Putin's Nuclear Threats: Rhetoric or Reality?

[Paangjang]

Im aware the legal limit for taking cash out of Thailand is 500,000THB to neighbouring countries and 50,000THB anywhere else.

My flight back to London has a transit stop in KL, Malaysia. As this is a bordering country, can i use this an opportunity to take 500,000THB cash? Or will customs challenge this as my final destination is the UK?

If there is any risk of this happening i won't take the chance. Just looking to save quite a substantual amount in transfer fees.

[beano2274]

Final destination is the UK, so that is how they will look at it.

[bigwilly]

Why not change the Thai Baht to GBP here in Thailand and carry the money out in cash. The UK Banks wont give you much for Thai Baht.

You should have no problem taking 11,000 GBP or there abouts in cash.

BW

Edited February 27, 2013 by bigwilly

[Naam]

Just looking to save quite a substantual amount in transfer fees.

you won't save anything but lose a substantial amount taking cash Baht to UK!

[Paangjang]

Why not change the Thai Baht to GBP here in Thailand and carry the money out in cash. The UK Banks wont give you much for Thai Baht.

You should have no problem taking 11,000 GBP or there abouts in cash.

BW

Actually this was the plan (to be GBP) will this work or is the 500k limit on any currency amounting to that amount. If not, then for sure i'll change the THB into GBP here then take it home.

[bigwilly]

Why not change the Thai Baht to GBP here in Thailand and carry the money out in cash. The UK Banks wont give you much for Thai Baht.

You should have no problem taking 11,000 GBP or there abouts in cash.

BW

Actually this was the plan (to be GBP) will this work or is the 500k limit on any currency amounting to that amount. If not, then for sure i'll change the THB into GBP here then take it home.

As I understand it you can carry out up to 20,000USD or equivelent in any foreign currency without notifying customs at the Airport, so if you carry the cash you would be well under the reporting amount.

Regards BW

[Paangjang]

Cheers BW, i'll let you know how it goes!

[Phronesis]

Cash your THB for GBP here and then do a transfer of the GBP to your UK bank from your Thai bank.

I recently did this and was only charged a transfer fee of 1200THB by Krungsi.

Money arrived in the offshore account overnight.

Why take all of the risks carrying cash to save 1200THB...??

[MJP]

These days if you tried carrying £11,000 in cash through UK customs the rubber gloves would come out. I've heard of friends being pulled up for taking £3k cash for family holidays out of the place.

Cash is very risky these days. I think pre-paid credit cards (including the foreign exchange ones) are a much better idea.

[yoshiwara]

Anything over = 10,000 euros is supposed to be declared = ~ 8600 pounds.

$US20,000 = ~ 13,300 pounds.

[4evermaat]

it is possible to do an exchange in malaysia at the airport if your layover is long enough. But I think an easier strategy is to:

1) Open a thai baht bank account at a thai bank. Get an atm issued on the account. You may want two or more atm cards linked to the same account. Then withdraw the cash at the ATM in your home country.

You pay only the TT sell rate (electronic) + atm fee at home bank. Try to choose a bank ATM that does not charge. On the thai side, the only other fee is the int'l atm transaction fee. TMB does not charge fees for using their atm card anywhere in the world (so they told me). Bangkok bank charges 100 baht for any intl withdrawal.

Not required, but if you have time, try to order at least 1 atm card with your name pre-printed (takes a week to be sent to the branch); not required but may better assist you when using the card at certain shops outside thailand.

or

2) Open a foreign currency account at thai bank. See if you can fund it with the baht you already have (there will be fees for the conversion). Then wire it out. Others who have opened a foreign currency account can advise on the feasibility of this.

[Phronesis]

it is possible to do an exchange in malaysia at the airport if your layover is long enough. But I think an easier strategy is to:

1) Open a thai baht bank account at a thai bank. Get an atm issued on the account. You may want two or more atm cards linked to the same account. Then withdraw the cash at the ATM in your home country.

You pay only the TT sell rate (electronic) + atm fee at home bank. Try to choose a bank ATM that does not charge. On the thai side, the only other fee is the int'l atm transaction fee. TMB does not charge fees for using their atm card anywhere in the world (so they told me). Bangkok bank charges 100 baht for any intl withdrawal.

Not required, but if you have time, try to order at least 1 atm card with your name pre-printed (takes a week to be sent to the branch); not required but may better assist you when using the card at certain shops outside thailand.

or

2) Open a foreign currency account at thai bank. See if you can fund it with the baht you already have (there will be fees for the conversion). Then wire it out. Others who have opened a foreign currency account can advise on the feasibility of this.

Pifle...

Deposit the funds into your thai bank account. Make sure you have the details of your UK bank including its SWIFT. Fill out the form for an IMT and state that the purpose is OTHER (Transfering Savings). State that you want to transfer in Pounds. You will get the relevant exchange rate for pounds from your Thai bank. And you will be charged the IMT fee. With Krungsi it is 1200 THB. Money will generally take around 3 workind days to arrive in your UK account. Simple...

[4evermaat]

Pifle...

Deposit the funds into your thai bank account. Make sure you have the details of your UK bank including its SWIFT. Fill out the form for an IMT and state that the purpose is OTHER (Transfering Savings). State that you want to transfer in Pounds. You will get the relevant exchange rate for pounds from your Thai bank. And you will be charged the IMT fee. With Krungsi it is 1200 THB. Money will generally take around 3 workind days to arrive in your UK account. Simple...

No proof of origin of funds or other paperwork required for SWIFT transfer? Or is that hit or miss? For a foreigner without a work permit, I understand the process is not quite that straight-forward. If it is, I'd certainly be glad to hear of it, and it is worth the effort from the OP to make the attempt.

Otherwise, you either have to use western union or other means (such as what I described above) to get your funds in UK, no hassles.

maybe part hand carried cash, exchanged from THB into GBP and another part atm withdraw.

[Paangjang]

Pifle...

Deposit the funds into your thai bank account. Make sure you have the details of your UK bank including its SWIFT. Fill out the form for an IMT and state that the purpose is OTHER (Transfering Savings). State that you want to transfer in Pounds. You will get the relevant exchange rate for pounds from your Thai bank. And you will be charged the IMT fee. With Krungsi it is 1200 THB. Money will generally take around 3 workind days to arrive in your UK account. Simple...

No proof of origin of funds or other paperwork required for SWIFT transfer? Or is that hit or miss? For a foreigner without a work permit, I understand the process is not quite that straight-forward. If it is, I'd certainly be glad to hear of it, and it is worth the effort from the OP to make the attempt.

Otherwise, you either have to use western union or other means (such as what I described above) to get your funds in UK, no hassles.

maybe part hand carried cash, exchanged from THB into GBP and another part atm withdraw.

I have a work permit and will be taking his advice. Thanks for all the input.

[Jezz]

I've digested much of the advice given here but have a slightly different situation I'd appreciate help with. I'm forced through circumstances to leave Thailand where I bank with Bangkok Bank and have a Be1st debit card. I don't have a UK bank account, except a special account with Bangkok Bank, London that used to used only for transfering pension money to Thailand. I doubt I'll be able to open a UK bank account after 8 years away and no credit rating. There is about 600000 baht in the Thailand account. What is the best option? Buy a goodly amount of pound sterling here and take to Uk, or just take a little and use my Be1st card in the UK?

[4evermaat]

I've digested much of the advice given here but have a slightly different situation I'd appreciate help with. I'm forced through circumstances to leave Thailand where I bank with Bangkok Bank and have a Be1st debit card. I don't have a UK bank account, except a special account with Bangkok Bank, London that used to used only for transfering pension money to Thailand. I doubt I'll be able to open a UK bank account after 8 years away and no credit rating. There is about 600000 baht in the Thailand account. What is the best option? Buy a goodly amount of pound sterling here and take to Uk, or just take a little and use my Be1st card in the UK?

Not sure if you can open a UK account online. But let's assume for now that having a UK bank account is out of the question. Take some of the money in cash (GBP or EUR) before you depart thailand and then withdraw the rest via ATM.

Bangkok bank charges 100 baht for every international (non-thai) ATM withdraw, even if you did it at BKB ATM overseas. The ATM card should already be pre-activated for int'l use, but you can call BkB and make sure. Also make sure you have the ATM card WITHOUT the secure chip in it to maximize the ability to use it. The atm cards with the chip have very limited use.

btw, you can link 2-4 atm cards on a single savings account. Maybe you may want to order one with your name preprinted (no chip) in case you will use it for purchases. Or get one with the chip, one without the chip, etc.

Edited March 10, 2013 by 4evermaat

[Jezz]

Thanks,4evermaat. Appreciated.