Are You A Sexpat Or Do You Ride The Backwards Morality Train?

[ade]

I am considering moving to Thailand. Currently I have a UK based account.

Is it possible to arrange to have credit or debit cards delivered by courier to Thailand?

Is it possible to transfer money directly from a UK bank directly to a Thai bank account?

[Upnotover]

Most UK banks will not send to a Thai address, you can of course have somebody send them for you, presuming that you have a UK address to receive them. And it is very easy to send money from a UK account to a Thai account (using SWIFT), most banks can do this online with very little fuss.

[Crossy]

My experience is pretty much like Upnotover, you'll need to ask your bank about sending cards here, many will insist on you retaining a UK address (Barclays closed my account without notice when they sussed I was living here even though I was using my parents' place as an accommodation address.).

Transferring funds should be easy although you may need to fax authority in order to set up initially (unless you have your Thai bank details before leaving the UK).

[ade]

I do not have a UK address hence the need to have the card delivered by courier.

[Upnotover]

Errrr? Which one is it?

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[scobie redux]

I do not have a UK address

They won't send by courier.

[ade]

I do not have a UK address I do have a UK bank account, sorry.

[ade]

What arrangements can be made if I have a UK bank account, no UK address but live in Thailand.

I cannot be the only one!

[bifftastic]

Speak to your bank.

If you ask people here, they will be able to tell you of their personal experiences. What they won't be able to tell you is if your UK bank will send you a replacement card to Thailand or not.

Because you haven't mentioned which bank it is, or what sort of account you've got.

If your bank won't send to an address in Thailand, what will you do then?

If you haven't got an address in the UK, can't you ask a friend to allow you to use theirs?

Transferring money from a UK bank to a Thai bank is no problem. I do it every four weeks.

[ade]

I have a Barclays current account. Is anyone in a similar situation?

[Suradit69]

Can't you open an account in Thailand with Bangkok Bank and then have Barclays transfer money to the London branch of Bangkok Bank ? Either a set amount per month or (I'm guessing) by going to your Barclay's account online to direct that a certain amount be transferred to your account via Bangkok Bank's London branch as needed?

It's been years since I had an account at Barclays, but back in the Dark Ages they weren't especially bothered that I didn't have a UK address ... ever. And I was able to transfer money in or out of the account by mail instructions ... before the Internet changed the world ... so I assume online account access would make that all the more simple.

http://www.bangkokbank.com/bangkokbank/personalbanking/dailybanking/transferingfunds/transferringintothailand/receivingfundsfromuk/Pages/ReceivingFundsfromUK.aspx

Edited September 27, 2013 by Suradit69

[phitsanulokjohn]

I have a uk building society a/c with internet banking, and i can transfer sums to my thai bank a/c myself. A fee of 20 or 25 pounds(sorry i can't remember it's been a while since i've done it)gets debited from the said a/c.

[meatboy]

if youve been with barclays for quite a while not having a uk address shouldnt be a problem.

if you do whats already been sugested you can trans.by swift or if your signed up for internett banking you can do it that way.my bank has a £10,000 limit per instruction cost £25.i get along fine without any cards whatsoever,uk or thai.but if you use a uk card for drawing money in thailand you will get hit by charges.i am lucky i only transfer from the uk.once a yr.

oh make sure your funds you have sent to thailand are in POUND STERLING.

[Upnotover]

Meatboy's got it right, you don't need UK cards as you can easily send money to a Thai account. But presumably your Barclay's account must have a UK address attached to it? Irrespective of whether the bank will send cards out or not, I had an idea that typically a UK current account needs a UK address?

[meatboy]

Meatboy's got it right, you don't need UK cards as you can easily send money to a Thai account. But presumably your Barclay's account must have a UK address attached to it? Irrespective of whether the bank will send cards out or not, I had an idea that typically a UK current account needs a UK address?

i had been with my bank in the uk.for 11yrs.and the wf.so we were well known to staff.wages and pensions paid in to a joint current acc.we arranged with the bank that as we were moving to thailand and i wanted my pensions still paid in the bank and the wf.had income from a property as well this was ok.

there is no obligation by the banks do do this its up to them,if youve been a good customer in the past that should be ok.

the only problem i can see is if the op needs regular money transfers,if he does get a uk.bank card and uses an atm in thailand it will cost and i am not sure what exchange rate he gets,only once i ever done it in thailand and was hit twice.

if he can do it my way[frank sinatra] once a yr.and then he can watch the £ to baht exchange rate like i do,if its in my favour then change i normally watch 3months before the yr.is up.

just a foot note we were going back to the uk for a holliday and asked the bank to send us a debit card.

first pin arrived no card.

second pin arrived no card.

so forget about uk.cards even if you bring one with you when it runs out it makes the postman happy.

[ade]

Thank you for your replies. I will consider transferring money on a regular basis at £25 or so a time.

Currently I am still working in Oman but planning ahead I do not know how long it will take me to get a Visa and open a bank account.

I have also considered opening an offshore account to ensure I have two bank cards before I am settled.

I will appreciate you opinions and suggestions regarding this.

[MMarlow]

I have a Barclays current account. Is anyone in a similar situation?

I opened a UK Barclays account online recently and they sent my card and PIN to me here using the normal post service from London with no problems.

[jhwest]

Yes would like to share my experience with you and yeah I am a LLoyds tsb customer and last year Dec 2012 tried to renew my subscription to Jacquie Lawson, only to be told that my debit card was invalis, even the current one had until 2014 expiry date.

No notification what so ever and complained to the Complaints dept in Birmingham.

Yeah was told and had to write to bank to transfer the card to where I used to live. I had to send a letter of authorisation for a friend to pick up my new card and then did not inform me that had to send another letter for authorisation for friend to send the new pin number.

All done after nearly ONE YEAR and telephoned the bank at least 10 times, only to be cut off and yeah could renew Jacquie Lawson, but could not take money out of an ATM in Thailand.

I told them monies coming in to the account and told it would be unblocked and still after NEARLY A YEAR I still can not draw money and it is disgraceful and sent recorded letters to which no reply Told them very unlikely going back to the UK and neeeded to be able to draw funds in an emergency.

[ade]

Yes would like to share my experience with you and yeah I am a LLoyds tsb customer and last year Dec 2012 tried to renew my subscription to Jacquie Lawson, only to be told that my debit card was invalis, even the current one had until 2014 expiry date.

No notification what so ever and complained to the Complaints dept in Birmingham.

Yeah was told and had to write to bank to transfer the card to where I used to live. I had to send a letter of authorisation for a friend to pick up my new card and then did not inform me that had to send another letter for authorisation for friend to send the new pin number.

All done after nearly ONE YEAR and telephoned the bank at least 10 times, only to be cut off and yeah could renew Jacquie Lawson, but could not take money out of an ATM in Thailand.

I told them monies coming in to the account and told it would be unblocked and still after NEARLY A YEAR I still can not draw money and it is disgraceful and sent recorded letters to which no reply Told them very unlikely going back to the UK and neeeded to be able to draw funds in an emergency.

How did you get money? I appreciate the problems but I also like to know how to prevent them.

[delboy]

I have a Barclays account and, until last year, they would not send debit/credit cards to Thailand, or allow me to open an online service. That has changed. I have an online service, and recently received a debit card. All transactions were through the regular postal service.

[meatboy]

if you do any banking on line get them to send you a digital banking card reader u can use to trans.funds to thailand or if you want a freind to trans.for you just send it to his acc.if you can trust him.or her.

[NoshowJones]

Most UK banks will not send to a Thai address, you can of course have somebody send them for you, presuming that you have a UK address to receive them. And it is very easy to send money from a UK account to a Thai account (using SWIFT), most banks can do this online with very little fuss.

When you say most banks, that would mean there is maybe some banks who will. Anyone know of any?

[NoshowJones]

What arrangements can be made if I have a UK bank account, no UK address but live in Thailand.

I cannot be the only one!

I will soon be in the same boat as you. I believe Bangkok bank has a branch in London, I'm not sure yet, but maybe if you had an internet account with them. I am going to look into it.

[bifftastic]

What arrangements can be made if I have a UK bank account, no UK address but live in Thailand.

I cannot be the only one!

I will soon be in the same boat as you. I believe Bangkok bank has a branch in London, I'm not sure yet, but maybe if you had an internet account with them. I am going to look into it.

I have internet banking with both Halifax in the UK, and Bangkok Bank in Thailand. I did have some issue with a UK address for the Halifax account, apparently they sent some letters to the address that they had for me, got no reply, so suspended my account. I got in touch with them as soon as I noticed, and gave them a friend's UK address (after speaking to him first, of course). I think they sent me a letter with some kind of verification procedure included in it, but that was probably because of the earlier suspension of the account.

I opted out of paper statements, so they don't get posted to his house. They very rarely write any letters at all now, none that I've had to answer in about two years. Anything that does arrive that looks important, my friend drops me a line.

As for the transfers, It's easy, just log in to the UK account, send the SWIFT transfer for £9.50 and wait 2 or 3 days for the money to show up in my Bangkok Bank account. Check that online as well and make any transfers or payments that I need to do in Thailand from there. I could manage the entire process from anywhere in the world that has internet access, or a phone signal, as I can access both accounts on my iPhone.

If my card expires when I'm not in the UK, my friend will post it to me.

These things might take a bit of setting up, but once that's done, they work quite smoothly I find.

[NoshowJones]

What arrangements can be made if I have a UK bank account, no UK address but live in Thailand.

I cannot be the only one!

I will soon be in the same boat as you. I believe Bangkok bank has a branch in London, I'm not sure yet, but maybe if you had an internet account with them. I am going to look into it.

I have internet banking with both Halifax in the UK, and Bangkok Bank in Thailand. I did have some issue with a UK address for the Halifax account, apparently they sent some letters to the address that they had for me, got no reply, so suspended my account. I got in touch with them as soon as I noticed, and gave them a friend's UK address (after speaking to him first, of course). I think they sent me a letter with some kind of verification procedure included in it, but that was probably because of the earlier suspension of the account.

I opted out of paper statements, so they don't get posted to his house. They very rarely write any letters at all now, none that I've had to answer in about two years. Anything that does arrive that looks important, my friend drops me a line.

As for the transfers, It's easy, just log in to the UK account, send the SWIFT transfer for £9.50 and wait 2 or 3 days for the money to show up in my Bangkok Bank account. Check that online as well and make any transfers or payments that I need to do in Thailand from there. I could manage the entire process from anywhere in the world that has internet access, or a phone signal, as I can access both accounts on my iPhone.

If my card expires when I'm not in the UK, my friend will post it to me.

These things might take a bit of setting up, but once that's done, they work quite smoothly I find.

Thanks, I am going to try and open an account with Bangkok bank, they have a branch in London.

[bifftastic]

Yes, they do, but you can't open an account there. It's a commercial banking branch, there are very few personal banking services provided there. You can take cash in and get it transferred to a Bangkok Bank account, but to open an account, you will need to go to a branch in Thailand.

I did consider using their transfer service, but to be honest, the system I use now is so easy I just stick with that. Mainly because the Halifax transfer fee is so cheap.

Edited September 29, 2013 by bifftastic

[MMarlow]

Most UK banks will not send to a Thai address, you can of course have somebody send them for you, presuming that you have a UK address to receive them. And it is very easy to send money from a UK account to a Thai account (using SWIFT), most banks can do this online with very little fuss.

When you say most banks, that would mean there is maybe some banks who will. Anyone know of any?

Hey, Possum, try Barclays...and try reading the posts also, that's what they're there for.