Any changes to report in doing SWIFT transfers USA to Thailand in 2014

[Jingthing]

This topic is ONLY about SWIFT transfers from the USA to Thailand.

As many know, there are new financial enforcement laws which go into effect in 2014.

Some months ago, a poster reported a MAJOR HASSLE in doing a SWIFT in 2014 which he attributed to the changes.

The purpose of this thread is for people to share more info to know better what to expect with their next SWIFT transfer.

So IF you have done a SWIFT transfer in 2014 and something has changed, please REPORT the info here.

Add whatever detail you like respecting your privacy of course.

For example,

What month in 2014 was it?

What major USA bank (major banks which many of us use might be more specifically useful)?

Was it an online SWIFT transfer (some USA banks support that)?

Was it a fax request SWIFT transfer?

Was it a repetitive code SWIFT transfer?

Was it a phone it in SWIFT transfer?

What exact new hassles did you encounter?

What specific info did they require that was different from the past?

Anything else about SWIFT changes?

etc.

If you did a recent 2014 SWIFT and it was exactly the same as before, feel free to comment on that with bank details as well.

Again, this is REALLY only about USA to Thailand SWIFT transfers.

The law changes I refer to are USA laws only.

Cheers!

Edited May 6, 2014 by Jingthing

[Gonsalviz]

There are some changes. Additional questions from your bank required by the US government protecting us from ourselves. lol

I phone them in practically on a monthly basis.

[Jingthing]

There are some changes. Additional questions from your bank required by the US government protecting us from ourselves. lol

I phone them in practically on a monthly basis.

What are the questions questions please?

[Lefty]

Beginning in late 2013 Wells Fargo had new procedure for reoccurring wire transfers, when doing SWIFT transfer via phone.part of new procedure you need to do a voice print. And then have a conversation with customer service rep. Previously you phoned 800 number and did all by inputting to computer generated instructions. Very simple and quick. Now a pain in the axx,I am now in process to switching to the Bangkok Bank route.

Lefty

[pmarlin]

The only thing I noticed changed with BoA is they now want to know the purpose for the transfer and it cost more.

[Jingthing]

The only thing I noticed changed with BoA is they now want to know the purpose for the transfer and it cost more.

Online or over the phone?

[Jingthing]

This seems to be a lot about protecting consumers:

http://www.aba.com/Groups/Events/RCCDocs/6A7H_Remittances_REPLACEMENT.pdf

I

[fredge45]

Why still doing SWIFT transfers when the ACH system through Bangkok Bank New York is cheaper and works just as well?

But then, if you are working with Bank of America or Wells Fargo you deserve dealing with SWIFT.

[pmarlin]

The only thing I noticed changed with BoA is they now want to know the purpose for the transfer and it cost more.

Online or over the phone?

online

[pmarlin]

Why still doing SWIFT transfers when the ACH system through Bangkok Bank New York is cheaper and works just as well?

But then, if you are working with Bank of America or Wells Fargo you deserve dealing with SWIFT.

I quit doing swift transfers a couple of months ago, only do ACH transfers to Bangkok Bank now. I do one larger transfer a month and saved $40 a transfer while at it.

[Jingthing]

Why still doing SWIFT transfers when the ACH system through Bangkok Bank New York is cheaper and works just as well?

But then, if you are working with Bank of America or Wells Fargo you deserve dealing with SWIFT.

I quit doing swift transfers a couple of months ago, only do ACH transfers to Bangkok Bank now. I do one larger transfer a month and saved $40 a transfer while at it.

I have a good reason to need to do a SWIFT. There is no point in explaining that ... many people use SWIFT and the ACH thing is for people with Bangkok Bank accounts only.

This thread is specifically about recent changes in SWIFT from the USA. There are numerous other topics about Bangkok Bank ACH. Yes that is very good but that is not this topic.

[Jingthing]

Here's a more SPECIFIC question.

Has anyone tried doing an ONLINE Citibank (USA) SWIFT transfer this year?

If so, how did I go?

Years ago I did one ... but they made them call them and gave me the high level security question grilling before doing it.

That was then ... and I didn't like it.

How about now?

Looking into the site recently I found they had deleted the record I had set up before for my previous transfer. Not a good sign.

I also found on trying to do a link to another account they wanted to send a security code to a phone only (no emails) ... assume it has to be a phone that gets texts.

Do they do the same thing for online SWIFT transfers?

Again, CITIBANK online SWIFT transfers this year ... what's the hap?

[wooloomooloo]

All will become more clear from 1 July 2014.

[Jingthing]

All will become more clear from 1 July 2014.

What happens then?

I thought the changes were already in effect for SWIFT transfers.

[wooloomooloo]

FATCA happens, JT. Non-compliant banks get their butts kicked for hefty Withholding Tax for not keeping tabs on you on behalf of the US tax authorities.

That's banks, worldwide.

I can appreciate not being American, home or abroad.

[Jingthing]

OK, folks, I can give little report.

On a less famous U.S. bank (so I won't say the name) doing a phone in wire transfer with repetitive code.

Everything started normally.

No hard core personal questions asked.

No question about money purpose but it was under 10K USD.

Then asked what currency to send the money (as before) and what currency is the account in Thailand (starting the new stuff).

Then told ALL the fees in the U.S. and Thailand including the exchange rate and told exact amount of baht to expect in the account.

Then about a minute of somewhat scary legal consumer blather basically saying if things messed up I would lose money.

Told when the funds were definitely going to be available (a long time) and clearly longer than normal expectations.

Was told I could cancel wire within 30 minutes and then not.

So basically all about sharing accurate info to the consumer, some of it unpleasant.

Anyway, definitely things are different.

Probably somewhat different at each bank but I think they all are under these strict new share info with consumer rules.

Not too bad really as long as the funds arrive!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Then told ALL the fees in the U.S. and Thailand including the exchange rate and told exact amount of baht to expect in the account.

Don't understand one thing about your report, Jing...

I'm assuming you were having your U.S. bank wire the funds in U.S. $, not in Thai baht, which would leave the currency exchange to the Thai bank on the receiving end.

So, how could your U.S. bank know just what exchange rate a presumably unrelated Thai bank is going to apply on the receiving end of the transaction. The Thai banks change their TT rates at least once a day, if not several times, usually.

BTW, what was the total amount of fees on the U.S. for sending the wire transfer?

[Jingthing]

Yes I was sending dollars. They confirmed the conversion will be done by my Thai bank. Yet they had detailed info about that as well down to the exact baht. I have no idea how. It doesn't make sense to me either.

Not going to get into fees. They will vary. This thread is about the process which has weirdly changed.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited May 15, 2014 by Jingthing

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

As for the main point in this thread, from your report, it doesn't sound like there were any FATCA or similar impediments raised in your transaction at all.... Nothing making it more difficult or complicated to complete the desired transaction.

I believe the banks are being required by the feds these days to be more forthcoming in their consumer disclosures about international wire transactions relating to fees and other transaction details. But that's a whole different issue, and IMHO, a good change compared to the past when the sending bank often wouldn't tell you the total amount of fees involved.

[Jingthing]

Where did you get the idea the topic was focused on the F thing? It was intended to be a place for people to report their new experiences. Period.

Also see post 7

I had wanted to be prepared for my transaction. Info here gave me hints it was mostly going to be about sharing detailed consumer info and in my case that's what it was. I had expected to be asked to state purpose of the money but wasn't. I was given the chance to include a purpose for the receiving bank but that was optional.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited May 15, 2014 by Jingthing

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I was referring to this context you mentioned in your original post:

As many know, there are new financial enforcement laws which go into effect in 2014.

Some months ago, a poster reported a MAJOR HASSLE in doing a SWIFT in 2014 which he attributed to the changes.

BTW, on an unrelated issue, I sent you a PM on a different subject a few days ago....

Edited May 15, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Jingthing]

Fair enough. In any case I knew the process had changed and I wanted to be prepared and also help others get a better idea of what to expect. I think in that sense this is a successful thread.

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Edited May 15, 2014 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

OK, this is kind of funny.

In my recent report I did not focus on rates and costs because I was more interested in process.

I am not very anal about the rates.

I figure I will get the rate whatever it is, out of my control, as long as I send dollars and do the baht conversion in Thailand, that's the best I can do with the SWIFT target bank that I use.

I do always check with xe.com beforehand to get a general idea of how many baht I will be expecting to arrive.

Well, here's where it's gets funny.

Like I said the SWIFT wire clerk blathered on about all this consumer stuff telling me EXACTLY how many baht to expect to arrive.

She even gave the rate. I knew it sounded really really bad and the amount of baht she said to expect was really much lower than I had expected based on xe.com.

But she had clearly confirmed the funds would be sent in dollars, and that the conversion would be done by the Thai bank, so I kind of suspected her figures were totally bogus. And hoping of course!

But I really needed this wire and approved it even though the rate sounded atrocious, there was no choice, that was the rate.

Also she said the funds could take 10 days to arrive, which is absurd, it usually takes one business day, so again how could they know the amount to expect in 10 days?

So what I think they divulged was what the rate would be if THEY did the baht conversion in the U.S. and sent baht.

I think I recall she did mention the fees of the Thai bank, something like 1000 baht which wasn't surprising as I knew the Thai bank charges some fees.

I did the conversion rate math and here is how bad it is.

The amount she said I would get and the amount I actually got had a difference of about 3.5 percent. Horrible.

Well good news because I got the better expected rate, but bad news in that at least in this case they are bending over backwards to bother people with all this supposedly helpful consumer info and in my case, it was radically inaccurate, so why bother?!?

Edited May 16, 2014 by Jingthing

[Maestro]

I am confused about this:

...

The amount she said I would get and the amount I actually got had a difference of about 3.5 percent. Horrible.

Well good news because I got the better expected rate...

The rate you actually got was better than what other rate?

Anyway, I suggest you get a printout of the credit advice or credit receipt or whatever your Thai bank calls it. This document will give you information about

• the USD amount receive by your Thai bank. If it is lower than the amount debited to your US bank account, there was an intermediary bank involved that deducted its fee.
• the exchange rate used by your Thai bank for the conversion of USD to THB
• the fee deducted by your Thai bank

If your Thai bank lists its historical exchange rates on its website, you can then check if the conversion rate used by the bank corresponds to one of the listed TT rates for buying USD for that day.

[Jingthing]

The rate was about 3.5 percent BETTER than what my U.S. bank told me to expect. The rate I got was actually pretty much what I expected to get before listening to my U.S. bank ... I've used the same system for years and it has been very predictable so my gut feeling is the rate info I was being told had to be wrong but I would see ... and yes I always get the printed report later for my records. I don't actually care about small fluctuations, but 3.5 percent on a large amount of money is rapey.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Jingthing