International money transfer fees

[seajae]

I am curious as to the thai laws regarding money transfer exchange rates, my bank advertises that it will not charge more then 500 baht per transaction but over 1,000 baht is being taken from my account. I have queried them as I also do not get a receipt or acknowledgement for the money at all apart from the exchanged money showing up in my account. Am I entitled to a receipt, I thought that they would show the full exchange amount as a deposit then the fee and then the balance amount but they do not. My aussie bank shows the amount of the transfer in aussie dollars(thai exchange rates are better so I get it sent in aussie dollars) and it shows the fee in my account but when it arrives here I simply get the amount less whatever they have taken.

For all I know someone could be removing the difference between the exchange rate and the deposit amount as there is nothing to acknowledge what they take out, is this legal and am I entitled to some form of fee notice. They answer my queries with the "fees are only a maximum of 500 baht" and will not elaborate about the rest taken or about giving me a receipt. I worked out the amounts by using their exchange rates advertised at the time of the deposit(they do vary slighly but not that much to account for the amounts missing).

Really would appreciate it if someone can clue me in where I stand on this.

[topt]

There was a similar question asked not long ago from someone from memory transferring from the UK. You could try a search as this was discussed at length there.

The difference is likely to be a correspondent/intermediary bank fee which sometimes seems very difficult to nail down. Try asking your Aussie bank how the money is routed.

[Pib]

The typical currency receipt/conversion fee at Thai banks is 0.25%(200 /300bt minimum and 500 baht maximum). If they are hitting you with the 500 baht max then you must be sending over around 6,300 or more USD equivalent.

First, you really need confirm how many dollars/euros/pounds/etc., is actually arriving the Thai bank for conversion. I mean how much arrives before they convert the funds baht. No shortage of posts blaming Thai banks for higher than expect currency conversion fee and/or low exchange rate when in fact the problem was the home country sending bank and/or its correspondent/intermediary applied a fee you didn't know about. And are you sure your home country bank is not converting to baht "before" sending which will surely mean a lower exchange rate than the TT Buying Rate used by Thai banks and possibly make you think some additional fee was applied by the Thai bank. Also, if the receiving bank your have an account must then transfer the funds to another Thai bank account you have there would probably be another fee applied.

[meatboy]

one way to find out is ask your bank[thai] what rate you got.as the rates change every minute of the day you might never get what you see.

or it might happen to you what happened to me,i checked the ex.rate on line most of the day and out of 10checks,

eg.the lowest rate 49 the highest was 49.6 i was given the lowest.couldnt get a straight answer from my bank so i told them where to go.and closed my acc.

[delboy]

When I get a transfer from the UK into Bangkok Bank, I go to my branch about a week after the transfer and ask for a printed copy of the transaction. After waiting a few minutes they produce a small report showing date and time of transfer, exchange rate used, transfer source, amount, Bangkok Bank charge, and currency it was transferred in.

I keep the reports in case Immigration ever request to see proof of transfer, or if I ever need to send the money back to the UK.