them I needed Aussie dollars as I was flying home next day (<deleted>). There was a small service charge of memory 200thai baht but no other fee. dont know if this was just luck or what.

I am sure there is a barkleys or something somewhere in Thailand?... maybe? (sorry just putting it out there.. you could safely mail the cheque.)

If she asks for teh money in UK pounds she should in theory bypass the currency conversion fee. (all depends on who you get at the counter and if she uses her local bank or not i guess)

another alternative is to open a new account and have 'her' granted access or dual holder status. Then simply send her your card (if you opened the account solely in your name) or send her card if it was a dual account .(registered-insured mail) for the account in the mail. Ask your bank what is the best account to open if you plan on traveling and using foreign ATMs in asia.

email her the pin or tell it on the phone (whatever you think is safe way to tell her the pin number.) Now she can access the account at her free will.

There is still heavy charges on this but nothing compared with money gram or western union extortionists.

More ideas please?

Edited September 16, 2009 by walterego

[hazelandhoward]

Hi can anyone tell me the cheapest way to transfer money to thailand, i only want to send small amounts up to £100 british pounds at a time to help a friend out, i bank with the HSBC and i recently sent her £100 and they charged me £15 to do this then a few weeks later i get a letter telling me i have been charged another £20 exchange rate, so £35 to send £100 seems a lot of money to me surley there is a cheaper way of doing this, i was going to send her a moneygram but that way i cant send it to her bank account she would have to go to another bank and take some id with her which sounds simple enough but to try and explain this to her as she knows very little english and i know no thai i dont want to risk it,

Open to any suggestions

Hazel

Paypal!

online. I use it quite a bit. (you can also buy imaginary goods from the person you want to send to on ebay using your credit card. Have your friend sell something etheral like 'imaginary friend' on ebay. works quite well. even a pen or greeting card or something equally small and useless. as long as you let ebay know you received the goods)

Always interested in better ways so I hope we get some responses to this thread.

Hi did have a quick look at paypal but wasent sure if she has to have a paypal account as well to do this but will look into it further, i would worry sending her a cheque as we have sent her letters etc before and she has never received it, we tried to open a bank account once but was told that we had to be a resident of Thailand to do this, as i said the language barrier makes us doing most things from here quite difficult but as we are going out there for a month at the end of october if we have some ideas we will have more time to sort something out with her.

[hunglikea]

Hi can anyone tell me the cheapest way to transfer money to thailand, i only want to send small amounts up to £100 british pounds at a time to help a friend out, i bank with the HSBC and i recently sent her £100 and they charged me £15 to do this then a few weeks later i get a letter telling me i have been charged another £20 exchange rate, so £35 to send £100 seems a lot of money to me surley there is a cheaper way of doing this, i was going to send her a moneygram but that way i cant send it to her bank account she would have to go to another bank and take some id with her which sounds simple enough but to try and explain this to her as she knows very little english and i know no thai i dont want to risk it,

Open to any suggestions

Hazel

I use www.moneybookers.com You set up an account whereby you deposit money into your MB account and download to wherever you want. It costs about 200 THB for any transaction from UK to Thailand. A wire transfer from your bank to their Lloyds account in UK is free. Takes about 3 days. This was through another TV member's suggestion and it worked.

[walterego]

Yes I was actually refering to you opening a UK bank account and sending her the ATM card. Then you make the deposits in person by slip or you have two ATM cards (nominate her as a secondary card holder).

I lose money on sending money back to aus all teh time and always want better ideas. Paypal works for me (a lot of Thais sadly are fairly distrustful of IT however). Also my mother has a ATM card on my aussie account as well. But when i send to someone irregular makes it hard.

Good luck pls keep us informed of any better methods.

Check some other threads about Thai bank accounts. You can get a Bangkok bank account with little problem.

[walterego]

nice one hunglikea, i will check it out!

[dave2]

the easiest way is for you to open a nationwide flex account ( nothing else )

when you get it sorted and get the debit card ( probably two weeks ) you send the card to her in thailand with the pin number youve changed the card to on its first use ( that has to be done in england )

she can go into most thai banks give them the card , they swipe it , she puts her pin number in and she gets the money over the counter with no charges

there will be lots of people in here telling you you cant do this ....it doesnt work .... but you can and it does : )

i brought 7460 pound ( about 413 000 ish baht ) that way last week in 30 seconds with no charges .... and the year before .... and the year before that ..... it works !

enjoy : )

dave2

[Eclipse]

It does work bur there are charges.

[hazelandhoward]

the easiest way is for you to open a nationwide flex account ( nothing else )

when you get it sorted and get the debit card ( probably two weeks ) you send the card to her in thailand with the pin number youve changed the card to on its first use ( that has to be done in england )

she can go into most thai banks give them the card , they swipe it , she puts her pin number in and she gets the money over the counter with no charges

there will be lots of people in here telling you you cant do this ....it doesnt work .... but you can and it does : )

i brought 7460 pound ( about 413 000 ish baht ) that way last week in 30 seconds with no charges .... and the year before .... and the year before that ..... it works !

enjoy : )

dave2

Got told about this a while ago so went to the nationwide to see if i could do this and for some reason it wasent possible but think i may nip into town now and have another go,

Wish me luck

[walterego]

the easiest way is for you to open a nationwide flex account ( nothing else )

when you get it sorted and get the debit card ( probably two weeks ) you send the card to her in thailand with the pin number youve changed the card to on its first use ( that has to be done in england )

she can go into most thai banks give them the card , they swipe it , she puts her pin number in and she gets the money over the counter with no charges

there will be lots of people in here telling you you cant do this ....it doesnt work .... but you can and it does : )

i brought 7460 pound ( about 413 000 ish baht ) that way last week in 30 seconds with no charges .... and the year before .... and the year before that ..... it works !

enjoy : )

dave2

Dave2 is on the money, this is a simmilar thing to what i was trying (in vain) to explain. There are charges however but they are by far miminal in comparisson. (if she uses an ATM she doesnt have to let the teller see she is not the name on the card)

chok dee.

Edited September 16, 2009 by walterego

[hazelandhoward]

the easiest way is for you to open a nationwide flex account ( nothing else )

when you get it sorted and get the debit card ( probably two weeks ) you send the card to her in thailand with the pin number youve changed the card to on its first use ( that has to be done in england )

she can go into most thai banks give them the card , they swipe it , she puts her pin number in and she gets the money over the counter with no charges

there will be lots of people in here telling you you cant do this ....it doesnt work .... but you can and it does : )

i brought 7460 pound ( about 413 000 ish baht ) that way last week in 30 seconds with no charges .... and the year before .... and the year before that ..... it works !

enjoy : )

dave2

Dave2 is on the money, this is a simmilar thing to what i was trying (in vain) to explain. There are charges however but they are by far miminal in comparisson. (if she uses an ATM she doesnt have to let the teller see she is not the name on the card)

chok dee.

Sorry just me being thick i get there eventually,

[dave2]

eclipse.. re ... It does work but there are charges.

walterego... re ... There are charges

ive done this for the last three years and never been charged a bean at either end !!

on 12000 pound

on 9000 pound

and 7460 pound

have you any proof of these charges anywhere ?

if so please show them !

coz they have not been showing on my statements !

with respect ... regards .. dave2

[hazelandhoward]

Have just been to Nationwide and got it all sorted, there is no charges if you have a cash card with the flex account but if you have the visa card with it there is a small charge of 0.84%, the visa card is better as i think all the atms take it but some dont take the cash card and you have to go to a bank to get cash which will be difficult if the card is in my name and i leave it with our friend to use. Please keep any more suggestions coming as there may be even better or easier ways out there. Many thanks to you that have answered already.

Hazel

[PAUL1774]

Hi can anyone tell me the cheapest way to transfer money to thailand, i only want to send small amounts up to £100 british pounds at a time to help a friend out, i bank with the HSBC and i recently sent her £100 and they charged me £15 to do this then a few weeks later i get a letter telling me i have been charged another £20 exchange rate, so £35 to send £100 seems a lot of money to me surley there is a cheaper way of doing this, i was going to send her a moneygram but that way i cant send it to her bank account she would have to go to another bank and take some id with her which sounds simple enough but to try and explain this to her as she knows very little english and i know no thai i dont want to risk it,

Open to any suggestions

Hazel

western union they get money with in 5 mins of you sending

[dave2]

eclipse... walterego

wheres the reply , evidence of your posts ?

im waiting .... im waiting ... im waiting ... dave2 : )

[nakachalet]

dave 2

come on, dave 2,

when you have gone thru the processes several times as you stated, why do you need further confirmation???? .... lol

as you did it personally.... i've no doubt in my mind

and you really do not need another person's confirmation, right?

regards

[IrishMick]

I used Money Gram today. It cost £205 to send 10,060 bhat

[hhgz]

"...surley there is a cheaper way of doing this..."

Give your money to a friend in England.

[phutoie2]

ive done this for the last three years and never been charged a bean at either end !!

on 12000 pound

on 9000 pound

and 7460 pound

have you any proof of these charges anywhere ?

Well lets see some of your evidence!!, so you walk into a Thai Bank with a UK Debit card, and the maximum daily withdrawal rate is 250-300 GBP per day from an ATM, but at the counter the Thai bank hands over to you 12k GBP. I've seen your posts on this subject before and you must have something going on with your Bangkok Bank peeps. If it is so you are very lucky, I want to withdraw a bundle in October, you can come down here and we can both go into my Bangkok Bank with my NW card and see how we get on!.

I have tried up here, it has worked with amounts up to 500GBP, but large amounts such as you suggest - no way.

On NW flex accounts the new 0.84% charge must be in the transaction rate as it does not show up on any of my online statements, so far, and I make a few withdrawals a month.

[IsaanAndy]

Hi can anyone tell me the cheapest way to transfer money to thailand, i only want to send small amounts up to £100 british pounds at a time to help a friend out, i bank with the HSBC and i recently sent her £100 and they charged me £15 to do this then a few weeks later i get a letter telling me i have been charged another £20 exchange rate, so £35 to send £100 seems a lot of money to me surley there is a cheaper way of doing this, i was going to send her a moneygram but that way i cant send it to her bank account she would have to go to another bank and take some id with her which sounds simple enough but to try and explain this to her as she knows very little english and i know no thai i dont want to risk it,

Open to any suggestions

Hazel

When I was in the UK I was sending money in small amounts, 100 GBP to my wife, Banks charge the earth. The cheapest,easiest and quickest way is to use Western Union. If I remember correctly, the charge for instant transfer of 100 GBP, was 14 GBP, plenty of places to send from in the UK and all the receiver has to do is show their ID and the transfer number you text them and they collect the money 5 minutes after you have sent it from any WU office in Thailand.

[SantiSuk]

£100 is worth thinking about how you do it. Several thousand pounds? Surely you can afford the £17 to do a bank transfer on the internet!

[Tafia]

As already stated use Nationwide, open 2 Flex accounts, send one card to your friend and manage the account on line. You have complete control over it in the UK; yes there is a small 0.84% charge by Visa but the Government Savings Bank still does not charge for withdrawels via ATM.

[dave2]

phutoie2

re ... Well lets see some of your evidence!!,... ok no problem

so you walk into a Thai Bank with a UK Debit card, and the maximum daily withdrawal rate is 250-300 GBP per day from an ATM, but at the counter the Thai bank hands over to you 12k GBP. I've seen your posts on this subject before and you must have something going on with your Bangkok Bank peeps. If it is so you are very lucky, I want to withdraw a bundle in October, you can come down here and we can both go into my Bangkok Bank with my NW card and see how we get on!.

I have tried up here, it has worked with amounts up to 500GBP, but large amounts such as you suggest - no way.

On NW flex accounts the new 0.84% charge must be in the transaction rate as it does not show up on any of my online statements, so far, and I make a few withdrawals a month.

here ya go

2 on line nationwide statements showing the transfers of fairly large amounts to two different tmb bank passbooks in november 07 and last week

note the amounts taken from nationwide tally exactly with what arrived in the passbooks .... no charges

enjoy .... dave2

[dragonfly94]

[quote

here ya go

2 on line nationwide statements showing the transfers of fairly large amounts to two different tmb bank passbooks in november 07 and last week

note the amounts taken from nationwide tally exactly with what arrived in the passbooks .... no charges

enjoy .... dave2

Thanks for taking the trouble to post these, very interesting and never knew you could do this. Anyone know if it's all Thai banks who do this and if the exchange rate differs from ATM getting money this way?

[phutoie2]

Thanks dave2, no disputing that. Certainly beats all the hassle of posting back to Nationwide UK a SWIFT application and 20GBP fee like I did at the beginning of this year.

Will give it a go at my Bangkok Bank branch up here in October.

[dave2]

phutoje2 and dragonfly94

the same way works in my krung thai bank account coz i bought over a few hundred quid there about two years ago but for the life of me a cant remember why

must be my age : )

dave2

ps i bring in enough to live on for 3 months and top up whats left from last years 800.000 ish ? for a permission to stay one year ,

only once a year

if i spend more than about 80.000 in the next three months ? ? ? i will live from my krung thai account until early december

love thailand : )

[fantuzi]

[quote name='hazelandhoward' date='2009-09-16 19:02:57'

Hazel

I have just replied about the same in another thread:

Find branch of Bangkok Bank in London.They have branches overseas,they have here,where I am staying.

For small amount it is not the cheapest,but here it is instant,if the receiver have account with them in LOS.

Just send telegraphic transfer from BangkokBranch in London.May be you can find other Thai banks there?

[wolf5370]

Can't believe some people think WU is the cheapest way! Cost me over 300 quid to bring across an emergency 2,500 pounds in May (Barclays UK screwed up a transfer and I had to pay school fees and could wait for it to be tried again). I used Barclays to BBL as they have an international 'partnership' and clear the money through in just a few days - and it costs about twenty quid I think. For ease and peace of mind its great. Barclays have a new international on-line transfers service that you can have attached to your usual Barclay On-Line banking. This allows for money to be sent to foreign accounts and companies too. I am trying to get this set up right now (as I'm over here its a bit of a pain). The other biggie is ALWAYS send sterling otherwise you loose a lot to the crappy UK exchange rate over there in Blighty.

I have used the PayPal as well - and its good and cheap, but a bit involved (I don't use ebay though as you then get ebay charges - and I don't think you need two account because I know you can pay to email addresses, but no idea how they claim their money their end in that case???).

Surely ATMs you still get the 150B foreign card fee or are we just talking branch withdrawals using the Debit card?

I would be worried about the card being swallowed (has happened to several of my UK cards for no reason whatsoever) that could be an anxious wait for a new card to arrive in LoS.

[hazelandhoward]

I did ring the bangkok bank in London to ask if we could open an account with them but they still say we have to be resident of thailnd so not possible, it would make life much easier if we could as it would be cheaper to send money and we could access our money when we visit thailnd rather than carring large amounts when we travel.