UK Money to Thailand worried about bank fees

[Jimjim1968]

Hi,

I am selling my house in the UK and buying a house outright in Thailand.

I am worried about money I will lose when I transfer the money and obviously don't want to pay banking fees.

At the moment, sometimes I tranfer money with a "cash advance" at the yellow bank (sorry don't know the name). I notice they are charging 3% for every transfer.

The house I will buy is 2.2 million Thai baht.

What is the best way to buy the house and avoid these banking fees?

Thanks in advance,

Jim

[meatboy]

you should tranfer the cash from your bank in the uk.by swift to your bank in thailand not forgetting to say where you got it and what it is intended for in thailand.failing to do this will see it returned to the uk.

my wife not long ago sold her house in the uk.and had the proceeds trans.to thailand. we use roy world part of r.b.s.tranfered in gbp.30gbp by express 24hr.then recieved by her bank in thailand and changed to bht.cost 500bht. as this was a large amount 6million bht.you will get a call from the finance ministry in thailand to tell you what rate you get[telex trans.] check the rate before you get the call and ask for a better one.my wife got 16satang more than t.t.rate.

[chiang mai]

Hard to imagine why BAY is charging you 3% on transfers, typically Thai banks charge a fee of around 500 baht to receive funds via a SWIFT transfer. The only explanation I can think of is if you are converting your Pounds to Baht in the UK and you're transferring Baht, if you're doing that you're loosing big time, twice, you should always send Pounds for conversion here.

[starship]

I imagine what you are referring to is withdrawing cash from a U.K account with a U.K bank card at ATM or over the counter if it's available. If so, because you are withdrawing funds from a U.k account, not a Thai account, you are incurring the type of fees your bank, or other banks charge. Mine charges a 2.75% currency exchange fee and a 5 pounds withdrawal fee. This adds up so obviously you only want to do it, if necessary, on occasion.

As others have stated you want to do a SWIFT transfer from your U.K account to your Thai account. Do you have one? This is the best way to send large amounts of money affordably and means you don't have to keep withdrawing a bit at a time. You DEFINITELY want to specify pounds to be sent, not Thai baht. If you don't, this will cost you a lot of money on the amount you are sending. Banks try and con you into doing this by saying 'it's easier' or changing the default settings on your internet banking templates as this makes them a lot of money.

My bank charges 17 pounds to send and I think from memory there's a 0.25% charge in Thailand.

Before you sent the money I would ask others who are more experienced, the best thing to put as your reason for transfer. You state that you want to buy a house. Foreigners cannot own land in Thailand, so I'm not sure if 'buying house' would be appropriate. The reason this is of importance is because when you transfer foreign money in, you can request a foreign exchange transfer certificate (tor tor 3) that will then enable you to transfer the same sum out again if you wish to do so in the future. For a condo which can be foreign owned you can put 'for condominium purchase' but for a house (on land) which your can't own I'm not sure.

[rwdrwdrwd]

To transfer a chunk like that I would probably use one of the online fx transfer services - I've used torfx before (http://www.torfx.com/personal/emigrating.htm) and been happy. You transfer to their UK account from yours, they handle getting it to your target account, with the option for you to set your target price - they will then wait until it is achieved before initiating the transfer and keep you up to date on movements regularly. Very personalised service.

This only circumvents larger fees at the UK end however, the receiving bank can still apply charges so you should look into that.

Edited January 4, 2014 by rwdrwdrwd

[Pib]

Where you say you are transferring money via "cash advance" I'm assuming you mean you are using a home country debit/credit card to get money at your local yellow bank. If so, it's probably not the local yellow bank hitting you with a 3% fee, it's your home country card-issuing bank which probably applies a 3% foreign transaction fee. You probably need to be blaming your home country bank; not the local Thai bank. Question yourself: what foreign/cross border transaction fee does you card apply? If you don't know for sure, shame on you.

If you decide to do a wire transfer from your home country bank to your local yellow bank "BE SURE" your home country bank sends the money in sterling...DO NOT let them convert to baht before sending as you will surely get a lower exchange rate....probably in the 2-4% ballpark...call this a hidden fee...this money goes in their pocket and they won't even say thank you. And be sure your bank is instructed in writing if they use an intermediary/correspondent bank for them to not convert from sterling to baht during the transfer other wise you get the lower exchange rate.

When the sterling arrives your Thailand bank they will convert it using their TT Buying Rate which is about the best the common man can get (and about 2-4% higher than what you home country bank probably gives) and they will apply a 0.25% (200 baht min, 500 baht max) currency receipt/conversion fee....or said another way, the max fee will be 500 baht.

Once again, DO NOT let your home country bank convert to baht before sending...send the money in sterling.

Edited January 4, 2014 by Pib

[fish fingers]

most likely the UK bank stinging you - I'm about to do the same next week, you need to put clear instructions so the sending bank sends in sterling so that it hits the thai bank in sterling. I'm also getting my gf to talk to the thai bank to make sure I get a good rate, over a certain amount and I believe the bank will off you a better rate, obv depending on the exchange rate that day.

[meatboy]

To transfer a chunk like that I would probably use one of the online fx transfer services - I've used torfx before (http://www.torfx.com/personal/emigrating.htm) and been happy. You transfer to their UK account from yours, they handle getting it to your target account, with the option for you to set your target price - they will then wait until it is achieved before initiating the transfer and keep you up to date on movements regularly. Very personalised service.

This only circumvents larger fees at the UK end however, the receiving bank can still apply charges so you should look into that.

what if it doesnt reach the target,if we all knew that we would be very well off.at the moment the gbp.to thai baht is very favourable around 54 t.t.rate so set your living rate at what your happy with dont be toooooooo greedy otherwise when the rate goes down your living standads will aswell[your inlaws wont like that] 8yrs ago i set mine at 44 snce then i have had max 68,min 47.never think if i had not changed then i could have got more now.last dec.wf.changed 120k.gbp at 49.16 were we happy you bet,that has made us 180,000thai baht in interest so to the op.set your target but remember it can go down as well as up.

[Naam]

most likely the UK bank stinging you - I'm about to do the same next week, you need to put clear instructions so the sending bank sends in sterling so that it hits the thai bank in sterling. I'm also getting my gf to talk to the thai bank to make sure I get a good rate, over a certain amount and I believe the bank will off you a better rate, obv depending on the exchange rate that day.

unfortunately you can't discuss/negotiate any rate unless the money is transferred.

[Naam]

transferring money via "cash advance"

...is "suicidal"!

[Naam]

What is the best way to buy the house and avoid these banking fees?

as Pib already mentioned transfer Sterling to your Thai bank. the fees are moderate (no such thing like 3% for cash advance!). transfer fees of your British bank ~£10-15, receiving fees Thai Bank ~฿500.

[Jimjim1968]

Thanks everyone for all this excellent advice.

And for the warning about the "cash advance".

Kind Regards,

Jim

[rwdrwdrwd]

what if it doesnt reach the target,if we all knew that we would be very well off.at the moment the gbp.to thai baht is very favourable around 54 t.t.rate so set your living rate at what your happy with dont be toooooooo greedy otherwise when the rate goes down your living standads will aswell[your inlaws wont like that] 8yrs ago i set mine at 44 snce then i have had max 68,min 47.never think if i had not changed then i could have got more now.last dec.wf.changed 120k.gbp at 49.16 were we happy you bet,that has made us 180,000thai baht in interest so to the op.set your target but remember it can go down as well as up.

Of course, one still needs to bear in mind that their target may not be reached - you can adjust at any time, it's not fixed. It simply allows you to wait until the precise moment that you feel the rate is favourable before making a quick call / email to the broker to initiate transfer. It's not magic or anything

Edited January 5, 2014 by rwdrwdrwd

[rak sa_ngop]

What is the best way to buy the house and avoid these banking fees?

as Pib already mentioned transfer Sterling to your Thai bank. the fees are moderate (no such thing like 3% for cash advance!). transfer fees of your British bank ~£10-15, receiving fees Thai Bank ~฿500.

Best check with your bank if they have a daily transfer limit. My bank's limit for phone instructions is 20,000 GBP a day .If you want to transfer more you have to phone and transfer some everyday. I suspect that there is a way to instruct larger transfers, probably by written request. Best to plan ahead!