Sending Money To Thailand

[passpato]

I live in the uk with my Thai wife and send money monthly to our son in Udon Thani. At the moment our son has a Nationwide debit card in my name and he draws about 15,000 baht a month from an atm. This has worked well for years. Nationwide used to charge 0% on top of the visa wholesale rate and withdrawels were free. They currently charge only 1% with free withdrawel but you do have to pay the Thai bank atm fee. However in November the Nationwide will start charging 2% + £1 per withdrawel fee per withdrawel and as you can only withdraw 10,000 baht in one transaction ,we will need 2withdrawels.(Thai bank atm fee150b+ Nationwides 50b= 200baht per withrawel x2 withdrawels = 400 thai baht or £8 + 2% of the £300 is £6)

By my calculations it will cost £14 to send £300 with Nationwide in November at approx exchange rates (50 baht=£1)

I have therefore been looking at alternatives and I have come across Moneybookers.com. They Quote 50p per transaction (bank account to bank account) + 2% on exchange rates. It does take up to 3 days but thats no problem for us and looks like costing only £6.50 per month to send £300

Can anyone varify my figures and please tell me If you have used this company and found it to be safe.

Edited August 6, 2010 by passpato

[Lite Beer]

I did a trial run with a small amount and it did turn up pretty quick.

The problem I see with Moneybookers is that they send it in Euros.

By the time GBP gets changed into Euros and then into Baht I wonder what you lose with exchange rates.

The amount I sent was too small to really work it out.

[Eff1n2ret]

I did a trial run with a small amount and it did turn up pretty quick.

The problem I see with Moneybookers is that they send it in Euros.

By the time GBP gets changed into Euros and then into Baht I wonder what you lose with exchange rates.

The amount I sent was too small to really work it out.

I've given up using Moneybookers for much the same reason. It's very difficult to figure out just what exchange rate you're going to get because they convert it to Euros first and seem to take a profit on that. Their up-front charges are certainly cheap, it cost me nothing to upload online from my UK bank a/c and typically they were taking about £3.50 for a transfer of £1000. The end-to-end time from UK bank to my Thai bank was about 5 days. But when I started looking more closely I reckoned I was losing about 4% against the commercial mid-market rate - too much.

[TheyCallmeScooter]

I use Moneybookers a lot. For your purposes, they aren't an option as [along with NETeller] they don't supply services to residents of Thailand.

I haven't personally used AllMoney but they look like your best option - as far as I can see...I honestly can't see you beating their quote - it's freakishly cheap. FSA regulated so they're safe.

http://allmoney.co.u...o-Thailand.html

Calculator shows a 300 quid transaction as costing:

The XE rate isn't prohibitive either....XE.com has the neutral rate at 1.58:

And all done in 1 business day.

Hope this is of assistance....

[passpato]

Allmoney looks good but what would it cost my son to change the us dollars to Thai baht ? I wouldn't want to trust a Thai bank with that.

[passpato]

By the way moneybookers do give you a quote on there site stating what you send in gbp and what he would recieve in thai baht. So I dont see a problem with the Euro thing.

[uptoyoumyfriend]

without going into the details the overall best deal is an account with a local bank that has a branch in your country,i use bkk bank- they are in new york,and transfer money from my american account(not in new york and not bkk bank!) to the bkk bank account in thailand.regardless of the sum the fee is 25 $ and there are no withdrawal fees if you use their machine where you have the account.

Edited August 6, 2010 by uptoyoumyfriend

[zzaa09]

without going into the details the overall best deal is an account with a local bank that has a branch in your country,i use bkk bank- they are in new york,and transfer money from my american account(not in new york and not bkk bank!) to the bkk bank account in thailand.regardless of the sum the fee is 25 $ and there are no withdrawal fees if you use their machine where you have the account.

This is correct. It's not a complicated process, really. Direct bank-to-bank transfers tend to be the most secure and hassle-free. Sur-charges tend to be nominal to free. Nearly all worldwide accredited financial institutions have SWIFTCODE cash transfers at the ready. If problems arise.....one has account numbers and bill of lading proof to fall back on. Just find respective banks that work for you and your individual needs and desires.

[TheyCallmeScooter]

without going into the details the overall best deal is an account with a local bank that has a branch in your country

This is correct. It's not a complicated process, really. Direct bank-to-bank transfers tend to be the most secure and hassle-free. Sur-charges tend to be nominal to free. Nearly all worldwide accredited financial institutions have SWIFTCODE cash transfers at the ready. If problems arise.....one has account numbers and bill of lading proof to fall back on. Just find respective banks that work for you and your individual needs and desires.

I just realised I'm a donk and of course this would be the best option for regular payments. I believe I drove past a Citibank not 10 min ago sigh...

[Gandalf8353]

without going into the details the overall best deal is an account with a local bank that has a branch in your country,i use bkk bank- they are in new york,and transfer money from my american account(not in new york and not bkk bank!) to the bkk bank account in thailand.regardless of the sum the fee is 25 $ and there are no withdrawal fees if you use their machine where you have the account.

This is correct. It's not a complicated process, really. Direct bank-to-bank transfers tend to be the most secure and hassle-free. Sur-charges tend to be nominal to free. Nearly all worldwide accredited financial institutions have SWIFTCODE cash transfers at the ready. If problems arise.....one has account numbers and bill of lading proof to fall back on. Just find respective banks that work for you and your individual needs and desires.

Have to agree. I save all of the fees by using direct online transfer from my bank directly to BKK Bank in New York. Saves a bundle of money and hassle.

[bifftastic]

I've used moneybookers every month for the last 8 or 9 months. Initially it can be a bit of a hassle setting it up as you need to verify both accounts (the UK and the Thai bank) but once that's done they're reliable and reasonably quick. Usually when I make the transfer on the Wednesday the money's in the Thai bank by Saturday, depending on UK and Thai bank holidays (new year was a nightmare in that respect!)

Their charges are about £2 in all but yes, they probably make on the exchange from GBP to EUR, they send to the Thai bank in EUR and it's the Thai bank that do the last currency exchange.

I find it easy and straightforward, I manage both the upload of funds and the withdrawal to the Thai bank and it takes about 5 minutes. The rate you get from EUR to THB will depend on what day the transfer from moneybookers to the Thai bank actually takes place. All in all, even though I've never thoroughly checked on the rate I'm getting, as the amounts are reasonably small, I find it to be a good service and my money has never gone missing.

There's a 'directbanking' option which loads funds immediately from your bank but for larger amounts you need to do a SWIFT transfer directly from your bank (which I've never been charged for) and that takes a couple of days to appear in your MB account.

The direct SWIFT bank to bank transfer, in my case, costs more. If I use my bank (Halifax) to send an international SWIFT transfer they charge me £9.50 and Bangkok Bank take another 700THB or so at the other end. The other option is to do a SWIFT transfer inside the UK to Bangkok Bank in London, which is free, they then transfer it to the Thai account, Bangkok Bank charge £15 for this service and they say there's no charge at the Thai end.

If you're sending larger amounts then the charges related to the direct SWIFT transfers would be more reasonable and, I suspect, the exchange rate would be better, but I've found the method that I use to be perfectly acceptable. There's also a history in your account at MB and the customer service people are not too bad when you call them.

Hope this helps,

Biff

[JAG]

I use a CashPlus Card - prepaid mastercard. I have two cards for the account, I have one and best beloved keeps the other. If you pay the money into a post office in the UK today, it can be withdrawn at an ATM in Thailand the next day. Fee is about £6 (to withdraw B5150). It can also be used as a debit card for shopping if you wish.

[bifftastic]

I use a CashPlus Card - prepaid mastercard. I have two cards for the account, I have one and best beloved keeps the other. If you pay the money into a post office in the UK today, it can be withdrawn at an ATM in Thailand the next day. Fee is about £6 (to withdraw B5150). It can also be used as a debit card for shopping if you wish.

I was looking at those, how does that work? The 2 cards being in different places? I have to tell my bank if I'm travelling, forgot once and they blocked the card. You ever have any problems like that? I assume the B5150 is including the B150 fee from the ATM right?

[Roadman]

Whatever way you do it there are generally two charges. 1st is the transaction fee which is usually a few $$$ and the 2nd is the exchange rate which with low value currencies like the thai ฿฿฿ the money exchangers gorge their fat guts on. Focus on the best deal for the exchange rate which is where you can pay the biggest cost without noticing it.

Generally speaking if you buy thai ฿฿฿ in your own country then the banks and money exchangers are gorging at your expense. Best is to sell your western currency for thai ฿฿฿ within Thailand directly into a thai bank account in the receiver's name. Bangkok Bank has one of the sharpest rates.

Edited August 6, 2010 by Roadman

[Ahnsahn]

without going into the details the overall best deal is an account with a local bank that has a branch in your country,i use bkk bank- they are in new york,and transfer money from my american account(not in new york and not bkk bank!) to the bkk bank account in thailand.regardless of the sum the fee is 25 $ and there are no withdrawal fees if you use their machine where you have the account.

...would you enlighten us a little more about how this works? First,sa we open an acct in a Bkk Bank branch. When you say you 'transfer' money from your American account, are you actually sending the funds via 'wire' transfer to the NY branch of the Bkk Bank or do I have that wrong?

If that is correct, then wouldn't it cost the same $25 to transfer the funds via 'wire' from an American bank account into any Thai bank account that one might have?

I am asking because I, too, am looking for the overall best way to setup monthly or bi-monthly transfers into a LOS account.

[TheyCallmeScooter]

I've used moneybookers every month for the last 8 or 9 months. Initially it can be a bit of a hassle setting it up as you need to verify both accounts (the UK and the Thai bank)

I don't understand this at all Biff

Moneybookers don't provide services to Thai residents. And they won't let you withdraw to a bank account which isn't in the Moneybookers account name.

So you're saying the bank accounts [including the Thai bank account] are all in your name verified and linked to your overseas Moneybookers account?

? Something seems like it doesn't make sense - but I'm a bit hungover today...

[chainarong]

Allmoney looks good but what would it cost my son to change the us dollars to Thai baht ? I wouldn't want to trust a Thai bank with that.

I use KBank or BKK Bank once a fortnight , have done for years , have had no trouble at all.

[bifftastic]

I've used moneybookers every month for the last 8 or 9 months. Initially it can be a bit of a hassle setting it up as you need to verify both accounts (the UK and the Thai bank)

I don't understand this at all Biff

Moneybookers don't provide services to Thai residents. And they won't let you withdraw to a bank account which isn't in the Moneybookers account name.

So you're saying the bank accounts [including the Thai bank account] are all in your name verified and linked to your overseas Moneybookers account?

? Something seems like it doesn't make sense - but I'm a bit hungover today...

Well, I don't know anything about them not providing services to Thai residents, I've got an account with them, my UK bank account linked and verified. My girlfriend has an account with them, her Bangkok Bank account linked and verified. In Thailand we verified the test transaction by her going to her branch, asking for a statement which showed the small amount they credit your account with, scanned it, emailed it to them along with a scan of her Thai ID card and they linked the account. We had one 'hiccup' when they asked for address verification again, as they'd sent a letter which never arrived. But we used the same document from the bank as it had her address on it and they were satisfied with that.

Verified my bank account by emailing them screenshots from my online banking, again, showing inward transactions from them. Their customer service is reasonable and they tried to help us out as much as possible.

Been using them every month since October or November 2009.

What I do is, upload to my MB account, send it to hers, login to hers, withdraw to her Thai bank and it arrives about 2 or 3 days later, takes me 5 minutes.

Biff

PS. here's a cut/paste from their website; So I upload via SWIFT transfer (free) send via moneybookers (about 50p I think, depending on the GBP/EUR rate at the time)

and withdraw via SWIFT at 1.80 EUR

I have a few more options to upload as the UK is in their list of supported countries, they have a directbanking option which accesses my account direct from the moneybookers screen and the money is instantly available to send. Larger amounts need to be sent via SWIFT from my UK bank account and that takes 2 days to get to my MB account. Hope this helps

UPLOAD & WITHDRAWAL FEES

For ALL Countries

UPLOAD FUNDS

[?]

WITHDRAW FUNDS

[?]

<br class="clear" style="clear: both; height: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; ">International

FREE

1.90 %

1.80 EUR

*3.50 EUR

<br class="clear" style="clear: both; height: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; ">

* Available to residents of OECD countries only.

Edited August 7, 2010 by bifftastic

[bifftastic]

That cut/paste didn't work too well did it? it looked fine in the reply but when I posted it, it appeared like that! sorry, hope you can make sense of it, if not here's a link to that page http://www.moneybookers.com/app/help.pl?s=fees

[TheyCallmeScooter]

That cut/paste didn't work too well did it? it looked fine in the reply but when I posted it, it appeared like that! sorry, hope you can make sense of it, if not here's a link to that page http://www.moneybook.../help.pl?s=fees

Ahh it's that they don't allow gaming transactions from South East Asia. Which must be all I've tried to use it for. cheers for clearing that up, I've been logging onto a VPN every time I had to send a friend Moneybookers thinking it would be locked down like NETeller otherwise....

[JAG]

I use a CashPlus Card - prepaid mastercard. I have two cards for the account, I have one and best beloved keeps the other. If you pay the money into a post office in the UK today, it can be withdrawn at an ATM in Thailand the next day. Fee is about £6 (to withdraw B5150). It can also be used as a debit card for shopping if you wish.

I was looking at those, how does that work? The 2 cards being in different places? I have to tell my bank if I'm travelling, forgot once and they blocked the card. You ever have any problems like that? I assume the B5150 is including the B150 fee from the ATM right?

When you open the Cashplus Account (online) just ask for a second card. Set up the PIN no before you give it to Best Beloved. She then can use it just like any other MasterCard, in an ATM or to pay for things. As long as there is cash in the account, you can use the card. You don't have to tell them anything, they actually suggest this as a possible use for the cards on their website. The B5150 includes the Thai ATM fee.

When I am in Thailand I can top up the card by using my UK Banks online banking service, so there is no need to tell your bank when you are travelling (nothing to do with them anyway).

I like the fact that I don't have to fill in any forms with addresses, relationships, or any other info for various people to peruse and file away every time I send money. Its not that I have anything to hide, or that I am "money laundering" (at B5000 a time it would be hard work!), no, its just that it's my money and my business alone what I do with it. This is very easy, cheaper than Western Union or Moneygram, reliable and flexible. Hope this helps.

[bifftastic]

That cut/paste didn't work too well did it? it looked fine in the reply but when I posted it, it appeared like that! sorry, hope you can make sense of it, if not here's a link to that page http://www.moneybook.../help.pl?s=fees

Ahh it's that they don't allow gaming transactions from South East Asia. Which must be all I've tried to use it for. cheers for clearing that up, I've been logging onto a VPN every time I had to send a friend Moneybookers thinking it would be locked down like NETeller otherwise....

No problem

[bifftastic]

I use a CashPlus Card - prepaid mastercard. I have two cards for the account, I have one and best beloved keeps the other. If you pay the money into a post office in the UK today, it can be withdrawn at an ATM in Thailand the next day. Fee is about £6 (to withdraw B5150). It can also be used as a debit card for shopping if you wish.

I was looking at those, how does that work? The 2 cards being in different places? I have to tell my bank if I'm travelling, forgot once and they blocked the card. You ever have any problems like that? I assume the B5150 is including the B150 fee from the ATM right?

When you open the Cashplus Account (online) just ask for a second card. Set up the PIN no before you give it to Best Beloved. She then can use it just like any other MasterCard, in an ATM or to pay for things. As long as there is cash in the account, you can use the card. You don't have to tell them anything, they actually suggest this as a possible use for the cards on their website. The B5150 includes the Thai ATM fee.

When I am in Thailand I can top up the card by using my UK Banks online banking service, so there is no need to tell your bank when you are travelling (nothing to do with them anyway).

I like the fact that I don't have to fill in any forms with addresses, relationships, or any other info for various people to peruse and file away every time I send money. Its not that I have anything to hide, or that I am "money laundering" (at B5000 a time it would be hard work!), no, its just that it's my money and my business alone what I do with it. This is very easy, cheaper than Western Union or Moneygram, reliable and flexible. Hope this helps.

Yes, very helpful, thanks. So, seeing as it's regarded as a credit card (although there's no actual 'credit' as such because you can only use cash you've loaded on it) does that mean you get the 'cash advance' charges for using the ATM? I remember you referring to a £6 charge earlier. So it would be a total of that charge, presumably deducted from the card account in the UK plus the B150 fee in the ATM. Is that a fixed charge or is it a percentage?

Sounds like quite a good method, as you say, no-one needs to know your business and you can load the card from Thailand when you're there.

Thanks for that,

Biff

[billybong38]

Looks i good idea the cash plus card just had a look at the fees

Looks like £3 for atm transactions plus 2.99 foreign exchange fee

I was looking at this site also http://escape-travel-money-card.com/index.html

[passpato]

How can you check the exchange rate on these methods? Nationwide still knocks all of them into a "cocked hat" You have not taken into account the exchange rate applied to this card which is an unknown and will almost certainly carry a large profit over my standard which is visa wholesale see: http://www2.visaeurope.com/personal/travellingabroad/exchange.jsp

Nationwide charge only 1% on this and no transaction fee (2% from November + £1 per tranaction)

so to send 10,000baht currently costs 100 baht on the WHOLESALE RATE and one atm fee but if YOU are in Thailand you can walk in the bank and withdraw FREE over the counter (remember its an ATM fee)

Even after the new fees are applied it will only cost you £4 to draw 10,000 baht at the Wholesale rate in November over the counter but this posting was originally about sending money to Thailand.

[bifftastic]

I could check the exchange rate by doing a test transaction of, say £10. Add the charges which are displayed on the moneybookers site when you're about to do the transaction, then I'd know the GBP/EUR rate i got, plus the exchange rate i get from the Thai bank when they change into Baht at their end. I just haven't, because I don't send large enough amounts for it to really be an issue for me. I reckon they skim off a little to make their money but because they will be transferring fairly large amounts by lumping everything together then, unless I'm sending a large one-off sum, it doesn't really make that much difference. The convenience of the payment system is one reason why I use moneybookers.

[uptoyoumyfriend]

without going into the details the overall best deal is an account with a local bank that has a branch in your country,i use bkk bank- they are in new york,and transfer money from my american account(not in new york and not bkk bank!) to the bkk bank account in thailand.regardless of the sum the fee is 25 $ and there are no withdrawal fees if you use their machine where you have the account.

...would you enlighten us a little more about how this works? First,sa we open an acct in a Bkk Bank branch. When you say you 'transfer' money from your American account, are you actually sending the funds via 'wire' transfer to the NY branch of the Bkk Bank or do I have that wrong?

If that is correct, then wouldn't it cost the same $25 to transfer the funds via 'wire' from an American bank account into any Thai bank account that one might have?

I am asking because I, too, am looking for the overall best way to setup monthly or bi-monthly transfers into a LOS account.

enlightenment is easy:

i have a savings account with bkk bank in chiang mai.

when in the us ,i go to my local bank and wire transfer from my checking acc. to my bkk bank account in chiang mai for a flat fee of 25$ using the acc number and the swift number.the transaction time is very short.

in chiang mai i get the money from the atm free of charge.

that's all i do.

the exchange rate is the usual.

however,if bkk bank would not have a branch in new york,or anywhere else in the us, the fee would be higher.

the reason is that the wire transfer goes through bkk bank in new york and the 25 bucks is the fee inside the us then ,which is less than an international fee.bkk bank new york does not charge obviously to move the money on to is subsidiary in chiang mai.

if my bkk bank account would be with the bank in new york ,which would be possible also i guess then i would have to pay for atm withdrawel in chiang mai i guess as i have to pay 10 bt anywhere else in thailand also.or from atm machines that are not bkk bank's.

and i don't like to pay for my own money.

most of it i withdraw in cash (free) at some point and walk it to siam c. bank where i get better interest.

also to protect myself from having a bkk bank atm card on me with a staggering balance. just to be safe.

i haven't explored the option that if i had the account with bkk ank in new york the money might be in $us and i could draw it in thailand when the exchange rate is best.they might not have an actual branch there with customerservice and all that, my guess is that the branch exists mainly for im and export reasons with thailand.

Edited August 10, 2010 by uptoyoumyfriend

[ianguygil]

We have a full branch there. There is a counter at the front which consumers can access if you take the lift up to our floor. But you are correct that the main focus of the branch is Wholesale, not Consumer, but some Consumer products are offered. Please note that our accounts are no FDIC insured in the USA.

[JimGant]

i use bkk bank- they are in new york,and transfer money from my american account(not in new york and not bkk bank!) to the bkk bank account in thailand.regardless of the sum the fee is 25 $

Cheaper than the SWIFT wire, above, is to do an ACH transfer from your US financial institution, thru Bangkok Bank NY (using their routing number), to your Bangkok Bank account in Thailand. Only $5 for amounts up to $2000; $10 for amounts from $2001 to $50,000. Same fee on Thai side as for a SWIFT (200-500 baht); and same TT rate. Most US financial institutions don't charge an ACH fee (exception:B of America charges $3); and all can be accomplished on the Internet, same as doing a US-to-US ACH transfer. While a SWIFT normally takes one business day, an ACH takes two.

Much discussion on this subject on this forum. Here's the Bangkok Bank website explaining it all:

HERE for US INFO

The Brits have a similar option, although more expensive and slower than for the Yanks:

HERE for UK INFO

Also, considerable discussion on the this UK Bangkok Bank London option on this forum.

[nong38]

The nationwide withdrawal limits are, assuming you have funds to cover, 500 sterling in the branch and 300 sterling at ATM per day. You should be able to get the 15000 bhats ok depending on the exchange rate. If your son has a passport or other ID (Thai card ) he may be able to go inside the Bank and avoid the ATM charge. All change in November alas.