Advice Needed For Sending Large Amount Of Money To Thailand

[Jimbo]

I hope that I can get some good advice on the following dilemma.

A relative has passed away recently in Holland and the lawyers have asked me for my bank account details as they will be sending a rather large sum of money my way.

The problem I have is that I no longer have a bank account in Europe so I guess I am left with the option of receiving the money into my Thai account. I don't have the time right now to fly back to Europe and open an account.

So if I do sent the money to my Thai account, I should ask for the Dutch bank to sent the money in Euros to me as the exchange rate is better if the Thai bank converts it. Is that correct?

I guess another option would be to open a Euro account with my Thai bank and then I could receive the amount it Euros. Are there high fees with going that route? The reason why I am thinking about this is because of the rather poor Euro - Baht exchange rate and even a few percent increase in the future would make a big difference. Obviously it could also drop further, what do the forex experts on Thai Visa think about it?

Thanks guys for any advice you may have.

[Khun Jean]

If it is a large amount make sure that after it arrives you split among 4-5 banks at least.

If you want to buy a condo with it you need a special document for it. The bank will know.

The Thai baht is not a bad currency to have, especially when you live here full time.

The euro goes up and down all the time. It might give you a restless feeling when you see 10% up and down swings.

The exchange rate is negotiable when the sum is large enough. Let the Thai bank do the euro-baht exchange.

[Jimbo]

Thanks for the reply!

I am not really planning to do anything with the money right now. The main thing is just what the best way is to get the money here. Once it is here I will think about what to do with the money.

[yoshiwara]

If it is a rather large sum of money I would be inclined to consider opening a bank account in Singapore for holding it.

[Jimbo]

If it is a rather large sum of money I would be inclined to consider opening a bank account in Singapore for holding it.

May I ask what your reasoning for that would be? Opening a bank account in Singapore is not a problem for me however what are the benefits? Higher interest rate? Bank more secure?

I do have an account with DBS in Singapore and they aren't paying interest on Euro accounts.

Edited May 17, 2013 by Jimbo

[khaowong1]

If it's a large amount of money, PM me and I will give you my bank account number where you can deposit it and we can work out the arrangements later.

[ericthai]

Thanks for the reply!

I am not really planning to do anything with the money right now. The main thing is just what the best way is to get the money here. Once it is here I will think about what to do with the money.

If you think you might buy a condo in the future then you should let the bank know now. As an expat buying a condo must have the funds brought in from overseas. If you don't do the documents when transferred in and decide later it's too late and you will need to transfer funds in again to buy the condo. Just a heads up.

[petertucker48]

For larger amounts contact a money broker.

You can have the lawyer sent it direct to broker who sends it on at a better rate to your Thai bank account.

No need for another account in Holland.

Check this out for best rates:

http://www.fxcompared.com

[Payboy]

Depending of course on how large the sum is bring it in personally using 1000 CHF banknotes and change it at Vasu or Superrich. The exchange savings may even cover your business class return flight.

[yoshiwara]

If it is a rather large sum of money I would be inclined to consider opening a bank account in Singapore for holding it.

May I ask what your reasoning for that would be? Opening a bank account in Singapore is not a problem for me however what are the benefits? Higher interest rate? Bank more secure?

I do have an account with DBS in Singapore and they aren't paying interest on Euro accounts.

For significant amounts of cash its the safety, safety, safety of a Singapore or Hong Kong account all the way. If you already have an account with DBS in Singapore then I think it is a no-brainer. You transfer the monies there and then review at your leisure. Edited May 18, 2013 by yoshiwara

[Sophon]

Depending of course on how large the sum is bring it in personally using 1000 CHF banknotes and change it at Vasu or Superrich. The exchange savings may even cover your business class return flight.

There wouldn't be any savings, only a big loss. The costs of first exchanging from EUR into CHF in Holland, and then changing back into THB in Thailand would result in the OP ending up with considerably less than if he just asked the lawyer to transfer the funds into his Thai bank account.

Sophon

[Jimbo]

So I guess no one likes the idea of opening a euro account in thailand and then changing the money into baht when needed?

[NeverSure]

You don't have to put all of your eggs in one basket of currencies.

My guess is that the baht might fall in value in the next 30 - 60 days if for no other reason than the government is talking about trying to reduce it. That alone could cause people to shy away from it in the interim.

No one knows what currencies will do. I just like to hedge with more than one.

As they say in Thailand - up to you.

[Paul888]

If it is a large sum of money and you have no immediate need or plans for it in Thailand right now, then probably the best advice is to ask the lawyers to hold it for you or even ask if they can invest it in a segregated interest bearing account in their bank.

Explain that you do not want to send it to Thailand and will need to return to Holland to open an account but you don't have time to do that at the moment..

You can then at sometime in the future when you have time, go to Holland, open a new account and get it sent there.

[GoodWesternGuy]

you could consider opening a company in Hong Kong [will cost about $2K] and then using your atm card when you need to withdraw. Zero tax is paid on anything that the company earns outside of Hong Kong and your money is very safe there.

[yoshiwara]

So I guess no one likes the idea of opening a euro account in thailand and then changing the money into baht when needed?

After regularly reading in this forum stories of disappearing funds from Thai banks I wouldn't dream of it, but hey this is what I think you really want to do so go for it......

[boshidoson]

My experience has been that sending money out of the country on a retirement visa is a big problem. My bank ( Bangkok Bank) would not allow me to wire money to the US. They said a work permit was needed. I would have had to withdraw the money and send it by Western Union. A very expensive option for me.

[Naam]

My experience has been that sending money out of the country on a retirement visa is a big problem. My bank ( Bangkok Bank) would not allow me to wire money to the US. They said a work permit was needed. I would have had to withdraw the money and send it by Western Union. A very expensive option for me.

not a problem at all if you ask the bank to issue a relevant document whenever you receive money from abroad.

[Jimbo]

So I guess no one likes the idea of opening a euro account in thailand and then changing the money into baht when needed?

After regularly reading in this forum stories of disappearing funds from Thai banks I wouldn't dream of it, but hey this is what I think you really want to do so go for it......

It's not really that I want to go that route. I simply haven't met any foreigner in Thailand who uses a foreign currency account at local Thai bank. So I was hoping perhaps a Thai Visa member had experience with that.

Some other members suggested that I would ask the lawyers to hold onto the money and for me to travel to Holland in the future. Unfortunately its not really an option. The Dutch bank wants to pay out the heirs and I guess the time for paying is now. So they need an account to wire the money to. They will not allow for the money to be sent to third parties so sending the money to the lawyer or a money trader is out of the question.

So that leaves me with 3 options:

1) Sent to one of my Thai bank accounts and Thai bank would exchange it into Thai Baht

2) Open a Euro account with my Thai bank in the hope that the Thai baht weakens in the coming months. I have just read that there is a daily limit how much money you can wire into your foreign currency account in Thailand so that may be a problem.

3) Send money to my Singapore account. If I go this route, do I open a foreign currency account with DBS or just let it get sent to my Sing $ account.

[yoshiwara]

So I guess no one likes the idea of opening a euro account in thailand and then changing the money into baht when needed?

After regularly reading in this forum stories of disappearing funds from Thai banks I wouldn't dream of it, but hey this is what I think you really want to do so go for it......

It's not really that I want to go that route. I simply haven't met any foreigner in Thailand who uses a foreign currency account at local Thai bank. So I was hoping perhaps a Thai Visa member had experience with that.

Some other members suggested that I would ask the lawyers to hold onto the money and for me to travel to Holland in the future. Unfortunately its not really an option. The Dutch bank wants to pay out the heirs and I guess the time for paying is now. So they need an account to wire the money to. They will not allow for the money to be sent to third parties so sending the money to the lawyer or a money trader is out of the question.

So that leaves me with 3 options:

1) Sent to one of my Thai bank accounts and Thai bank would exchange it into Thai Baht

2) Open a Euro account with my Thai bank in the hope that the Thai baht weakens in the coming months. I have just read that there is a daily limit how much money you can wire into your foreign currency account in Thailand so that may be a problem.

3) Send money to my Singapore account. If I go this route, do I open a foreign currency account with DBS or just let it get sent to my Sing $ account.

You can check with them but if euros are sent to your DBS account the default should be that they would hold the cash in euros unless instructed otherwise. I guess in the end it is a personal preference what you are going to do, but I would be thinking about safety as my first port of call rather than comparative interest rates.

[ericthai]

So I guess no one likes the idea of opening a euro account in thailand and then changing the money into baht when needed?

This is not a bad idea. I had a Foreign currency account with HSBC about 8 or 9 years ago. It was fine, I had no problems with them and no missing money.

I do recall there was a minimum to open the account I believe is was $30,000 USD dont recall exactly was I was bringing in more than that min amount needed so didn't really pay attention. Since then I closed that account I think about 4 years ago as now any currency from outside of Thailand I put in my Hong Kong account. I was able to transfer between the foreign currency account and my Thai account as needed. Hope this helps.

[ericthai]

My experience has been that sending money out of the country on a retirement visa is a big problem. My bank ( Bangkok Bank) would not allow me to wire money to the US. They said a work permit was needed. I would have had to withdraw the money and send it by Western Union. A very expensive option for me.

You might want to think about setting up a paypal account and then sending out cash is simple and not expensive. The exchange rates are a little less but not has bad as western Union rates. other option is to let the bank know when funds are received that you need to send out some cash and they will do the proper paper work to allow this. It is easier with a work permit but can be done without one.

[LDNBKK86]

Pop over to Hong Kong.

Open an account with HSBC at the airport.

Very easy process - all that was needed was my passport and proof of address in Thailand.

Took about 20 minutes.

You then are given an ATM card that you can use world wide to withdraw money. (BBL and UOM cash machine only charge 50 THB per withdrawal)

You have access to HSBCNet online banking which will automatically give you a selection of multicurrency accounts.

If you are sent EUR it will automatically credit to your EUR account in HK. You the can do an internal currency transfer, wire some money to Thailand or just withdraw from an ATM.

I found this to be the perfect solution for me, albeit a slightly different problem.

[fvdv]

My experience has been that sending money out of the country on a retirement visa is a big problem. My bank ( Bangkok Bank) would not allow me to wire money to the US. They said a work permit was needed. I would have had to withdraw the money and send it by Western Union. A very expensive option for me.

not a problem at all if you ask the bank to issue a relevant document whenever you receive money from abroad.

Information received from the bank of Thailand:

Repatriation of your funds can be remitted out upon submission of supporting documents to an authorized bank in Thailand. Supporting documents in your case would be

(1) related swift message to confirm that the fund has been transferred into Thailand and

(2) related Thai Bank Account Statement to confirm that the fund has been parked in the Thai Bank Account at all time. So the date of deposit in the Account should be the same date of transferring into Thailand and the date of withdrawing should be the same date of remitting out from Thailand.

[fvdv]

If it is a rather large sum of money I would be inclined to consider opening a bank account in Singapore for holding it.

May I ask what your reasoning for that would be? Opening a bank account in Singapore is not a problem for me however what are the benefits? Higher interest rate? Bank more secure?

I do have an account with DBS in Singapore and they aren't paying interest on Euro accounts.

For significant amounts of cash its the safety, safety, safety of a Singapore or Hong Kong account all the way. If you already have an account with DBS in Singapore then I think it is a no-brainer. You transfer the monies there and then review at your leisure.

Totaly agree.

For your information, I recently opened an account online with ING Luxembourg.

Could be an option too...

[socrates28]

you could consider opening a company in Hong Kong [will cost about $2K] and then using your atm card when you need to withdraw. Zero tax is paid on anything that the company earns outside of Hong Kong and your money is very safe there.

Would like to know more about this

[stefb1964]

you could consider opening a company in Hong Kong [will cost about $2K] and then using your atm card when you need to withdraw. Zero tax is paid on anything that the company earns outside of Hong Kong and your money is very safe there.

Would like to know more about this

+1

[yoshiwara]

stefb1964, on 20 May 2013 - 01:42, said:

socrates28, on 19 May 2013 - 06:31, said:

GoodWesternGuy, on 18 May 2013 - 14:11, said:

you could consider opening a company in Hong Kong [will cost about $2K] and then using your atm card when you need to withdraw. Zero tax is paid on anything that the company earns outside of Hong Kong and your money is very safe there.

Would like to know more about this

+1

For parking money a personal account in Hong Kong might be simpler. Company account might be unnecessary complication and expense. However, it is easier to open an account if you can provide a HK address. Using a friend's address for the first six months and even better getting the friend to introduce you to his/her bank. If you really want a business trading account there are a number of providing this facility ie setting up a company or you might want to use a lawyer to do it. If you don't have a lawyer then you can ask any bank branch to recommend one. having sufficient monies at start to use say Premier Account facilities at HSBC you would need HKD1million. Cheaper is the UK HSBC Premier account at 50k minimum in savings accounts (not current) and you can flash that card in HK.

[socrates28]

stefb1964, on 20 May 2013 - 01:42, said:

socrates28, on 19 May 2013 - 06:31, said:

GoodWesternGuy, on 18 May 2013 - 14:11, said:

you could consider opening a company in Hong Kong [will cost about $2K] and then using your atm card when you need to withdraw. Zero tax is paid on anything that the company earns outside of Hong Kong and your money is very safe there.

Would like to know more about this

+1

For parking money a personal account in Hong Kong might be simpler. Company account might be unnecessary complication and expense. However, it is easier to open an account if you can provide a HK address. Using a friend's address for the first six months and even better getting the friend to introduce you to his/her bank. If you really want a business trading account there are a number of providing this facility ie setting up a company or you might want to use a lawyer to do it. If you don't have a lawyer then you can ask any bank branch to recommend one. having sufficient monies at start to use say Premier Account facilities at HSBC you would need HKD1million. Cheaper is the UK HSBC Premier account at 50k minimum in savings accounts (not current) and you can flash that card in HK.

Thanks for that but I wanted to know more from the person who suggested it

I am interested in a Business Bank Account