My Thai friend is about to go to study in England for a few months. What's the best way for her to access the money in her Thai bank account? She's already transfered 25k baht to an old friend of her mother who lives in England. He will then give her the equivilant in GBP when they meet in England (or so she hopes!). Is there any particular Thai bank account which has low fees and a good rate of exchange when withdrawing from abroad? I seem to be having trouble accessing money with my Kasikorn ATM card here in Australia, so it seems that some Thai cards don't work at all abroad.

Please answer ASAP so I can stop her from transferring any more cash to any other dubious "friends"!

I have no trouble changing money via UK ATMS with my Bank of Ayudhya (yellow bank)card. No idea abut forex rates or whatever, but they need to be paid somewhere along the line

She should on arrival open an account with a UK bank, and then transfer money from her Thai bank into that in reasonably large chunks.

Internet access should be OK, but better if it's a joint account with someone she trusts to manage things in person here if needed. She should be asking her banks this question as well herself.

I have had no trouble using my Kasikorn debit card abroad.

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See if HSBC Thailand will allow fee-free transfers to an HSBC account in the UK.

Ditto for Bangkok Bank which has a branch in London.

See if HSBC Thailand will allow fee-free transfers to an HSBC account in the UK.

Ditto for Bangkok Bank which has a branch in London.

The international banks treat each country's operations as if they were completely separate banks, which of course they are legally.

However if BB works with their London branch as with New York's, then that may well be an option - I do domestic-rate transfers to NYC and flag it with my Thailand account and don't get charged international SWIFT transfer fees. Never tried to go the other way.

There's a BB staffer that chimes in here regularly, anyone know how to ping him?

Thanks everyone.

Is transfering to an account of the country you're visiting always better than withdrawing from your home account via an ATM? I thought I was doing ok withdrawing from my UK Nationwide account while I was in Thailand, but it turns out that I was getting hit by a fee from them, as well as the 150 baht fee from the Thai ATM! Next time I go to Thailand I assume it'd be better to transfer money from my Australian or UK account straight into my Kasikorn accunt, is that right?

As for my friend, I might just tell her to transfer money to my mother's account (she'll be staying with my family in London).As for the Thai accounts, she seems to have accounts with about five different banks for some reason, so Bank of Ayudaya and Bangkok Bank are likely to be among them. I'm not sure if she'll be able to open an account in the UK, as she only has a Student Visitor Visa.

Is transfering to an account of the country you're visiting always better than withdrawing from your home account via an ATM?

I thought I was doing ok withdrawing from my UK Nationwide account while I was in Thailand, but it turns out that I was getting hit by a fee from them, as well as the 150 baht fee from the Thai ATM! Next time I go to Thailand I assume it'd be better to transfer money from my Australian or UK account straight into my Kasikorn accunt, is that right?

Not "always", the SWIFT transfer fee is fixed and relatively large compared to a single withdrawal, but you don't get hit with as much of a loss on the forex and both-side fees as a percentage.

But definitely so for someone that's going to be there more than a few weeks.

Thanks Johnny

why do people think all this nonsense My thai wife has bank accounts in Singapore HOng Kong UK and Jersey and simply goes to the bank and does a TT transfer. The limit is 50,000 us$ or equivalent any one time. The bank sometimes asks her to fill in a form saying why shes transferring it sometimes not. If asked she just says for education purposes for my UK children seems to satisfy any requirment. The bank have told her if she does it to often she might have to get BOT permission but when asked how many is to many no annswer. Shes done about 3 in last 2 years no problem

Will people please stop spreading nonsense here or maybe it is because she is stepmother to my UK children. I know HSBC here would not let her open a foreign currency account but UOB which we also bank with in Singapore said it would. TIT.

Will people please stop spreading nonsense here

Sorry don't get the point of your rant at all, I don't see any connection between what you're talking about and anything specific in the discussion here. What is it that you are saying is false?

Edited May 20, 201214 yr by BigJohnnyBKK

She should on arrival open an account with a UK bank, and then transfer money from her Thai bank into that in reasonably large chunks.

She'll find it almost impossible to open a bank account in the UK on arrival. UK banks require both a credit history and evidence of previous addresses that she's lived at before they'll consider opening an account for her.

She should on arrival open an account with a UK bank, and then transfer money from her Thai bank into that in reasonably large chunks.

She'll find it almost impossible to open a bank account in the UK on arrival. UK banks require both a credit history and evidence of previous addresses that she's lived at before they'll consider opening an account for her.

Uk banks will give anyone a basic account ,its a bit harder to get a credit card but a savings/current accout can be opened with a proof of address

and a id card or driving licence

anything else is just the bank trying to get ur info so they can fiqure out which financial products they should sell you

they love to know your salary

your properties

your assets

your investments

any pensions or compensation etc you might have coming

but you can write general non specific stuff like "Self Employed " and " Variable " for the income level

that will get you a basic account without borrowing capabilities in most branches

She should on arrival open an account with a UK bank, and then transfer money from her Thai bank into that in reasonably large chunks.

She'll find it almost impossible to open a bank account in the UK on arrival. UK banks require both a credit history and evidence of previous addresses that she's lived at before they'll consider opening an account for her.

Uk banks will give anyone a basic account ,its a bit harder to get a credit card but a savings/current accout can be opened with a proof of address

and a id card or driving licence

Savings and current accounts are different animals altogether. Opening a current account requires that the bank do credit checks which the OP's friend will fail as she's not on the Electoral Roll.

She should on arrival open an account with a UK bank, and then transfer money from her Thai bank into that in reasonably large chunks.

She'll find it almost impossible to open a bank account in the UK on arrival. UK banks require both a credit history and evidence of previous addresses that she's lived at before they'll consider opening an account for her.

Uk banks will give anyone a basic account ,its a bit harder to get a credit card but a savings/current accout can be opened with a proof of address

and a id card or driving licence

Savings and current accounts are different animals altogether. Opening a current account requires that the bank do credit checks which the OP's friend will fail as she's not on the Electoral Roll.

how do young people aged 16 have current accounts ? i thought they just used a birth cert and some proof of adress to get it

could you be on the electoral register at 16 years of age ? most teenagers have an atm card thesedays

They also have parents who've been resident in the UK for years.