Bank Of America To Bangkok Bank Ltd

[Upcountry]

What a hassle and waste of time.

For the third time, I set up a transfer to BB from BoA. This time it clearly indicated BBNY. I validated it after getting the two small deposits in by BB account and calling to get the US currency anounts. Once validated, I decided not to do a transfer right away because it was not longer a time-sensitive issue. I've set up an Everbank account that I will use for transfers of up to $5,000 instead of BoA.

Well, today I went in to my BoA transfer interface to set up a transfer account to Everbank. I noticed that my unused BoA to BBNY transfer account is not inactive - the only option is to delete and go through the gruesome process of setting it up again - but will not because this 'inactive' state tells me that this set up got spit out from the bowls of the BoA dinosaur. I'm giving up.

I still have not received a response from the Bank customer service department after several weeks now.

Stay away from BoA if you want to transfer funds (not via wire) to Bangkok Bank New York. That's my final recommendation.

[jing jing]

I am really beginning to dislike B of A. The bowels of the dinosaur move slowly and odiferously indeed, and their product is not beneficial to my financial well being.

[Upcountry]

BoA to BBNY transfer account is not inactive

Sorry, typo above.

Should read:

BoA to BBNY transfer account is "inactive"

[Rainmon]

BOA is all hype and too big with over 175,742 Full Time Employees: according to Yahoo finance.

I have had a few issues with Fideltiy, but over all they are the best.

Just remember, they always have a 4 days clearing time if you move funds into your account for ATM (via money line not wire trans), it will not be available for at least 4 days to cash out because they are a brokerage not bank, diff rules.

I am really beginning to dislike B of A.  The bowels of the dinosaur move slowly and odiferously indeed, and their product is not beneficial to my financial well being.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[richard10365]

Perhaps the $10,000 maxium transfer amount only works for banks in the USA that don't automatically transfer it out of the country. Transfering only $1000 to $3000 might be the key to making it work. Maybe thats why my monthly $1000 transfers are going through every month.

I do plan on trying a more direct way to transfer the money. My retirement pension payment service (DFAS) has an option to set up allotments online. I think I will try an allotment to BKK Bank this month to see how it works.

If that works, I will try to send the entire paycheck directly to my savings account from DFAS.

If that works, I will have direct deposit from the USA to a bank in Thailand with a Thai ATM card that works world wide.

This will get me around the ATM card problem some foreigners have with Thai banks when doing direct deposit.

Edited November 18, 2005 by richard10365

[Thaigreg]

Perhaps the $10,000 maximum transfer amount only works for banks in the USA that don't automatically transfer it out of the country. Transferring only $1000 to $3000 might be the key to making it work. Maybe thats why my monthly $1000 transfers are going through every month.

I do plan on trying a more direct way to transfer the money. My retirement pension payment service (DFAS) has an option to set up allotments online. I think I will try an allotment to BKK Bank this month to see how it works.

If that works, I will try to send the entire paycheck directly to my savings account from DFAS.

If that works, I will have direct deposit from the USA to a bank in Thailand with a Thai ATM card that works world wide.

This will get me around the ATM card problem some foreigners have with Thai banks when doing direct deposit.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Richard,

Wouldn't it be more ecomoncial to transfer 2 or 3 amounts per year? BB,NY is charging you $5 per transfer and BB in Thailand is charging 200 baht(approx. $5). This calculates to about $120.00 in transfer fees. While with 2 or 3 transfers per year your looking at $20 or $30 per year.

[thaihome]

How did you get the USD amount of the validating transfer.  When I (actually my wife) went to the main branch of Bangkok Bank (Silom Road), they said they could not get the USD amount as it only showed up as baht. I assumed this was because the NY branch had made the conversion before sending to Thailand.

TH

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Try calling the main office at Bualuang Phone 1333 or (66) 0-2645-5555 and asking yourself.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That worked, thanks for the tip. Account validated, will try first transfer today. Will probably keep using SWIFT for big amounts, but this cost about the same as an ATM withdrawl

TH

[LoveDaBlues]

My November transfer of $1000 went through again. No problems.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I followed this thread with great interest as I've been banking online with B of A for quite awhile. Went ahead and opened a Bangkok Bank account, then proceeded to add that account to my B of A funds transfer list as described so thoroughly by Khun Richard. After verifying the account per Bof A's instructions I successfully transferred $9500 USD (staying clear of the $10K limit) using the online transfer feature.

Imagine my surprise when, as I was preparing to initiate another transfer (Bof A permits up to $20K USD per month and I'm buying a vehicle over here), I logged onto B of A and clicked over to the transfer funds screen and found the Bangkok Bank account didn't appear on the pull-down "transfer to" menu. I then moved to the "manage accounts" screen and found that the BB account was "inactive"!

After a few confusing and contradictory responses from the B of A customer service department (initially saying BB had refused the transefer, which I of course refuted) via email, I was instructed to start over and add the BB account again. I am now awaiting the notification that the initial small transfers have taken place so I can again verify the account.

After being quite excited about the apparent ease and economy of the first successful B of A online funds transfer process, I was disappointed to see problems arise thereafter. I'll keep the members posted as to the outcome of my second attempt.

By the way... great forum here!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We're in the same boat.....I'm buying a new Toyota Fortuner here (diesel, auto) and my biggest problem is getting my money from the United States!

Bank of America will soon lose my business. When I was in the United States they were great.....I never had a problem with them. Now I can't get my hands on my own money sitting in BoA! With 'Netbank' I have transferred money to my Thai bank (Krung Thai). I sent an email to Netbank to inquire about the max limits on a transfer.......they responded that there was no max limit. I can send as much as I want in one pop with just the same flat fee involved.

Tonight I will call BoA and see if they will 'up' the limits I can sent to 'Netbank' online because they currently allow only 20k per month and the car costs around 31k. It's stupid that I must wait another month to get my own money to purchase a car.

The online process of sending from BoA to Netbank has been easy and cheap. I have already sent $10,000 as a one-time transaction and the money arrived in 3 days and the fee was only $3.00. The problem is not the time or the fee involved but the STUPID monthly limits imposed by Bank of America.

Of course if I was not a dumb Yank I would have thought ahead and just brought 60 $500 travelers checks with me.

[richard10365]

Perhaps the $10,000 maximum transfer amount only works for banks in the USA that don't automatically transfer it out of the country. Transferring only $1000 to $3000 might be the key to making it work. Maybe thats why my monthly $1000 transfers are going through every month.

I do plan on trying a more direct way to transfer the money. My retirement pension payment service (DFAS) has an option to set up allotments online. I think I will try an allotment to BKK Bank this month to see how it works.

If that works, I will try to send the entire paycheck directly to my savings account from DFAS.

If that works, I will have direct deposit from the USA to a bank in Thailand with a Thai ATM card that works world wide.

This will get me around the ATM card problem some foreigners have with Thai banks when doing direct deposit.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Richard,

Wouldn't it be more ecomoncial to transfer 2 or 3 amounts per year? BB,NY is charging you $5 per transfer and BB in Thailand is charging 200 baht(approx. $5). This calculates to about $120.00 in transfer fees. While with 2 or 3 transfers per year your looking at $20 or $30 per year.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thaigreg,....yes..your definitly right. It is cheaper to send 2 or 3 times a year.

I could probably save money not eating 2 or 3 times a year too.

However, I am not at the point yet where I have saved enough that would allow me to transfer the money 2 or 3 times a year. At present, I am spending most of my pension paycheck every month.

I think I will probably end up paying, at a minimum, $120/year in transfer fees.

For me, its a small price to pay for retiring a year and a half ago at age 38 and never working again. (never say never )

[thaihome]

That worked, thanks for the tip.  Account validated, will try first transfer today. Will probably keep using SWIFT for big amounts, but this cost about the same as an ATM withdrawl

TH

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Tried to do a transfer on Friday, day after the account was validated. Entering the transfer worked perfectly. When I checked back today on status, as other posters have complained, the transfer was status was "stopped" and the account status was "inactive" and not available on drop down menu.

Sent a note to customer service, but do not have high hopes of a resolution.

I wonder if Richard has tried to make a transfer lately, he is apparently the only one that can get it to work.

Now that I know how to get USD amount of trial transfer I will try from my First Internet Bank account and see if I can get that to work.

TH

[Ken]

Tried to do a transfer on Friday, day after the account was validated.  Entering the transfer worked perfectly.  When I checked back today on status, as other posters have complained, the transfer was status was "stopped" and the account status was "inactive" and not available on drop down menu.

Sent a note to customer service, but do not have high hopes of a resolution.

I wonder if Richard has tried to make a transfer lately, he is apparently the only one that can get it to work........

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh well. Same thing has happened to me. Got the account validated, no problem. Then tried to transfer a "small" amount of $2000 USD. Looked like it had "gone" ok. Now, the money is back in the BOA account and Bangkok Bank is gone from the drop down menu.

After following this thread from the beginning, I can now say I've tried it and I'm giving up and closing the account. Don't have the inclination to "fight" thru it with BOA.

[richard10365]

I have no idea why no one else has been able to get this to work. My bank is in California. I do not know if this has anything to do with it. I think LA has one of the largest population of Thai people in the USA. Maybe thats why it works there.

If your money comes from DFAS (Defense Finance and Accounting Service) it is possible to completely ignore American banks and send it straight to the Thai bank in the USA.

I am looking for a routing number now for Kasikorn Bank in Los Angeles. If anyone has it, please share it with me.

[jing jing]

I have no idea why no one else has been able to get this to work. My bank is in California. I do not know if this has anything to do with it. I think LA has one of the largest population of Thai people in the USA. Maybe thats why it works there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I just received the funds from my second transfer, so the system has worked for me twice, but... although as of now my BB account is still functional in the BoA funds transfer menu, I don't know how long that will last. The problem before was that the BB account was deactivated after the transfer had already taken place. I will keep the members posted as to whether this account remains active for me, since many have apparently not had such good luck with this feature.

BTW my BoA account is also in SoCal... if it continues to work as Khun Richard's does, then maybe the problem is a regional thing.

[richard10365]

I set up my DFAS MyPay option to send my paycheck straight to Bangkok Bank. I'm not even going to use Bank of America now.

On MyPay, when I put in the routing number for Bangkok Bank in New York, it automatically found it in it's database. It said my paycheck would be sent to Bangkok Bank New York on Jan 2nd.

This should reduce my transfer and conversion fees to about $10/month.

Also, direct deposit done this way will still allow me an ATM card (with the Visa logo) because I had the account and ATM card before I set up direct deposit.

I'll let you know if it works or my money gets lost somewhere in cyberspace.

[thaihome]

Tried to do a transfer on Friday, day after the account was validated.  Entering the transfer worked perfectly.  When I checked back today on status, as other posters have complained, the transfer was status was "stopped" and the account status was "inactive" and not available on drop down menu.

Sent a note to customer service, but do not have high hopes of a resolution.

TH

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just to update the ongoing saga. I have exchanged two sets of message with BofA "customer services" asking why they stopped the transfer and changed status of account to inactive.

First reply was a form letter telling me that wire transfers had to done in person the first time and by phone after that.

Second time was telling me that the bank had to have a valid US address, including zip code. I have replied to this one asking that since the Bangkok Bank is in their list of banks and they have already successfully made 2 transfers to this account why they have taken the action to stop the transfer.

Awaiting reply.

TH

[JimGant]

This should reduce my transfer and conversion fees to about $10/month.

Richard, could you do a rehash -- I've gotten bogged-down following this thread.....

Namely:

1. How will you prompt BB NY to send your money to Thailand? Email, phone, letter --or will you have set up something to happen automatically?

2. How does BB NY send this money? I would guess SWIFT wire transfer, since it seems BB NY and BB Thailand, while cousins, seem to function as any US bank/non-US bank do when it comes to transfering money. (But this is where I'm *totlally* confused.)

3. Per above, what is the transfer fee (if not a SWIFT transfer, I guess it's $5.....Or even if it is a SWIFT..........)?

4. Could you breakout your "$10 per month?"

5. BB Thailand's website mentions its international partners, with, besides BB NY, Bank of New York and JP Morgan Chase in the US. Almost sounds like you can get the same deal(s) at any one of these three banks. Anyone have any thoughts/facts on this?

Oh, you're sure dollars are sent to Thailand for conversion there -- and not converted in NY before transfer?

Edited November 25, 2005 by JimGant

[Gary A]

I use Citibank in California for my banking. I had a Wells Fargo account for a long time but that's another story. (Greedy bastards). I wire money to my Siam Commercial bank account here. It costs $30 per transaction regardless of how much I wire. I have wired as much as $35,000. The money has always been in my Siam account the very next day. I do this via the Internet and it is easy and quick. The exchange rate has always been the same as I find on my Yahoo home page. I don't know what Siam Bank charges other than it is VERY little. The last wire was on October 10th. I wired $10,000 and Siam Bank put 406,368.75 baht into my account the very next day. My ATM transactions from Siam bank are free. Citibank charges me $1.50 per transaction. My pension is direct deposited into Citibank.

[richard10365]

This should reduce my transfer and conversion fees to about $10/month.

Richard, could you do a rehash -- I've gotten bogged-down following this thread.....

Namely:

1. How will you prompt BB NY to send your money to Thailand? Email, phone, letter --or will you have set up something to happen automatically?

2. How does BB NY send this money? I would guess SWIFT wire transfer, since it seems BB NY and BB Thailand, while cousins, seem to function as any US bank/non-US bank do when it comes to transfering money. (But this is where I'm *totlally* confused.)

3. Per above, what is the transfer fee (if not a SWIFT transfer, I guess it's $5.....Or even if it is a SWIFT..........)?

4. Could you breakout your "$10 per month?"

5. BB Thailand's website mentions its international partners, with, besides BB NY, Bank of New York and JP Morgan Chase in the US. Almost sounds like you can get the same deal(s) at any one of these three banks. Anyone have any thoughts/facts on this?

Oh, you're sure dollars are sent to Thailand for conversion there -- and not converted in NY before transfer?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Jim,

As soon as Bangkok Bank NY gets the transfer (with your Bangkok Bank, Thailand account number) from another stateside bank (I have been using BOA for this) it automatically SWIFTs it to Thailand for a $5 fee.

When Bangkok Bank Thailand receives your money from Bangkok Bank NY it automatically converts it to baht for a fee ranging from 200 to 500 baht.

Transfer and conversion fees are about $10 to $12. The BOA fees are $3.

I am going to attempt to get around BOA fees by sending my money directly from DFAS (Defense Finance and Accounting Service) to Bangkok Bank NY. DFAS is the one who pays my retirement from the US Army. Thus keeping my transfer fees per month to about $10 (I hope).

If I had lots of money, I wouldn't mind spending $35 for a transfer. But since I only get about $1300/month from my retirement, every penny (satang) counts.

[JimGant]

The following may be helpful as a rule-of-thumb, at least for those with US bank accounts.

Observation:

- A wire transfer uses the Telex exchange rate, while ATM/Debit (and Credit) cards use the Interbank Exchange Rate, a more favorable rate over the Telex rate by about .25% (.0025). HOWEVER, most ATM/Debit transactions charge 1% (which is what Visa/Mastercharge bills the issuing bank for using its network). Thus, the net exchange rate is .75% *more* favorable for wire transfers vs. ATM/Debit cash transfers to Thailand.

-- EXCEPT, of course, when you factor in the wire fees at both ends. In this situaion, ATM/Debit is superior -- up to a point.

(The following chart uses Bangkok Bank's wire fee, which is .25%, with a floor of 200 baht and a ceiling of 500 baht, or $5 to $12.50 using 40bt/$)

Wire Fee at US Bank vs. Breakeven Point over ATM/Debit (rounded):

$5/$1300

$10/$2000

$15/$3000

$20/$4000

$25/$5000

$30/$5600

$35/$6300

$40/$7000

$50/$8400

The above assumes a 1% Interbank network fee for ATM/Debit transactions. It does *not* include the $2 - $5 that many banks charge per ATM event, which would lower the breakeven point by about $150 per fee dollar charged.

So, if you can't send sufficient amounts to reach the breakeven point, it pays to use your ATM/Debit card, even if you're paying fees. This would apply to credit cards too, if it weren't for the fact that many now charge 3% fees for international transactions. In this case, the debit card is now superior to your credit card when making overseas purchases.

Anyhow, the above is a rehash, and of course doesn't cover all situations, to include 'more is better' when that 'more' is earning a nice return in your US money account.

[Thaigreg]

I use Citibank in California for my banking. I had a Wells Fargo account for a long time but that's another story. (Greedy bastards). I wire money to my Siam Commercial bank account here. It costs $30 per transaction regardless of how much I wire. I have wired as much as $35,000. The money has always been in my Siam account the very next day. I do this via the Internet and it is easy and quick. The exchange rate has always been the same as I find on my Yahoo home page. I don't know what Siam Bank charges other than it is VERY little. The last wire was on October 10th. I wired $10,000 and Siam Bank put 406,368.75 baht into my account the very next day. My ATM transactions from Siam bank are free. Citibank charges me $1.50 per transaction. My pension is direct deposited into Citibank.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Gary,

How do you do the transfer online? Are you using a SWIFT CODE? Thanks.

Greg

[richard10365]

I started another transfer ($1,012.35) last night. It should be my last transfer like this. I requested DFAS send my money directly to Bangkok Bank NY. It said the transfers would start Jan 2nd.

[JimGant]

Richard,

As you might already know, DFAS has started a direct deposit into foreign bank accounts, beginning with England, France, and a few others of that ilk. Later, 35 more countries are to be added -- but not Thailand, nor any Asian countries that I recall. Strange.

How will you notify Bangkok Bank in NY to process a wire? Certainly they must have something in place to make sure it's really you that's requesting a wire transfer(?).

[jing jing]

I don't want to "jinx" myself but it's been about 3 weeks since my last successful transfer, and the BB account is still available in the drop down menu on BoA's funds transfer page. I will post again if the status changes, but as of now this is a viable option for getting significant sums of money economically and conveniently from there to here, and I've got a pickup truck to prove it!

Thanks to Khun Richard for the heads up on this deal.

[richard10365]

Richard,

As you might already know, DFAS has started a direct deposit into foreign bank accounts, beginning with England, France, and a few others of that ilk. Later, 35 more countries are to be added -- but not Thailand, nor any Asian countries that I recall. Strange.

How will you notify Bangkok Bank in NY to process a wire? Certainly they must have something in place to make sure it's really you that's requesting a wire transfer(?).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Jim,

I am aware DFAS has started International Direct Deposit (IDD). I emailed DFAS and asked when it would be avaliable in Thailand and they never responded.

It works pretty much the same way as BOA to Bangkok Bank transfers.

I did email Bangkok Bank NY and asked them if they would process the transfer from DFAS and they said as long as my name and account number is the transfer, it would be no problem. It will take 3 to 5 days once they get the money from DFAS and they will charge $5 to wire it to Bangkok.

Bangkok Bank Thailand also charges upto $5 for accepting and converting the transfer into baht.

[richard10365]

My transfer I started on the 1st arrived on the 7th of Dec.

I sent $1012.35 from Bank of America. They charged me $3 for this transfer.

Bangkok Bank NY charged me $5 to automatically SWIFT it to Thailand.

$1007.35 arrived in Bangkok Bank in Thailand.

They converted it into 41573.33 baht at the exchange rate of $1 = 41.27 baht.

They charged me 200 baht for the conversion.

Total arrived in account in Thailand was 41373.33 baht.

Edited December 8, 2005 by richard10365

[MilkPlus]

You guys should be more careful about posting so much info, especially transaction totals and balances. There’s probably nothing to fear, but a lot of times when a bank is trying to authenticate a person on the phone they will ask things like "what was the amount of your last (*(*(**(*(* so and so" stuff like that.

Why take the chance, who knows there could be a person on this forum that’s figured out who you really are and may have personal info on you, like your leasing agent or something.

Sure I’m sounding paranoid; it’s just that shit happens.

What if you posted a sum of money and someone said hey, there’s a candidate for "ransom". Sure it’s not Columbia, ....oh whatever, do what you want.

Carry on.

Edited December 8, 2005 by MilkPlus

[thaihome]

Tried to do a transfer on Friday, day after the account was validated.  Entering the transfer worked perfectly.  When I checked back today on status, as other posters have complained, the transfer was status was "stopped" and the account status was "inactive" and not available on drop down menu.

Sent a note to customer service, but do not have high hopes of a resolution.

TH

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just to update the ongoing saga. I have exchanged two sets of message with BofA "customer services" asking why they stopped the transfer and changed status of account to inactive.

First reply was a form letter telling me that wire transfers had to done in person the first time and by phone after that.

Second time was telling me that the bank had to have a valid US address, including zip code. I have replied to this one asking that since the Bangkok Bank is in their list of banks and they have already successfully made 2 transfers to this account why they have taken the action to stop the transfer.

Awaiting reply.

TH

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

After 2 more exchanges, BofA customer services is now saying the account must have a valid US address. I give up.

TH

[Firefan]

He,he - I feel for you!

I also have an account in the US and generally dealing with ANYTHING outside the USA turns them into brain-less zombies.

Cheers!

[Upcountry]

Point well taken. We're not in Kansas/20th Century anymore.

Whether it's M$ system restore trojans, or snoopy snoops on the net, you just can't take anything for granted - for that matter the CAT/TOt/whatchamacalliet Internet issues some of us are facing may be 2-5pm drunken techs trying to find ways to spy on their customers.

Please forgive my seeming snide response. I'm just being 2084 about this

The "golden age" of the Internet has passed. Let the user beware.

Edited December 8, 2005 by Upcountry

[UncleDonald]

I have been following this thread for a long time and have had many of the same frustrations with the BOA to BB NY transfer scheme. Sometimes it works, sometimes no, and then they cut the link. The size of the transfer may have an effect, the small set-up transfers seem to always work. But I once got away with a $6000 transfer too.

I stopped at a BOA in Boston last month and asked what was going on. They told me that this scheme is in their view an attempt to avoid wire fees by bypassing the normal system. "If it works sometimes you are just lucky no one caught it because your BB account is really not a US account and we only transfer to US accounts by rule."

Why they include BB as one of their corresponding banks, I have no idea.

So the answer is, it may work, but don't count on it.

On the other hand, for some good news, my Wells Fargo ATM card always delivers up to the daily limit of about $300 without any fees and with competitive exchange rates. I think a lot of guys live this way.

If you deposit a US check in a Thai bank it takes 4 to 6 weeks to clear, god knows why. Or maybe I know too, it's just a way to skim a little from the fahlang.

All of this stuff is just a small piece of the big issue between the US and many small countries, whether US banks and financial services will be allowed to compete or whether the local family empires will retain their monopolies.