How do banks get away with such blatant corruption?

[Sutty]

HSBC UK TO BANGKOK BANK overnight charge from HSBC £4 great service Exchange rate favourable. Done two weeks ago

[jacky54]

My last transfer in May went through the next day, charged 1000 baht by sending bank, NW, 1400 baht by receiving bank Tanachart and 750 baht by intermediary HSBC bank, it's getting expensive. Complaints to all except the home bank, including the consumer 'protection office in BKK never received replies

[jacko45k]

Sent some this week, did it at 10am Monday, money deposited in my corrupt Thai bank 9am Tuesday.

[Soutpeel]

My last transfer in May went through the next day, charged 1000 baht by sending bank, NW, 1400 baht by receiving bank Tanachart and 750 baht by intermediary HSBC bank, it's getting expensive. Complaints to all except the home bank, including the consumer 'protection office in BKK never received replies

i can well understand why they never responded.....what exactly is your complaint ? You authorised this transaction and they have provided the service requested, and aa with every service their is typically cost involved

[akampa]

With my bank here they hold the money in bangkok then charge around 1500 baht to transfer to my account My bank in Canada sends it for free.. Also had same savings account for more than 8 years always maintain minimum of 1,500,000 in account and not one baht of interest in 8 years. and this is a government bank.

well siily you !

[akampa]

With my bank here they hold the money in bangkok then charge around 1500 baht to transfer to my account My bank in Canada sends it for free.. Also had same savings account for more than 8 years always maintain minimum of 1,500,000 in account and not one baht of interest in 8 years. and this is a government bank.

Assuming you are talking a Thai bank you are not earning interest probably because they have your account coded as a non-resident in Thailand....maybe by mistake...maybe intentionally. Happens frequently if you opened the account when only having a tourist visa or no visa at all (i.e., just the 15 to 30 days entry given upon entry for a short visit/vacation)...also seen it happen for folks on a long stay visa like on a retirement visa/extension of stay, marriage visa/extension of stay, etc.

Go to the bank and tell them you live in Thailand...give them your Thai address...have them code it as interest earning...you then earn interest. Yeap, the bank probably has you coded as a non-resident.

the guys been here for 8 years don`t you think he should have wised up and asked why no interest.

[dotpoom]

You're using the wrong bank(s) then. Doesn't take that long at Bangkok Bank.

Bangkok Bank told me 5 days, I think it got there in 4.

[bascat]

I transfer money from my Swiss bank to UOB in Thailand (in SGD) and it arrives the next day. Always, already 6 years, every month. If the amount is very large, the bank will call to ask what the transfer is for.

[Anon999]

HSBC UK TO BANGKOK BANK overnight charge from HSBC £4 great service Exchange rate favourable. Done two weeks ago

You should be so lucky! My UK bank to BKK bank went via clearing bank HSBC in GBP for payment into a FCD account until they decided to change it into baht! BKK bank returned it to them which they then sent back to my UK bank! Did it twice on the same transaction with various charges of course. Despite being reimbursed by my UK bank for most of the charges I still ended up over £32 out of pocket from BKK bank. Now send it via BKK bank London who charge £20 to BKK bank Bangkok.

[Farang99]

You're using the wrong bank(s) then. Doesn't take that long at Bangkok Bank.

In my experience with Bangkok Bank money sent by UK banks arrives the following day, unless that is a weekend, it which case it is cleared first thing on the Monday

[Docno]

Not a matter of corruption and I'm not sure why you'd assume it to be so ... maybe just some gratuitous Thai bashing? My main account is with a Singapore government-linked bank. Whether I send money to Canada or to Thailand, it always takes several days to 'arrive' at the other end. The transfer charges aren't cheap either. But nothing to do with corruption (Singapore has a very closely regulated banking sector, which is one reason it thrives as an international finance hub).

[TheAppletons]

You're using the wrong bank(s) then. Doesn't take that long at Bangkok Bank.

wawawa wawawa wawaawwa this is a world wide practice , find another bank that is not as harsh . everyone wants a chunk of your sin sot money ..........

I have no idea what you're trying to say with this post and I'm pretty certain you didn't understand my post.

[timewilltell]

Ha ha you think you have problems. The banks are far more corrupt over here than that. How about banks facilitating money laundering in league with criminal money lenders. Two cases I know of. One case the local branch processed a loan for a woman of straw with a bad credit history and outstanding court judgements for a 10 million baht loan on a house purchased for 2.5 million the same day to facilitate the misapprpriation by money lenders. Worse they lent yet further money to the same woman because she could not pay the interest and needed more money - out of the mouths of the head office as some weird crazy excuse for the local branch. Nothing ever followed up just excuse after excuse. In the other case another bank and a local branch who processed a mortgage to a private individual purchasing from a criminal in which the two same individuals and bank already being sued.

Why do they do it - just a facilitation with an exchange of money called corruption which the head office take every step to avoid responsibility for whilst pleading innocence to ensure their mortgages get paid off from the victims assets.

I understand moaning about a few days to transfer and avoidance of interest because you are a foreigner and Thais are a nationalistic minded people to which foreigners are a nuisance with no rights. Of course the image projected is one of smiling welcoming people. Yeah right!

[timewilltell]

By the way - from personal experience and many chats with business people the SCB is probably the least bad of the lot. But your mileage may vary as local branches can be foreigner averse quite often.

[fred Kubasa]

In the UK, US and other nations the time between transfers is called " the float" and is restricted to a few hours or days but here, they get the funds as quickly but do not deposit them in your account for days and even weeks. They are using our money, without interest, for their own schemes but there is nothing one can do about it and is a major reason Thai banks enjoy double digit annual profits !

[shaurene]

With my bank here they hold the money in bangkok then charge around 1500 baht to transfer to my account My bank in Canada sends it for free.. Also had same savings account for more than 8 years always maintain minimum of 1,500,000 in account and not one baht of interest in 8 years. and this is a government bank.

Assuming you are talking a Thai bank you are not earning interest probably because they have your account coded as a non-resident in Thailand....maybe by mistake...maybe intentionally. Happens frequently if you opened the account when only having a tourist visa or no visa at all (i.e., just the 15 to 30 days entry given upon entry for a short visit/vacation)...also seen it happen for folks on a long stay visa like on a retirement visa/extension of stay, marriage visa/extension of stay, etc.

Go to the bank and tell them you live in Thailand...give them your Thai address...have them code it as interest earning...you then earn interest. Yeap, the bank probably has you coded as a non-resident.

I realy do not understand you all. I have had accounts for 9 yrs in 2 SCB branches and I get interest rates, I have 2.7mill in Krung bank and get interest. They never want to know anything. I only showed them my passport and the Kruung bank my passport and yellow house book.

[Ghostnigel]

do not know why there is a problem . i get my money in a matter of minutes , and a hand written thank you addressed to "Hansum Man . ....

Can you try and be more cocky? Smarmy seems to be your only way of answering...

[Ghostnigel]

You're using the wrong bank(s) then. Doesn't take that long at Bangkok Bank.

wawawa wawawa wawaawwa this is a world wide practice , find another bank that is not as harsh . everyone wants a chunk of your sin sot money ..........

I have no idea what you're trying to say with this post and I'm pretty certain you didn't understand my post.

Don't worry, i think mikiea is a 6 year old playing on his Dad's computer, he'll get bored soon and go back to playing in the garden....

[Jonmarleesco]

Really? I usually receive TTs from Europe - at least the UK - a day later; two at most. Presumably dependent on the Thai bank.

[mjnaus]

Having money send from Australia every month to my Kasikorn account, always arrives within a couple of hours...

[Jonmarleesco]

My last transfer in May went through the next day, charged 1000 baht by sending bank, NW, 1400 baht by receiving bank Tanachart and 750 baht by intermediary HSBC bank, it's getting expensive. Complaints to all except the home bank, including the consumer 'protection office in BKK never received replies

i can well understand why they never responded.....what exactly is your complaint ? You authorised this transaction and they have provided the service requested, and aa with every service their is typically cost involved

'... what exactly is your complaint ?' The number of channels involved in the 'service', perhaps. The intermediary bank system is a scam, no question.

[peterb17]

I really don't understand your comment about corruption- what are they doing - enjoying the fabulous interest rates on your millions ( or a few thousand?) for a few days.

As so many have pointed out- there is something wrong with the way YOU have set up your transfers - it takes less than a day for money to arrive. KBank will phone you to let you the money has arrived and advise you of the exchange rate.

Sort out your problems before accusing the banks of corruption- and be careful of the libel laws here!

[masuk]

Wire transfer from Bank of America to BKK bank. I time it right. I make the transfer at 9pm at night (about 9am in the US) and it is at my BKK bank between 1-3pm the following day. Once it didn't come in until 6pm for some reason. I've made up to 15 transfers over the last 6 years.

I do the same each month from Australia. I apply for a transfer at 10.00pm and the money is transferred from Oz$ first thing in the morning, and by the time it's 10:00 here, it's in the bank.

HOWEVER, I once had it transferred up in Thai Baht, and it took a good few days to arrive in my account.

[twix38]

slightly OT

On subject of Thai Banks and the deposit guarantee - amount covered if bank goes bust or problems.

The limit will be reduced to 1 million per bank in August 2016, so anyone wanting to remain fully covered needs a maximum of 1 Million Baht held per bank.

I have looked at Government bank's as should be more secure and the Gov't Savings bank needs a work permit to open account, but not the Gov't Home bank. btw, is it true as mentioned here earlier that Gov't Savings bank do not pay interest to foreigners? (just curious)

So, if anyone knows of any reason not to open a fixed deposit account with Gov't Home Bank, please tell me asap? TIA

Edited July 24, 2015 by twix38

[Soutpeel]

My last transfer in May went through the next day, charged 1000 baht by sending bank, NW, 1400 baht by receiving bank Tanachart and 750 baht by intermediary HSBC bank, it's getting expensive. Complaints to all except the home bank, including the consumer 'protection office in BKK never received replies

i can well understand why they never responded.....what exactly is your complaint ? You authorised this transaction and they have provided the service requested, and aa with every service their is typically cost involved

'... what exactly is your complaint ?' The number of channels involved in the 'service', perhaps. The intermediary bank system is a scam, no question.

The intermediary bank is not a scam in the least, you obviously have no idea how the system works, your ignorance of the system doesnt make it a scam, if you had done your due dilligence in the banks you use on both ends and picked the correct ones there would be no need for an intermedediary bank to affect the transaction

[IMA_FARANG]

I've seen the situation, (in the US), where if you send in $, it goes pretty quickly, but if you send in Baht, it goes to another bank for conversion first.. adding *days*.

-----------------

I'll say this again..... I've posted this before.

I have my U.S. Social Security pension direct deposited to my Bangkok Bank account in Thailand.

My pension is sent monthly from the International operations section of the Social Security in Maryland.

They do a batch transfer via computer for overseas Social Security pensioners at Midnight on the 3rd of every month from Maryland.

There is a 12 hour time difference between Maryland and Bangkok Thailand.

Midnight on the 3rd in Maryland is equivalent to noon of the 4th on the next day here in Bangkok (day difference due to the International Date line).

If I am waiting with my passbook at 12 noon at the Bangkok Bank main bank I can draw on my monthly pension transfer at 12:05.... or a total transfer time of 5 minutes from the funds release in Maryland to authorized as available for withdrawal in My Bangkok Bank account.

Yes, it takes some effort to set this up initially, but once you have the system working and have provided all the required documents your funds can litterly be transferred halfway around the world in 5 minutes or less.

I've done it or rather seen it done.

Yes, it works.

Edited July 24, 2015 by IMA_FARANG

[micmichd]

No problem with my pensions from Germany, they always come to Bangkok Bank at the end of month.

[camo007]

NAB or CBA Australian Bank to Kasikorn Thailand takes only 3 hours and I do it every week.

[12DrinkMore]

In fifteen years I have been very impressed by Thai banks. Never a problem.

Quick and efficient.

ATM transfers zap!!! There in an instant.

Forex exchange? Published rates, relatively small buy/sell spread on major cuurencies.

Uk banks?

Those arrogant bellheads do not even know about service. They only know about self-service and taking money off their customers.

Worst on the planet.

[jacky54]

My last transfer in May went through the next day, charged 1000 baht by sending bank, NW, 1400 baht by receiving bank Tanachart and 750 baht by intermediary HSBC bank, it's getting expensive. Complaints to all except the home bank, including the consumer 'protection office in BKK never received replies

i can well understand why they never responded.....what exactly is your complaint ? You authorised this transaction and they have provided the service requested, and aa with every service their is typically cost involved

'... what exactly is your complaint ?' The number of channels involved in the 'service', perhaps. The intermediary bank system is a scam, no question.

The intermediary bank is not a scam in the least, you obviously have no idea how the system works, your ignorance of the system doesnt make it a scam, if you had done your due dilligence in the banks you use on both ends and picked the correct ones there would be no need for an intermedediary bank to affect the transaction

I never claimed the intermediary bank was a scam, it's a charge that never used to apply. What is a scam is both the sending and beneficiary banks charging a total of over 2k baht for the 1k baht transfer fee. A further scam here is the deciding what the exchange rate will be to favour them. Once they gave me the rate which was lower when they received it to when the idiots got round to put it in my account. On a 2 million transfer they did it the other way round, not the higher rate when they got it but the lower rate when the finally put it into my account- a loss of 40k baht, thieves.

Edited July 24, 2015 by jacky54