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[SS1]

Transferred money yesterday to my Bangkok Bank account from the UK, by transferring it first to the Bangkok Bank London branch where they exchange it to Thai Baht and then send to my Thai Bankok Bank account.

Here's a review of the service, please let me know what you think of the fees compared to other banks.

Money sent: £1000

(Fixed fee £15)

£1000 in baht by today's average exchange rate (XE.com): 54,250 baht

Money received today:

52,599 baht = about £970

So in addition to the fixed £15 fee another £15 was lost with a shit exchange rate..

Anyways, it did save me a marginal amount of money as the total cost of taking out 10,000 baht from an ATM with my UK card is about £10, so by taking out 5 x 10k baht I would've paid a total of £50 so by doing what I did about I saved around £20 (1000 baht) total.

[Pib]

Sounds like you should have used the Bangkok Bank transfer option where your pounds are converted to baht "in-Thailand" using the Bangkok Bank "TT Buying Rate" vs the London Branch rate within your home country.. The fee would have been 20 pounds instead of 15 pounds but apparently it rings true again in never convert to baht "within your home country"; instead, let the "in-Thailand receiving bank/branch" accomplish the conversion. From looking at the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate for close of business today its 54.05.

As for that XE.com rate, that's the mid-point rate (average of buys & sells) and not a rate the common man can get as it for BIG money traders, wholesale currency trading, etc. All banks/currency exchangers will give a slightly lower rate in order to make their profit.

[MYKTHEMIN]

Never convert in home country, always send to Bangkok Bank in thailand and let them convert to Baht, far better rate.

[Chicken George]

HSBC UK only charge £4 for any amount now. They say up to 30K. I send in Baht and seem to get the same rate as if sent in GBP.. 2 werks ago got over 54b to the pound!

Sent from my GT-I9082 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Pib]

HSBC UK only charge £4 for any amount now. They say up to 30K. I send in Baht and seem to get the same rate as if sent in GBP.. 2 werks ago got over 54b to the pound!

Sent from my GT-I9082 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

And two weeks ago on 9 July the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate was 55.1. Assuming you mean a little over 54 baht/pound, looks like you got almost 1.5 to 2% less than if you had sent pounds and had the conversion done in Thailand. 2% on 30K pounds would be equivalent to a 600 pounds indirect fee....1.5% 450 pounds. Slightly lower exchange rates can make a BIG indirect fee for a bank.

[Chicken George]

Yes you may be correct. I send only £1000. As I said seemed to get the same rate as a friend. Its difficult to be exact but not a lot different. I will send in GBP this week. I thought before you had to have a different kind of acount to do this.

Sent from my GT-I9082 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Pib]

Yes you may be correct. I send only £1000. As I said seemed to get the same rate as a friend. Its difficult to be exact but not a lot different. I will send in GBP this week. I thought before you had to have a different kind of acount to do this.

Sent from my GT-I9082 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

When sending a small amount like 1000 pounds sending from HSBC with their lower rate works out to approx the same as if using the Bangkok Bank London branch.

Just to make the math easy let's say the HSBC exchange rate was 1.5% lower which equates to 15 pounds...there would have also been a receiving fee of 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) on the Thai bank receiving end which for 1000 pounds would have incurred the minimum fee of Bt200 or 3.7 pounds....then you had your 4 pound HSBC fee...these fees add up to almost 23 pounds.

There are two different sending methods when using the Bangkok Bank London branch to do a transfer. let's say you use the method where the conversion is done in-Thailand...there would have been a Bangkok Bank London branch 20 pounds fee related to sending and the 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) on the Thai receiving end is applied which would draw the Bt200 min fee or approx 3.7 pounds for a total of almost 24 pounds in fees related to sending 1000 pounds.

Now, lets say you send 3,000 pounds...using HSBC would have worked out to around 45 pounds due to the lower 1.5% exchange rate, 4 pounds HSBC sending fee, and approx 7.5 pounds on the Thai receiving end for a total in fees approaching 57 pounds. Ouch!!!....see how that lower exchange rate (a.k.a., indirect fee eats your lunch). If using the Bangkok Bank London branch method where the conversion is done in Thailand I expect there may not even be a HSBC sending fee since its a domestic transfer to a bank in within UK/London, 20 pounds Bangkok Bank London fee, and then the 0.25% (B200 min, Bt 500 max) receiving fee which is 7.5 pounds for total approaching 28 pounds in fees--a big difference from 57 pounds in HSBC fees.

Watch out for the exchange rate as a small percentage difference can make a big difference depending on how much your are exchanging...a lot can depend on "how much foreign currency starts the trip."

[Chicken George]

Yes you may be correct. I send only £1000. As I said seemed to get the same rate as a friend. Its difficult to be exact but not a lot different. I will send in GBP this week. I thought before you had to have a different kind of acount to do this.

Sent from my GT-I9082 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

When sending a small amount like 1000 pounds sending from HSBC with their lower rate works out to approx the same as if using the Bangkok Bank London branch.

Just to make the math easy let's say the HSBC exchange rate was 1.5% lower which equates to 15 pounds...there would have also been a receiving fee of 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) on the Thai bank receiving end which for 1000 pounds would have incurred the minimum fee of Bt200 or 3.7 pounds....then you had your 4 pound HSBC fee...these fees add up to almost 23 pounds.

There are two different sending methods when using the Bangkok Bank London branch to do a transfer. let's say you use the method where the conversion is done in-Thailand...there would have been a Bangkok Bank London branch 20 pounds fee related to sending and the 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) on the Thai receiving end is applied which would draw the Bt200 min fee or approx 3.7 pounds for a total of almost 24 pounds in fees related to sending 1000 pounds.

Now, lets say you send 3,000 pounds...using HSBC would have worked out to around 45 pounds due to the lower 1.5% exchange rate, 4 pounds HSBC sending fee, and approx 7.5 pounds on the Thai receiving end for a total in fees approaching 57 pounds. Ouch!!!....see how that lower exchange rate (a.k.a., indirect fee eats your lunch). If using the Bangkok Bank London branch method where the conversion is done in Thailand I expect there may not even be a HSBC sending fee since its a domestic transfer to a bank in within UK/London, 20 pounds Bangkok Bank London fee, and then the 0.25% (B200 min, Bt 500 max) receiving fee which is 7.5 pounds for total approaching 28 pounds in fees--a big difference from 57 pounds in HSBC fees.

Watch out for the exchange rate as a small percentage difference can make a big difference depending on how much your are exchanging...a lot can depend on "how much foreign currency starts the trip."

HSBC only charge £4 no other charge. If I was yo use my credit card and pay in Thai baht for say a few domestic flight here they charge a wooping £17! But no fee to change money to Thai baht only their normal amount I believe is 2.5% which is built in. Thanks for your info. I will stick to sending in Thai baht for small amounts.

Sent from my GT-I9082 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Pib]

But no fee to change money to Thai baht only their normal amount I believe is 2.5% which is built in.

Expect that 2.5% is the foreign transaction fee charged by the card-issuing bank. Most, not all, credit/debit cards, do carry a foreign transaction fee of 1 to 3%...and some of the more fee hungry banks even add a small flat fee to the percentage fee to rub salt into the wound.. Visa/Mastercard does charge approx 1% on foreign transactions but its totally up the card-issuing bank whether they absorb that fee or pass it along to the customer...or add-on to it. In your case the foreign transaction fee is the 1% charged by the card network and then your card-issuing bank adding on another 1.5% for a total of 2.5% in foreign transaction fees. Best to get a no foreign transaction fee credit/debit if possible, but I realize it varies from country-to-country as to how many banks/card companies offer such cards.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Pib