Best Way To Transfer Money To Thailand?

[JosephMcCann]

Hey,

I want to transfer 22,000THB into thailand (condo rent)/

I get paid in £ into a UK bank account.

I've had a look at various places and all seem a rip off (ie getting charged £20 processing fee, and a shit rate of 45.00 to the £, when the spot rate is currently 47.65)

Can any one recomend the best way of sending money over?

I was wondering if sending it via a uk paypal to a thai account would work, no idea tho

Cheers

[Lite Beer]

Have a look at Moneybookers.

Probably cheaper than banks for small amounts.

[Lite Beer]

Moved to Banking.

[JosephMcCann]

Great thanks,

Just signed up to their site but it wont tell me the spot rate until ive uploaded funds. Will call them later today,

any other recommendations?

[Lite Beer]

The main problem with Moneybookers is that you upload Sterling but you withdraw in Euros so it is not easy to work out the rate.

With the fees being so low it works out ok with small amounts.

On large amounts you may well lose out.

[flying]

Why not open a Bangkok Bank account? ( If you dont already have one )

Then you transfer from Bangkok Bank UK London Branch direct to Thailand

I do the same from the USA using Bangkok Bank NY

[Wentworth]

<br />Why not open a Bangkok Bank account? ( If you dont already have one )<br /><br />Then you transfer from Bangkok Bank UK London Branch direct to Thailand<br /><br />I do the same from the USA using Bangkok Bank NY<br />

<br /><br /><br />

Sounds like a good idea, what sort of charges do you pay and how long does it take?

[Khun Jean]

Another way if you have someone in Thailand is send an ATM card and let them take out money from a ATM and they pay the rent for you. This will give you a good rate and minimal costs.

[flying]

Sounds like a good idea, what sort of charges do you pay and how long does it take?

It is minimal for me. Especially since to transfer money internationally via swift is usually $40usd

Yet if I use BB New York it is like a local bank to bank so the charge is negligible.

If I use an internet account of my local bank to BB NY it is only $2 or free depending on which account I use.

Then of course there is the small BB fee which you can check out in the link I provided below titles Fees.

Time to transfer is very quick too usually a couple of days depending on what time of day I do the transaction & if NY is still open.

Here is the info you want regarding UK to Thailand....

UK to Thailand

And here are the Fees.....

Fees

Also Ian who posts here in the banking forum works at BB & has stated if your transferring a large amount ( Over 50k USD I believe he said) There is a better rate but you need to contact the bank prior to transfer.

Hope that helps.

Edited December 13, 2010 by flying

[schmutzie]

On such a small amount you're close to the ATM withdrawal fees (assuming your debit card/bank is giving you a £250 withdrawal limit).

You don't provide the name of UK bank you have. I would recommend you use HSBC if you're in Thailand for the long term.

They will allow you to do an overseas transfer directly from your internet banking service. I don't recall the fee, but it's lower or equivalent to the standard SWIFT transfer rates.

If you don't have an HSBC account maybe have someone you trust relay the money for you.

You need a Thai bank account to transfer to. I use Kasikorn and would recommend them. There will be some minor fees associated with opening the account.

My recommendation would be to do a larger SWIFT transfer via internet from your UK high street bank to your Thai bank when you think the rates are reasonable. Transfer GBP and let the

Thai bank do the conversion.

If you're planning to do this regularly, you might want to consider a forex service. They don't charge fees, but as others have pointed out, the rate they offer is not good.

However, they will allow you to fix the rate for up to 1 year. You should note that not all are FSA regulated. So beware. Moneybookers. MoneyCorp and HiFX are major

forex services (HiFX is what the Post Office is using).

So there you have it:

ATM withdrawals at VISA rate plus fees plus ATM fee (probably 600THB per withdrawal)

SWIFT transfer plus UK fee plus Thai bank fee (probably 1000THB UK + 500THB Thailand) but better overall exchange rate (google Kasikorn Telex Transfer Rate)

Forex transfer - no fees but poor exchange rate. For larger transfer you might be able to negotiate a better rate.

As for PayPal, I believe you'll need separate accounts for your UK and Thai bank details. However, it was not obvious what exchange rate they offered when I looked at this option.

[jsflynn603]

It's pretty insidious in my estimation. Every place charges fees, and then there is the currency conversion and its divergence from the interbank rate. There are places that have very low fees, but often you get a terrible rate at conversion. Often it's really hard to even figure out what the fees are and what the rate is.

I have found a Credit Union near me that (as long as I keep a minimum of $2k in it all month, will let me use the ATM in Thailand to remove money. Now Visa charges a 1% overall fee, then there is the ATM fee(s) then there is the currency conversion rate. This Credit Union rebates all the fees to me, and I believe (but won't know till the end of the month till I do it) that the currency conversion rate is about the same that the banks here charge.

The fella's idea about the Bangkok bank in London is a good one, though I tried doing that once with a Philippine bank in New York and eventually gave up in frustration because they kept screwing it up.

[ianguygil]

It's pretty insidious in my estimation. Every place charges fees, and then there is the currency conversion and its divergence from the interbank rate. There are places that have very low fees, but often you get a terrible rate at conversion. Often it's really hard to even figure out what the fees are and what the rate is.

I have found a Credit Union near me that (as long as I keep a minimum of $2k in it all month, will let me use the ATM in Thailand to remove money. Now Visa charges a 1% overall fee, then there is the ATM fee(s) then there is the currency conversion rate. This Credit Union rebates all the fees to me, and I believe (but won't know till the end of the month till I do it) that the currency conversion rate is about the same that the banks here charge.

The fella's idea about the Bangkok bank in London is a good one, though I tried doing that once with a Philippine bank in New York and eventually gave up in frustration because they kept screwing it up.

The process to arrange this via our London branch is very simple. This is a very popular service for our customers. If you run into any problems you can always PM me. Thanks

Ian

[tpiety2]

Why not open a Bangkok Bank account? ( If you dont already have one )

Then you transfer from Bangkok Bank UK London Branch direct to Thailand

I do the same from the USA using Bangkok Bank NY

I 've done the Paypal to Paypal and the rates are terrible. I do the Bangkok bank NY transfer now, much cheaper, but u must have a Bangkok bank acct. in Thailand.

[ianguygil]

Why not open a Bangkok Bank account? ( If you dont already have one )

Then you transfer from Bangkok Bank UK London Branch direct to Thailand

I do the same from the USA using Bangkok Bank NY

I 've done the Paypal to Paypal and the rates are terrible. I do the Bangkok bank NY transfer now, much cheaper, but u must have a Bangkok bank acct. in Thailand.

Totally correct that for the automated transfer setup using ACH in the US or BACS in the UK, you need a Bank account with us at BBL.

It is always possible to send money using what is called in "Banker Speak" PUPID, which means Pay Upon Proper ID. If you plan to be here you can send the funds to yourself to pickup at Bangkok Bank as long as you show the right ID which is specified in the payment message (i.e. your passport). This is something which provides some flexibility for those who are traveling around the world and do not want to use ATMs or open up accounts.

PUPID is a very normal industry standard term. Not just specific to Bangkok Bank.

[citizen33]

A Halifax Reward account Swift transfer costs £9.50 (even less counting the £5 reward and the current £2.50 discount) plus a small fee at the Thai end. Send the money in sterling and you will get close to the TT rate. There are several threads in this forum indicating that this is probably the cheapest way at present. The ATM route suggested would be pretty expensive now, even if you use Aeon ATMs in Thailand and escape the 150 baht per withdrawal fee.

Edited December 19, 2010 by citizen33

[bkkbwb]

Has anybody had any problems transfering funds from NAB (Australia) to K Bank, or Thailand in general.

I tried transferring from there to here, but was told that tranfers to Thailand are not currently available, no reason given. That sounds pretty bizarre to me.

[Pib]

I expect that it is a NAB issue/policy change or something wrong with your NAB account relating to external transfers. Different banks seems to go through phases of making it hard to transfer money to country XYZ (such as Thailand) due to reasons only known to the bank, but usually it's driven by something that is illegal in the sending bank's country like suspected money laundering. Not to imply you are doing something illegal; it's just some people do transfer funds to country XYZ for illegal purposes. Then, after a few months country XYZ is put back on that bank's OK-list and funds can be easily transferred again.

But I expect NAB would still do a wire/SWIFT transfer for you because that makes a nice, fat fee for them but you may have to do it in writing/person. When living in a foreign country and relying on money transfers from your home country, it's best to have accounts at two different banks who do transfers to country XYZ....that way, when one bank decides to make transfers hard to do, then you just use your other bank. I have personally went through this situation with one of my banks making it hard to transfer funds to Thailand for about six months before Thailand got back on the bank's OK-line. And assuming nothing is wrong with your individual account, no amount of bitching at them on the phone is going to help because the bank has made a macro policy decision to not allow certain type of transfers to country XYZ for any of its customers. But fortunately, my other bank kept my periodic transfers flowing easily. Have a backup bank/financial agency to transfer funds.

[sarahsbloke]

HiFx in the UK

You can buy online using a UK Debit Card and they tell you how many Baht will be transferred to your Thai account using SWIFT at no extra charge to you.

If your Thailand Bank takes a cut, you email them a copy of the deposit page in your bank book, and they refund that amount to your UK Debit Card.

Edited December 24, 2010 by sarahsbloke

[jfchandler]

Since someone above mentioned Paypal, and I was curious to check them lately, I did a sample transaction today of sending U.S. $ to Thailand to receive 1,000 baht here. And the result doesn't appear promising.

The Paypal exchange rate for U.S. $ to Thai baht for sending personal funds today was 29.4118 baht to the $.

The Bank of Thailand Interbank Exchange Rate average for the U.S. $ as of yesterday (today's won't be posted until evening) was 30.190 baht to the $. (The IER rate roughly equals what an ATM transaction using a no fee ATM machine like AEON and a no fee ATM card would produce.)

By comparison, Bangkok Bank's local buying TT rate today was 30.03 baht per U.S. $.

So basically, Paypal would be taking as much as a 2.6% cut of your proceeds (or nearly .8 baht per U.S. $) compared to what withdrawing funds in Thailand from a no fee ATM like AEON using a home country bank card that charges no foreign currency fee.

With Paypal, for example, it would have cost $34 U.S. per 1000 baht received in Thailand.

With the no fee ATM like AEON and a no foreign currency fee bank card, it would have cost $33.12 per 1,000 baht received in Thailand.

By comparison, using the online BKK Bank transfer from the U.S. to Thailand via their New York branch....

Using the OP's example, sending 22,000 baht from the U.S. via BKK Bank would have cost $732.60 plus a $5 BKK Bank handling fee in New York plus a minimum 200 baht (or roughly $6.66) receiving fee in Thailand, for a total of $744.26, or a net resulting exchange rate of 29.595 -- just a bit better than the Paypal rate.

[cardholder]

Great thanks,

Just signed up to their site but it wont tell me the spot rate until ive uploaded funds. Will call them later today,

any other recommendations?

Research a Halifax Reward account.

Don't expect something for nothing - look for a fair fee (in this case £9.50 perhaps less a 'reward' of £5) and a fair exchange rate (use Bangkok Bank or Kasikorn and you will see what likely rate you will get on receipt of the funds).

If it is one-off use a friend to pay it for you - if monthly, consider Halifax.

Edited December 29, 2010 by cardholder

[Marchand]

Long-time lurker: I'm also wondering what the cheapest way is to pay someone in Thailand from the US, where I am. My bank, which is where most of my money is, is in another state and will not let me do a wire transfer over the phone. Western Union wants to charge over $100 (the amount I need to pay is less than $2000 US), so I'm thinking there must be a cheaper way. The payee's Bank is Siam Commercial and I have the account details. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Re Paypal - it's better than anything else I've found for transferring **small** amounts, ideal for supporting your local friends while you're away. Just calculate the cutoff point based on your alternative method, for me it's around 22,000 THB.

You do need to have a separate Paypal account (linked to a separate bank account) if you want to "fund yourself" as opposed to having income from others coming into your Paypal account. I've also found Kasikorn online banking with their "virtual Visa" card (works like a credit card online, not a debit Electron) to be a good alternative for those who don't qualify for a real credit card. You can use it to fund anyone's Paypal account instantly. It takes around three business days at the moment for the transfer from Paypal to show up in your real bank account.

[jfchandler]

Indeed, the PayPal approach for moving funds from the U.S. to Thailand does seem to work.... provided the sender sets up a PayPal account in the U.S. PayPal network, and then there's a separate account set up in the Thailand PayPal network. And each of those PayPal accounts are linked to a respective bank credit/debit card in those respective countries, and the accounts are separately verified through the PayPal system.

Here's some screen captures of what it looks like from the Thailand PayPal site. Note the footnote at the bottom that says PayPal will charge a 2.5% handling fee if the payment involves a currency conversion, which would in fact be the case most times when moving funds from the U.S. to Thailand or the reverse.

Note also that PayPal may use a currency exchange rate that's different from what you'd get using a no-fee U.S. bank ATM card withdrawal in Thailand, or by ACHing funds from a U.S. bank to the Bangkok Bank New York branch and then onward to a BKK Bank account in Thailand.

So I'm not saying PayPal is a good or the best way of moving funds in a $ sense... But I am saying the process certainly can be done.

[oldsailor35]

Another way if you have someone in Thailand is send an ATM card and let them take out money from a ATM and they pay the rent for you. This will give you a good rate and minimal costs.

This is what i do with my Commonwealth Bank acct., and it works very well for me.

[oldsailor35]

Another way if you have someone in Thailand is send an ATM card and let them take out money from a ATM and they pay the rent for you. This will give you a good rate and minimal costs.

I have been doing this for 3 months now and it works well for me, i have a seperate account linked to this ATM card and transfer, via internet banking, just enough cash to cover the transaction.

Edited March 4, 2011 by oldsailor35

[dananderson]

Since someone above mentioned Paypal, and I was curious to check them lately, I did a sample transaction today of sending U.S. $ to Thailand to receive 1,000 baht here. And the result doesn't appear promising.

The Paypal exchange rate for U.S. $ to Thai baht for sending personal funds today was 29.4118 baht to the $.

The Bank of Thailand Interbank Exchange Rate average for the U.S. $ as of yesterday (today's won't be posted until evening) was 30.190 baht to the $. (The IER rate roughly equals what an ATM transaction using a no fee ATM machine like AEON and a no fee ATM card would produce.)

By comparison, Bangkok Bank's local buying TT rate today was 30.03 baht per U.S. $.

So basically, Paypal would be taking as much as a 2.6% cut of your proceeds (or nearly .8 baht per U.S. $) compared to what withdrawing funds in Thailand from a no fee ATM like AEON using a home country bank card that charges no foreign currency fee.

With Paypal, for example, it would have cost $34 U.S. per 1000 baht received in Thailand.

With the no fee ATM like AEON and a no foreign currency fee bank card, it would have cost $33.12 per 1,000 baht received in Thailand.

By comparison, using the online BKK Bank transfer from the U.S. to Thailand via their New York branch....

Using the OP's example, sending 22,000 baht from the U.S. via BKK Bank would have cost $732.60 plus a $5 BKK Bank handling fee in New York plus a minimum 200 baht (or roughly $6.66) receiving fee in Thailand, for a total of $744.26, or a net resulting exchange rate of 29.595 -- just a bit better than the Paypal rate.

Assuming your calculations are correct, the net result would improve significantly with larger amounts via the BKK Bank NY transfer. Here is a link to BKK bank NY transfer fees http://www.bangkokba...0USA%20Fee.aspx