Advice best way to transfer money from UK to buy property in Thailand

[feasantplukka]

I have to transfer a large amount of money to buy property in Thailand was just wondering what is the best way and cheapest I currently bank with HSBC

[feasantplukka]

Sorry I am transferring from the UK

[ukrules]

I often wire money in UK Pounds direct to my account in Thailand, I gut the current rate which is the proper rate in Thailand, not the fake 'outside Thailand' rate.

It's worth noting that the bank will attempt to sell you Thai Baht in the UK - don't fall for this scam, it can cost you dearly !

Wire transfers sometimes known as SWIFT Transfers typically cost between 10 and 20 pounds. I did one last Friday and it cost me 10 pounds, the money arrived this morning.

You might want to look into opening a foreign currency account at one of the banks like Bangkok Bank for example, that way you can leave your money in UK Pounds until you're sure you need it in Thai Baht.

From what I understand as you're purchasing property you'll also need some additional documentation to prove that the money came from abroad. I've not purchased any property here in Thailand myself so I can't advise on exactly what documentation this is but I know it's a requirement.

[GuestHouse]

Direct SWIFT transfer from your UK account to YOUR Thailand account.

Transfer in GBP (not Thai Bhat) and select "Split Costs" so that the transfer costs are split between your UK bank and your Thai Bank.

You need to clearly state that the purpose of the transfer is to buy a property.

When you collect your transfer you MUST request a Transfer Certificate.

I advise that you get the full details of the property you are buying, price, address, and Chonote Number and get your Thailand bank to record these on the transfer certificate.

Failure to correctly record the reason for transfer, show the money from your account to your account and produce a transfer certificate will prevent you from being able to register the purchase.

Failure to obtain a transfer certificate will make transferring the money back out again at any time in the future difficult.

DON'T forget the transfer taxes to be paid at time of transfer.

I also recommend you set the transfer up in your on-line account and make a test transfer before you transfer the full amount. Don't find out your got some data wrong with the full transfer.

And while the transfer ought to only take a few days, give yourself at least a week between making the transfer and closing the deal - Two weeks would be better.

[Rooo]

Moved to Banking.

[MichaelJohn]

I think GuestHouse said it all :-)

My transfers always arrive the next morning.

If you Thai bank is Kasikorn the XR is visible on their web page so all above board.

For large amounts they will ring and offer you a better rate.

[feasantplukka]

Guesthouse I don't have a thai account, I am buying the property through a payment plan with the Dusit company, all monies to be paid to the company bank account via swift transfers, they want email copies of the transfer and they are to send email receipts, payments over 2 years then the outstanding balance to transfer the property etc

[KittenKong]

I would never under any circumstances wire money from abroad to a Thai company. Wire it first to your Thai bank account, and then send it from there to the Thai company using internet banking etc.

If you dont have a Thai account, get one.

[KittenKong]

Transfer in GBP (not Thai Bhat) and select "Split Costs" so that the transfer costs are split between your UK bank and your Thai Bank.

You need to clearly state that the purpose of the transfer is to buy a property.

When you collect your transfer you MUST request a Transfer Certificate.

I advise that you get the full details of the property you are buying, price, address, and Chonote Number and get your Thailand bank to record these on the transfer certificate.

Failure to correctly record the reason for transfer, show the money from your account to your account and produce a transfer certificate will prevent you from being able to register the purchase.

Yes, always transfer funds to Thailand and do the exchange here for three reasons: the rate is always better here, for farang-name condo purchase the exchange must be performed here and bringing in forex in your own name means you can take it out again without too much trouble.

Depending on the Land Office used you shouldn't actually need to state the purpose of the transfer at all, nor do you need to include details of the condo being bought, though it wont do any harm to state it all. The transfer doesnt even need to be recent. The rule is simply that you must show that the funds came from abroad and your bank should give you the FET certificate as a matter of course. Individual Land Offices may apply the rules differently, of course, and this should be clarified in advance.

The above applies to condos but not house+land, as foreigners cant buy land in their own name anyway. For company-name and nominee-name purchases of land there are no special rules about where the funds come from.

Having never been at all interested in buying an off-plan condo I dont know how that all fits in with the OP being asked to transfer funds in advance directly to the developer, but I suspect that the developer intends to deal with the FET certificates. I would not want this, as there might be problems down the line if the buyer has no FET certificate in his name.

[ukrules]

Depending on the Land Office used you shouldn't actually need to state the purpose of the transfer at all, nor do you need to include details of the condo being bought, though it wont do any harm to state it all. The transfer doesnt even need to be recent. The rule is simply that you must show that the funds came from abroad and your bank should give you the FET certificate as a matter of course. Individual Land Offices may apply the rules differently, of course, and this should be clarified in advance.

When sending a SWIFT transfer from the UK to a Thai Baht bank account it's compulsory to provide a reason if sending from Lloyds Bank. There's a list of reasons to select from and an 'Other Reason' where you need to explain why you're sending the money.

I've only ever seen this when sending wires to Thailand.

[meatboy]

Depending on the Land Office used you shouldn't actually need to state the purpose of the transfer at all, nor do you need to include details of the condo being bought, though it wont do any harm to state it all. The transfer doesnt even need to be recent. The rule is simply that you must show that the funds came from abroad and your bank should give you the FET certificate as a matter of course. Individual Land Offices may apply the rules differently, of course, and this should be clarified in advance.

When sending a SWIFT transfer from the UK to a Thai Baht bank account it's compulsory to provide a reason if sending from Lloyds Bank. There's a list of reasons to select from and an 'Other Reason' where you need to explain why you're sending the money.

I've only ever seen this when sending wires to Thailand.

you must not send any money direct to a thai co.have you not been to thailand before.you must have a thai bank acc.so that the transfer will be registered in your name and as its a large amount as its already been stated you will get a certificate veryfying the transfer,the amount,and what its for.you know you cannot buy land so if its for an advert youve seen forget it unless you come to thailand and get all the information first,you might also need a lawyer.unless you can afford to say goodby to it.be very carefull what your thinking of doing.

[jacko45k]

You might want to look into opening a foreign currency account at one of the banks like Bangkok Bank for example, that way you can leave your money in UK Pounds until you're sure you need it in Thai Baht.

Be aware that there is a 2% charge......... and interest rates are very low relative to Thai baht.

You may benefit if you wait for a better exchange rate.

[Xmas]

Suggest you have a look at OZforex, you will probably get a better rate using them to transfer the cash.

You will need to set up a local account with them in the UK. you then EFT the money to them and will be given the Thai baht rate of transfer which will be locked in.

You will of course need to have a Thai bank account to transfer the money to.

Not sure about business's but for a Condo purchase the bank will give you the necessary letter for the land office to show the funds came in from overseas.

[geezer2]

Get a Siam comm bank account transfer from HSBC in GBP to SCB HSBC charge £4.00 no fee this end money in

SCB less than 24 hours easy peasy..

[charliebadenhop]

I have a Bangkok Bank account, or accounts. One in Baht and one is US$

There are basically two different exchange rates as I understand it.

One rate for bringing in foreign currency and having it exchanged into Baht.

Another slightly higher rate for having money transferred to your account from abroad.

Next, if they deem the amount of money you transfer to be "significant enough" (not sure what the threshold is) they give you a few (don't know the Thai word) "cents" extra.

So lets say the rate card at the bank shows 30.1 Baht for the US$. That is for cash.

If you get money wired you will get something like 30.25 Baht for each US$

And then if you are transferring "enough" they will wind up giving you say 30.3 or so.

AND I think you have to ask for the extra bit otherwise nothing extra is given.

Also, if you get foreign currency and then decide you don't want to change it into Baht, and instead ask for your foreign currency in cash, they will charge 1% on the total.

Or at least this is my experience.

[OOLEEBER]

What Xmas said but use their sister company in the UK - UKForex. Here's a link so you can check their rates against your bank. You'll save a fortune on a large transfer. https://www.ukforex.co.uk/

[Griffo63]

For large sums of money I suggest you use a specialist foreign exchange company. I use FC Exchange in the UK.

You need to register with them (free) and set up an account. You set them up as a payee with your bank (free) which should allow you to transfer money to them at no charge. Before you transfer any money to them call them and agree a rate for £ to baht. Once they then receive your £ into their account they transfer baht to your Thailand account at the agreed rate. You should expect to get at least 50satang to the £ better than the rate by transferring direct from your UK bank, so on say £100,000 you get an extra 50000 baht.

For large transfers there is no charge for the transfer so you save the SWIFT charge.

They are not the only company to do this so do some research.

[crazykopite]

Guesthouse I don't have a thai account, I am buying the property through a payment plan with the Dusit company, all monies to be paid to the company bank account via swift transfers, they want email copies of the transfer and they are to send email receipts, payments over 2 years then the outstanding balance to transfer the property etc

I would open up a bank account in your own name transfer the monies from your UK bank to that bank and then transfer the monies from your Thai bank account to the Dusit company what type of amount are we talking about !!

[crazykopite]

For large sums of money I suggest you use a specialist foreign exchange company. I use FC Exchange in the UK.

You need to register with them (free) and set up an account. You set them up as a payee with your bank (free) which should allow you to transfer money to them at no charge. Before you transfer any money to them call them and agree a rate for £ to baht. Once they then receive your £ into their account they transfer baht to your Thailand account at the agreed rate. You should expect to get at least 50satang to the £ better than the rate by transferring direct from your UK bank, so on say £100,000 you get an extra 50000 baht.

For large transfers there is no charge for the transfer so you save the SWIFT charge.

They are not the only company to do this so do some research.

You always get more money by sending it to Thailand in Sterling as well as that if he brings it in as Thai Baht he can not get the form to repatriate the funds if he decides to sell his property the money has to be brought in other than Thai Baht.

[GettingOlder]

Many people focus on the transfer fee but forget to look at the exchange rate. Most banks offer the same quite lousy rate compared to mentioned UKForex or similar companies specialized in money transfer. As other posters mentioned there are very significant gains when transferring large amounts, so the extra work is certainly well paid and its just a one time job to set it up.

The company behind UKForex/OZForex also has 3-4 other marketing brand so be aware that you get offered real independent quotes. A quite recent competitor is Transfermate, where Branson went in as investor and the company did some heavy marketing in that context.

You will still need a Thai bank account (in own name) to transfer to, so you can get the required documentation for Land office.

[feasantplukka]

The house is on the 6th phase of the dusit villages already put down a deposit and planed the layout of the property, the house is bought in my wife's name not mine as the house is the 6th phase and no previous problems have occurred on the previous phases i think its a fairly secure transaction, the purchase price is around 4m thb and 10% is the amount I will be sending, I am currently back in the UK and unable to open a thai bank account, was looking for the best way of making these transactions to the development company.

[KittenKong]

.... the house is bought in my wife's name not mine.....

In that case all the discussion concerning FET certificates and the Land Office is irrelevant to you.

You should just look at getting the best possible exchange rate.

[GuestHouse]

.... the house is bought in my wife's name not mine.....

In that case all the discussion concerning FET certificates and the Land Office is irrelevant to you.

You should just look at getting the best possible exchange rate.

Not entirely - things can go sour.

Proving a record of where the money came from might prove very useful.

[MikeOwen]

I Bank with HSBC , It costs me £4 to transfer any sum up to £50,000 to my Bankok Bank Account , I action it transfer one day and it's in my BKK account the following morning ,Transfer in sterling then you get the rate of the day with BKK, (don't let them talk you into Thai Baht) Great service , I can't say anything else good about HSBC though !

.

[MikeOwen]

I often wire money in UK Pounds direct to my account in Thailand, I gut the current rate which is the proper rate in Thailand, not the fake 'outside Thailand' rate.

It's worth noting that the bank will attempt to sell you Thai Baht in the UK - don't fall for this scam, it can cost you dearly !

Wire transfers sometimes known as SWIFT Transfers typically cost between 10 and 20 pounds. I did one last Friday and it cost me 10 pounds, the money arrived this morning.

You might want to look into opening a foreign currency account at one of the banks like Bangkok Bank for example, that way you can leave your money in UK Pounds until you're sure you need it in Thai Baht.

From what I understand as you're purchasing property you'll also need some additional documentation to prove that the money came from abroad. I've not purchased any property here in Thailand myself so I can't advise on exactly what documentation this is but I know it's a requirement.

£4 charges if your with HSBC , but you must to the transfer in sterling or they'll rip you off !!!

[AnotherOneAmerican]

The house is on the 6th phase of the dusit villages already put down a deposit and planed the layout of the property, the house is bought in my wife's name not mine as the house is the 6th phase and no previous problems have occurred on the previous phases i think its a fairly secure transaction, the purchase price is around 4m thb and 10% is the amount I will be sending, I am currently back in the UK and unable to open a thai bank account, was looking for the best way of making these transactions to the development company.

It would be against Thai law to buy a house in this way.

Foreigners are not allowed to buy land directly or by proxy.

By sending your money direct to the company for purchase in your wife name, you are admitting to buying by proxy and providing evidence.

When the house is registered in your wife name at the land office, you will be committing fraud by signing the "not my money" declaration, she will be committing fraud by signing the "not your money" declaration.

Edited September 4, 2014 by AnotherOneAmerican

[KittenKong]

Not entirely - things can go sour.

Proving a record of where the money came from might prove very useful.

Not really. If he is buying in his wife's name then he is basically making her a gift of the money. Once given it's gone and no amount of FET certificates will get it back.

As another poster has mentioned, the whole purchase is probably illegal anyway. Not my money though and so not my problem.

[salavan]

Transfer in GBP (not Thai Bhat) and select "Split Costs" so that the transfer costs are split between your UK bank and your Thai Bank.

You need to clearly state that the purpose of the transfer is to buy a property.

When you collect your transfer you MUST request a Transfer Certificate.

I advise that you get the full details of the property you are buying, price, address, and Chonote Number and get your Thailand bank to record these on the transfer certificate.

Failure to correctly record the reason for transfer, show the money from your account to your account and produce a transfer certificate will prevent you from being able to register the purchase.

Yes, always transfer funds to Thailand and do the exchange here for three reasons: the rate is always better here, for farang-name condo purchase the exchange must be performed here and bringing in forex in your own name means you can take it out again without too much trouble.

Depending on the Land Office used you shouldn't actually need to state the purpose of the transfer at all, nor do you need to include details of the condo being bought, though it wont do any harm to state it all. The transfer doesnt even need to be recent. The rule is simply that you must show that the funds came from abroad and your bank should give you the FET certificate as a matter of course. Individual Land Offices may apply the rules differently, of course, and this should be clarified in advance.

The above applies to condos but not house+land, as foreigners cant buy land in their own name anyway. For company-name and nominee-name purchases of land there are no special rules about where the funds come from.

Having never been at all interested in buying an off-plan condo I dont know how that all fits in with the OP being asked to transfer funds in advance directly to the developer, but I suspect that the developer intends to deal with the FET certificates. I would not want this, as there might be problems down the line if the buyer has no FET certificate in his name.

i dont think you need an FET certificate if the money from the uk goes into an F.C.D. ( foreign currency deposit accountaccount) with a thai bank

[meatboy]

The house is on the 6th phase of the dusit villages already put down a deposit and planed the layout of the property, the house is bought in my wife's name not mine as the house is the 6th phase and no previous problems have occurred on the previous phases i think its a fairly secure transaction, the purchase price is around 4m thb and 10% is the amount I will be sending, I am currently back in the UK and unable to open a thai bank account, was looking for the best way of making these transactions to the development company.

so why dont you transfer it to your wifes acc.but make sure you state what its for.

when we decided to buy[wife] as we didnt have a bank acc.we sent it to her sister stating the address of the build even then it was returned as they wanted more proof.you do need to come to thailand and open that acc.to pay for the balance unless its a financed deal.then you still have to set up a direct debit.

where is it your goner be living?

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Not entirely - things can go sour.

Proving a record of where the money came from might prove very useful.

Not really. If he is buying in his wife's name then he is basically making her a gift of the money. Once given it's gone and no amount of FET certificates will get it back.

As another poster has mentioned, the whole purchase is probably illegal anyway. Not my money though and so not my problem.

@KittenKong NOT SO!

Just to point out, gifts within marriage are considered "conditional" by Thai divorce courts.

If you get divorced, you can ask for any gifts to be returned, if you have evidence of the gift for a judge, he will give it back to you.

Guesthouse is correct in suggesting records are useful.