Establishing Bank Account & Wire Transfer

[Spee]

Hello All,

Sorry if this has been discussed in the past ....

I have been reading that one of the steps for establishing residency is to demonstrate income and to also have "x" amount of money in a Thai bank account.

Can anyone offer details for getting an account established?

Also, if or when the account is established, is it a relatively simple matter to have funds wire transferred into it?

For example, in the US, banks need both an account number and a bank routing number to wire funds between accounts. Is this also true for Thailand? One of my Thai friends has told me that Thai banks do not have routing numbers similar to the states. They say all that is needed is the bank, the name on the account and the account number.

Thanks in advance for all replies.

Spee

[KevinN]

True enough,Thai Banks do not have an electronic routing number,,

About 3 years ago,I opened a savings acct. at Siam Commercial Bank and when ever I need to make a deposit,I use my US bank VISA ATM/CHECK Debit card,The amount is charged to the card and transfered into my savings acct. and a fee of 60 baht is charged. This is the cheapest way thay I can find and is done right then on the spot.

[naka]

SPEE.

KEVIN's avice is good.

Another method is to use the international 'SWIFT' system, particularly for larger amounts.

Contact your home bank by whatever method and advise them the following

Your Thai bank's name and address.

Your Thai banks' SWIFT code. e.g. BKASTHBK for Bank of asia

You account full name e.g. Alan Spee.

Your account Number e.g. 020- 3 - 01234 - 7

All major international and Thai banks use this SWIFT system, more expensive

for small amounts but cheaper for larger amounts as the exchange rates are better than credit card rates. Charges are around $ 25 / transaction.

[lopburi3]

You open an account (savings passbook) with a baht deposit/passport and an address. If one bank says no try another.

Thai Banks use the first digits of the account number to identify the bank branch and are not part of the US system. To transfer funds you first must establish a wire transfer agreement with your home bank. Once that is established you can usually phone (recorded with password) them to direct a transfer. They need name of bank/account name/account number/home address of account holder/and bank routing information (SWIFT code - which they can look up if not total zeros). Expect to pay about $40 so would try to keep amount between 5-9k $ to keep costs down.

If doing on a regular basis have them keep the information "as a recurring transaction" and they can read it and you confirm rather than spelling everything out each time.

[phuket Mike]

Bangkok Bank seems to be the easiest to open a savings account. All they require is to see your passport and an address in Thailand (can be anything even a hotel room). You will get an account with a Visa debit/cash card. I did it just before Christmas and it was very easy they even filled out the forms (good because some of them were in Thai).

From what I understand from an article in the Phuket Gazette many of the other bank require farangs to have a work permit before allowing them an account.

I also transferred some money from the UK via the swift system.

BKK Bank even gave me a typed note with all the details required by my bank to complete the transfer.

phuket Mike

[KevinN]

I still say it is easier and cheaper with the ATM/CHECK card,only 60 baht sure beats $25 to $40 and all the paper work,with the ATM it is a 5 minute job and just like writing a check on your US acct.and it is posted in your passbook before you leave the bank.Swift is an expensive pain in the ass.

[dutch]

every 3 months I transfer money from ABN(Holland) to BoA in Korat.

This is an automatically transaction that I started 8 months ago to obtain some experience for my future retirement.

Costs; Euro 8 (in 2004) , was euro 7 per transaction

last exchange rate , in January TBaht/euro 49,1

transfer time 1-3 days

[naka]

Kevin.

Agreed SWIFT is more expensive but it's 'horses for courses'.

ATM method is fine for bringing in small amounts but the foreign exchange rates

suck. Also ATM transfers are not much good for large transactions, bringing

in a few million for a condo purchase or a million for retirement deposit.

[lopburi3]

I still say it is easier and cheaper with the ATM/CHECK card,only 60 baht sure beats $25 to $40 and all the paper work,

While I would not use SWIFT for a small amount do not believe it is that costly when you are talking 8 or 9k at a time. There is no paperwork involved after you set account up for wire transfers - a two minute telephone call from my home is all it takes.

Would be interested in which exchange rate they are using on your check card. Is it exactly the same rate as if you used the atm machine? The wire transfer is normally among the best.

[KevinN]

I went in to SCB last week and did my monthly cash transfer of 70,000 baht,I asked what the baht rate was and they looked it up and it was over 39. I had the transfer done,my book stamped and brought up to date,was charged 60 baht for the service. and was done and back on the street in 5 minutes.checked the ATM for the deposit,it was there and the next day I checked my US bank INTERNET banking and the money had been taken from my US checking acct.there is no charge from Visa as my card is a Bank ATM/CHECK card with a Visa logo in the lower corner but as far as I know has nothing to do with VISA corp. as it is just an ATM/CHECK debit card and is used like a check again my acct. but it is done electronically instead of me having to write a check. Before I thought of doing this,I did make a cash draw again my VISA and there was a 20,000 baht daily limit and I was charged with a cash draw from VISA. But on this card it says on the front of the card that it is xxx xxxxxx BANK , ATM/CHECK CARD..not a regular VISA. and the daily limit is what ever I have in my bank checking acct. and when ever I go to immigration in BKK the lady there that takes care of my visa issue just looks at my bank passbook.issues my visa and I come home for another year. Maybe she just does this because I am such a handsome, dashing looking dude,but it works for me.

[naka]

Here’s a factual account of a transfer I made just two days ago.

Arranged a SWIFT transfer for GBP 8,000 in order to top up my retirement visa account

prior to renewal. The funds arrived yesterday ( after 1 day ) and I got my local passbook updated.

On a hunch, as I was leaving the bank I decided to take some cash (Bt 20,000) from my UK account using my overseas debit card.

The results were as follows.

SWIFT exchange rate to GBP 71.37

ATM card exchange rate to GBP 69.01

Funds came from same account in same bank on the same day.

This means that I paid 3.4 % more for the ATM transaction.

Plastic is convenient, but expensive for anything other than lolly money.

Nuff said.

[bmanly]

Spee, I agree with Phuket Mike about Bangkok Bank. I opened an everyday passbook account last year and had a visa electron card issued to be used as a debit card with it. You can use this card in any ATM in Thailand and almost anywhere in the world. On monday night at 11 PM Australian time I did a SWIFT transfer to this account via Westpac, my Australian internet Banking company. Next day I rang Bangkok Bank and my AUD was in there and converted at the top rate (30 baht to the AUD) The charge was $20 AUD on this end and 500 baht that end. When I go back to Thailand later this year I can withdraw funds as little or almost as much as I like for free at almost any ATM, can't get too much better than that.

[Blindman]

Hay... great thread guys.. learnt alot.

Cheers

[Blindman]

bmanly,

You wouldnt know if there is a Thai bank here in sydney do you..??

I was hoping to start sending money to Thailand much sooner then having to wait till i get there in June , specially cause of the exchange rate.

Cheers

[Blindman]

OOhh.. forget one more Question.

Having an account here in sydney and there in thailand would you be able to transfer money to and fro via internet banking ?

Cheers