Safe Methods Of Transferring Money?

[Guemlum]

Interested in members comments on how they transfer money to Thailand from the UK.

I've been using a Nationwide Bank account for several years now, where my sister-in-law holds the card and makes regular monthly withdrawls for my son from one of many ATM's in Nongkhai.

We have recently been victims of fraud where the card details have been copied using a skimming device attached to an ATM at Bangkok Bank, Tesco Lotus, Nongkhai. Cash withdrawls have been made in Vietnam, Malaysia and Chicago, U.S. Unfortunately the money cannot be claimed back by my bank as the card is supposed to remain with me, but thats another story.

Other than Western Union, do members use any other methods of transferring money to family members.

Thanks

Guemlum

[ebmzlm]

Transfer to a Thai bank account. Exchange rate is better, fees are cheaper.

[hhgz]

SWIFT money to Thailand, as mentioned above. My US broker does this for free, and the receiving bank in Thailand charges a negligible fee.

[KhunBENQ]

Transfer to a Thai bank account. Exchange rate is better, fees are cheaper.

Not necessarily true.

There is a safe method to transfer money via ATM cards: use debit cards and fill up (via internet banking) what is intended to be withdrawn on a monthly basis. Sorry I can not name one for the UK, as I use a total of five German "Postbank Sparcard". Quite sure you have a similar one in the UK/USA.

If the money is withdrawn at an AEON ATM it is absolutely free of any charges, neither by the issuer nor by AEON.

I can withdraw the equivalent of 2000 Euros per month / per card.

[ebmzlm]

Transfer to a Thai bank account. Exchange rate is better, fees are cheaper.

Not necessarily true.

There is a safe method to transfer money via ATM cards: use debit cards and fill up (via internet banking) what is intended to be withdrawn on a monthly basis. Sorry I can not name one for the UK, as I use a total of five German "Postbank Sparcard". Quite sure you have a similar one in the UK/USA.

If the money is withdrawn at an AEON ATM it is absolutely free of any charges, neither by the issuer nor by AEON.

I can withdraw the equivalent of 2000 Euros per month / per card.

Yes but using the cards from England have a huge disadvantage as they charge 4/5% per withdrawal!

[pattayadingo]

Transfer to a Thai bank account. Exchange rate is better, fees are cheaper.

Not necessarily true.

There is a safe method to transfer money via ATM cards: use debit cards and fill up (via internet banking) what is intended to be withdrawn on a monthly basis. Sorry I can not name one for the UK, as I use a total of five German "Postbank Sparcard". Quite sure you have a similar one in the UK/USA.

If the money is withdrawn at an AEON ATM it is absolutely free of any charges, neither by the issuer nor by AEON.

I can withdraw the equivalent of 2000 Euros per month / per card.

Yes but using the cards from England have a huge disadvantage as they charge 4/5% per withdrawal!

Unless you use a Halifax Clarity card and there are no fees except ATM, but you use an FX booth and no fees at all with good FX rates too.

[Darrel]

If the money is withdrawn at an AEON ATM it is absolutely free of any charges, neither by the issuer nor by AEON.

If you examine the small print you will probably find that you are paying a hidden charge of several percent thinly disguised as a foreign exchange weighting. Most cards throughout the world apply a weighting of between 1 and 3%, though very few don't.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

This thread seems to have generated some good advice, also contains links to external source of information, but not sure how relevant to the OP's home.

Would be great if positive solutions specific to different home-countries could continue to be posted there, perhaps one day worthy of being summarized in a pinned thread. . .

[Guemlum]

Thanks for the advice guys. My sister-in-law has since given me her bank details and I'm considering trying out the "direct to bank" service with WU. I will also look into the SWIFT option.

What I really want to avoid is another re-occurance of my original post by cutting out the use of ATM cards and any opportunity whereby the card or PIN details can be cloned/infringed.

Thanks

Guemlum

[endure]

Was the ATM inside a bank or was it inside a supermarket? You might want to consider only using ATMs that are situated inside bank branches.

[endure]

Transfer to a Thai bank account. Exchange rate is better, fees are cheaper.

Not necessarily true.

There is a safe method to transfer money via ATM cards: use debit cards and fill up (via internet banking) what is intended to be withdrawn on a monthly basis. Sorry I can not name one for the UK, as I use a total of five German "Postbank Sparcard". Quite sure you have a similar one in the UK/USA.

If the money is withdrawn at an AEON ATM it is absolutely free of any charges, neither by the issuer nor by AEON.

I can withdraw the equivalent of 2000 Euros per month / per card.

Yes but using the cards from England have a huge disadvantage as they charge 4/5% per withdrawal!

Nationwide charge 2% plus £1 if used in an ATM.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Thanks for the advice guys. My sister-in-law has since given me her bank details and I'm considering trying out the "direct to bank" service with WU. I will also look into the SWIFT option.

Western Union is crazy expensive, maybe temporary expedient but don't make it a habit.

[moose7117]

there is an internet based com pay called OZFOREX , check it out .

i have transferred some large sums through them and they have always been very reliable.

and you can check the fee's and exchange rates before you make a transfer.

rob

[Guemlum]

Thanks for the advice guys. My sister-in-law has since given me her bank details and I'm considering trying out the "direct to bank" service with WU. I will also look into the SWIFT option.

Western Union is crazy expensive, maybe temporary expedient but don't make it a habit.

Barclays to Thai bank account via swift £200 + £25 charge + oversea charges where applicable and agreed to.

WU "direct to bank" £200 + £6.90 charge

Edited June 24, 2012 by Guemlum

[NanLaew]

Using 'one of many ATM's in Nongkhai' was an accident waiting to happen. In the future, get the card holder to use only the ATM's of a particular bank and located inside a branch of that bank.

If the OP has the bank account details from the SIL, then there's absolutely no need to waste extra money with WU if you are doing regular transfers. I assume that you can set up a monthly SWIFT transfer direct from your account via an online banking application or at your local branch. Then the SIL can keep the card purely for emergencies (like the current RBS/NatWest cock-up!).

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Thanks for the advice guys. My sister-in-law has since given me her bank details and I'm considering trying out the "direct to bank" service with WU. I will also look into the SWIFT option.

Western Union is crazy expensive, maybe temporary expedient but don't make it a habit.

Barclays to Thai bank account via swift £200 + £25 charge + oversea charges where applicable and agreed to.

WU "direct to bank" £200 + £6.90 charge

For tiny amounts like this I'd be using Paypal myself.

Just don't keep money in the Paypal account itself, only put in what you're going to transfer as you need it.

Won't have that problem at the receiving end I'm sure 8-)

[Guemlum]

Actually, it shouldnt have read "one of many" as I believe she uses the same one on each occasion.

Unfortunately none of the major banks in Nongkhai have internal ATM machines. They may have in larger town and cities but certainly not seen any up here. This is the first time in 7 years that this has happened. It happens all the time back in Blighty.

The advice I seem to be getting regarding SWIFT payments and using WU is conflicting as per my previous post?

My intentions are to make quarterly transfers from now onwards... the above figures were just an example off what both parties charge.

Guemlum

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Actually, it shouldnt have read "one of many" as I believe she uses the same one on each occasion.

Unfortunately none of the major banks in Nongkhai have internal ATM machines. They may have in larger town and cities but certainly not seen any up here. This is the first time in 7 years that this has happened. It happens all the time back in Blighty.

The advice I seem to be getting regarding SWIFT payments and using WU is conflicting as per my previous post?

My intentions are to make quarterly transfers from now onwards... the above figures were just an example off what both parties charge.

Guemlum

And since WU calculates their fees as a percentage of the total sent, it also becomes inappropriate for very large transfers.

I don't think there's any point where they are below the two Paypal vs SWIFT curves, always more expensive than one of them.

And this may not apply to your situation, but in sending money to Thais to cover ongoing small expenses, I've found it to be very helpful to their budgeting ability (or lack thereof) to send small amounts frequently rather than large ones less often. Seems to cut down on the overall annual per-recipient expense somehow. . .

[KhunBENQ]

If you examine the small print you will probably find that you are paying a hidden charge of several percent thinly disguised as a foreign exchange weighting. Most cards throughout the world apply a weighting of between 1 and 3%, though very few don't.

Not with the (debit) cards I use.

As others said, costs are mainly determined by your card issuer.

Another point: I have internet access to the account and the debit cards.

As soon as I end the ATM transaction it is completely booked and visible on the internet statement.

[Darrel]

If you examine the small print you will probably find that you are paying a hidden charge of several percent thinly disguised as a foreign exchange weighting. Most cards throughout the world apply a weighting of between 1 and 3%, though very few don't.

Not with the (debit) cards I use.

Unfortunately I cannot read German and so I am unable to verify this. As I said, most cards apply an extra exchange weighting charge.

In the UK for example there are only two cards that apply no weighting of their own, and on top of that there is the Visa/MC weighting which can never be avoided if there is a currency exchange involved.

[Cheops]

Thanks for the advice guys. My sister-in-law has since given me her bank details and I'm considering trying out the "direct to bank" service with WU. I will also look into the SWIFT option.

What I really want to avoid is another re-occurance of my original post by cutting out the use of ATM cards and any opportunity whereby the card or PIN details can be cloned/infringed.

Thanks

Guemlum

You can use the same method, but just don't put too much money on that account.

You can transfer just enough what is needed every month, so if the card get skimmed in Thailand they can't take too much from that account.

[marshbags]

Actually, it shouldnt have read "one of many" as I believe she uses the same one on each occasion.

Unfortunately none of the major banks in Nongkhai have internal ATM machines. They may have in larger town and cities but certainly not seen any up here. This is the first time in 7 years that this has happened. It happens all the time back in Blighty.

The advice I seem to be getting regarding SWIFT payments and using WU is conflicting as per my previous post?

My intentions are to make quarterly transfers from now onwards... the above figures were just an example off what both parties charge.

Guemlum

The following is a current SWIFT thread you can access via the ref.url:-

I have never had any security problems ref loosing funds and as you can see there is a good checking proceedure both ends, if they are not satisfied the funds will not be transferred until the sender clarifies any problems including mistakes of any nature.

marshbags

[Winston888]

@ Guemlum

I have a Nationwide account here in UK as well as a saving account with

Bangkok bank in Bangkok, both in the same name. I usually transfer money

from Nationwide to Bangkok bank using moneybookers (renamed Skrill

now). Takes a few days.

Once the money is in my Bangkok bank, it takes only a few clicks to transfer

any amount to any nominated bank in Thailand.

Overall cheaper than using SWIFT, and you can do it from home here in UK.

[wana]

i had used a bad ATM once near khao san rd

(out drinking and needed cash to drink more )

I tried one european card and it didnt work

then tried another and i thought the atm was broken

lost about 5000 euro from both cards

only one of the banks refunded it and the other refused and it went to court (they said i must have told my pin number to the theif )

I lost by default because i wasnt able to make it to court due to obligtions in another country but the financial ombudsmn was on my side

and also the police so i had a chance of winning the case if id been able to attend it

[Tafia]

I use SWIFT from my NW to my Thai account. Can do it online and the cash is usually there the following day excluding weekends and bank holidays. Safe & Secure.

[clinton114]

Try PayPal. Move funds (load) from my USA bank to my PayPay account; then; transfer from my PayPal Account to g/f's PayPal account; then, she transfers (unloads) funds from her PayPal account to her Kasikorn bank account.

I had this all set up, with PayPal accounts all around; then, before I made the first transfer, I found out she was cheating me so I never executed the first transfer.

But, I have loaded & unloaded funds to & from my bank and PayPal accounts, and, I have made transfers from my PayPal to other PayPal accounts. So I know, the general process works.

Edited July 6, 2012 by clinton114