Current Exchange Rates

[Lance_A_Lot]

I have a question about current exchanges rates (Thai Baht for U.S. Dollars). If I use PayPal to send someone (friend or vendor) money from the U.S., what is the exchange rate from the Thai Bank?

In particular, I'd like to know about the current rate from Bangkok Bank and Bank of Ayuthaya ... I may be off on the spelling of that one, but I mean the one with the big yellow sign.

If I send $100.00 (Pay Pal charges me a fee = charges me almost $104.00 for this) from the U.S., how much is actually deposited into the Thai banks listed above.

I see the exchange rate on this site reported at 30.21 Baht/US$; but, I know the actual exchange rate if you exchange U.S. dollars for Baht at a bank or foreign exchange

'booth' is actually less, perhaps on the order of 29.Bt/$ ??

Thanks for any answer(s) and info provided.

Edited March 11, 2011 by Lance_A_Lot

[cougar52]

Hi all the Banks have fluctuating exchange rates, theyupdate them several times a day. Here is a good site to see

the exchange rates offered from each bank. http://bankexchangerates.daytodaydata.net/default.aspx use the TT rate to see what the rate you will receive.

Edited March 12, 2011 by cougar52

[Penkoprod]

It all depends on what the rate Paypal itself uses to calculate how much Baht you actually send.

Best to do a "dry run" with Paypal by only taking it to the "Review your payment and send" page

If you scroll down a little it tells you the PayPal Conversion Rate they apply to the transaction.

Like i say, nothing to do with the Thai banks.

Penkoprod

Edited March 12, 2011 by Penkoprod

[CharlieH]

It all depends on what the rate Paypal itself uses to calculate how much Baht you actually send.

Best to do a "dry run" with Paypal by only taking it to the "Review your payment and send" page

If you scroll down a little it tells you the PayPal Conversion Rate they apply to the transaction.

Like i say, nothing to do with the Thai banks.

Penkoprod

As stated above its nothing to do with the Banks, it all down to what Paypal imposes on the day and you can bet the rate will be lousy !

[BigJohnnyBKK]

I have found PayPal to be **excellent** for transferring small amounts. If you are supporting girls here from abroad, then weekly allowance is the way to go, or they **always** piss through the full monthly amount within a few days and then have to go out and look for the next sucker in order to have food to eat.

Since their transaction fee is so reasonable, you can easily test with say B1000 and see if it's different between your various banks. Set up multiple PayPal accounts (linked to separate back-end accounts of course) and you can use them to fund each other if you don't actually have customers paying you by credit card.

Paypal to Paypal is free for personal use.

If anyone can suggest a cheaper way to transfer such small amounts internationally, please let me know.

PS don't keep large balances actually in Paypal, just use it as a transfer mechanism.

[swissie]

Hi all the Banks have fluctuating exchange rates, theyupdate them several times a day. Here is a good site to see

the exchange rates offered from each bank. http://bankexchangerates.daytodaydata.net/default.aspx use the TT rate to see what the rate you will receive.

Hi Cougar,

a few days ago, I transferred some money from Swiss Bank to "Bangkok - Bank" . I believe for such Transactions the TT exchange rate applies. Right ?

But looking at the date the money was credited to the account at "Bangkok-Bank" and simultaneously looking at the TT exchange-rate of that day, they must have booked it under "Bank-Note-Exchange-Rate. (According to their own website, compared to TT I am loosing a full BHT per Swiss-Franc. Around 3 %)

Is this "Bullshit" now common procedure among Thai-Banks ? If I was living in Thailand, I would show up at the Bank in a hurry. But I am still in Europe.

I hate to think of all the e-mails, phone-calls, registered letters that I will have to issue, to rectify the situation !

So again, was anyone confronted with the same situation ?

Thanks & cheers.

[Pib]

Hi all the Banks have fluctuating exchange rates, theyupdate them several times a day. Here is a good site to see

the exchange rates offered from each bank. http://bankexchanger...et/default.aspx use the TT rate to see what the rate you will receive.

Hi Cougar,

a few days ago, I transferred some money from Swiss Bank to "Bangkok - Bank" . I believe for such Transactions the TT exchange rate applies. Right ?

But looking at the date the money was credited to the account at "Bangkok-Bank" and simultaneously looking at the TT exchange-rate of that day, they must have booked it under "Bank-Note-Exchange-Rate. (According to their own website, compared to TT I am loosing a full BHT per Swiss-Franc. Around 3 %)

Is this "Bullshit" now common procedure among Thai-Banks ? If I was living in Thailand, I would show up at the Bank in a hurry. But I am still in Europe.

I hate to think of all the e-mails, phone-calls, registered letters that I will have to issue, to rectify the situation !

So again, was anyone confronted with the same situation ?

Thanks & cheers.

Bangkok Bank provides the TT Buying Rate (about the highest rate a common man can get) for receipt of foreign funds "plus a currency exchange fee of 0.25% (200 baht minimum and 500 baht maximum). So, the maximum fee would have been 500 baht (this does not include any Sending bank fees like SWIFT fees). However, if you allowed your Sending bank to accomplish the currency exchange they almost always give you a significantly lower rate than the TT rate Thai banks provide. Now, the home country Sending bank will always make it sound like you will get a good deal but in most cases it ain't!!! It's kinda like accepting the DCC rate for credit/debit/ATM card transaction where you are given an exchange rate based on what the merchant/bank is offerring....a rate that is usually around 3 to 4% lower than the TT Buying Rate.

Summary: Do not allow the Sending bank to do the currency exchange..send the money in your home country currency; let the Thai receiving bank do the currency exchange. Additionally, never accept the DCC rate on a credit/debit/ATM card transaction as it will usually be 3 to 4% lower than what Visa/Mastercard provided exchange rate would be. Have the card transcation cancelled/voided before you sign the receipt/complete the transaction and have the transaction reacomplished in Thai Baht...when you do this you just saved yourself 3 to 4% on the transaction. Note: If your credit/debit/ATM card has a foreign transaction fee(s) (most do in the 1 to 3% range; some don't have any charge), then that fee will still be applied separately...definitely best to have cards which do not charge any foreign transaction fees on card usage (fewer of these everyday but they still exist).

[swissie]

Hi all the Banks have fluctuating exchange rates, theyupdate them several times a day. Here is a good site to see

the exchange rates offered from each bank. http://bankexchanger...et/default.aspx use the TT rate to see what the rate you will receive.

Hi Cougar,

a few days ago, I transferred some money from Swiss Bank to "Bangkok - Bank" . I believe for such Transactions the TT exchange rate applies. Right ?

But looking at the date the money was credited to the account at "Bangkok-Bank" and simultaneously looking at the TT exchange-rate of that day, they must have booked it under "Bank-Note-Exchange-Rate. (According to their own website, compared to TT I am loosing a full BHT per Swiss-Franc. Around 3 %)

Is this "Bullshit" now common procedure among Thai-Banks ? If I was living in Thailand, I would show up at the Bank in a hurry. But I am still in Europe.

I hate to think of all the e-mails, phone-calls, registered letters that I will have to issue, to rectify the situation !

So again, was anyone confronted with the same situation ?

Thanks & cheers.

Bangkok Bank provides the TT Buying Rate (about the highest rate a common man can get) for receipt of foreign funds "plus a currency exchange fee of 0.25% (200 baht minimum and 500 baht maximum). So, the maximum fee would have been 500 baht (this does not include any Sending bank fees like SWIFT fees). However, if you allowed your Sending bank to accomplish the currency exchange they almost always give you a significantly lower rate than the TT rate Thai banks provide. Now, the home country Sending bank will always make it sound like you will get a good deal but in most cases it ain't!!! It's kinda like accepting the DCC rate for credit/debit/ATM card transaction where you are given an exchange rate based on what the merchant/bank is offerring....a rate that is usually around 3 to 4% lower than the TT Buying Rate.

Summary: Do not allow the Sending bank to do the currency exchange..send the money in your home country currency; let the Thai receiving bank do the currency exchange. Additionally, never accept the DCC rate on a credit/debit/ATM card transaction as it will usually be 3 to 4% lower than what Visa/Mastercard provided exchange rate would be. Have the card transcation cancelled/voided before you sign the receipt/complete the transaction and have the transaction reacomplished in Thai Baht...when you do this you just saved yourself 3 to 4% on the transaction. Note: If your credit/debit/ATM card has a foreign transaction fee(s) (most do in the 1 to 3% range; some don't have any charge), then that fee will still be applied separately...definitely best to have cards which do not charge any foreign transaction fees on card usage (fewer of these everyday but they still exist).

Hi Pib, yes as it turns out, the sending Bank did the currency exchange, although I explicitely marked to send it in form of Swiss-Franc to Thailand !

I will have a friendly little chat with the sending Bank tomorrow.

Thanks & cheers.