Transfering Money Out Of Thailand

[Valjean]

Soon I will be working in Thailand for a Thai company, paid in Thai baht. I understand from other posts that there are some challenge with getting money out of Thailand but that with valid reasons, such as my children’s college expenses, it can be done. While I’m seeing what the company can do in terms of paying outside of Thailand or in US$ for now let’s assume I can’t do anything about that.

Today with my US bank account I do most of my payments online using the banks online service. For instance I pay my Visa card bill online. I assume that Thai banks have similar services. Does anyone have experience making online payments to companies outside of Thailand with a Thai bank account? Is considered sending money out and more like a wire transfer than an online payment? Costs?

Specifically am I going to be better off to get an AMX or Visa issued by a Thai bank? Is this hard to do?

If I have 4-5 monthly payments I need to make in US$ am I going to be better off just building one justification with my Thai bank and make one transfer per month to a US bank account instead of trying to do multiple payments?

Is there an allowable limit of baht you can take out with you? Within the law I was wondering if I should build a bit of a nest egg of cash. If I were do to this is it better to change the baht into dollars in Thailand and leave with dollars or better to leave with baht and change to dollars in the US?

Any other tips or considerations for someone in my position?

Thanks for the help!

[Rhys]

WESTERN UNION is quick ( depends on the organization especially with a bank) yet if you go to the WU office at the DEPARTMENT Store, such as Central.. they are quick, efficient..and know what they are doing..

Look at the webb site.. This would give you a better idea of the amounts you send out..and the conversion rate..but for safety and accuracy.. and less BS...

They do a good job.. I have no complaints..

This will get your money out..but you need to go to the shop yourself.. The banks will get lost in this maze of transactions.. but they do come through...but not as fast as you like or with some bizzare requirement..

[Wee Jimmy]

Soon I will be working in Thailand for a Thai company, paid in Thai baht.  I understand from other posts that there are some challenge with getting money out of Thailand but that with valid reasons, such as my children’s college expenses, it can be done.  While I’m seeing what the company can do in terms of paying outside of Thailand or in US$ for now let’s assume I can’t do anything about that. 

Today with my US bank account I do most of my payments online using the banks online service.  For instance I pay my Visa card bill online.  I assume that Thai banks have similar services.  Does anyone have experience making online payments to companies outside of Thailand with a Thai bank account?  Is considered sending money out and more like a wire transfer than an online payment?  Costs?

Specifically am I going to be better off to get an AMX or Visa issued by a Thai bank?  Is this hard to do?

If I have 4-5 monthly payments I need to make in US$ am I going to be better off just building one justification with my Thai bank and make one transfer per month to a US bank account instead of trying to do multiple payments?

Is there an allowable limit of baht you can take out with you?  Within the law I was wondering if I should build a bit of a nest egg of cash.  If I were do to this is it better to change the baht into dollars in Thailand and leave with dollars or better to leave with baht and change to dollars in the US?

Any other tips or considerations for someone in my position?

Thanks for the help!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Last year I had to transfer from Thailand £10,000 (73,000Baht) to my son. My wife did this for me at the Siam Commercial Bank. The money was in my sons account the same evenining. There was no problems and the cost was not a lot. However, you will loose out on the exchange rate a bit.

[ayakiawe]

Sorry but I dont have any info for you but a bit disapointed not to hear the answers as well.

Ok boys, cough up the answers this man ask as there is more than him interested in the answers!

[thymode91]

WESTERN UNION is quick ( depends on the organization especially with a bank) yet if you go to the WU office at the DEPARTMENT Store, such as Central.. they are quick, efficient..and know what they are doing..

Look at the webb site.. This would give you a better idea of the amounts you send out..and the conversion rate..but for safety and accuracy.. and less BS...

They do a good job.. I have no complaints..

This will get your money out..but you need to go to the shop yourself.. The banks will get lost in this maze of transactions.. but they do come through...but not as fast as you like or with some bizzare requirement..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Agree for this! I used western union to send money home as well, within 15 mins my brother got it

[Heng]

As long as you're not doing crazy amounts (like more than $100k a month), and you have enough people to send them to wherever you live, you can smurf it out with Visa and Amex traveller's checks.

[austen]

You definitely won't be able to pay any bills internationally through the online banking system of Thai banks (however, as in the US, this is a great way to pay your domestic bills). Your creditors will (generally) require that any online direct debiting be done from a US account, so if you're not maintaining any funds in an American acct, you'll have to pursue some of these other options. See also the thread below Re: International Money Orders for other suggestions along a similar vein. For me, I find it easiest to just have a bank do a draft (check) in US$ every month for my remaining monthly payment back home. Most bank exchange counters will do this for you at the usual rate of exchange, with an added surcharge of 100-200B per item. You can then just drop this in the mail to your creditor (give it 2 weeks to get there) and you're done. Not as fast as electronic methods, but much cheaper and easier, in my mind anyway.

Getting a Thai-issued credit card would also be a good idea, if you're really here for the long haul...but you probably won't be eligible for most until you've had a work permit for at least a year--at the LEAST (and probably never from Citibank, at least in my experience!). Your best bet to try is AmEX and other international banks (HSBC, Standard Chartered, Citibank, etc) as Thai banks seem to be more selective (i.e. they want to be sure you're in for the long long long haul, for good reason).

Hope this keeps you from stealing bread and being sent to a Parisian jail there VALJEAN...

[Valjean]

You definitely won't be able to pay any bills internationally through the online banking system of Thai banks (however, as in the US, this is a great way to pay your domestic bills). Your creditors will (generally) require that any online direct debiting be done from a US account, so if you're not maintaining any funds in an American acct, you'll have to pursue some of these other options. See also the thread below Re: International Money Orders for other suggestions along a similar vein. For me, I find it easiest to just have a bank do a draft (check) in US$ every month for my remaining monthly payment back home. Most bank exchange counters will do this for you at the usual rate of exchange, with an added surcharge of 100-200B per item. You can then just drop this in the mail to your creditor (give it 2 weeks to get there) and you're done. Not as fast as electronic methods, but much cheaper and easier, in my mind anyway.

Getting a Thai-issued credit card would also be a good idea, if you're really here for the long haul...but you probably won't be eligible for most until you've had a work permit for at least a year--at the LEAST (and probably never from Citibank, at least in my experience!). Your best bet to try is AmEX and other international banks (HSBC, Standard Chartered, Citibank, etc) as Thai banks seem to be more selective (i.e. they want to be sure you're in for the long long long haul, for good reason).

Hope this keeps you from stealing bread and being sent to a Parisian jail there VALJEAN...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

OK this is very helpful. I assume I could get that bank draft check in US$ payable to me? Then I could just do one check a month, mail it to the my US bank for deposit and do electronic banking from there. Understand that I could do with an electronic transfer but that can be expensive. (Western Union is easy but way too expensive for all the time). Am I correct to assume if I establish a relationship with my bank manager I could get into a groove where every month I come in and get a check US$ and no one is going to bother me about sending money out of Thailand? Timing isn't a big issue, I can make sure I've always got a 60 day buffer or so in my US bank.

Yes having to resort to stealing bread is exactly what I'm trying to avoid, or perhaps I should say for my kids to avoid (which now that I think of it could solve everything). My stay will be at least 3 years, could be 5 years and if I'm happy maybe forever...

Thanks a million this really helped.

[austen]

I've never actually had a draft made out to myself, but one would assume that would be no different than asking for a cash exchange, so should be no problem. However, why not cut out the extra step and just have the check made out to your creditor and mail it directly to them? But either way should be fine.

These days, I just walk to the desk and the exchange guy knows exactly what I want (ask for an "international bank draft"), so it's quick & speedy--but no relationship is necessary as sending small amounts (I think anything below US$10,000 but not sure about that) of money out isn't an issue...they'll give you a form in which you have to state the reason, in which case you just indicate that you're paying a bill. They usually make a photocopy of my bill as well just for further recordkeeping, but if you don't have an actual paper copy of the bill, should still be fine. Also note that some smaller branches may need to send out to a main branch for the check, which might mean you have to come back the next day to pick it up.

Good luck! My original stay was for 1 year post-graduation--4 years later, I'm still here...funny how that happens...

[bendix]

Interesting thread. Like the OP I am paid in Thai Baht but I've never had any problem tranferring money out to my other accounts in both New Zealand and Australia. I usually send back around 150,000 a month. I'm not sure what system I use (the nice lady at Bangkok Bank takes care of it for me), but it costs 400 baht each time and the funds are usually in my overseas account when I log on to check the next morning.

Never had a problem and noone has ever asked what the transfer is for.

[Butterfly]

I did a 150k Euro transfer and they started to ask me all kind of silly questions. I told them it was my money in the first place, money I made from the Thai stock market. Started to ask me for trade receipt and account audit reports etc... after a few fights, they let me do it and the money was transfered. They just reported me to AMLO to make sure I wasn't some kind of criminal.

I think they ask all those silly questions just for the kick of it to harrass individuals so they can spend the money locally instead of outside.

[samran]

I did a 150k Euro transfer and they started to ask me all kind of silly questions. I told them it was my money in the first place, money I made from the Thai stock market. Started to ask me for trade receipt and account audit reports etc... after a few fights, they let me do it and the money was transfered. They just reported me to AMLO to make sure I wasn't some kind of criminal.

I think they ask all those silly questions just for the kick of it to harrass individuals so they can spend the money locally instead of outside.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Following the attack on the baht in 1997 all sorts of rules and regulations have been implemented to protect the baht from speculators, hence the rules that make it hard to sell baht on a whim and without a good reason, and the nervousness from many banks as the BOT (unlike many things in LOS) does not take the matter of baht speculation lightly.

For the OP, a bankers draft is also a good way (and cheap) way to send money home. Essentially it is cheque (check) made out to yourself in your home country’s currency. When I used to send money back to Australia I had drafts issued at the Thai Farmers Bank, which were simple cheques made out to myself in Australian dollars. The cheques themselves were issued by the National Australia Bank, which must have had a deal going with TFB at the time.

[Hikage]

I had this issue a couple of weeks ago. And this is my experience and thoughts, it may not match your case but is related.

I recently had to transfer a relatively large amount (> 1M THB) to my account in australia from kasikornbank. I had heard also that this can be a bit of a pain so I got some advice fom this forum (I think samran was the man).

When I did it, it seemed to me that the thing was that... YOU NEED TO SHOW YOUR WORK PERMIT. Ok, I HAD a work permit, but it had expired a few months ago. I tried to tell them this as well as well as pointing out that I gave them copies of it when I applied for the account, but it did not really sink in.

They then started ringing around on the phone for about an hour and a half... I believe they made call to BOI etc. After this they proceded to process my transfer which was completed and in my aussie account the same day.

So, my advice is to make sure you have the WP. I'd hate to have done this if I was one of the many here working without one... I'm sure they would have refused.

[samran]

Thats right hikage. A work permit is a good indication that the money has orginiated in Thailand and is not some part of some sort of speculation.

Admitedly the rules may be a bit over zealously enforced. Someone transfering some personal stash of cash will not affect the baht one iota.

But, given the Thai way of working, if something isn't allowed to be done it is either because the person you are dealing with doesn't have the authority, or they KNOW they will get into trouble for doing so.

[jrincon17]

Soon I will be working in Thailand for a Thai company, paid in Thai baht.   I understand from other posts that there are some challenge with getting money out of Thailand but that with valid reasons, such as my children’s college expenses, it can be done.  While I’m seeing what the company can do in terms of paying outside of Thailand or in US$ for now let’s assume I can’t do anything about that. 

Today with my US bank account I do most of my payments online using the banks online service.  For instance I pay my Visa card bill online.   I assume that Thai banks have similar services.  Does anyone have experience making online payments to companies outside of Thailand with a Thai bank account?  Is considered sending money out and more like a wire transfer than an online payment?  Costs?

Specifically am I going to be better off to get an AMX or Visa issued by a Thai bank?  Is this hard to do?

If I have 4-5 monthly payments I need to make in US$ am I going to be better off just building one justification with my Thai bank and make one transfer per month to a US bank account instead of trying to do multiple payments?

Is there an allowable limit of baht you can take out with you?  Within the law I was wondering if I should build a bit of a nest egg of cash.  If I were do to this is it better to change the baht into dollars in Thailand and leave with dollars or better to leave with baht and change to dollars in the US?

Any other tips or considerations for someone in my position?

Thanks for the help!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Last year I had to transfer from Thailand £10,000 (73,000Baht) to my son. My wife did this for me at the Siam Commercial Bank. The money was in my sons account the same evenining. There was no problems and the cost was not a lot. However, you will loose out on the exchange rate a bit.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

ARE YOU SURE YOUR MATH IS RIGHT ?

[Butterfly]

I had this issue a couple of weeks ago. And this is my experience and thoughts, it may not match your case but is related.

I recently had to transfer a relatively large amount (> 1M THB) to my account in australia from kasikornbank. I had heard also that this can be a bit of a pain so I got some advice fom this forum (I think samran was the man).

When I did it, it seemed to me that the thing was that... YOU NEED TO SHOW YOUR WORK PERMIT. Ok,  I HAD a work permit, but it had expired a few months ago. I tried to tell them this as well as well as pointing out that I gave them copies of it when I applied for the account, but it did not really sink in.

They then started ringing around on the phone for about an hour and a half... I believe they made call to BOI etc. After this they proceded to process my transfer which was completed and in my aussie account the same day.

So, my advice is to make sure you have the WP. I'd hate to have done this if I was one of the many here working without one... I'm sure they would have refused.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Requesting a WP for a transfer IS not even "justified" or "written into law" here. They are just trying to harrass you so you can spend your money locally.

Of course, the Thai baht speculation is another theory, but we all know that HiSo and government officials have no restrictions to speculate on Thai Baht when they need to. Do you think that a bank teller would ask them all those questions when they do a transfer ? again this is a scheme to have foreigners keep the money locally. Not a bad idea as I will do other investments here and spend it wisely in the bars

[h90]

Butterfly: I am concerned that the Thai Baht will soon drop, so I fully agree to your idea: The beer which is already in your stomach, noone can take it away from you anymore. If the Thai baht is falling like 1997 the money has no value anymore, so I'll hunt out for a beer.....

I had this issue a couple of weeks ago. And this is my experience and thoughts, it may not match your case but is related.

I recently had to transfer a relatively large amount (> 1M THB) to my account in australia from kasikornbank. I had heard also that this can be a bit of a pain so I got some advice fom this forum (I think samran was the man).

When I did it, it seemed to me that the thing was that... YOU NEED TO SHOW YOUR WORK PERMIT. Ok,  I HAD a work permit, but it had expired a few months ago. I tried to tell them this as well as well as pointing out that I gave them copies of it when I applied for the account, but it did not really sink in.

They then started ringing around on the phone for about an hour and a half... I believe they made call to BOI etc. After this they proceded to process my transfer which was completed and in my aussie account the same day.

So, my advice is to make sure you have the WP. I'd hate to have done this if I was one of the many here working without one... I'm sure they would have refused.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Requesting a WP for a transfer IS not even "justified" or "written into law" here. They are just trying to harrass you so you can spend your money locally.

Of course, the Thai baht speculation is another theory, but we all know that HiSo and government officials have no restrictions to speculate on Thai Baht when they need to. Do you think that a bank teller would ask them all those questions when they do a transfer ? again this is a scheme to have foreigners keep the money locally. Not a bad idea as I will do other investments here and spend it wisely in the bars

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Teach]

Interesting thread.  Like the OP I am paid in Thai Baht but I've never had any problem tranferring money out to my other accounts in both New Zealand and Australia.  I usually send back around 150,000 a month.  I'm not sure what system I use (the nice lady at Bangkok Bank takes care of it for me), but it costs 400 baht each time and the funds are usually in my overseas account when I log on to check the next morning.

Never had a problem and noone has ever asked what the transfer is for.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

....and in your case..are the respective countries authorities interested in getting some of this money for tax..I mean bulls... reasons???

T.

[coldcrush]

Try here:

https://www.emoneygram.com/eMoneyGram/index.do

http://www.moneybookers.com/app/help.pl?s=aboutus

if you browse a bit you will find a few, however be sure of the country you send to or from is OK. This can be transferred from your credit card or bank card online so who knows any the better! As long as it is not very large amounts!

http://www.hsbc.com/

They may also help....

Edited July 27, 2005 by lopburiguy

[samran]

my main concern with many of these guys is that none of them have a non-banking permit to deal in foreign exchange in Thailand, which are issued by the BOT.

I'd stick to one of the main Thai banks...or someone like HSBC

Edited July 27, 2005 by samran