Money Transfer Headache

[magic]

This was 2 years ago when I lived in bkk..

I had an account at Siam Bank.. Tried to transfer funds from my USA bank account into Siam commercial bank:

However Siam Bank requested a "US corresponding bank account number" or something like that.. I can't exactly remeber the phrase.. This was in addition to my USA bank account number and routing number.

My bank in the USA had no clue what they were talking about.. so I had to transfer funds from my brokerage account instead..

Does anyone know of Thai banks that only need a routing number and bank account number for a USA bank, to transfer to Thailand??

I am looking for a simple way of doing this transfer... Perhaps this is only a problem for USA people? I don't want this problem when I return..

[Daveroc]

If you instruct your USA Bank to send money to the Thailand Bank you should only need to provide them the exact name of the account, the Bank, Branch and account number and the SWIFT code of the thai Bank.

i.e. Bangkok Banks SWIFT code BKKBTHBK

[magic]

come to think of it, my USA bank may have requested this:

* The name of your correspondent bank (used by your foreign banking institution).

I can't remember if SIam requested this or my home bank did..

Does this ring a bell for any americans? Again, this is not my bank account number or my routing number.

[lopburi3]

This makes no sense. If you were transferring from US to Thailand it is the US bank which would want to know the route/account number not SCB. SCB can not draw from your US account.

OK now see you have corrected - yes it was the US bank asking and they could easily look up the information but were to lazy to open the book.

The easy way is to use Bangkok Bank in Thailand as your US bank can make a direct ACH transfer just as they do to any US bank that way. See Bangkok Bank website for details.

[Gary A]

I'm a US citizen and I have been making wire transfers from Citibank US to my Siam Commercial account for a number of years. The money is normally in my Thai bank the very next day.

S.W.I.F.T CODE SICOTHBK

TELEX NO. 20455 SIAMFX TH.

The Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited

[IMA_FARANG]

It's been a good 30 years since i had to do this...but I think the term you're looking for is "corespondent bank".

I once recieved a bank draft in U.K. pounds mailed to me in Thailand from a U.K. bank. I think in the U.K. it is refered to as a sight draft or bank directors draft. It was signed by one of the U.K. bank directors of that U.K. bank and made payable to me.

That U.K. bank told me they had a corespondent bank in Thailand who would cash that draft...and gave me the bank's adress in Bangkok. They told me to go to that corespondent bank to cash my bank directors draft.

So I went there, and they had a microfiche (that's how long ago this was...pre computers).

They compared the signature on my U.K. bank directors draft and a specimum signature they had on file in their microfiche...and when they decided the two signatures looked alike....I could cash the bank draft.

Of course, the bank here in Bangkok charged me a fee for this...but I got my money.

I think that is what they are refering to...a Thai corespondent bank tied to your U.S. bank.

As further information...I transfer money from my U.S. bank to my Bangkok Bank account via a SWIFT transfer through Bangkok Bank in New York.

First you will need to set up a Bangkok Bank account in Thailand.

Then go to your local U.S. bank. and see if they will allow you to set up a facility to allow you to initiate a SWIFT transfer of funds to Thailand and your Bangkok Bank account. You will need to give them the account number, name of account, branch address, and location of your Bangkok bank account in Thailand. You will probably have to fill out and sign forms to set this up that your U.S. bank will keep on file. You can also specify the maximum amount and frequency of the transfer (i.e. $1200 each month). Your U.S. bank will give you a code number (mine did anyhow) you can use to initiate a transfer by an email to them,

When you want to transfer money from your U.S. bank to your Bangkok Bank account you simply send an email to your U.S. bank. They initiate a SWIFT transfer through Bangkok Bank in New York to your Bangkok Bank account in Thailand.

Your U.S. bank will probably charge a fee for each SWIFT transfer...but Bangkok Bank doesn't charge you a fee for this.

The exchange rate you get for dollars to Baht in Thailand is the same rate you would get in Thailand if you walked into a Bangkok Bank branch currency exchange with U.S dollars to exchange.

I live here in Bangkok now, and I've done my money transfers this way for years,

Edited February 27, 2012 by IMA_FARANG

[lopburi3]

Actually Bangkok Bank will charge a fee in the range 200-500 baht for any currency conversion - it will be taken out of the baht amount credited to your account. All banks do this.

As you have a Bangkok Bank account you should check your home bank policy for domestic ACH transfer as it will likely be easier and cheaper than SWIFT. You send via the same Bangkok Bank New York route; will take two days instead of one but many US banks do without charge so only a small fee at Bangkok Bank New York and the fee on conversion of currency here and you can probably do it online.

[Yme]

I walked into a Kassikornbank Bank on rama II last week to send a small TT of $350 to the US.

After waiting 40 minutes I was eventually spoken to by a branch officer who immediately told me to go to Bangkok Bank.

I protested that I, and all of my staff, were Kasikornbank customers, though not at that branch. I'd phoned the call center the day before just to confirmt the requirements and spoke to a supervisor. The branch officer then told me that a copy of the passport of the person receiving the funds was required.

The branch officer then passed me a brochure and told me that it had to be done using a K-Web Shopping Card - which I told her was totally stupid.

The branch officer then telephoned the call center and I was told by the call center "we're the call center, we can't tell the branch what to do. The branch can make it's own rules and the branch is not supporting you in sending this transfer without the passport of the receiver".

After more than one hour in the branch attempting to make a small $350 business transaction my patience gave out. I threw the phone across the table and asked the banking officer why I was being treated in this manner and why SHE was making my life difficult and being so stupid when I was a Kasikornbank customer.

The banking officer then filled out the necessary form for the telegraphic transfer and the process was completed in less than 10 minutes.

The fees that had been calculated by the call center manager were wrong, as was the closing time for the TT to be lodged ... according to the call center staffer that day.

All of the above and more has been sent to and acknowledged by KassikornBank, who say they are "investigating it further".

Next time, I'll use Western Union

[Langsuan Man]

I personally like to provide my US Credit Union with all the information that they require to do a SWIFT transfer to my Siam Commercial Bank account here in Thailand. It's my money and I want to make sure that it gets here so I provide them with what they want, not what I think they should have

For Siam Commercial Bank the correct information is:

1st bank information: (the US correspondent bank)

CitiBank N.A.

ABA#021000089

111 Wall St

New York, N.Y. 10005

2nd bank information:

Siam Commercial Bank

SICOTHBK

9 Ratchadapisek Road

Lad Yao, Chatuchak, Bangkok, Thailand 10900

[ajahnlau]

Have done over 100 transfers to SCB and all you need is the swift code and rec. acct no. Usually there in under 18 hrs.

[magic]

I have a Siam account currently.. Today in the USA I visited chase bank which offers a card with a line of credit in which u can withdraw cash from an ATM.. (not a cash advance) Then at the end of the month, u simply pay back the amount of cash taken out. annual fee of about $100... I am conisdering this simple option..

Citibank also recomemded I open a bank account in the USA & at their branch in BKK.. making transfers about $11 up to $1000 per day..

Debating over the 2 options..

[Yme]

One of the problems with trasferring money to Thailand is that each branch does not have it's own Swift code, so all funds are sent to the head office who then manually transfer the funds to the district office who then in turn tranfer it to the branch that the acount is held at. Totally retarded and innefecent and the reason why transfers take 5 to 7 days.

[Daveroc]

I suspect there are very few if any banks in the world where each branch has a SWIFT Code. The code is issued to the Bank, not the Branch. The process you outline is not the case on most Banks in Thailand. If funds come from overseas and the remitting bank and the receiving bank have correspondant bank arrangements the funds will be in most accounts anywhere in Thailand within 48 hours.

If the Remitting bank has to use a third party bank to complete the transfer to a Bank in Thailand it will add a further 24 hours to the transfer.

Yes there will be the occassional glitch where a name or account number is incorrect, but I think if you assess the majority of the experiences reported on this forum, most people have their funds within 48/72 hours of the remitting bank actually starting the process.

[ajahnlau]

One of the problems with trasferring money to Thailand is that each branch does not have it's own Swift code, so all funds are sent to the head office who then manually transfer the funds to the district office who then in turn tranfer it to the branch that the acount is held at. Totally retarded and innefecent and the reason why transfers take 5 to 7 days.

Wrong, the main branch put it in your acct. all computerized. Transfers less than 24hrs.

[lopburi3]

As said above the account number is your bank branch (first three digits in case of Bangkok Bank) and deposit is directly into that account after conversion into Baht. As timeline my request at 0845 Monday (sleep time at my bank) was credited to my account at 0845 today (Wednesday) as is normal for ACH transfers. If I use SWIFT and call at 11PM Thai time (opening of US Bank) that transfer would be in my account before noon (about 13 hours). To me the lower cost and easy on-line ACH transfer more than makes up for an extra day. This transfer could be longer if holidays at either end but in general is very reliable.

[Langsuan Man]

I have a Siam account currently.. Today in the USA I visited chase bank which offers a card with a line of credit in which u can withdraw cash from an ATM.. (not a cash advance) Then at the end of the month, u simply pay back the amount of cash taken out. annual fee of about $100... I am conisdering this simple option..

Citibank also recomemded I open a bank account in the USA & at their branch in BKK.. making transfers about $11 up to $1000 per day..

Debating over the 2 options..

Don't trust anything Citibank in the US tells you about Citibank in Thailand because they don't have a clue. If you have a US Citibank account you can only SWIFT (wire) transfer US funds into the Thai Citibank and they give a really lousy exchange rate. And if you don't live in Bangkok, CitiBank is a non starter

As far as your Chase option, in the US they don't know about the 150 THB fee to withdraw funds from a foreign issued ATM card at a Thai bank , so you had better figure that into the "deal" they are offering you. Your SCB ATM will only allow you to "pull" 20,000 THB per transaction and at 150 THB per transaction you do the math on what it is going to cost you "at the end of the month"

Read this thread before you commit to anything in the US

http://www.thaivisa....for%20americans

[Langsuan Man]

Have done over 100 transfers to SCB and all you need is the swift code and rec. acct no. Usually there in under 18 hrs.

Once again it depends on what your US or Foreign bank wants. E*trade only wanted the SWIFT code, but my credit union also wants the correspondent bank included in the wire request. So once again I advise, ask your US bank what they want, and not what someone on TV tells you

[Swiss1960]

Swift from my Swiss bank to both SCB and Kasikorn branches in Pattaya take 2 working days, never had any issue with that. Providing Swift code, account number and name of account holder (just in case you mistype) is all it needs. Address used is automatically the one of the main office in BKK. I define the day of arrival of the money and my bank automatically initiates the transfer two working days ahead, even taking into account the Swiss AND Thai banking holidays. I let my own bank do the money conversion, the take the standard interchange rates which don't differ much from the Thai bank rates which would be used alternatively, have tested this many times.

[chainarong]

If you instruct your USA Bank to send money to the Thailand Bank you should only need to provide them the exact name of the account, the Bank, Branch and account number and the SWIFT code of the thai Bank.

i.e. Bangkok Banks SWIFT code BKKBTHBK

Correct , thats all U need.

[thaihome]

In my experience most bank branch offices in the US will know nothing about SWIFT transfers. You will almost always have to deal with the branch manager and they will likely have to call the head office to find out how to do it. This is most often dealt with by the branch by just saying we don’t do overseas wire transfers.

SWIFT transfers are easy once the US bank understands that you are not trying to do an ACH transfer using a Federal Reserve routing number and are using a SWIFT code. You just need the beneficiary name, bank name and SWIFT code and account number.

TH

[bangkokburning]

OK - I have not read the other response but can tell you that I have transf to SCB some years back in emergency from a tiny bank and had no problems at all.

I just checked SCB days ago and the cost is B300 or B500 and that "depends" on the amount. I was only asking so did not need the gritty details.

I believe the SWIFTCODE = SICOBANK

GO INTO YOUR BRANCH AND ASK THEM FOR THE BANK DETAILS FOR TRANSF.

Please know SCB has totally sucky cross rates. If it is < 10k I would carry it in and cash at SuperRich.

Edited March 2, 2012 by bangkokburning

[MJCM]

..............

I believe the SWIFTCODE = SICOBANK

..........

The swift code for Siam Commercial Bank is SICOTHBK,

For a full list Click here: http://www.thaivisa.com/thai-bank-swift-codes.html