Missing Money From An International Transfer To Bangkok Bank

[BrianCR]

This may be overly paranoid, especially in this thread, but I feel there MAY be a protocol where if they can't get a hold of you, they change the money to baht on the day that best suits them via the exchange rate.

No, over a certain minimum the banks Treasury department is required to contact the customer to gain their approval for the offered rate (which can be refused), under that limit the funds are converted on reciept. Also, the profit margin of the banks on foriegn currency conversions is pretty constant, regardless of what the exchange rate might be or how much it fluctuates. The rate they convert at is determined by the Bid and Ask prices of the FOREX market plus their standard percentage charge.

why spoiling with facts a ridiculous but interesting Thai bank bashing story?

A farang pastime here. Kasikorn chicks are hotter anyway. The way I see it now, all the banks are equally useless, might as well pick the one with the hottest chicks

If you want "chicks" go to KFC. if you want banking services go to "K" bank

[Pib]

This may be overly paranoid, especially in this thread, but I feel there MAY be a protocol where if they can't get a hold of you, they change the money to baht on the day that best suits them via the exchange rate.

No, over a certain minimum the banks Treasury department is required to contact the customer to gain their approval for the offered rate (which can be refused), under that limit the funds are converted on reciept. Also, the profit margin of the banks on foriegn currency conversions is pretty constant, regardless of what the exchange rate might be or how much it fluctuates. The rate they convert at is determined by the Bid and Ask prices of the FOREX market plus their standard percentage charge.

No doubt true, however, but, about 5 years ago when I doing a couple of big dollar transfers from the U.S. to Bangkok Bank (one transfer was for $215,000, and another for around $60K the money sailed right through to my local Bangkok Bank account in one day in both transfers....I was not contacted by anyone before it quickly posted to my account. But I have seen a lot of posts on ThaiVisa where the money was on hold by the bank pending contact with the account holder to ask about exchange rate or some other minor issue.

On another occasion where some inbound money was placed on hold is when I had my monthly military pension going direct deposit to my regular Bangkok Bank saving account the money didn't post to my account very early in the month one time...I figured it might be a holidays delay thing...but about a week later I got a letter from Bangkok Bank saying the money was on hold until I came in and opened up a special Direct Deposit account (i.e., no ATM or ibanking access, must withdraw in person, all to comply with U.S. law regarding govt pensions, etc), they would have to send the money back to the sending agency within approx. 30 days or so. So, I went in and opened a Direct Deposit account, they immediately released the on hold money into that account, I updated my pension sending agency with the new account number, and then the money flow started again no problem...but shortly after that I stopped using the Direct Deposit account and shifted to other ways of getting periodic money.

Edited May 5, 2013 by Pib

[socrates28]

The money will be in a Suspense Account awaiting full authorisation

[Asiantravel]

just an update to anybody that is interested. Now that the holiday is over I have established through the head office of Bangkok bank here in Thailand that the money definitely has not even reached this country yet. I have contacted the sender today in the UK to ask them to get their bank to contact Bangkok bank London branch .

The intriguing question however is where has the money been lying for the past seven days?

Edited May 7, 2013 by Asiantravel

[Asiantravel]

After 7 days of being “ somewhere “ my money has been returned to the sender with no explanation !

[Pib]

I've seen numerous posts over the years here on ThaiVisa where funds were returned (from various Thai banks) since the beneficiary name on the transfer did not match exactly with the intended Thai bank account holder name, or there was a typo in the account number. And in some cases it sure appeared the Thai bank had the correct phone number on file for the account holder but didn't or couldn't contact the account holder to possibly resolve the problem...so, the money gets sent back.

Edited May 8, 2013 by Pib

[OJAS]

It's the amount of the transfer which, I suspect, was the main cause of the OP's difficulties. All foreign currency transfers into Thailand equalling more than 20,000 USD have to be declared. When I requested a transfer of more than this amount into my former KTB account a few years ago, I had to complete the attached form before the transfer could be finalised.

Indeed, I'm surprised that the OP didn't encounter a similar delay with his previous £15,000 transfer since this also, by my reckoning, amounted to more than 20,000 USD even after Bangkok Bank's charges were deducted.

That said, it does seem deplorable that Bangkok Bank apparently chose to return the money to the OP's UK account without having the courtesy to inform him beforehand. That said TIT and Bangkok Bank are by no means alone among the large organisations here in surrounding their actions in aura and mystery in this way.

Master form.pdf

Edited May 8, 2013 by OJAS

[Pib]

It's the amount of the transfer which, I suspect, was the main cause of the OP's difficulties. All foreign currency transfers into Thailand equalling more than 20,000 USD have to be declared. When I requested a transfer of more than this amount into my former KTB account a few years ago, I had to complete the attached form before the transfer could be finalised.

Indeed, I'm surprised that the OP didn't encounter a similar delay with his previous £15,000 transfer since this also, by my reckoning, amounted to more than 20,000 USD even after Bangkok Bank's charges were deducted.

That said, it does seem deplorable that Bangkok Bank apparently chose to return the money to the OP's UK account without having the courtesy to inform him beforehand. That said TIT and Bangkok Bank are by no means alone among the large organisations here in surrounding their actions in aura and mystery in this way.

I think it only has be declared if you plan/want to repatriate the funds later, not to imply a Thai bank may not ask you to complete one. I've transferred over much larger amounts than $20K, never filed out the form showed in your attachment....like I mentioned in my post 32..but that was around 5 years ago....maybe things have changed. However, after the money arrived/posted, I did go to Bangkok Bank a week or so later to get documentation as to why I transferred in the money which was for a house/dirt buy....just in case we sell in the future and decided to move back/repatriate funds to the U.S.

Edited May 8, 2013 by Pib

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Look at it this way, the exchange has gone up, they made you some money.

[Asiantravel]

I went to the bank in person this morning and spent three hours waiting patiently because nobody within Bangkok bank either in Thailand or at the London office had replied to any of my e-mails and I had sent the same e-mail three times.

I was a bit forceful and said I was not leaving until I could advise the sender in England what they had done wrong compared to the first time they sent the transfer which was without any problem.

At first I was served by a very unhelpful and quite frankly useless guy who tried to brush me off by saying I needed to phone the London office to find out what why they had rejected the payment. But I said I needed some answers today. He told me I should call the complainants section and he handed me his phone handset and I was put on hold on and off for about 45 min as I explained the situation to various people and they transferred me from one person to another. After chatting away to various people in different departments eventually a smart looking lady sitting at a nearby desk came over and she took over the situation. She had been listening to my conversation. I was having with various people. I have to say this woman was phenomenal. She was dealing with three or four issues at a time and it's as if she was thriving on it. She stood out from the rest of the bank staff like a shining gem!

The rest of them were just totally unable to think outside the box.

She was the only person in the whole bank who took any interest in my situation. She called all over the place and apparently tonight Thailand time she is going to get hold of a copy of the documentation relating to the first transfer so they can compare the documents relating to the latest failed transfer to see where the inconsistencies are. I'm just very pleased I had her to help me.

So I have to go back tomorrow morning for the next instalment!

[Asiantravel]

Look at it this way, the exchange has gone up, they made you some money.

Exactly ….and that is what is keeping me smiling!

[MegaRanter]

Between 2001 and 2005, I had several transfer delays, some up to 2 weeks. Standard Chartered always made me come in sign some documents before letting me have the money in my account. some weeks I had 100 K US coming, so I had to sign the anti laundary form.

I chucked the constant delays to the fact that most of the funds originate from from Nigeria, and may be smart righteous folks in New york and london might be using my money for sometime before letting me have it.

One thing with getting this transfers in bound, is you will get lots of valuable credit cards and SCB will call you asking if you need loan. That is if you have a registered business and a work permit.