Moving my money from US to Thailand

[anono2223]

Hello guys,

I have pored over the posts here trying to get my ducks in a row for my upcoming retirement to the Kingdom.

How do I get the money over there?

I would love to have a BBK account and use ACH xfers, but don't have an account, and can't get one outside Thailand.

What I have is $Xk in a Chase account. My wife of 10 years has an account at SCB.

First question, my wife is under the impression that if the account was opened in Bangkok, you pay a fee if you withdraw funds in another city. Is this the case? Seems like saying if I opened my Chase account in Dallas, and go to a Chase bank in Houston, they will charge a fee for the withdrawal?

Second question, looks like a SWIFT transfer is our only option. I read about telling the sending bank to not convert funds here, but have the receiving bank convert. How is that stipulated?

Third, is just a general, do you guys have any wisdom or advice regarding the process? Better ways of doing it? Things to definitely avoid?

Thank you so much, your advice is much appreciated.

Michael and Ta

[GaryB1263]

I use Schwab International Banking. My money stays in the US and I pay no ATM fees. Schwab reimburses 100%.

[Jingthing]

When you initiate a SWIFT transfer you just tell them to send the fund in dollars.

That is indeed how you want to send it.

Converting to baht before the send would be a big waste of money.

Every bank / financial institution has specific rules for sending SWIFT transfers.

In some cases they require that you visit your local office in the U.S. to identify and sign a SWIFT agreement.

You can also usually set up a separate thing for repeated transfers ... so that you don't need to enter the info every time.

Get clear details on their current policies but be warned they can change on you.

Like one bank I used gave me a 35 year password and later switched to 2 year passwords (for phone in SWIFT) which needed to be mailed to a U.S. address of the account.

That's another problem.

If you're open about moving to Thailand, banks may want to just get rid of you.

There are more ideal U.S. banking choice options.

Get the information now and do it ... it might be impossible later.

Also later you can open a Bangkok Bank account and set up the ACH thing ONLINE with pretty much any U.S. bank.

You need to make important decisions, such as whether to use the U.S. address of a friend or relative as your address for your U.S. accounts.

Which means you are basically posing as a U.S. resident. That can be useful but it has pitfalls as well.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Jingthing

[anono2223]

Thanks for the responses. This will probably be a one time transfer for now. Will have to reevaluate in 10 years or so when I can qualify for SS, but this one time, just gotta get funds over there now to start.

Reckon we will just go with the SWIFT, as the Schwaub idea won't work. To get the extension on the visa, we have to do the 800k Baht bank account thing. Don't wanna try doing that with an account in the US.

What about the other question: If her SCB account was opened in Bangkok, is there a fee if she withdraws cash, say in a Chiang Mai SCB location?

Thanks again,

Michael

[NeverSure]

Madman, LOL, Is your wife Thai? If so you could consider an extension based on marriage with lower qualifications in either income or a bank deposit than a retirement extension.

[anono2223]

Madman, LOL, Is your wife Thai? If so you could consider an extension based on marriage with lower qualifications in either income or a bank deposit than a retirement extension.

That is a possibility in the future, but we are going initially with a non imm O-A because that gives us 2 while years in country before we have to get an extension.

But, either way, we have to get our money over there first. Just looking for the best advice we can get from the fine folks here, hoping to learn from others' experiences.

Thanks for replying,

Michael

Edited July 3, 2015 by dynalmadman

[Jingthing]

Well your money doesn't need to be there in Thailand for an extension for two years then.

Open some U.S. bank accounts and when you get to Thailand, open a Bangkok Bank account, and then get the ACH links setup online with your U.S. banks.

Typically it involves verifying some small test deposits.

Then you can do transfers via ACH ... same as a domestic U.S. to U.S. technically.

These are initiated online from your U.S. accounts.

Why does your Thai wife need a Thai visa?

Edited July 3, 2015 by Jingthing

[anono2223]

Thanks Jingthing

Of course my wife needs no visa, I just refer to us as a couple, using 'we' and 'us' when in fact, I could be just referring to one of us.

Yes, we could leave our money here for a while and set up accounts, and use ACH when the time was right, but, essentially, I have no retirement income at this time. Just a big lump of money in the bank. So we will only be transferring once to minimize fees and costs, etc.

Plus, while I am retiring, she is not. She has her eyes on starting a business and will need capital to get that rolling.

So, simplify my question: If you wanted to move a chunk of money from Chase Bank US, joint account in both our names, to SCB account in her name, how would YOU do it?

Thanks so much for answering,

Michael

[Jingthing]

Call up Chase and ask them about their SWIFT transfer policies and follow them and transfer your chunk of money.

It may be complicated by the U.S. account being joint.

Keep in mind that later for bank qualification for extensions, money in Thai bank will need to be in your name, and your name ONLY.

Maybe someone has a Chase bank account and can give you specific Chase advice.

Keep in mind that each bank/financial institution does things differently.

BTW, ACH transfer fees are very minimal so that shouldn't be much of a factor in your decision.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Jingthing

[anono2223]

Keep in mind that later for bank qualification for extensions, money in Thai bank will need to be in your name, and your name ONLY.

Yes we are very clear on that. My name only when it comes to the extension.

Thanks again Jingthing

Michael

[Jingthing]

I suggest you consider opening more U.S. bank accounts before you leave. Expats here can suggest the better banks for expats. If you're only relying on Chase and have nothing else, if Chase decides to block your account or drop you for any number of reasons, it is then very hard to open any new U.S. accounts from Thailand.

[Pib]

I too would highly recommend you have more than one U.S. bank account....and Chase ain't known as a low fee bank.

I would recommend you fully consider the costs of doing funds transfers, both from your Sending bank and on the Thai bank receiving in. With your Chase and SCB combo you are stuck with doing pricy SWIFT transfers vs lower cost ACH transfers. Now if you were say with Chase and Bangkok Bank you could do a low cost ACH transfer since Bangkok Bank is the only Thai bank with ACH receiving capability...and I'm assuming Chase provides low cost ACH sending capability vs just providing pricey SWIFT transfers only.

Also, the Chase debit card...does it carry a foreign transaction fee (I bet it does) and does in reimburse foreign ATM fee (I bet it don't).

And one final thing, by using a U.S. "credit" card to pay for things in Thailand you can greatly reduce you need to transfer money from the U.S. to Thailand thereby savings transfer fees...and maybe the card even pays cash back. The credit card(s) you do have, do they charge a foreign transaction fee? If they do, get one (or more) that does not.

While your current bank may have worked fine for "within the U.S." transactions, once you are living overseas the transfer fees and foreign transaction fees come into play....fees you never worried about while living in the States...but once living overseas they can eat your lunch and cause financials headaches. Review your banking products (i.e., transfer, debit cards, credit cards, etc) regarding fees and open new accounts if required to prevent those fees and which will also get you away from having all your eggs in one financial basket like being with just one bank, having just one credit card, etc.

Yeap, your U.S. bank account and associated debit/credit cards may be just fine for U.S. usage but suck fee-wise for foreign usage. Evaluate those foreign fees which maybe you never had the need to do before but you definitely need to now. Good luck.

[longball53098]

No one has answered your question about the local inter region bank fees.

Answer: The banking here is different than the US. Moving cash between banks of the same name but to a branch in a different region you pay a small fee. If you take cash from a SCB ATM in another region you pay a small fee. You can do all the banking you like within your region, cross that line and you pay

I have a Chase account for years. Did many expensive Swift transfers over the years to my SCB account until I learned about Chase to BBL ACH transfers and cut the cost. It would be best for you to have a personal account at SCB as Chase may give you grief moving money to someone else's account but I am not sure on that one. I know one of the banking gurus will set that straight.

[phinick]

I have an account with Bank Of America in the U.S. And Bangkok Bank in Thailand. Since Bangkok Bank has a branch in New York, I do a domestic wire to the N.Y. Branch with my account number, and it goes into my Bangkok Bank for as little as $3.00 USD.

[masuk]

DO NOT have funds sent here in Thai baht. The banks do strange things with the money for a few days.

Have it sent in U$ and the bank converts it on arrival.

BKK bank gives one of the worst exchange rates.

[bluebluewater]

Americans need only to go to their embassy and "declare" their monthly income and they will receive a notarized statement from the embassy which is then provided to Thai immigration. No real need to have the 800K (or the lesser marriage amount) in any bank here in Thailand.

If that is the only real reason you want to move a big chunk of change to Thailand you really don't need to do it.

I've lived here for years with the "retirement' visa and have one little 'ol account here with maybe 10K baht in it and all of the rest of my money stays in the States. That Charles Schwab account is a wonderful thing and at no cost!

Happy 4th of July!

Edited July 4, 2015 by bluebluewater

[GaryB1263]

Americans need only to go to their embassy and "declare" their monthly income and they will receive a notarized statement from the embassy which is then provided to Thai immigration. No real need to have the 800K (or the lesser marriage amount) in any bank here in Thailand.

If that is the only real reason you want to move a big chunk of change to Thailand you really don't need to do it.

I've lived here for years with the "retirement' visa and have one little 'ol account here with maybe 10K baht in it and all of the rest of my money stays in the States. That Charles Schwab account is a wonderful thing.

Happy 4th of July!

Schwab International Banking is free.

[Shiver]

Bringing money into Thailand is easy. Taking it back out gets lots of questions. There are variable fees within Thailand (same bank, same province, different bank, different province etc). For international fees it seems to be a fixed rate for a given institution from my own experience, usually about USD$15 no matter what the amount. Personally I choose amounts below the $10,000 threshold to avoid questioning or time delays, but if sending more than that per transaction would be more efficient. Conversion rates I'm not familiar with, but do recall when I first got here with GBP paper money, the exchange rate in person was better than forex, which raised an eyebrow, but I just moved swiftly on.

[DrDave]

A lot of very good information has been provided here in response to the OP.

I would add just a couple of things that have been mentioned in previous similar threads:

(1) Make sure that your US bank will allow a transfer to your Thai bank if the account titles (e.g. the account holder name) is not exactly the same. For instance, E*Trade only allows wire transfers out to an account that you own. This is probably not an issue for most US banks, but it has bitten me in the past.

(2) Make sure you understand the online security procedures that have been put in place by your US bank for transferring funds out. These can include simple PINs, OTPs (one time passwords sent via SMS to a US cell phone or email) or a code that's randomly generated on a device that the bank provides you. Make sure that you'll be able to complete the security procedure when initiating a transfer from Thailand - that is, that you can receive a SMS sent to a US phone, receive an email, or you have any security device that's required.

[ehs818]

Having moved over here in 2002 I had many of the same questions. My advice is to keep almost all of your money in the US.It is far safer than being in Thailand. I didn't see an answer to the question asked of you about if your wife is Thai. And is she your legally married wife, or something different. Keep EVERYTHING in your own name. Period. When you transfer money over via Funds Transfer, it comes in dollars and is converted here. You would get a terrible rate in the USA. I have Citibank in the US and Kasikorn Bank in Thailand. Can transfer up to $50,000 USD at a time for a cost of $30 USD. Whenever I go back to the USA I bring back just under $10,000 USD. Crisp new bills. I exchange them here myself. As for your wife starting some business here, remember these valuable words. "The fastest way to have a small fortune in Thailand is to bring over a large fortune. EVERYONE will be out to get your money, legally or not. And don't exclude your wifes family from that group. National hobby here is 'sub ngern jak farang'. Literally translated means 'suck the money from the farang'. It is the national past time. Don't mean to sound all negative, but I've seen many many men make stupid decisions after being coerced or guilted into things by their Thai spouses. Be careful.

[Jingthing]

Also keep in mind that security and wiring policies change over time. So you can be an expert in the current policies and ready to meet them and then tomorrow they change and you can't. That is why I keep repeating the advice ... have multiple U.S. accounts in case one or more doesn't work out.

You can also transfer money between the U.S. banks online.

[ToddinChonburi]

Does your bank do internet banking ? Do they work with POP Money

You can transfer money this way with a very small fee.

I use Usbank to do this with there external transfer system.

You can open account with Bangkok Bank when you get here.

You can also bring a cashiers check with you, I brought $20,000 it takes about 3 weeks to clear.

[Jeffrey346]

The easiest thing is to open a BKK Bank account when you arrive here in Thailand. Open an Internet account with BKK as well. Now you can transfer funds from your US bank to BKK via ACH.

As for city fees, yes you pay a surcharge for using your card in other regions.

[Jeffrey346]

Does your bank do internet banking ? Do they work with POP Money

You can transfer money this way with a very small fee.

I use Usbank to do this with there external transfer system.

You can open account with Bangkok Bank when you get here.

You can also bring a cashiers check with you, I brought $20,000 it takes about 3 weeks to clear.

I just deposited a check into my BKK account. BKK now uses Bank America to clear checks and it took 3 days.

[elgordo38]

Bangkok bank has a branch in the USA you could deposit there and transfer here. I use Forex they give me a quote and I book at that price. If your wife is Thai you get away with a 400,000 bahts (marriage visa but a lot of strings attached) in the bank if she is foreign you must also provide 800,000 for her total deposit 1,600,000 bahts. Being an American you should read up on a bill called FATCA and how it will affect you. It comes into full force in 2018. Also I had an American friend just move here and a money manager in the USA advised him to move ALL his money to Thailand and I concur I think a currency shitstorm is coming. I think you can make a template of what is happening in Greece and see it come to other countries in the next 5 years. If China boxes the USA into a corner by becoming a currency of last resort look out. A lot of countries including my own is "gunning" for the USA probing for weaknesses. Its a dog eat dog world. If your heavily in debt your vunnerable.

Edited July 4, 2015 by elgordo38

[bazza40]

Agree with ehs818 100%. Transfer your money in dollars, otherwise you will encounter "Dynamic Currency Conversion" which is a Western bank's euphemism for legalised theft.

There is a fee ( usually 150 baht ) for withdrawal from a branch outside the city where you established the account.

DO NOT under any circumstances have joint accounts or joint assets. Too many horror stories, including Thai partners or families taking out loans against the assets - for which you can become responsible.

If you are legally married, ensure you have a Thai will as well your will in your country of origin. Otherwise when you die, it could get messy and subvert your wishes.

[fxe1200]

Madman, LOL, Is your wife Thai? If so you could consider an extension based on marriage with lower qualifications in either income or a bank deposit than a retirement extension.

That is a possibility in the future, but we are going initially with a non imm O-A because that gives us 2 while years in country before we have to get an extension.

But, either way, we have to get our money over there first. Just looking for the best advice we can get from the fine folks here, hoping to learn from others' experiences.

Thanks for replying,

Michael

I tried transactions, and found out that TRANSFERWISE is the cheapest way to send money with. Check it out and compare.

[akentryan]

Just went thru this last year. Leave your money in Chase. When you get to Thailand open an acccount at Bangkok Bank. Go to Chase on-line and get your Bangkok Bank account registered. They will make a couple of deposits (under a dollar each). You may have to go to the bank to get the amount of each deposit. Then respond with the verification on-line to Chase. Once your Bangkok Bank account is approved you are good to go. I do not know if there is a limit per transaction as I have never had the occasion to transfer more than US$10,000 a pop. Are there charges for transactions for accounts in other cities? Yes for deposits and probably withdrawals but typically 20 or 30 baht a transaction. The transfer from Chase will go into your account in baht and it is always a few satang less than the going rate. I have completed a transfer in is little as 4 days but it usually takes a couple more.

[Pib]

I have an account with Bank Of America in the U.S. And Bangkok Bank in Thailand. Since Bangkok Bank has a branch in New York, I do a domestic wire to the N.Y. Branch with my account number, and it goes into my Bangkok Bank for as little as $3.00 USD.

Correct if you were sending no more that $100 regarding the $3 fee that is sliced off as it flows thru the NY branch...the NY branch uses a sliding scale fee based on amount being sent. And don't forget there is also the 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) receiving fee at your in-Thailand branch.

[shaurene]

You will find that most banks will convert the US$ to Baht. If you have a USA $ account in Thailand you can transfer it to that account.

I noticed you stated US$xk do you mean 10,000 if so just take it in cash with you, do not transfer it. If you not going to Thailand yet then keep hold of it as it will strengthen more to the Baht.