Repatriation Of Expat'S Thai Salary

[sydpickett]

Hello!

I am an American Expat working in Thailand. I have read through the forums and have been unable to determine the most effective and cheapest way to pay my American debts with my Thai salary.

I am a visa holding English teacher earning a monthly Thai salary that is deposited into K Bank. But, I do not know how to pay my American credit card bills and my student loans. Unfortunately, neither my credit card bills nor Sallie Mae (student loan holder) will accept payments (including online payments) from Thailand.

I have read about SWIFT transfers and Western Union wire transfers, but it seems that both are costly. Is there a cheaper means of transferring money? What do other expats do to transfer money to their home countries/pay bills? I don't make a lot of money (30,000bht per month) so spending over 30USD per transfer is VERY expensive to me.

I would greatly appreciate some advice/help in this matter. Thanks!!

[samran]

save up your pennies and only make one transfer every few months to minimise the transfer fees.

[Mugg]

As far as I know Bangkok Bank is the only bank I can find that uses Routing Numbers... The payment actually appears to come from Bangkok Bank in New York city . I have never had an issue with using it to pay bills

[gregb]

Open a second account in Thailand with an ATM card. Mail that card to a relative in the states. Every month transfer the amount of money necessary to pay your bills into that account. Let your relative in the US take the money out from an ATM machine in the US, and then pay your bills for you. It will cost you whatever the ATM charges are. Used to be you could get about $5 for a $500 transfer if you found the right ATM in the states.

[Langsuan Man]

Bangkok Bank specifically offers this service for expats

Read about it here:

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Online%20Banking/For%20Personal/iBanking/Services/Pages/IFT.aspx