Bangkok Bank rejected my transfer - Am I screwed?

[Hal65]

My USA bank account (Union Bank) does not have my middle name in it and my Bangkok Bank account does. They instead on adding it to the account name.

I did a trial deposit verification to link my Bangkok Bank account with the routing number of their New York branch to Union Bank, and was successful.

Then I tried doing an ACH transfer -- rejected.

Union bank doesn't know why, Bangkok Bank says to ask the sending bank why it happened. I deduce it was the name mismatch due to the middle name, rejected on Bangkok Bank's end despite them not answering my information requests.

Do I have any other options, or am I relegated to pulling money out of ATMs (costly)? Union Bank does not do wire transfers over the phone, only in person.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Delta223

[Satcommlee]

Its probably something you can put right..

My Christian name is Lee but very often it is confused used as a surname here for example (maybe they think I am Chinese).

If your name was for example John Paul Smith, the bank may have you down as being John Paul in their system.

At a glance, the transfers clerk may see John Smith on the incoming transfer but see John Paul on your account.

Speak to your bank.

[Jeffrey346]

I have 3 different sources of income. 2 have me listed with first and last name. 1 has first middle and last. I have never had a problem transferring to BKK NY. Check to see you have an exact BKK account number match.

If your bank has online banking, you should be able to transfer $$ online.

[flyingdoc]

This is a persistent problem, where two names are often felt to be sufficient in LOS - anything more is just being greedy and superfluous !

[bender92]

Sometimes I deposit a personal check from my USA bank to Bangkok Bank, takes about 21 days to clear, no fee on USA end, about 200 baht here.

[AyG]

Just get your US bank to change the account name to use your full name. Problem solved.

[chiang mai]

Really, a change to one or the other should be easy.

[AyG]

Really, a change to one or the other should be easy.

Not quite. The Thai bank will want the name to match your passport exactly, so it would have to be the American bank that changed the account name.

[maswov]

How did you deduce that this was the problem? Or is it a guess? Maybe you should call Union Bank and ask them what the problem is, then when you know for sure what it is, you can come back to thai visa and ask everyone what you should do.

[Langsuan Man]

Sorry, I don't understand if the trial deposit worked then why the transfer didn't work, that is the purpose of trial deposits

I do transfers all the time to Bangkok Bank from my US Bank. Bangkok Bank uses my full middle name as shown on my passport, my US Bank only uses my middle initial, and not the full middle name and I have never had a problem

The two banks are dealing with numbers (accounts) not names

Something else is screwy. My fist guess is the Union Bank suddenly realized that the name of the bank you are transferring to is Bangkok Bank and they think that it is a foreign bank, despite the US routing number, so are not honoring your request for transfer

[Utley]

Union Bank more than likely has a lower limit than would otherwise be normal for the first 90 days to ensure everything is OK. Instead of jumping to conclusions, why don't you just give Union Bank customer service a call and ask them.

[searcherkind666]

I wonder how safe Bangkok bank will be if this political mess get's a lot worse ?
??

[Langsuan Man]

I wonder how safe Bangkok bank will be if this political mess get's a lot worse ?

??

Why are you singling out Bangkok Bank? it is no different than any other Thai Bank, just older, SCB is the oldest, but both are private banks

One thing that is consistent in the country and that is business is business, no matter who is in power

[The byaMemo]

as i understand it the transfer has to have the exact name of the receiving account on the swift transfer or it wont go through. so if you gave that exact detail of the receiving account to your os bank when requesting the transfer then it is they who are at fault,

[Toby Jugg]

Just make sure that the remitting bank uses EXACTLY

the right account number and the right account name

including MR or MISTER (no offence to the ladies)

so the Thai bank's computer is not confused.

QED

[The byaMemo]

Just make sure that the remitting bank uses EXACTLY

the right account number and the right account name

including MR or MISTER (no offence to the ladies)

so the Thai bank's computer is not confused.

QED

the mr or mister has never been required on any transfer i have done . if it is not written on you bank book leave it out.

[BritManToo]

I'm guessing here but did your transfer exceed the money laundering limit.

Bkb have a limit.

Higher amounts you have to visit your Bkb branch tell them money is coming fill out some forms sign a photocopy of your passport.

Else they reject the transfer.

Edited May 20, 2014 by BritManToo

[Strangebrew]

Simple to fix contact your bank you might have to go to US embassy and pay 50.00 USD for certified letter of request they update information on your account Since you used passport to open account I assume. But go on skype call your bank and see if they need certified request and copy of your passport mothers Maien name to get it done.

[Hal65]

To address some questions brought up so far, the transfer was for US $2000.

Changing the name on my Union Bank account is not possible without attending the branch in person. sounds ludicrous, but I press them on this issue, and they said absolutely no other option is possible, including fax or scan/email, certified letters, etc. It's their policy as a security measure for name changes on accounts.

As mentioned in the original post, I spoke to Union Bank for over half an hour, and they told me that everything looked good on their end. They were unable to tell what would've caused the transfer to reject "unless the receiving bank rejected it for some reason"

Edited May 20, 2014 by Delta223

[Suradit69]

This is a persistent problem, where two names are often felt to be sufficient in LOS - anything more is just being greedy and superfluous !

Hardly a persistent problem.

I use three names on my US and Thai bank accounts, the same as on my passport and I've never had a problem sending money to the NY branch of Bangkok Bank. Never heard of anyone else overwhelmed by the issue.

[AyG]

Did the transfer include a statement of the transfer's purpose? If not Thai banks (uniquely?) can reject the transfer.

[FredNL]

It is all about making money !!!

About the same thing has happened to my company using Kasikorn Bank.

Beginning April 2014 one of our regular English distributors transferred over a 1000 GBP to our company Top Secret International Co., Ltd.. However we never received the transfer. Checking at Kasikorn Bank learned us that they blocked the transfer because the name was not the same as our company's name. It said Top Secret Int. Co. Ltd..

We had to tell our customer that he had to change the name of the beneficiary at his bank, Deutsche Bank, from Int. to International. At Deutsche Bank they have been laughing at him. And they have contacted Kasikorn Bank. Up to today Kasikorn Bank neither transferred it to our account nor back to our customers.

One hour ago one of my staff contacted Kasikorn Bank, concerning this issue. They will transfer the money back to our customers account but it will cost an extra 27.00 GBP plus the change in currency 52.025 THB/GBP to 55,955 THB/GBP (another 6000 THB profit for Kasikorn Bank) But we would accept these charges for the charge back. My answer was "NO WAY. Tell Kasikorn Bank that we are going to terminate our contract. Our lawyer will contact them!!!"

[Just1Voice]

It could be as others have said, the use, or non use, of the full name. When I first opened my Bangkok Bank account, I noticed they only used my first and middle name on the account, despite the fact they had my passport in hand right in front of them. I had to correct this.

Thai are simply not used to the three name concept. I can't count the times that various places write down only my first and middle name, completely skipping my last name, to which I almost always have to correct them.

[PMZ]

I very much doubt that the failure was caused by the middle name difference.

I transfer money in from a Company and from my other banks outside Thailand and never use my middle name, yet the middle name is used on my Thai bank accounts.

I expect there was some other reason and you just need to get on the phone to BBL and find out exactly what it is.

[MMarlow]

Sorry, I don't understand if the trial deposit worked then why the transfer didn't work, that is the purpose of trial deposits

I do transfers all the time to Bangkok Bank from my US Bank. Bangkok Bank uses my full middle name as shown on my passport, my US Bank only uses my middle initial, and not the full middle name and I have never had a problem

The two banks are dealing with numbers (accounts) not names

Something else is screwy. My fist guess is the Union Bank suddenly realized that the name of the bank you are transferring to is Bangkok Bank and they think that it is a foreign bank, despite the US routing number, so are not honoring your request for transfer

"The two banks are dealing with numbers (accounts) not names

Something else is screwy. My fist guess is the Union Bank suddenly realized that the name of the bank you are transferring to is Bangkok Bank and they think that it is a foreign bank, despite the US routing number, so are not honoring your request for transfer"

In theory that is correct but in practice, from recent personal experience, Bangkok Bank also require an account name that their system recognises.

Bangkok Bank is a foreign bank wherever it is located outside of Thailand. Why would a US bank have an issue with transferring funds to a foreign bank?

[MMarlow]

It is all about making money !!!

About the same thing has happened to my company using Kasikorn Bank.

Beginning April 2014 one of our regular English distributors transferred over a 1000 GBP to our company Top Secret International Co., Ltd.. However we never received the transfer. Checking at Kasikorn Bank learned us that they blocked the transfer because the name was not the same as our company's name. It said Top Secret Int. Co. Ltd..

We had to tell our customer that he had to change the name of the beneficiary at his bank, Deutsche Bank, from Int. to International. At Deutsche Bank they have been laughing at him. And they have contacted Kasikorn Bank. Up to today Kasikorn Bank neither transferred it to our account nor back to our customers.

One hour ago one of my staff contacted Kasikorn Bank, concerning this issue. They will transfer the money back to our customers account but it will cost an extra 27.00 GBP plus the change in currency 52.025 THB/GBP to 55,955 THB/GBP (another 6000 THB profit for Kasikorn Bank) But we would accept these charges for the charge back. My answer was "NO WAY. Tell Kasikorn Bank that we are going to terminate our contract. Our lawyer will contact them!!!"

"Tell Kasikorn Bank that we are going to terminate our contract. Our lawyer will contact them!!!"

Kasikorn must be quaking in their boots at this threat over a small transfer that your distributor messed up by not quoting the correct beneficiary name. If the beneficiary's name is not as per the records of the receiving bank how do you expect transfers to be credited to the account? What justification do you have for you (or your distributor) not to pay the cost of returning an incorrect TT that was not the fault of the bank? Good luck with getting your lawyer involved for less than 6,000 baht.

[Carmine6]

Sorry, I don't understand if the trial deposit worked then why the transfer didn't work, that is the purpose of trial deposits

I do transfers all the time to Bangkok Bank from my US Bank. Bangkok Bank uses my full middle name as shown on my passport, my US Bank only uses my middle initial, and not the full middle name and I have never had a problem

The two banks are dealing with numbers (accounts) not names

Something else is screwy. My fist guess is the Union Bank suddenly realized that the name of the bank you are transferring to is Bangkok Bank and they think that it is a foreign bank, despite the US routing number, so are not honoring your request for transfer

"The two banks are dealing with numbers (accounts) not names

Something else is screwy. My fist guess is the Union Bank suddenly realized that the name of the bank you are transferring to is Bangkok Bank and they think that it is a foreign bank, despite the US routing number, so are not honoring your request for transfer"

In theory that is correct but in practice, from recent personal experience, Bangkok Bank also require an account name that their system recognises.

Bangkok Bank is a foreign bank wherever it is located outside of Thailand. Why would a US bank have an issue with transferring funds to a foreign bank?

On that second issue, some banks may care if they know. BofA used to shut down accounts when people used the ACH method. Not sure if they still do. That's likely because they have to report when someone wires $10,000 out of the US or does a series close together of about that much. They also have to monitor for signs of money laundering now. Since the ACH system is US only they don't scruitinize it as much. In BofA's case, many people would have some amounts go through, but some others would get stopped. People who made issues of it seemed to have their accounts closed.

Here's an old thread that discussed it, though there was another one where many people talked about having their accounts closed:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/41816-bank-of-america-to-bangkok-bank-ltd/page-8

[jacko45k]

This is a persistent problem, where two names are often felt to be sufficient in LOS - anything more is just being greedy and superfluous !

Yeah, but each name looks like an impossible scrabble hand.

I feel my simple 2 names to be sufficient though when I read things like this.....

But when I do a transfer, they ask for the account holders name at the receiving end and hence you should be able to utilize 3 names, and the 2 named sender not create an issue. I wonder if it is a USA thing.

[koo]

I do not quite understand this whole name issue. Why don't you just use your 2 names in the sending end and then enter all your 3 names as the recipient of the money?

The sender and receiver do not even need to be the same person. I can wire money from my bank to Barack Obama, Arnold Schwartzenegger or whomever I want to, as long as i know their bank's SWIFT BIC code and account number. Your sending bank should not be concerned about the transfer as long as you are not laundring money or sending it to fund terrorism. Bangkok Bank, however, may be quite strict that the recipient's name on their incoming side is correct.

[Carmine6]

I do not quite understand this whole name issue. Why don't you just use your 2 names in the sending end and then enter all your 3 names as the recipient of the money?

The sender and receiver do not even need to be the same person. I can wire money from my bank to Barack Obama, Arnold Schwartzenegger or whomever I want to, as long as i know their bank's SWIFT BIC code and account number. Your sending bank should not be concerned about the transfer as long as you are not laundring money or sending it to fund terrorism. Bangkok Bank, however, may be quite strict that the recipient's name on their incoming side is correct.

The OP is about an ACH transfer, not a wire transfer.

I did a trial deposit verification to link my Bangkok Bank account with the routing number of their New York branch to Union Bank, and was successful.

Then I tried doing an ACH transfer -- rejected.