Does anybody have any recent experience on using a check to deposit money from a US bank to a Thai bank? I don't mind a waiting period. I could plan for that. I would not be trying to deposit a weekly or even monthly amount. I am envisioning depositing money say, once every 3 or 4 months. How many fees do they charge? Would they give a good exchange rate?

thanks

Edited September 18, 201411 yr by gk10002000

Do as the rest of the world does: Wire transfer from bank to bank. A check is an American Dinosaur that has never caught up in the rest of the world. Nor has the inch, foot, yard, mile, measuring system.

Just join the rest of the world!

Cheers.

Actually checks work well in some locations (like the Philippines) at no charge - but in Thailand it is subject to about 3 week processing wait (unless special low value business type checks that the clear on-line) and fee is likely to be as much as wire transfer or ATM usage. And due to fraud most banks here do not want anything to do with personal checks and will also put a hold on your deposit account to cover any costs - and for this you are treated as a CSI suspect.

If your account here is at Bangkok Bank, you can make deposits at the branch in New York from your US bank and save time & money.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/761214-bangkok-bank-how-can-i-open-a-direct-deposit-account-so-i-can-do-bank-transfers-from-a-usa-bank/

Edited September 18, 201411 yr by Suradit69

For cashing personal checks (and if the bank accepts it) the charge will be approx $10/Bt300, you'll get Sight Bill/Travelers Cheques exchange rate which is around 0.1 to 0.2 baht/USD lower depending on the bank (say around 0.5% lower average) than the TT Buying Rate used for incoming wire transfers, and it will take 3 to 6 weeks for the check to clear resulting in the funds being made available to you.

A person is usually better off during a low cost funds transfer....like if a person was to do an ACH transfer from their U.S. bank say for $2,000 to their Bangkok Bank account the total amount of fees would be approx $11.25 ($5 taken by NY branch and $6.25 taken by the in-Thailand branch...assuming no ACH fee charged by your Sending bank which is common for many banks...not all but many) and get the TT Buying Rate which will be 0.1 baht/USD higher (approx 0.3%) than the Sight Bill Rate. If going the personal check method there would be $10 in direct fees and around Bt200 (approx $6.25 indirect fees due to lower exchange rate) for a total of approx $16.25 in fees...or about $5 more than doing an ACH transfer plus you'll have to wait 3 to 6 weeks for the check to clear/funds become available to you.

Now every person will incur different funds transfer fees depending on what transfers methods and fees are provided by their home country Sending bank...if you are with a bank that rapes you on Sending fees like only allowing a SWIFT transfer at around $30 equivalent then going the personal check method would probably work out better for you fee-wise....but what won't work out better is the time waiting for the funds since it will take weeks for the person check to clear/post to your Thai bank account.

What kind of check is this ? if a personal check well that is crazy, use the internet banking system. If it is a cashiers check then they wil charge you a fee and it will take probibly 3 weeks to clear.

When I did it from the UK it ook 4 weeks and was charged about 330 bts, best to do a swift transfer.