British state pension and bahtnet

n210mp · April 23, 2015

This last week received my BSP and thought that the amount was less that it should be, I think BKK or Bahtnet used a crappy rate.

Can anyone explain how the transaction works and what rate of exchange is used and if there are built in costs that dont show up on my bank statement?

Not sure which forum to use many thanks in appreciation

Rooo · April 23, 2015

Moved to Banking.

pontious · April 23, 2015

City Bank make the payments in Thailand. I get mine every 4th Friday ( the day it is due.) I get what the Bangkok Bank TT rate (very nearly) is for that day/time so am happy with that. If there are any charges they must be minimal as far as I can see.

Edited April 23, 2015 by pontious

pontious · April 23, 2015

Reading your post again am I right in assuming you get the pension paid in UK and you then transfer it to Thailand? If yes I suggest you get them to send it direct to Thailand - no delay and a good exchange rate.

JohnC · April 23, 2015

If you go into your local BB branch and ask for details of incoming funds they will print out a statement for that receipt, this will show what was actually transferred and what charges were incurred. I did this out of curiosity and the charges were I think .005% of amount plus a handling charge the whole amount was less than 150 baht. Given my UK bank charge £2 per withdrawal plus £1 handling charge and Thai ATM charge of 180 baht per withdrawal , over the counter attracts no Thai charges but NW still charge as above, alternatively you can do a swift transfer at £30 per transfer.

When I applied for my SP I gave them my BB details, International Pensions opened an account with Citibank in my name and sent me details, I gave these to another pension provider so two of my pensions go direct into my Bangkok Bank, no hassle with ATM fees etc, I tracked the exchange rate for a few months and it was comparable with market rates. After three years I am much happier with this method, my state pension is paid every fourth Thursday and is in my BB account Friday morning.

n210mp · April 23, 2015

Thanks for your reply but no I get the pension paid direct to my BB account

Ths months pension just seems to be a much lower amount no doubt to the exchange rate.

JohnC · April 23, 2015

Your query piqued my interest so I did my research with the following results.

Pension Jan - April. Jan - Feb +120 baht. Feb -March -213 baht. March -April. -563 baht.

I also looked at the historical rates for baht v £ for the past 12 months , we had a high of 55.61 baht per £ and the low we are currently in of 47.49 baht per £ . so yes your pension will drop accordingly. Hope this helps clarify the question.

Edited April 23, 2015 by JohnC

meatboy · April 24, 2015

one way you can do it,providing you have a uk.bank acc.

have your pension paid into the uk.bank and if you can afford to have it trans.[swift] once or twice a yr.then do it by transfering it in sterling to your thai bank.

this way you can moniter the exchange rate and when its a rate your happy with[dont be greedy] then do a next day trans.you pay the swift charge[mine 30gbp]

plus a small charge this end.this way you will benefit.otherwise its in the lap of the fixers.

Pib · April 24, 2015

International transfers get the TT Buying Rate which is about the best exchange rate the common man can get. On the Bangkok Bank receiving end they will apply a 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) currency receipt fee which is the typical fee for most Thai banks. And just to be clear this is when the funds arrived via an international transfer whether the funds arrive in a foreign currency or already converted to baht. Aforementioned fee does not include any fee the Sending bank/agency may apply and any correspondent/intermediary bank fees which occur before the funds arrived the inbox of your Thai bank/Bangkok Bank. And if your sending bank/agency routed the funds through another Thai bank first (i.e., a correspondent/intermediary) who may have accomplished the funds exchange, that Thai bank will probably charge a fee in addition to using their TT Buying Rate....and if using Bahtnet to transfer the funds over to Bangkok Bank there could be a bahtnet fee but then you would not incur the 0.25% international fee from Bangkok Bank since the funds are really just be transferred from another Thai bank.

You really need to research the rabbit trail your BSP will flow as the trail can vary depending on who and how the money was sent...but the longer the rabbit trail is the more likely more fees are applied as the different banksters (fat rabbits) take their slice in the form of a fee.

delboy · April 24, 2015

I recently set up the Bangkok Bank feature that enables an SMS to be sent whenever there is an international transfer to my account. However, my UK state pension which is paid "directly" into my account does not trigger the SMS. The answer was that the pension is not transferred directly into my account, it is transferred into another account in Thailand, and from there into my account. So when I receive the money it is classed as a domestic transfer.

I further investigated the charges imposed by Bangkok Bank on the crediting of the pension. They produced the transfer documents which showed that their charges are 100 baht fee, plus 0.1% of the amount.

My pension arrives every 4 weeks and the exchange rate favourably compares to the TT rate at the time.

mikebell · April 24, 2015

My

My (frozen) SP is paid into my UK bank every month. When I need to, I transfer 5K UKP to my Moneycorp account in London for free. I watch the rates then when I am, if not happy, satisfued/ desperate enough, I send 4992 UKP (8 pound charge) to my BKK bank.

I write down how many Thai baht I would get over the course of a week or so. Sometimes I win. I like playing at being an International Financier.

sandyf · April 24, 2015

I am the same, every 4th Friday between 9 and 9.30 am. In 3 years it has been late by 1 day twice and early by 1 day 3 times, due to bank holidays.

I always check the rate and it goes into my account at about the same as or sometimes better than SuperRich. The rate at the moment is the lowest it has been for a long time.

The rate has nothing to do with local accounts or services, the payments from DWP are made in Thai baht from the UK.

Edited April 24, 2015 by sandyf

chiang mai · April 26, 2015

Are you about the THB being purchased in the UK, it seems very odd that DWP is in the banking/forex business and/or that they can buy THB in volume, in the UK?

EDIT: I see from an earlier post which I missed that Citi Bank handles the transfer/purchase so that answers one part of my query, it still leaves unanswered whether Citi Bank can actually bulk buy THB outside of Thailand.

Edited April 26, 2015 by chiang mai

meatboy · April 26, 2015

according to a currency dealer who i had an account with,since 2010 they cannot buy bahts at a better rate offshore,than what you can get onshore.

and that was spot buying on the day.

Jip99 · April 26, 2015

I would think that Citibank have an unlimited supply of Baht.

Where they they score highly is that they know pretty much exactly what their daily/weekly/monthly/annual requirement for Baht is and can forward/take options on sizable amounts of Baht.

hathairat2711 · April 26, 2015

Government state pension paid direct every four weeks to Krungsri.

Arrives on a Friday and I get the best T/T rate available amongst all the Thai banks and no charges whatsoever.

Enjoy.

uptheos · April 26, 2015

Bit difficult on a frozen state pension, I would have thought?

sandyf · April 26, 2015

This is from the application form.

Notes to help you fill in Part 9 of IPC BR1 Directgov

What is International Pensions Direct Payment?

International Pensions Direct Payment is a way of paying your pension or benefit in local currency direct to an account of your choice outside the United Kingdom.

The advantages

Getting your money paid in this way has many advantages. We recommend you get your money this way because:

it is secure

it is convenient

you will benefit from competitive exchange rates based on bulk buying of currency

there are no postal delays

there are no cheque clearance delays

it is less expensive for us to arrange, which saves taxpayers’ money.

How does it work?

The £ sterling value of your money will be converted to local currency and paid directly to your account. Your pension or benefit will be paid in arrears.

You can choose to be paid at the end of 4 or 13 weeks

If you choose to be paid every 4 weeks

The money will be paid into an account for you in the week following each 4 week period. Your first payment might cover a period of 2 to 5 weeks, but after this all payments will cover a 4 week period.

If you choose to be paid every 13 weeks

The money will be paid into an account for you in the week following each 13 week period. Your first payment might cover a period of 2 to 14 weeks, but after this all payments will cover a 13 week period.

But if you are only going to get a small State Pension or benefit you will be paid once a year.

You can work out what exchange rate has been used for each payment by dividing the amount by the £ sterling value of your money.

IPC BR1 Directgov Banking Notes 04/11

1

sandyf · April 26, 2015

That may well be true but it is academic.

At the end of the day what counts is the rate into your account. My experience is a better rate than any other source open the general public.

Jip99 · April 26, 2015

They can if they buy forward for example.

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