Whats The Point Of Thai Banks.

[Thongkorn]

i have just read the wife's bank statements. With her permission of course. She works hard in the UK, and sends some money home, as Thais do, (her money up to her), I have no problem with this as I know this is Thai culture , Usually i double what she sends. She send an amount probably every three months, We send it through her bank, Lloyds TSB, She/we pay all the costs this end so in theory there should be none the other end, BUT, In the wife's last statement I noticed three unaurtherised withdrawals. all within a five day period, from the Thai bank to which she sends the money to, she sends it to her mams account. they have back dated three charges for deposits over last year. The question i want to know is , how a bank which is not in The UK. or any other Bank can withdraw money from my wife's account without her permission , and how and why did Lloyds Bank let them. Again in theory they could withdraw any amount with out asking. If it cost you to put a deposit in a Thai Bank, and a cost to make a withdrawal, and you get very little interest whats the point of putting your money in the bank, apart from it being safe. or is my wife being scammed from the Thai bank. any thoughts.

[hookedondhamma]

I'd contact the banks if I were you and inquire about the aformentioned activities.

[mania]

It is probably the onshore conversion costs.

Yes you paid a fee on your end but that was for the wire or transfer of which ever type you chose.

After it arrived onshore it had to be converted to THB unless you did it on your end ( unlikely )

You did not say which bank? But here is an example

http://www.bangkokba...ew.aspx#BPLT_12

Here is BKB's standard amounts ( not counting any wire fee's )

Bangkok Bank in Thailand also charges a fee of 0.25% of the amount in the Baht currency

(minimum of THB 200; maximum of THB 500)

when the funds are deposited into the recipient's Bangkok Bank account in Thailand.

Also again you did not say which bank but, Be aware there are normal fee's

1- Does she have an ATM card? That is usually 200THB per year

2- Did she gain much interest from the account? if so it may be the yearly tax deduction

But if you look carefully most statements have to

have some sort of code ( usually 3 letters ) in front of each transaction.

Once you have the code look up their legend to see what it means

Edited August 27, 2012 by mania

[loong]

I think you misunderstand, Mania.

The way I read it, an additional debit is appearing on the UK account.

The last transfer that I made from the UK to Thailand (lloydsTSB) was also accompanied by an extra charge for "Agent's fees" I wasn't very happy about that as there was no mention of this fee when discussing the costs of transferring the money from my UK account to my Thai bank. I will be making enquiries about this when I am next in the UK. The transfer was in sterling and converted to Baht in Thailand.

[mania]

I think you misunderstand, Mania.

The way I read it, an additional debit is appearing on the UK account.

The last transfer that I made from the UK to Thailand (lloydsTSB) was also accompanied by an extra charge for "Agent's fees" I wasn't very happy about that as there was no mention of this fee when discussing the costs of transferring the money from my UK account to my Thai bank. I will be making enquiries about this when I am next in the UK. The transfer was in sterling and converted to Baht in Thailand.

Yes I think your right.

I glossed over it & the title threw me.

But it does seem the problem is deductions in the UK by the Thai bank?

how and why did Lloyds Bank let them

[Sophon]

In your post you say that "She/we pay all the costs this end", which leads me to think that you select costs option "ours" on the transfer order. This costs option means that you have chosen to pay costs for both sending bank and receiving bank from your UK bank account. But Lloyds doesn't know how much the Thai bank will charge, so the Thai bank has to send a SWIFT message to Lloyds informing them about how much they charged for receiving the transfer. Lloyds then charge your UK account based on the received information (so it's Lloyds not the Thai bank that deducts the amount from your account).

Selecting costs option "ours" creates more work and extra costs for both Lloyds Bank and the Thai bank, which will normally also mean higher total fees for you. Consequently, when transfering to your own account or the account of family members, you should always select costs option "shared". The Thai bank's fee will then be deducted from the amount credited receiving account, so if you wish you can transfer an extra 500 baht/10 GBP (depending on the transfer amount) to offset this.

This is, of course, a bit of guesswork on my part and I could be completely wrong. But if I'm right then this has nothing to do with the Thai bank but is a result of the way you have selected to pay the costs for the transfer. The result would have been the same with any other Thai bank, or for that matter any bank in any country. This is how SWIFT transfers work.

It could also be intermediary bank costs debited the account (again as per your order that al costs should be debited the UK account), but as you mention that the costs "are debited by the Thai bank" (which as mentioned is not the case, it's Lloyds that debits the account based on information received), this is probably not the case here.

I hope you/your wife makes the transfers in GBP rather than in THB, otherwise you will also lose on the exchange rate.

Sophon

[Thongkorn]

Thanks for the reply, yes She transferred £ to Thailand. We select pay all costs this end UK. it seems strange that these Charges taken out of her Bank account was taken in 9 days, in three day intervals,3x 250baht. not as one charge.

[rekkie]

Banks, they can do what they want i am 2 years into a complaint procedure in UK and because they are sooo busy with complaints it may be another 2 years....looks like they are being held to account and so they should be, pursue them...

[chris1dna]

I've been depositing money into a Us bank savings account for years. We sent the ATM card to my sister in law. She dutifully withdraws funds once a month to help pay expenses for the parents. She uses a local thai bank ATM and there is only a $5 international withdrawal fee charged be my bank. The Thai ATM she uses charges nothing. Perhaps this would work better for you? Since its a basic savings account and not a checking account there are no monthly fees as long as there are no more than four ATM transaction un a given month. Soooooooo much cheaper than wiring large sums and dealing with exchange fees and wired transfer fees and all that crap. Just a thought.

[Yme]

@ chris1dna provides an ideal solution. Other options are pre-paid visa cards that can be topped up or through the local UK Thai community. A friend of mine sends money to Thailand from Australia via Thai-owned VDO & grocery stores with the exchange rate used making the deal much cheaper than banks - about 1% below official Thailand rates.

[CharlieH]

Depending on the amount being transferred, I would suggest the best or most cost effective method is not being used either.

Smaller amounts of say 800 GBP or under its more cost efficient and easier to send by Western Union these days (cost £14). Above that amount if you send via Bangkok Bank in London to Bangkok Bank account in Thailand there is none of the "hidden" fee's or mysterious charges based on my experience.

[Gone]

When I transfer money online from my Canadian account there is a flat rate charge of $13.50 CAD (390 baht)

My original SCB Thai account was opened in Chiang Mai and even if I want to deposit money into it here in Pattaya there is a fee. Strange but true.

Both these fees are very small so I never worry about it. Maybe you could try online transfers the same I do?

[davejones]

It would be quicker and easier if you asked your bank about the charges rather than asking on here. A quick phone call is all it will take.

[SantiSuk]

Banks, they can do what they want i am 2 years into a complaint procedure in UK and because they are sooo busy with complaints it may be another 2 years....looks like they are being held to account and so they should be, pursue them...

Banks repeatedly screw me up in the UK over opeining/closing and managing accounts of aged members of my family (I am Power of Attorney for one and Court-appointed Deputy for another). However, I have found that the one thing that banks are good at is answering and compensating for their obvious cock-ups. I have made 320 quid so far this year on complaints and 180 quid last year. The going rate seems to be about 40 for a little error and 100 for howler .

Your implication that banks take a long time to handle complaints doesnt accord with mine, but if you are talking something broadspread like the purchase protection insurance then that may well be different. I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment though - pursue them with a well-constructed polite but pointed complaint letter. Do not agree รf they want to refer it to the (incompetent) branch for an answer - add another complaint that they have a flawed complaints procedure and copy it to the Head of their Audit Committee and the Banking Ombudsman!

There is little point in complaining in Thailand. Customers have no status.

Edited August 28, 2012 by SantiSuk

[Lite Beer]

A derogatory racist post has been removed along with the reply to it.

[Postmaster]

Agree with SantiSuk. RBS in UK refunded me a Chaps £35 fee in less than 2 days after I complained that they wrongly sent an International Transfer from Manchester to Bangkok Bank London Branch in St. Mary Axe- A Domestic Transfer. Should have been BACS or Faster Payment Method I think it is called.

No delay there. That is something you may wish to consider ie. If your Thai Bank has a UK Office or Bank, use that method. It is cheaper.

[Thongkorn]

It would be quicker and easier if you asked your bank about the charges rather than asking on here. A quick phone call is all it will take.

I have Lloyds said the charge is taken out My wife's account at the other End, that's the question, how can they do that with out permission.

[chainarong]

i don't know about your problem, but the son got a bank statement from BKKB, the the car payment was taken out plus some bloody tax, not bad when they are only authorized to take out the car payments, needless to say words have been spoken, just watch them is all I'm saying, they'll do any bloody thing Banks don't ya just love em .

[SIamYank]

Thai Banks charge for transactions. Both in and out unless you are doing the transaction in the region where you opened your account. For example, I have an account that I opened at Bangkok Bank in Bangkok, if I want to make a deposit to that account while I am in Isaan they charge me a fee. Recently I wanted to switch funds from one of my accounts and deposit in to another. They charged me a fee to do the withdrawal from one account and then another fee to deposit the same funds in to another account.... at the same bank! Crazy but true.

However, as to your general question "what's the point of Thai banks" I would suggest you look at the interest rates. I am currently getting 3.25 percent at Bangkok Bank. That is far better than anything I could get in my home country (USA) which would be less than 1%. This kind of interest rate makes up for any nominal fees I have to pay.

When moving money from the USA, I normally combat the large transfer fees and poor exchange rates by just bringing over a wad of cash when I travel from the US to Thailand. I get a much better rate from the local money changer than I do on any bank to bank transfers.