RIP Wayne Guest

[Tung_Thaid]

Received an email today from Western Union (as I have an account there) - advising of a new service that for Aud$20 - will transfer funds internationally to a bank account in another country via their online money transfer service. As I regularly transfer funds from Australia to Thailand, I was interested to see what it was about. The bank account you are transferring to has to be in local currency. No conversion fees at receiving end. Might be a Thai bank fee for deposit out of province I guess if they deposit in Bangkok. Thailand is a nominated country that they will transfer to.

Unless I am missing something, their current online setup for Thailand remittances, won't fly, as they have two mandatory fields "Bank Number" - maximum 3 - and "Branch Number" - maximum 4.

The other fields on the screen are ok : Account Name, Bank Name, Bank Branch Name, Account Number.

I have always transferred by banks in the past, and their requirements have always been SWIFT number and ACCOUNT number for transfers to a Thailand bank account. Whilst a Thai bank account number may well incorporate a branch identifier for their internal use, I dont think Thai banks use specific BANK NUMBER or BRANCH NUMBER as is done in places like Australia (called BSB number here : nnn : nnn)

I rang WU and they confirmed that at the moment their manual / help advice / and online page, all state the above requirements. They couldnt tell me if anyone had actually managed to successfully use their online facility to transfer funds to a bank account in Thailand.

Once this is sorted out, it may become a good alternative for a cost effective means of transferring funds to Thailand. The fixed fee (AUD $20 for me) - is better than my current bank rate ($25) - but the bigger benefit is no fees at all at the receiving end. No conversion fees theoretically by a Thai bank. And if I used my Visa Debit Card for the transaction in Australia, then I am not up for any other bank fees here.

Whist the WU conversion rate today of 30.8 (AUD / THB) is a bit less than the Thai bank rate, that is to be expected as WU admits that they make a profit on the conversion rate. But its not a big difference. And not having to pay receiving end fees cancels out any conversion rate benefit.

They claim a 3 business day service if transacted in Australia before 1:30pm. Four business days if after 1:30pm.

I would be interested if anyone has actually been able to get this new WU online facility to work - and how you managed it, given the two mandatory fields as above, that neither I nor WU could figure out how to complete.

My Thai account is with Kasikornbank.

Lins

Edited March 23, 2012 by Tung_Thaid

[Tung_Thaid]

I have finally managed to work this out. Have today used Western Union online to do a money transfer from Australia to Thailand - direct to my Thai bank account. Will post back here if the transaction didnt work - but as of now - it is on its way. Thai banks DO HAVE a bank code and a branch code. Dont bother to ask a thai bank - they dont have a clue what you are talking about. But the fact remains, that there is in place a funds transfer system through a Bangkok based exchange, that uses a BANK CODE (3 spaces) and a BRANCH CODE (4 spaces). It used to be run by Bank of Thailand - but was handed off to a company in Bangkok that now runs it : National Itmx CO LTD. This is the company that Western Union is using as the clearing house for its new money transfer (bank account) service.

The charge today is a flat fee for me of AUD$20, without regard to the amount being sent. With no fees at the receiving end. Although I suspect that my thai bank might charge me an "out of province" deposit fee.

The BANK CODE is called in Thailand, a SMART MEMBER BANK code. Each bank operating in Thailand has one.

The BRANCH CODE is usually the first 3/4 numbers of your account number.

I suspect that Western Union is the first to use the SMART system in this way, even though it has been around since 2007. Thus the lack of knowledge even by bank staff, as to what their BANK code is.

I found a PDF file at Bangkok Bank which has the total list of codes for all banks. I had a friend ring Bank of Ayudhya and speak to someone who did know of the SMART system, and confirmed that bank's code = 025.

A couple of others: Bangkok Bank - 002, Kasikornbank - 004, TMB Bank - 011, Siam Commercial - 014, BankThai - 022, United Overseas Bank - 024, HSBC - 031 etc etc. There are 33 banks on the list I got from Bangkok website.

Bank of Thailand has a definition of the SMART system as :

"System for Managing Automated Retail Funds Transfer

A payment system that facilitates for interbank funds transfer of retail customers by electronic system; such as payroll, dividend, etc."

So to get back to the main point : there IS now another way to transfer funds to a bank account in Thailand, which some people may find to be cost effective, via this new Western Union channel.

Lins

[4evermaat]

Can you point us to the article or pdf showing the different codes please?

[Tung_Thaid]

It now turns out that my bank (Kasikorn) deducted a fee from this Western Union transfer method, even though Western Union claims that there will be no receiver bank fees.

Kasikorn justifies the fee, because Western Union or their agent, is using the BAHTNET transfer system in Thailand. And that method has fees charged by the receiving Thai bank.

This is the link for the .pdf file at Bangkok Bank showing the SMART codes, that Western Union is using for this transfer service.

www.bangkokbank.com%2Fdownload%2FSMART_Member_Banks_Eng_.pdf&ei=Vo6GT4fTD6KXiQerj_3OBw&usg=AFQjCNECe5SkRwHLF42jidY-CeUVS4--iQ

if the link to the PDF file at Bangkok Bank doesnt work - you will find it by a Google search for "thailand smart code bangkok bank".

The info at Kasikorn about their fees for BAHTNET transfers is here:

http://www.kasikornbank.com/EN/Personal/OtherProducts/KMoneyTransfer/DomesticFundsTransfers/TransferstoOtherBankAccounts/Pages/InterBankmoneytransferBahtNet.aspx

If the link doesnt work to Kasikornbank re this fee - it is on their website as "Inter-bank money transfer via Internet via KBank counter (BAHTNET)"

As the BahtNet transfer system was originally set up by Bank of Thailand - and is probably used by all Thai banks - then I might suspect that they may also be charging fees like this.

Apologies for the delayed reply - a lot of correspondence flying back and forth to Western Union on this (still !!) - as THEY were not aware that their Money Transfer System to Thailand would see this fee being charged.

Lins

[Pib]

As far as I know, Thai banks always charge a funds receipt "or" conversion fee of approx 0.25% (usually with some min and max amount like 200 baht min, 500 baht max), regardless of whether the funds arrive in a foreign currency or in Thai baht and regardless of the wire method sent/recieved (i.e., SWIFT, ACH, etc...etc...etc).

Where you say" "The bank account you are transferring to has to be in local currency" is that really saying Western Union converts to baht "before sending" and you therefore you are probably getting a lower exchange rate in the 2-4% ballpark from Western Union (a fee is disguise) compared to the Thai bank TT Buying rate which is about the best exchange rate the common man can get.

Edited April 15, 2012 by Pib

[Tung_Thaid]

You are right in that Western Union offers a discounted exchange rate when using this service.

But without the receiving Thai bank fee - it would have been worth it. But only just.

I compared using WU and their discounted exchange rate + $20 transfer fee + 110 baht Kasikorn 'BahtNet' processing charge, with an Australian Bank Transfer in AUD$ for a $20 transfer fee, and getting a Kasikorn TT buying rate + about 220 baht Kasikorn fees all up, and using the Australian bank gave a slightly better result.

Another benefit of using the Australian bank transfer was that the funds were deposited next day.

WU is only offering 3 business day service if transacted before noon on a business day.

The WU offering would not be worthwhile for larger amounts, as the BahtNet fees can go up to 750 baht for amounts over 10,000 baht.

Western Union chooses to not answer my complaint that their advertising of this service as "No Receiving Bank Fee" is incorrect for Thailand.

[kingscliff]

Thanks for the info. I have been trying to confirm the branch codes and finally found this link that gives you the codes for confirmation.

http://www.bot.or.th/english/paymentsystems/psservices/_layouts/application/bot%20financial%20institutions/FIBranches.aspx?

[jaysg]

Western Union have one of the highest charges for remittance but it does offers a sense of security

[wana]

WesternUnion is one of the greediest companies ive ever used .......

The whole system only advantage is because its "money in minutes " IMO

I wouldnt use it for anything other than an emergency

[negreanu]

Citibank to citibank thailand global transfer US$10.00 instant transfer.

Yesterday US Dollar to citibank thailand 31.30thb

Edited July 1, 2012 by negreanu

[wimtomlinson]

This is excellent information.

Thank you for all that contributed.

[MrMarquis]

Bump...

I'm trying to send some money using this service to a friend who uses SCB Bank, Ploenchit Center branch, but I'm confused about what numbers to put into the Western Union form. My friend gave me her account number in the format XXX-XXXXXX-X, which looks a bit short for an account number compared to the number of my NZ bank account - does this format look right, and is this the number I should be putting into the "Account Number" field?

I tried contacting SCB to get the bank code and branch code for the WU transfer and predictably received no response. However using the links posted above:

http://www.bangkokba..._Banks_Eng_.pdf

- this indicates the bank code for SCB is 014

http://www.bot.or.th...=&BrBranchName=

- this indicates the branch code for the Ploenchit Center branch is 0072

However I have also read elsewhere that the first 3 digits of the account number are also the branch code, but this is not the case here - the first digits of the account number aren't 0072, 072, or any other permutation. So I'm confused and I don't want to put the wrong numbers in, in case my money disappears.

For those not familiar with the Western Union interface, these are the fields you have to fill out:

[canuckamuck]

Thanks for the info, it's nice to know about this option.

[sunny and hot]

WesternUnion is one of the greediest companies ive ever used .......

The whole system only advantage is because its "money in minutes " IMO

I wouldnt use it for anything other than an emergency

I would like to know your opinin on the best way for me to send money( a small amount) from a Thai bank to an English bank. I was thinking of using Western Union but I read your post about only using it in an emergency and was wondering if you knew the cheapest way?