Foreign Driver Crashes Car into Motorbike and Minivan in Patong

[kimbathewhitelion]

Trying to find an easier transfer/ wire of funds from the US (Los Angeles) to Thailand & save on fees. I want to move 10s of thousands from my B of A account to a bank which is stable & established in both countries. But don't want to stick all my money there if the LA branch has problems or excess fees like Citibank which is also located in Thailand.

Anyone have dealing with this branch?

[MilesCh]

I have a Thai Panit account in Chiang Mai Main and they don't know of a branch in USA. The only one I know of is BKK bank which is very easy to make transfers (not wire as they cost more) from Schwab to BKK in NYC and they send it the next day to BKK where the local R/E is provided, although that's usually not the greatest. Cost is $5 + 0.25% from BKK Bank for a transfer up to US$2,000 and plus some low percentage over that.

If there is another bank with a branch in the states, please let me know.

[kimbathewhitelion]

There's a listing here, but the number is disconnected & from what I found out, closed 30 years ago . Talked with Kasikorn here in LA (not a branch, but an Agency) and the only Thai Bank is the BK Bank out of New York which is not an option for me. Will stick with my current situation, Thanks.

[Langsuan Man]

Why such allegiance to SCB ?

Open a Bangkok Bank account and then transfer funds to your new BB account here in Thailand via EFTS from B of A in the US. Once the funds are here then transfer the money to your SCB account

I do this and have saved considerable amount of money over International Wires but then again all my US bank accounts offer free EFTS. Don't know what the EFTS policy of B of A is, so you will have to factor that into your decision

BTW. No one has an account with Bangkok Bank in New York. It is not a retail bank and only offers transfer service via the New York office to a Bangkok Bank account in Thailand and some commercial transactions for corporations located or needing access to Thailand

[kblaze]

damnit man, when did you know that it was closed down? I read your post yesterday and was so shocked that there could be a SCB in LA that I spent 40 minutes navigating all that google could do including street view to try to find it. aahhhh

[KHR1010]

Open an ICBC account in Los Angeles and one here in Bangkok, a much better bank than any of the Thai offerings and will suit your transfer needs.

Edited April 11, 2013 by KHR1010

[Pib]

Open an ICBC account in Los Angeles and one here in Bangkok, a much better bank than any of the Thai offerings and will suit your transfer needs.

What are the transfer costs? Going to the ICBC web sites in Bangkok and LA sure don't provide much info...also appears ICBC is a commercial bank versus a retail bank for the common joe on the street.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

For Americans, the best known and least expensive way to transfer large amount of funds from the U.S. to Thailand is using the BKK Bank New York branch transfer method mentioned above.

You can't open and don't need an account at their New York branch. But you do need a BKK Bank account in Thailand. Then, you ACH funds from your US account to the BKK Bank account using their ABA/routing number and the Thai bank account number for your branch in Thailand.

There is a small handling fee charged by the New York branch, depending on the amount you send, and then a small commission charged by the receiving branch in Thailand, no less than 200 baht and no more than 500 baht. If you're planning to send more than $50,000 U.S., you can contact BKK Bank HQ in Thailand about getting a preferential exchange rate.

Be aware, the last few months, the U.S. dollar-Thai baht exchange rate has been dropping significantly, so now isn't an especially good time to be exchanging large sums. But some things, you don't have the luxury of picking your time.

The BKK Bank transfer method involves a few more details than I've mentioned above, but it's easily done once you set it up and know how to handle it. BKK Bank has a website with instructions. See it here:

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/BusinessBanking/BusinessSolution/TransferingFunds/ReceivingFunds/Pages/ReceivingFundsfromUSA.aspx

The OP didn't say why he was planning to move tens of thousands of dollars. But if it involves a planned property purchase, there are particular documentation requirements needed for that kind of transfer to protect your ability to export those funds in the future should you need/want to.

I don't know of any other Thai bank that has a comparable U.S. to Thailand transfer capability (other than higher cost international wire transfers that any bank can do). That's because no other Thai bank has a regular U.S. bank branch facility as BKK Bank does.

Edited April 11, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK