Sending Regular Money Backhome

[themangostays]

Hi,

I wonder if anybody has any experience in this, I'm about to begin a one year management contract in Southern thailand, I'm renting out the house, selling my car etc in the UK and will have to meet several monthly financial committments back home during my time in Thailand. I'm planning on sending getting a portion of my monthly salary back into my bank account inthe UK but was wondering if there was any way of getting round the wiring fee and unpredicatable time scales for money actually arriving (I have morgage committiments and a small business loan.)

I was thinking of using paypal (I'm a casual ebay seller and so have an account)but is this possible? - could I transfere funds from a thai bank account into my UK paypal account? I'm only talking about 20,000 bht a month sent home...

advice or solutions would be greatly GREATLY appreciated!!!

Ta

Adam

[grahamb]

I'm sure someone else will confirm this but IIRC, PayPal don't support accounts in Thailand so you may not be able to fund your account from Thailand.

One other disadvantage of wiring money back... According to Kasikornbank, I can't set up a regular transfer from Thailand to the UK, I have to go in each month and apply for the transfer... If anyone has any good suggestions on how to transfer money easily and cheaply, I'm also interested!

[phuketsiam]

If anyone has any good suggestions on how to transfer money easily and cheaply, I'm also interested!

me two

[ArtfulD]

Use https://www.xe.com/fx/

They give a good fast service and excellent rates of exchange (far better than tourist rates etc)...

Ive used them for moving fairly large sums of cash and their always very helpful, can also lock rates in for 30 day or even upto 1 year forward transactions.

[grahamb]

Use https://www.xe.com/fx/

They give a good fast service and excellent rates of exchange (far better than tourist rates etc)...

Ive used them for moving fairly large sums of cash and their always very helpful, can also lock rates in for 30 day or even upto 1 year forward transactions.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

ArtfulD: I looked into this earlier but didn't take it too far. If I understand right, you set up the transfer with xe.com and then wire them the money in Baht. They then send the exchanged money to your account at the other end - is that right? If yes, did you have any hassle getting the Baht to them quick enough? IIRC, they required the Baht in 72 hrs which I think means that you have to use the express transfer here in Thailand.

How much better are the rates (e.g. in terms of percentage)?

Thanks for any feedback you have - you're the first person in Thailand that I've heard who is using xe.com so it's good to get some real experience!

[ArtfulD]

Doh, sorry to disapoint but I havent used them from Thailand thus far ...Only between UK and Australia, and UK and USA...

For comparison however tourist rates atm for GBP>THB is 67.273 and XE.com are offering 74.2....Some banks are better with others on the rates they offer however, my Aus bank offered about same as XE.com while the British one was really bad. I suggest phoning your bank and asking them their current rates first to get an idea.

I cant remember exact figures as its been a while since I used them (ive only done about 4/5 transfers so far as it was large amounts and longer term holding for good rates of interest and playing the exchange rate between GBP/AUD, but the XE.com rates saved me a few thousand pounds.

They required the money quite quickly from me too but with the wire it only took about 36 hours before they got it and as long as I informed them that it had been sent or if there was any delays (one transaction was on a Friday with a local holiday on the Monday, thus I could not initiate wire till the Tues).

Incidentlly I had intended on using XE when I move to Thailand as I didnt forsee any problems with using them.

Edited April 6, 2005 by ArtfulD

[phuketsiam]

anyone used this yet?