Warning - double bank charges on money transfers

[kimamey]

I, on the other hand, have just experienced a significant reduction in bank charges for transfers from the UK to Thailand.

For transferring funds from HSBC (UK) to Bangkok Bank, the sending bank (HSBC) used to charge me £17.00, but I believe the Ombudsman has been applying pressure to the UK banks, so this was recently reduced to just £4.00. Yes, £4.00, even if I am transferring £10,000 ... difficult to believe I know.

Furthermore, Bangkok Bank do not levy any charge for receiving the funds. I always ensure that the funds are transferred in Sterling, as I find I get a much better exchange rate at the receiving bank than if I were to accept the sending bank exchange rate.

Incorrect regarding Bangkok Bank does not levy any charge for receiving funds. For whatever reason you are just not noticing the fee. Maybe you are assuming if they did apply a fee it would be reflected in your Bangkok Bank account statement/passbook; however, the fee is applied "before" the funds are posted to your account therefore no record of the fee appears on your account. Neither would any correspondent bank fees as the Thai bank don't know what may have been sliced off during the transfer by the Sending or Correspondent bank before it arrived the Thai bank...all it knows is how much "arrived"...not how much began the trip. Now if you sign up to get the free Funds Remittance SMS it will show the amount of funds arriving, the exchange rate, the fee, and the final amount posted to your account.

As mentioned earlier, the currency receipt/conversion fee is 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) which is pretty much the standard for all Thai banks give or take a few baht. Below is a quote from the Bangkok Bank website regarding the currency receipt/conversion fee. And remember the fee applies whether the funds arrive in a foreign currency or already converted to baht.

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This explains something I've wondered about before. I use Currency Online for transfers. They charge £5 if the amount is under £3000 and nothing over that. I just checked and the exchange rate they are offering is about 53.63 depending on amount to convert. I don't know how good that is. My wife has always said that her bank (Krungthai Bank) charged an amount when they receive the money and then again when it's transferred to her local branch. The first amount was usually about 500 baht and the second about 200 baht depending on the amount. I thought that didn't make sense as once Krungthai had the money there would be no reason to move it to her branch. Now I understand that the first charge is from Bangkok Bank and the second from Krungthai.

If my wife had an account with Bangkok bank would that avoid the charge for transferring to Krungthai? Not that I'm that worried about 200 baht, just interested and I think she may have an account with Bangkok anyway.

[danglars]

pause the transfers until things become clearer. surely you have a backup by now. i'm thinking after asean integration at the earliest perhaps some months after that to resume if it looks ok.

[danglars]

now they are trying to add insurance charges to transfers too, just dont do them or find another bank.

Edited June 7, 2014 by danglars

[SunsetT]

Nationwide BS tried this on with me a few yrs ago. On top of the original £15/£20 Swift transfer charge, another £20 charge appeared in my UK account about a month later. It happened twice and the 2nd time the 2nd charge was different. Nationwide head office, who didnt seem to really know what happens with these transfers, said it must be coming from the receiving Bangkok bank. On arriving in Udon Thani I went to the branch, who were very helpful but had no idea what the charges were, and they gave me print outs of the 2 transactions. One showed an intermediary bank as HSBC, the other was, I think, London Midland bank. Udon even phoned Bangkok bank head office that initially receives their international transfers. I actually spoke to the dept head, who spoke excellent English, and she assured me that no charge was ever made by them. The only charge was 200baht at the Udon branch.

I scanned and sent the transaction print outs to the Nationwide dept Id previously dealt with, along with a letter containing the name and phone # of the lady in Bangkok to confirm no charges were made. I received no reply so I phoned them again on returning to the UK 4/5 mths later, They claimed no knowledge of my correspondence.so I then filed an official complaint arguing that if charges are made by intermediary banks then they surely must know about these and include them in their sending charge or they should inform customers of the amount in advance. They later refunded the charges without any real explanation. I have not made any Swift transfers thru them since, preferring to ATM withdraw all my money in Thailand with fee free UK credit and debit cards. I have found the Visa and Mastercard exchange rate is nearly always better than any bank's exchange rate even including the 150/180bt fee. Halifax £9 international transfer fee is the cheapest charge I know of in the UK.

SunsetT, as I have posted already, the cheapest, as of May 2014, is now HSBC, at £4:00, for any amount up to £10,000 (the maximum).

If any Tv.com member has any issues with any bank in the UK, the way to deal with them is to write directly to them and make it clear that you are going to forward your complaint to the banking/financial ombudsman, who you can contact at:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/contact/index.html

You will invariably find that the bank will write off the charge rather than having to place resources into dealing with a complaint raised by the Ombudsman...!!

Sorry, I misread your post. I thought u had said HSBC charge had gone down by £4. Wow! Only £4 to send is amazing.

[Pib]

@ kimamey,

When money is transferred between Thai banks there is usually going to be a fee, whether the funds are just being relayed that started from overseas or started locally, but it's going to depend on the bank's policy. Like here's a cut and paste from Bangkok Bank regarding "interbank" transfer fees...that is a transfer to a non-Bangkok Bank branch like K-Bank, SCB, etc. And then there can be inter-region transfer fees also between branches of the same bank. Anytime you can cut out a middleman you are probably going to save on fees.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Pib

[Surasak]

A Friend of mine has had the same happen to him. The UK bank was Nationwide BS the Thai bank was BKK. The internet banking statement clearly showed a deduction from his UK bank in sterling at the rate of £20. When applying for funds to be transferred there is a question as to which bank should pay any additional charges and we have always stated the Nationwide. We both use the same one in UK. As I have not as yet had to transfer funds myself I am not sure what will happen as I use Krung Thai bank. However, a double dose of transfer fees is I think, going a bit beyond a joke.

[ChoakMyDee]

There is a new internet money transfer company(same people that started Skype and PayPal) that has a very good rate for international transfers. https://transferwise.com I plan to use them the next time I make a large transfer from Singapore to Bangkok. They say their price is 90% cheaper than the banks. I'm currently getting raped on international transfers and it is actually cheaper for me to get 5 withdrawals of 20,000 Baht at an ATM than it is to transfer 100,000 Baht from Singapore!

[kimamey]

There is a new internet money transfer company(same people that started Skype and PayPal) that has a very good rate for international transfers. https://transferwise.com I plan to use them the next time I make a large transfer from Singapore to Bangkok. They say their price is 90% cheaper than the banks. I'm currently getting raped on international transfers and it is actually cheaper for me to get 5 withdrawals of 20,000 Baht at an ATM than it is to transfer 100,000 Baht from Singapore!

I heard about them and an ad for them came up whilst I was reading this thread. As far as I can tell they don't do Thai baht at the moment but they may be worth keeping in mind.

[fxe1200]

There are three ways to send money from abroad: OUR, SHARED, and BEN.

If you use the OUR option, all bank charges are being applied to the sending account, but make sure you get a halfway acceptable rate. Lately the Bangkok Bank charged me for incoming money 300 THB. Upon my request, they denied, that they received a part of the fees. After my complaint at the sending Bank, the 300 THB (at that time 9 Euro and 10 cents) were refunded by the sending bank. Banks are just greedy, and if you do not precalculate all costs involved and check the competition (Forex), the you definitely will get screwed.

Keep in mind when selecting the option for the Sending bank to cover all transfer fees if the Receiving bank like Bangkok Bank honors the request and does not apply a fee on their end when initially receiving the funds "they will still send a fee charge back to the Sending bank" which is probably going to be more than if you had allowed the receiving bank to charge their normal fee. Why more? Because of the extra effort involved to collect the fee. The receiving bank is still going to get its fee one way or another...or said another way, "you" are still going to pay the fee one way or another.

Who cares, how the banks are calculating their fees, or charge the likes of them. The main thing is, you are in charge of the costs of a transfer , you want to know, who does it inexpensive and with no hidden cost involved. And you want to know it BEFORE you do the transfer. Therefore the comparison in between an OUR or BEN transfer is worthwhile, as well as the comparison of the rate, if you transfer THB from home or another currency or vice versa.

[Anon999]

From my Nationwide account I transfer money, infrequently to my BKK Bank FCD account in £'s. I'm charged a SWIFT fee of £25 regardless of the amount involved, consequently it is better to transfer five figure sums. The form I need to fill in also gives you the option of having the sending or receiving bank make any other charges incurred, if any. On checking I have not been charged any additional fees this year.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Anon999

[mercman24]

reply to sunset t : NOT SURE IF MY DEPOSIT ACOUNT ALLOWS TRANSFERS, BUT IS IT POSIBLE TO OPEN A CURRENT ACCOUNT, AS I AM NOW IN THE UK, ?? just wanted to get some money over there to "season" for when i apply to go full time in October, sorry about the CAPS, type to dam fast, and too lazy to change , he he

[dunque]

I, on the other hand, have just experienced a significant reduction in bank charges for transfers from the UK to Thailand.

For transferring funds from HSBC (UK) to Bangkok Bank, the sending bank (HSBC) used to charge me £17.00, but I believe the Ombudsman has been applying pressure to the UK banks, so this was recently reduced to just £4.00. Yes, £4.00, even if I am transferring £10,000 ... difficult to believe I know.

Furthermore, Bangkok Bank do not levy any charge for receiving the funds. I always ensure that the funds are transferred in Sterling, as I find I get a much better exchange rate at the receiving bank than if I were to accept the sending bank exchange rate.

Given the transfer is being made from Jersey, I would think the UK Bank ombudsman could apply ant pressure - Jersey is not in the UK.

[JacChang]

Please don't mention paypal.

They easily eat up 7-8% if I remember correctly from my last transfer. They are even worst than the banks. "LOW FEE, or NO FEE TO SEND". Problem starts when you need to withdraw. BAM withdrawal fee. BAM Foreign exchange fee. BAM Lower foreign exchange rates.

[kjhbigv]

Correspondent bank charge would have been made in UK rather than Thailand and is the route your home bank uses to transfer the funds. The charge in Thailand is only a fee of between 200-500 baht for the exchange service based on a fee of 1/4% on foreign remitted currency. Are you sure funds were not converted to baht prior to sending to Thailand in this case? Suspect that may be the reason for large additional change. Thailand would not be charging a fee in pounds.

My bank called me yesterday after I e-mailed them. Money was sent in Pounds Sterling. I agree with what you say that a Thai bank would not be charging Sterling, but my bank insisted it was a charge levied by the Thai bank.

your bank is lying!

I agree, if the double charge was at the UK end they are lying. When the question was asked "split the fees" or "pay them all in the UK", they did the second.

Happened to me once with Lloyds, told them I specifically asked for fees to be split and to go through their telephone recording of our conversation (before online came in), they checked, apologised and refunded the 20 quid.

Unfortunately, some staff member had inadvertently not ticked the little box on their computer!

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[kjhbigv]

Correspondent bank charge would have been made in UK rather than Thailand and is the route your home bank uses to transfer the funds. The charge in Thailand is only a fee of between 200-500 baht for the exchange service based on a fee of 1/4% on foreign remitted currency. Are you sure funds were not converted to baht prior to sending to Thailand in this case? Suspect that may be the reason for large additional change. Thailand would not be charging a fee in pounds.

My bank called me yesterday after I e-mailed them. Money was sent in Pounds Sterling. I agree with what you say that a Thai bank would not be charging Sterling, but my bank insisted it was a charge levied by the Thai bank.

your bank is lying!

I agree, if the double charge was at the UK end they are lying. When the question was asked "split the fees" or "pay them all in the UK", they did the second.

Happened to me once with Lloyds, told them I specifically wanted fees to be split (between UK and Thai Bank) and to go through their telephone recording of our conversation (before online came in), they checked, apologised and refunded the 20 quid.

Unfortunately, some staff member had inadvertently not ticked the little box on their computer!

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ozviking]

reply to sunset t : NOT SURE IF MY DEPOSIT ACOUNT ALLOWS TRANSFERS, BUT IS IT POSIBLE TO OPEN A CURRENT ACCOUNT, AS I AM NOW IN THE UK, ?? just wanted to get some money over there to "season" for when i apply to go full time in October, sorry about the CAPS, type to dam fast, and too lazy to change , he he

As I said. you must avoid international transfers through any bank. You can enquire, apply and join from anywhere, any currency, but they put a limit on the amount you can transfer. This limit can be lifted later if you apply. If you go to their site on the net, they explain everything to you. The only fees I ever pay is for wiring the funds, because I chose to do so.

They require full details of your banks, and full details of your address in both countries. The latter is a formality only, as I have used the address of my hotel in BKK.

XETRADE is the name again. And - you can also put in a bid at the rate you would like. If they accept your bid they will change your bid to an actual transfer. I have done that successfully also.

Good luck.

[JacChang]

I've been experimenting.

If you can wait 1 month's time, deposit a personal cheque. The sending bank will not take any fees, you will be charged for intermediary bank fee, and Bill Collection fee by your local receiving bank.

This method only saves you the sending bank's fee. So you can keep an extra 10-20$ in your pocket just for waiting 1 month.

[dotpoom]

Correspondent bank charge would have been made in UK rather than Thailand and is the route your home bank uses to transfer the funds. The charge in Thailand is only a fee of between 200-500 baht for the exchange service based on a fee of 1/4% on foreign remitted currency. Are you sure funds were not converted to baht prior to sending to Thailand in this case? Suspect that may be the reason for large additional change. Thailand would not be charging a fee in pounds.

I have always had my money transferred in currency of my home country and never in bahts. What you have mentioned I did not know and thank you for bringing this to our attention, very informative and useful indeed.

"Beetlejuice"....the way I read "lopburi's" post he is saying you are transferring your money the best way.....by not converting it into Baht before transfer?....He says " Are you sure funds were not converted to baht prior to sending to Thailand in this case?"....in other words.....that is possibly where the mistake was made by converting it into Baht first?.

'

[jacko45k]

OP - what bank are you sending from in Jersey?

Santander.

I use SCB,(Jersey) and between them and Bangkok Bank there was no unexpected charges, but HSBC did use a Correspondent Bank and hit me for an extra charge. (I complained and it was refunded). Bangkok Bank always have a small receiving fee which maxes out at 500THB. I always transfer in £.

SCB used to charge £20, for what they called 'telex' transfer, then that went up, and more recently I got a free transfer. I believe a new method is being employed recently at cheaper cost, although it seems to take longer...up to 3-4 working days as opposed to next working day.

HSBC have communicated that their International transfers will now only be £4.

I agree with the sentiment that banks are greedy, it almost seems they arbitrarily will help themselves to a bit of your money and see if you notice!

The bank quoted does not exactly have a 'sterling' reputation!

[Kabayo66]

I don't do international money transfers - too many fees. Instead, I ask for a cash advance on my Wells Fargo Bank debit card.The US bank charges about $20 and the Thai bank (the 1st of 3 initials is S) never charges me anything. I receive my money in Thai baht at my US bank's posted exchange rate.

[Thaiready]

Have you checked the exchange rate for Western Union? Not very good I suspect.

I sent from Thailand to US yesterday....exchange rate was 32.36 per USD

[Artist]

I use http://www.ozforex.com.au/ as I get a much better exchange rate than the banks and once it is set up its very easy to use. Their people also have given me good advice on currency exchange restrictions with Thailand.

[Jimbolai]

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

Moved to banking and finance.

When moved to banking and finance....what does it mean? It is still here. And where can I find it if it is not?

[jayeff]

Hi I use the same bank and when I need cash from the UK I give them my Debit Card ask them for example 40,000 baht and they transfer that into my Thai bank book and there is no charges from England or Thailand I check online after I have completed the transaction definitely no " CHARGES " try it !!!

[cassde]

Why not use the Bangkoki Bank London office facility - really good rates.

[ray23]

Mine transferring dollars from the Thai Bank to France, required a baht conversion to dollars. It was much expensive this time around. But, at that time the baht was losing strength. So I just believed the conversion ran the cost up.

However, the actual cost to the bank for transaction increased dramatically. I haven't looked at my past statements yet. It's quarterly payment I make on my Health insurance. normally around 32K baht this time 35 K

[pattayasnowman]

I used to just draw a check on my US Bank (in US$) and deposit it into my Thai Savings account.

I have not done this for some time - but I think there was just a small charge from the Thai Bank and the Coversion Rate at the time the check cleared.

The only drawback is that the process can take 5 or 6 weeks

Has anybody elese done this and can tell me what it cost them or costs now

[Pib]

I used to just draw a check on my US Bank (in US$) and deposit it into my Thai Savings account.

I have not done this for some time - but I think there was just a small charge from the Thai Bank and the Coversion Rate at the time the check cleared.

The only drawback is that the process can take 5 or 6 weeks

Has anybody elese done this and can tell me what it cost them or costs now

The Thai bank fee is typically 300 baht/$10 and you should get the Sight Bill/Cheque exchange rate.

[Isan Farang]

OP - what bank are you sending from in Jersey?

Santander.

I use SCB,(Jersey) and between them and Bangkok Bank there was no unexpected charges, but HSBC did use a Correspondent Bank and hit me for an extra charge. (I complained and it was refunded). Bangkok Bank always have a small receiving fee which maxes out at 500THB. I always transfer in £.

SCB used to charge £20, for what they called 'telex' transfer, then that went up, and more recently I got a free transfer. I believe a new method is being employed recently at cheaper cost, although it seems to take longer...up to 3-4 working days as opposed to next working day.

HSBC have communicated that their International transfers will now only be £4.

I agree with the sentiment that banks are greedy, it almost seems they arbitrarily will help themselves to a bit of your money and see if you notice!

The bank quoted does not exactly have a 'sterling' reputation!

I am with HSBC Jersey and sending USD from my USD account to my Kasikorn Thai Baht account online by TT. The following is a list of what i am being charged

Amount being sent $10.000 USD

Deductions

Commission $24.88

Correspondent Bank $24.88

Kasikorn Inward Commission 500 Baht

Domestic Fee Transfer 330 Baht

Lease Line Charges 20 Baht

FYI the ordering institution is HSBC International Jersey

The sending bank is HSBC NY USA.

Regarding the fees by the bank in Thailand, you just go your bank and ask them for a Credit Advice Receipt, and this will show all the baht fees. You can also observe the exact amount of what was received prior to the Baht conversion.

[gcgoldcoast]

I bank with SCB here and NAB in Australia, Nab charge me $22 and i get another charge from not sure who of $35 , Nab tells me it receiving bank SCB say not so, . I thing cheaper to use credit card and ATM