Good Expat Bank, Good Expat Hospital?

[jfchandler]

Rich, I don't have an ING account, so I can't speak to the particulars of their process... But I think you might be skipping over a few details...

For example:

BKK Bank and all the other Thai banks charge a commission on all incoming international fund transfers/deposits.... So apart from what happens on the U.S. end, it's not a "free" process.

Maybe you can explain just how ING is routing the funds to Bangkok Bank in your example:

If ING is doing an online initiated international wire transfer, I'm assuming they're charging a fee for that... I've never heard that ING in the U.S. provides free international wire transfers for its regular accounts.

Or, if you're talking about doing an ACH transfer from ING to the New York branch of BKK Bank using their U.S. ABA number, and then the New York branch sending the funds onward to Thailand, the New York branch also charges a small handling fee, in addition to the 0.25% commission BKK Bank in Thailand takes out of the received funds.

[chuckd]

I haven't seen a cheaper or faster option on receiving Social Security payments than the Bangkok Bank direct deposit.

My money is in my hands by the 4th of the month, depending on weekends, at a cost to me of 260 Baht.

Anybody?

[jfchandler]

I haven't seen a cheaper or faster option on receiving Social Security payments than the Bangkok Bank direct deposit.

My money is in my hands by the 4th of the month, depending on weekends, at a cost to me of 260 Baht.

Anybody?

Chuck, you said "cheaper or faster"..... If I was receiving SS, I might well consider BKK Bank's service.... though I'm less than excited about having to do personal branch visits every month in order to access those funds.

But as for "cheaper or faster" options, I'd say having those same SS funds direct deposited into a good no foreign currency fee account like Charles Schwab or Capital One, and then accessing those funds via AEON ATM here.

No fee at all, and the funds would be available via one's U.S. ATM card immediately on the day of the direct deposit... Plus a somewhat better exchange rate on those funds via ATM vs. the buying TT rate that Bangkok Bank offers.

That approach might not be convenient for everyone depending on where they live.... But it definitely is cheaper and faster.

[chuckd]

I haven't seen a cheaper or faster option on receiving Social Security payments than the Bangkok Bank direct deposit.

My money is in my hands by the 4th of the month, depending on weekends, at a cost to me of 260 Baht.

Anybody?

Chuck, you said "cheaper or faster"..... If I was receiving SS, I might well consider BKK Bank's service.... though I'm less than excited about having to do personal branch visits every month in order to access those funds.

But as for "cheaper or faster" options, I'd say having those same SS funds direct deposited into a good no foreign currency fee account like Charles Schwab or Capital One, and then accessing those funds via AEON ATM here.

No fee at all, and the funds would be available via one's U.S. ATM card immediately on the day of the direct deposit... Plus a somewhat better exchange rate on those funds via ATM vs. the buying TT rate that Bangkok Bank offers.

That approach might not be convenient for everyone depending on where they live.... But it definitely is cheaper and faster.

A couple of things to mention.

For me the nearest AEON ATM is in Udorn, which is 90 kilometers away. The nearest BKK Bank is 39 kilometers from my home.

Is there a local charge when one uses a US ATM in Thailand?

Will Social Security deposit funds into a Charles Schwab or Capitol One account?

I don't know the answers to the two questions, hence the reason for asking.

Edited April 17, 2011 by chuckd

[jfchandler]

For me the nearest AEON ATM is in Udorn, which is 90 kilometers away. The nearest BKK Bank is 39 kilometers from my home.

Is there a local charge when one uses a US ATM in Thailand?

Will Social Security deposit funds into a Charles Schwab or Capitol One account?

AEON Thailand has an English language web site that lists most of their ATM locations in Thailand by region... So you might check that, if you haven't already done so... Sometimes the AEON ATMs are hidden away in relatively obscure places... But I'll assume your info above is correct.

Re Social Security, I don't receive it... But from what I know and read, I believe Social Security payments can be direct deposited into any regular U.S. bank or credit union, including a Charles Schwab or Capital One checking account that reimburses foreign ATM charges... in addition to also being able to have the funds kind of direct deposited directly to Bangkok Bank.

See the following:

SS Admin FAQ on Direct Deposit of Monthly Benefit Checks

http://www.ssa.gov/deposit/DDFAQ898.htm

Bangkok Bank direct deposits for Social Security payments

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok%20Bank/Personal%20Banking/Transfering%20Funds/Receiving%20Funds/Pages/Advice_Direct_Deposit.aspx

As for your question about using a U.S. ATM in Thailand, yes, all of the Thai banks now charge a 150 baht fee for any withdrawal from one of their ATMs, regardless of the amount, using a foreign [non-Thai bank] ATM card. AEON is not a Thai bank, but instead, the Thai arm of a Japanese credit card company. That's why their ATMs aren't part of the 150 baht fee scheme.

That's in addition to whatever fees the U.S. bank that issued the card may charge when that card is used outside the U.S. either for purchases or ATM withdrawals... fees these days among many of the largest U.S. banks that often are 3% of purchase amounts or ATM withdrawals

[Ken]

Rich, I don't have an ING account, so I can't speak to the particulars of their process... But I think you might be skipping over a few details...

For example:

BKK Bank and all the other Thai banks charge a commission on all incoming international fund transfers/deposits.... So apart from what happens on the U.S. end, it's not a "free" process.

Maybe you can explain just how ING is routing the funds to Bangkok Bank in your example:

If ING is doing an online initiated international wire transfer, I'm assuming they're charging a fee for that... I've never heard that ING in the U.S. provides free international wire transfers for its regular accounts.

Or, if you're talking about doing an ACH transfer from ING to the New York branch of BKK Bank using their U.S. ABA number, and then the New York branch sending the funds onward to Thailand, the New York branch also charges a small handling fee, in addition to the 0.25% commission BKK Bank in Thailand takes out of the received funds.

I'm not sure why Rich hasn't replied to your questions. At any rate, when I saw his post about ING over a month ago, I thought I would give it a try. Basically, everything he said as far as setting up the account was exactly as described. I have now, just verifed my ING account with the two small ACH transfers that were made (in my case $.13 and $.15). I also just made an ACH transfer of $100 US, and it should appear in my Bangkok Bank next week. I will then post what, if any, fees are charged. For sure, there is no charge by ING. And my thinking is that Bangkok Bank in New York will not be charging any fee as my experience shows that there is never a charge for doing ACH type transfers by the receiving Bank (or for that matter the sending Bank). And while Bangkok Bank in Thailand may charge some commission, I have never "seen" that charge in my account when I've previously done many SWIFT transfers to that account. Of course my USA Bank (not ING account) charges me $40 to do an International Swift transfer. So, no matter what, I believe that using the ING ACH process will be much cheaper than SWIFT, if there is any cost at all.

[chiang mai]

Rich, I don't have an ING account, so I can't speak to the particulars of their process... But I think you might be skipping over a few details...

For example:

BKK Bank and all the other Thai banks charge a commission on all incoming international fund transfers/deposits.... So apart from what happens on the U.S. end, it's not a "free" process.

Maybe you can explain just how ING is routing the funds to Bangkok Bank in your example:

If ING is doing an online initiated international wire transfer, I'm assuming they're charging a fee for that... I've never heard that ING in the U.S. provides free international wire transfers for its regular accounts.

Or, if you're talking about doing an ACH transfer from ING to the New York branch of BKK Bank using their U.S. ABA number, and then the New York branch sending the funds onward to Thailand, the New York branch also charges a small handling fee, in addition to the 0.25% commission BKK Bank in Thailand takes out of the received funds.

I'm not sure why Rich hasn't replied to your questions. At any rate, when I saw his post about ING over a month ago, I thought I would give it a try. Basically, everything he said as far as setting up the account was exactly as described. I have now, just verifed my ING account with the two small ACH transfers that were made (in my case $.13 and $.15). I also just made an ACH transfer of $100 US, and it should appear in my Bangkok Bank next week. I will then post what, if any, fees are charged. For sure, there is no charge by ING. And my thinking is that Bangkok Bank in New York will not be charging any fee as my experience shows that there is never a charge for doing ACH type transfers by the receiving Bank (or for that matter the sending Bank). And while Bangkok Bank in Thailand may charge some commission, I have never "seen" that charge in my account when I've previously done many SWIFT transfers to that account. Of course my USA Bank (not ING account) charges me $40 to do an International Swift transfer. So, no matter what, I believe that using the ING ACH process will be much cheaper than SWIFT, if there is any cost at all.

I'm not trying to be pedantic but I think it's important to understand the mechanisms involved here: SWIFT is the mechanism for world wide interbank transfers whereas ACH is a subset of NACHA which is the association of clearing houses in the US and pertains solely to in-country transactions.

[Ken]

I'm not trying to be pedantic but I think it's important to understand the mechanisms involved here: SWIFT is the mechanism for world wide interbank transfers whereas ACH is a subset of NACHA which is the association of clearing houses in the US and pertains solely to in-country transactions.

No problem to be "pedantic", but not sure what your point is as to why it's "important to understand the mechanisms". Just wondering if I am missing something that I should know concerning doing ACH transfers.

Edited May 28, 2011 by Ken

[cardholder]

I'm not trying to be pedantic but I think it's important to understand the mechanisms involved here: SWIFT is the mechanism for world wide interbank transfers whereas ACH is a subset of NACHA which is the association of clearing houses in the US and pertains solely to in-country transactions.

No problem to be "pedantic", but not sure what your point is as to why it's "important to understand the mechanisms". Just wondering if I am missing something that I should know concerning doing ACH transfers.

I think Chiang Mai's point is that they are not ACH transfers if they are USA to Thailand, they are SWIFT transfers. ACH being only intra-USA.

It is similar to the UK where we have BACS for intra-UK and SWIFT for international.

I think he is just helping you to use the correct terminology so you don't look like a bit of a tit ! Afterall, you wouldn't call a BMW a Ford, would you ?

[chiang mai]

I'm not trying to be pedantic but I think it's important to understand the mechanisms involved here: SWIFT is the mechanism for world wide interbank transfers whereas ACH is a subset of NACHA which is the association of clearing houses in the US and pertains solely to in-country transactions.

No problem to be "pedantic", but not sure what your point is as to why it's "important to understand the mechanisms". Just wondering if I am missing something that I should know concerning doing ACH transfers.

I think Chiang Mai's point is that they are not ACH transfers if they are USA to Thailand, they are SWIFT transfers. ACH being only intra-USA.

It is similar to the UK where we have BACS for intra-UK and SWIFT for international.

I think he is just helping you to use the correct terminology so you don't look like a bit of a tit ! Afterall, you wouldn't call a BMW a Ford, would you ?

Agreed and well put.

[Ken]

I'm not trying to be pedantic but I think it's important to understand the mechanisms involved here: SWIFT is the mechanism for world wide interbank transfers whereas ACH is a subset of NACHA which is the association of clearing houses in the US and pertains solely to in-country transactions.

No problem to be "pedantic", but not sure what your point is as to why it's "important to understand the mechanisms". Just wondering if I am missing something that I should know concerning doing ACH transfers.

I think Chiang Mai's point is that they are not ACH transfers if they are USA to Thailand, they are SWIFT transfers. ACH being only intra-USA.

It is similar to the UK where we have BACS for intra-UK and SWIFT for international.

I think he is just helping you to use the correct terminology so you don't look like a bit of a tit ! Afterall, you wouldn't call a BMW a Ford, would you ?

Agreed and well put.

Didn't know that what I posted was making me "look like a bit of a tit". But thanks for the explanation anyway. Indeed, I recognize that I am not doing an ACH transfer to the bank in Thailand, but that it is going to the Bank in New York. From there, I would guess that it is some kind of internal Bangkok Bank transfer to my account in Thailand and not SWIFT (nor ACH), as there does not appear to be any SWIFT kind of charges.

From Bangkok Bank's web site: Bangkok Bank

"Convenient and safe via US ACH system and Bangkok Bank's New York Branch

Holders of US bank accounts can save on fees for international funds transfers by transferring funds from the United States to Thailand via the US Automated Clearing House system (US ACH) and Bangkok Bank's New York branch."

Edited May 28, 2011 by Ken

[Ken]

Just noticed from the same Bangkok Bank link above, the following list of fees for the Transfer. Thus, based on the below fee schedule, the "ING method", while not totally free, does appear to be a good savings as opposed to using SWIFT or ATM withdrawals....at least for me.

Fees

1.Bangkok Bank in New York charges the following fees for funds transfers initiated via the US ACH system:

Transferred Amount Fee

Less than USD 50.00 Free

USD 51.00 - 100.00 USD 3.00

USD 100.01 - 2,000.00 USD 5.00

USD 2,000.01 - 50,000.00 USD 10.00

USD 50,000.01 or more USD 20.00

2.Bangkok Bank in Thailand also charges a fee of 0.25% of the amount in the Baht currency (minimum of THB 200; maximum of THB 500) when the funds are deposited into the recipient's Bangkok Bank account in Thailand.

[321Rich]

Thanks for all the response, everyone… some posts contradict others, some seems to be sound advice, some not so sound. I guess the bottom line, what works well for one person may not produce the same results for others.

As for me, I think I will simplify things and just have my social security check deposited directly into the Bangkok Bank in Thailand and continue having my pension check and some income from rental property go into an American bank, perhaps ING. Spreading it out seems a better strategy than having all one's eggs in one basket, and who knows, I might be able to convince a future Thai wife I only have the one source of income! lol

[chiang mai]

Ken - This subject was bugging me so I did some digging, it seems that there is now an international payments service involving the US Fed and the ACH system and it's called, not surprisingly, FEDGLOBAL or FEDACH, see the link below. http://www.frbservices.org/help/fedach_international.html. On that basis you were entirely correct, apologies.

Edited May 29, 2011 by chiang mai

[Ken]

Ken - This subject was bugging me so I did some digging, it seems that there is now an international payments service involving the US Fed and the ACH system and it's called, not surprisingly, FEDGLOBAL or FEDACH, see the link below. http://www.frbservices.org/help/fedach_international.html. On that basis you were entirely correct, apologies.

Chiang mai: Thanks for your post. Actually, it's not that I was "entirely correct", but I think the way I worded the post, it could have been read that I thought the ACH was going to BKK in Thailand, though that is not what I meant or thought. To me it was obvious that the ACH was going to New York (otherwise why would I need to use their routing number when I made my transfer). Now exactly how they move the money from New York to Bangkok, I'm not sure, but apparently they do charge a "small handling fee" as noted in my post above. Maybe they use the FEDACH method that you found out about???

At any rate, the ING method seems to work quite well....and it will save me some money.

[painterscabin]

If one lives, say 45 minutes away from a hospital, in my mind that qualifies as "living within minutes of medical help". I didn't say anything about calling something like 911. I was simply trying to make a point that I did not want to live a couple of hours drive time to the nearest hospital.

Drear Sir, everyone seems to be giving good advise, but Isaan is a large place, and not knowing to which town, or area you will locate limits some answers. I live in a town of about 14,000, have a hospitle, of fairly good size, but if thing seem to be alittle more complicated we chose to go to the next town fifteen min. away by car, Which has an even larger hospitle. I live in nong khai provenence , so even knowing that,Which provence, can help others to give more defined answers. Good luck to you, and welcome to thailand.

[Ken]

Last week's $100 transfer from ING to my Thailand BKK account has now been deposited. The amount deposited was 2724.55 Baht. So from Bangkok Banks web page listing the fee schedule, BKK New York would have charged me $3 and BKK Thailand would have charged me 200 Baht. Using the exchange rate of 30.16 as posted on Thaivisa today, the amount deposited works out to be just about right on the money.

Having said that, this was only a test run for me, and I would never "normally" transfer such a small amount. Thus it does appear to me that using the ING to BKK method as previously described by RichinThailand, while not totally "free", is a cost effective method for transferring funds from USA and the cost is considerably less than the SWIFT method that I have previously used.

[callao]

Banks question clarification: I expect to deposit social security and a pension monthly into an American bank and then transfer money, as needed, to Thailand. So I still need that question answered. (What are a couple of stable banks in the Isaan area (cities please) that have American counterparts? (Like HSBC and CitiBank)?

Hospitals: Do any Isaan hospitals routinely treat people for heart attacks or strokes or do they simply stabilize the person and ship them off to Bangkok or some other location? Anyone had any first-hand experiences with either one of these conditions?

Thanks for any information...

I heard that Bangkok bank in BKK is the only Thai bank that has a USA bank routing number that you can easy transfer funds I believe theres a Citibank in BKK as well Bangkok bank has branchs all over even Vientiane

[Ken]

Banks question clarification: I expect to deposit social security and a pension monthly into an American bank and then transfer money, as needed, to Thailand. So I still need that question answered. (What are a couple of stable banks in the Isaan area (cities please) that have American counterparts? (Like HSBC and CitiBank)?

Hospitals: Do any Isaan hospitals routinely treat people for heart attacks or strokes or do they simply stabilize the person and ship them off to Bangkok or some other location? Anyone had any first-hand experiences with either one of these conditions?

Thanks for any information...

I heard that Bangkok bank in BKK is the only Thai bank that has a USA bank routing number that you can easy transfer funds I believe theres a Citibank in BKK as well Bangkok bank has branchs all over even Vientiane

Reason for edit...miss read post.

Edited June 9, 2011 by Ken