Anyone from UK send money through London Bangkok Bank?

[finy]

I heard it's possible to send your money from a UK account (Natwest vtw) to my Bangkok Bank account in Thailand via their branch in London.

I don't speak Thai and making any sense out of people at the bank is almost impossible.

I was wondering if anyone does this regularly and could give me tips.

I'd llike to set it up as a regular payment option in my Natwest online banking so I can do it regularly and have the money in my Thai account within a few days.

Cheers

[Pib]

http://bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/TransferingFunds/TransferringIntoThailand/ReceivingFundsfromUK/Pages/ReceivingFundsfromUK.aspx

[cassde]

I agree with Bahtboy, I also send money monthly from Santander Bank in the Uk via Bangkok Bank London Branch to my Bangkok Bank account. No problems at all and relatively cheap and a quick service.

[sms747]

what is the reason for this, why not send direct rather than to the London bank first? is it something to do with the exchange rate or prying eyes and you don't want the authorities to see cash sent to Thailand?

[thepool]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

what is the reason for this, why not send direct rather than to the London bank first? is it something to do with the exchange rate or prying eyes and you don't want the authorities to see cash sent to Thailand?

The transfer from an English high street bank to the London BKK bank avoids the horrendous charges imposed by the high street on overseas transfers.

Nothing to do with "prying eyes" and everything to do with getting a relatively cheap, efficient and rapid service !

Follow bahtboy's instructions.

I have used this service for a long time and have never experienced any problem.

Which is more than can be said for other forms of transmission.

Edited March 23, 2014 by thepool

[Jip99]

what is the reason for this, why not send direct rather than to the London bank first? is it something to do with the exchange rate or prying eyes and you don't want the authorities to see cash sent to Thailand?

A host of reasons - none of them to do with prying eyes or subterfuge.

Quicker - a direct transfer from NWest could take 3 days

Cheaper - the NatWest charge may be up to GBP 30. BKB London is GBP20 (or GBP15 if you choose to remit Baht at the rate of the day).

Convenient - if you are not already set up for SWIFT transfers with your UK bank it can be a nightmare getting them to accept your instruction.

bahtboys post was very informative; I would just add that there are benefits in remitting Thai Baht. The rate for the day is usually pretty close to local Thai rate (a bit below but usually better than what the UK clearing banks offer). The charge is GBP5 lower (so better for small transfers) and I would use the Baht option if I wanted to fix my rate - especially where you think it may be at a high.

[thepool]

Jip99

You speak as though it is possible to determine the London BB £/Bht exchange rate.

I have never been able to find this so I guess what is being said is based on personal calculation on what is received.

[CharlieH]

You will always get a better rate sending in sterling and changing to baht in Thailand.

[CharlieH]

I agree with Bahtboy, I also send money monthly from Santander Bank in the Uk via Bangkok Bank London Branch to my Bangkok Bank account. No problems at all and relatively cheap and a quick service.

Send direct online with Santander, same 20.00 cost, why bother with the extra step via London.

[thepool]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

You will always get a better rate sending in sterling and changing to baht in Thailand.

I always transfer pounds !

I was just curious as to how Jip99 determines the London BB rate .

[joealx]

"BKB London is GBP20 (or GBP15 if you choose to remit Baht at the rate of the day)"

I'm curious. Isn't it better to use an ATM and pay the 180 fee (about $5.60 US) than pay the above ($33 US)?

Edited March 23, 2014 by joealx

[Pib]

I doubt the Bangkok Bank London exchange is that favorable...most likely significantly lower that the in-Thailand Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate. The exchange rate for baht "outside" of Thailand is indeed significantly less favorable since the Thai baht is not a reserve/widely used currency....it's pretty much only used in Thailand. That's why we have seen so many posts about "not allowing" a bank outside of Thailand to convert your home country currency to baht before it arrives your Thai bank; but unfortunately some people still do it....that's OK...it's their money and making a nice indirect fee/profit for the bank. I did a google and here is what one UK guy in KangKaen had to say about the Bangkok Bank London exchange rate:

I also contacted the Bangkok Bank branch in London as I was thinking of having my UK occupational pension paid there and then having it transferred to the Bkk branch in Prachasamasorn Road in KK. The reply to my email was that, indeed, this could be done. I then enquired about the pound/baht exchange rate and was quoted a rate that was about 7% more unfavourable than the one published by Bkk bank here in Thailand! There is an 'Onshore rate' for currency exchange, quoted by Thai banks in Thailand, and an 'Offshore rate' for currency exchange, quoted by UK-based banks (including Bkk Bank in London!) that is far more unfavourable to us wishing to transfer money over here.

[thepool]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

"BKB London is GBP20 (or GBP15 if you choose to remit Baht at the rate of the day)"

I'm curious. Isn't it better to use an ATM and pay the 180 fee (about $5.60 US) than pay the above ($33 US)?

Its not just the 180 baht that is at issue when using ATM's. The home bank will also make charges which mount up when Atm's are used as a means of satisfying day to day cash needs.

The overall effect of the £20 charge can be significantly reduced by transferring reasonable amounts .

[sms747]

well it all seems a bit of bother just to save 20 quid, I suspect there are better reasons.

[ggold]

I agree with Bahtboy, I also send money monthly from Santander Bank in the Uk via Bangkok Bank London Branch to my Bangkok Bank account. No problems at all and relatively cheap and a quick service.

That really is going around the houses! you should be sending it direct to Bangkok bank in Thailand as sterling and let the Thai side convert it to Baht. You can do that with Nat West online and probably Santander as well if they let you do international transfers. You'd probably still pay £20 fee but it is more direct and is there in 4-5 days. faster if you are willing to pay a higher fee.

[sustento]

I agree with Bahtboy, I also send money monthly from Santander Bank in the Uk via Bangkok Bank London Branch to my Bangkok Bank account. No problems at all and relatively cheap and a quick service.

That really is going around the houses! you should be sending it direct to Bangkok bank in Thailand as sterling and let the Thai side convert it to Baht. You can do that with Nat West online and probably Santander as well if they let you do international transfers. You'd probably still pay £20 fee but it is more direct and is there in 4-5 days. faster if you are willing to pay a higher fee.

You really do wonder whether people bother to read before they post. From bahtboy's post

"i.e. If I transfer to BKK Bank before normal banking hours close in UK (4pm UK time I think) then it appears in my account in Thailand at approx 10am Thai time the next day."

[thepool]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I agree with Bahtboy, I also send money monthly from Santander Bank in the Uk via Bangkok Bank London Branch to my Bangkok Bank account. No problems at all and relatively cheap and a quick service.

That really is going around the houses! you should be sending it direct to Bangkok bank in Thailand as sterling and let the Thai side convert it to Baht. You can do that with Nat West online and probably Santander as well if they let you do international transfers. You'd probably still pay £20 fee but it is more direct and is there in 4-5 days. faster if you are willing to pay a higher fee.

Doing that will incur higher fees and 3,4 days before the money is received.

By using BB the transfer will be made within 24 hours.

Any UK bank will permit fee free transfers to BB London ----------that is not an international transfer.

However, do as you please or as the Thais say "up to you" !

[ggold]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I agree with Bahtboy, I also send money monthly from Santander Bank in the Uk via Bangkok Bank London Branch to my Bangkok Bank account. No problems at all and relatively cheap and a quick service.

That really is going around the houses! you should be sending it direct to Bangkok bank in Thailand as sterling and let the Thai side convert it to Baht. You can do that with Nat West online and probably Santander as well if they let you do international transfers. You'd probably still pay £20 fee but it is more direct and is there in 4-5 days. faster if you are willing to pay a higher fee.

Doing that will incur higher fees and 3,4 days before the money is received.

By using BB the transfer will be made within 24 hours.

Any UK bank will permit fee free transfers to BB London ----------that is not an international transfer.

However, do as you please or as the Thais say "up to you" !

I only pay £20 fee to send money from NatWest to Bank Ayudhya as sterling, If you are letting bangkok Bank London convert the funds to baht then you are also losing out on the exchange rate, you get a better rate of exchange in Thailand than from any bank in London.

[ggold]

I agree with Bahtboy, I also send money monthly from Santander Bank in the Uk via Bangkok Bank London Branch to my Bangkok Bank account. No problems at all and relatively cheap and a quick service.

That really is going around the houses! you should be sending it direct to Bangkok bank in Thailand as sterling and let the Thai side convert it to Baht. You can do that with Nat West online and probably Santander as well if they let you do international transfers. You'd probably still pay £20 fee but it is more direct and is there in 4-5 days. faster if you are willing to pay a higher fee.

You really do wonder whether people bother to read before they post. From bahtboy's post

"i.e. If I transfer to BKK Bank before normal banking hours close in UK (4pm UK time I think) then it appears in my account in Thailand at approx 10am Thai time the next day."

Sounds like he is letting Bangkok Bank London convert his funds to Baht, That could be the only way the funds would be in his Thai account with 24 hours. probably not saving on the transfer fee but losing on the exchange rate. Ouch!

[thepool]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I agree with Bahtboy, I also send money monthly from Santander Bank in the Uk via Bangkok Bank London Branch to my Bangkok Bank account. No problems at all and relatively cheap and a quick service.

That really is going around the houses! you should be sending it direct to Bangkok bank in Thailand as sterling and let the Thai side convert it to Baht. You can do that with Nat West online and probably Santander as well if they let you do international transfers. You'd probably still pay £20 fee but it is more direct and is there in 4-5 days. faster if you are willing to pay a higher fee.

You really do wonder whether people bother to read before they post. From bahtboy's post

"i.e. If I transfer to BKK Bank before normal banking hours close in UK (4pm UK time I think) then it appears in my account in Thailand at approx 10am Thai time the next day."

Sounds like he is letting Bangkok Bank London convert his funds to Baht, That could be the only way the funds would be in his Thai account with 24 hours. probably not saving on the transfer fee but losing on the exchange rate. Ouch!

Not the case !

I move funds on a regular basis via the BB (London) . My money is transferred within 24 hours in £ !

[ggold]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

That really is going around the houses! you should be sending it direct to Bangkok bank in Thailand as sterling and let the Thai side convert it to Baht. You can do that with Nat West online and probably Santander as well if they let you do international transfers. You'd probably still pay £20 fee but it is more direct and is there in 4-5 days. faster if you are willing to pay a higher fee.

You really do wonder whether people bother to read before they post. From bahtboy's post

"i.e. If I transfer to BKK Bank before normal banking hours close in UK (4pm UK time I think) then it appears in my account in Thailand at approx 10am Thai time the next day."

Sounds like he is letting Bangkok Bank London convert his funds to Baht, That could be the only way the funds would be in his Thai account with 24 hours. probably not saving on the transfer fee but losing on the exchange rate. Ouch!

Not the case !

I move funds on a regular basis via the BB (London) . My money is transferred within 24 hours in £ !

So do you pay a higher fee or is this a special business account? I only bring funds in twice a year, enough to cover visa requirements and then a top up mid year. I have tried various methods of transfer and found there is no real difference in costs But as you know the exchange rate is better here than in London.

Edited March 23, 2014 by ggold

[sustento]

http://bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/TransferingFunds/TransferringIntoThailand/ReceivingFundsfromUK/Pages/ReceivingFundsfromUK.aspx

[ggold]

"BKB London is GBP20 (or GBP15 if you choose to remit Baht at the rate of the day)"

I'm curious. Isn't it better to use an ATM and pay the 180 fee (about $5.60 US) than pay the above ($33 US)?

I think that depends on how much you take out of the ATM or send over! 6 ATM withdrawls = maybe not as much as you needed if you send it over in one go via a Bank transfer! = higher costs But don't let BKB convert it to baht in London so make that 7-8 ATM withdrawls re above!

[cassde]

Reference Ggold assertion he is wrong. I always send sterling which is in my bbl account in Thailand within 24 hours.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ArranP]

I use this, I have not experienced anything better than this for transferring funds from the UK to here in Thailand, get the timing right and it can be here the next morning.

[finy]

I transfer money on a regular monthly basis from my Natwest account to Bangkok Bank in London. It gets transferred from there to my account in Bangkok Bank Thailand within 24 hours. i.e. If I transfer to BKK Bank before normal banking hours close in UK (4pm UK time I think) then it appears in my account in Thailand at approx 10am Thai time the next day. Bangkok bank London deduct 20GBP fee before they send the money to Thailand. You can set this up online by going to your Natwest account online,and follow the following steps:-

The boxes in which you enter the info are not easy to understand. (Different terminology) Hopefully this will clarify.

1) Go to Account summary screen.

2) Click on Payments and Transfers on lhs.

3) Click on Make a payment or transfer.

4) Click on Pay Someone new.

5)In the pop up box you'll see 4 areas to fill in:-

1) Name of the person or Company. Here you must enter your name exactly as it appears on your Bangkok Bank Thai passbook.

2) Their account number. Here enter 92 00 20 00 if you wish to transfer pounds sterling to Thailand (best)..

3)Their sort code. Here enter 60 93 98 (That is Bangkok Bank London's sort code.)

4) Their reference. Here enter your 10 digit account number as shown on your BKK Bank passbook, FOLLOWED by BKKBTHBK (e.g. 1234567890BKKBTHBK)

When you've completed all boxes click on "Add payee".

Next time you click on Make a payment or transfer (stage 3 above) you will see your name and account no (as in 4 above) in the drop down list of payees.

It took me a long time to figure out how to do this first time because Natwest terminology isn't the same as Bangkok bank's terminology, so i hope my explanation helps you along. Once set up it's easy peasy. Regards, bahtboy.

Amazing advice, mate.

I did see the info on BB website, but like you said the boxes are complely different inside Natwest online banking. But you've just explained everything perfectly.

Edited March 24, 2014 by finy

[finy]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I agree with Bahtboy, I also send money monthly from Santander Bank in the Uk via Bangkok Bank London Branch to my Bangkok Bank account. No problems at all and relatively cheap and a quick service.

That really is going around the houses! you should be sending it direct to Bangkok bank in Thailand as sterling and let the Thai side convert it to Baht. You can do that with Nat West online and probably Santander as well if they let you do international transfers. You'd probably still pay £20 fee but it is more direct and is there in 4-5 days. faster if you are willing to pay a higher fee.

Doing that will incur higher fees and 3,4 days before the money is received.

By using BB the transfer will be made within 24 hours.

Any UK bank will permit fee free transfers to BB London ----------that is not an international transfer.

However, do as you please or as the Thais say "up to you" !

I only pay £20 fee to send money from NatWest to Bank Ayudhya as sterling, If you are letting bangkok Bank London convert the funds to baht then you are also losing out on the exchange rate, you get a better rate of exchange in Thailand than from any bank in London.

I think you can pay £15 and get the London exchange rate, or if you pay £20 they send sterling to Thailand and convert there.

[Pr0f]

I would like to transfer into my BKK Bank Thailand account via BKK Bank London as suggested in this post but have a problem with the instruction:

Enter the recipient’s first name and surname as shown in the recipient’s Bangkok Bank passbook. DO NOT put Bangkok Bank.

My name as printed in my Bangkok Bank book exceeds the character limit to fit into the "Name of Payee" field.

I have two options to allow the form to submit:

1) Shorten my first name

2) Use the first letter of my first name and middle name followed by my surname. i.e. MR A B SURNAME

I know that if I was doing a standard bank transfer between UK account the name of the payee actually isn't too significant but I am worried that when this payment arrives in Bangkok there will be some kind of issue with the names not matching.

Has anyone done anything similar? I'm inclined to go for option 2 but would just like some reassaurance that the transfer is unlikely to be delayed because of this?

[ArranP]

I would like to transfer into my BKK Bank Thailand account via BKK Bank London as suggested in this post but have a problem with the instruction:

Enter the recipient’s first name and surname as shown in the recipient’s Bangkok Bank passbook. DO NOT put Bangkok Bank.

My name as printed in my Bangkok Bank book exceeds the character limit to fit into the "Name of Payee" field.

I have two options to allow the form to submit:

1) Shorten my first name

2) Use the first letter of my first name and middle name followed by my surname. i.e. MR A B SURNAME

I know that if I was doing a standard bank transfer between UK account the name of the payee actually isn't too significant but I am worried that when this payment arrives in Bangkok there will be some kind of issue with the names not matching.

Has anyone done anything similar? I'm inclined to go for option 2 but would just like some reassaurance that the transfer is unlikely to be delayed because of this?

The transaction is allocated to your account via the point 4 as pointed out above (pasted below) , a 3rd alternative is just to enter as many characters, of your name as it appears in your Bangkok Bank book, as the system allows. I would guess this is for visual reference only, but to be sure you would need to speak with Bangkok Bank customer service direct.

4) Their reference. Here enter your 10 digit account number as shown on your BKK Bank passbook, FOLLOWED by BKKBTHBK (e.g. 1234567890BKKBTHBK)

Edited May 23, 2014 by ArranP

[Pr0f]

I would like to transfer into my BKK Bank Thailand account via BKK Bank London as suggested in this post but have a problem with the instruction:

Enter the recipient’s first name and surname as shown in the recipient’s Bangkok Bank passbook. DO NOT put Bangkok Bank.

My name as printed in my Bangkok Bank book exceeds the character limit to fit into the "Name of Payee" field.

I have two options to allow the form to submit:

1) Shorten my first name

2) Use the first letter of my first name and middle name followed by my surname. i.e. MR A B SURNAME

I know that if I was doing a standard bank transfer between UK account the name of the payee actually isn't too significant but I am worried that when this payment arrives in Bangkok there will be some kind of issue with the names not matching.

Has anyone done anything similar? I'm inclined to go for option 2 but would just like some reassaurance that the transfer is unlikely to be delayed because of this?

The transaction is allocated to your account via the point 4 as pointed out above (pasted below) , a 3rd alternative is just to enter as many characters, of your name as it appears in your Bangkok Bank book, as the system allows. I would guess this is for visual reference only, but to be sure you would need to speak with Bangkok Bank customer service direct.

4) Their reference. Here enter your 10 digit account number as shown on your BKK Bank passbook, FOLLOWED by BKKBTHBK (e.g. 1234567890BKKBTHBK)

I took your advice and went to the Bangkok Bank Customer Service desk to enquire.

There was not a quickfire solution but the eventual suggestion was to use an initial for the first / middle name and the full surname. They advised if there was a problem I could go back to them and they will sort it from there.

I've just sent the payment so fingers crossed. I assume Saturday isn't classed as a working day here so will be on the lookout for it on Monday and report back.