Transferring funds from America to Thailand (Bangkok Bank)

[skatewash]

Had her inquire at BB bank and they just said the the exchange rate cannot be provided to Thai account holders ????

Suspect that might be a software issue if true. Perhaps too many characters required for the Thai version?

Could also be most would not be looking for this as closely as a foreigner and be confusing.

I don't read Thai but am sure that there are no exchange rate numbers in the text that she receives, see for yourself, compared to BB SMS in English

BB transfers eng and thai.png

Well, I don't read Thai either, but what I get from what has been posted is the following:

Account number X4799 has available balance of 1,591.00 Baht at 2:03 PM on 9/21

Transfer from abroad has deposited 71,799.55 Baht into account number X4799 resulting in available balance of 73,390.55 Baht

So, it would seem there is a lot of information missing from the equivalent Thai language notification message that is present in the English language version.

[boatguy]

As noted from above, I set up a repetitive wire transfer service from my bank in the USA through the Bangkok Bank in New York, I used my existing account here in Thailand. I call the bank's wire transfer desk in the USA when they open (night time in Bangkok) make the transfer, the US bank charges me $40 for this service, there are no transfer fees by BKK Bank (none that I know of anyway). The following morning, provided it is a weekday and not a holiday here in Thailand, when the bank opens, my money is in my account here.

I'm a bit confused.. I use BKK Bank NY to do 3 transfers each month from 3 different sources. My bank charges me $1.50 and BKK Bank NY charges $5. for each transfer. BKK Bank Thailand has the funds in my account the next working day and charges me B200 for each transfer.

What confuses me me is why you are paying $40. and no BKK fees and why the need to call the bank in NY?

Yes. My US bank charges $0 to do a domestic transfer to the NY Branch of Bangkok Bank. Bangkok Bank deducts $5 ( at one time I think they charged a bit more for larger amounts. Not sure if that's still the case). Bangkok Bank in Thailand deducts Baht 200 from the baht deposit.

If you sign up for the SMS service in Thailand, you'll get an SMS when the transfer is completed showing the dollar amount, the exchange rate, the Baht 200 deduction, the amount deposited here and your account balance following the transfer.

Been doing it for more than 10 years and never once had any problem or delays (although weekends and either Thai or US holidays can slow things down occasionally).

As several others have said, you open an account with Bangkok Bank at a branch in Thailand. That's the account number you use when doing the transfer to the New York branch.

I have to come back to this subject thread and reread it,...and add a few of my experiences. I've had quite a number of occasions to utilize their New York facility, and felt I gotten ripped off on more than one occasion.

[boatguy]

Exchange takes place in Thailand at the published rate TT for the time processed. Currently 35.08

Moneygram current rate about 33.66

About a 4% loss using commercial transfer service

That is the sort of losses (4%) I have experienced with transfers thru BK Bank of NY. Most of it occurs due to the exchange rates they utilize. Their website quotes that they will utilize the exchange rate of the BK Bank in Bangkok Thailand...., but in reality they have used the rate existing in New York on most all of my transactions. And when I complained by letter they responded by letter to tell me this was their normal operating procedure.

I just checked the Western Union rate and found a substantial difference as well. If you used their services at this time, I think you would loose 4-6 % of your funds,...hy-way robbery

[lopburi3]

Are you actually talking about a USD ACH transfer?

They use the Bangkok published TT rate of exchange and it is done here in Thailand - not in New York. New York just passes USD minus there fixed fee.

My last transfer was July 4th credited here - I sent $5,000 and $4,990 was transferred to Bangkok from New York at the current TT rate of 34.89. A total of 435.25 baht was deducted as the 1/4% fee making my total credit to account 173,665.85. Information was fully detailed in SMS deposit alert.

[Pib]

boatguy,

Ditto to what lopiburi3 said.

Also, are you doing an ACH transfer in that you are specifically using the Bangkok Bank NY branch ABA/ACH routing number or are you doing a wire/SWIFT transfer where you are using the Bangkok Bank SWIFT routing number.

Normally, to be using the NY branch ABA/ACH routing number and using your Sending bank ibanking you would have already went through a process to set up an ABA/ACH transfer link in your ibanking account. If so, when transferring funds to the NY branch you are effectively doing a "domestic" transfer of dollars....conversation of dollars to baht then happens at the in-Thailand Bangkok Bank branch end using the TT Buying Rate.

But if you are doing a Wire/SWIFT transfer using the Bangkok Bank SWIFT code then either your Sending bank or it's intermediary bank (which could possibly be Bangkok Bank NY but probably not) is doing the conversion within the U.S....which means you get a significantly lower exchange rate. That's normally what happens unless you specifically specify to the Sending bank not to convert the funds while sending...the receiving bank is to do the conversion. Seen plenty of posts on ThaiVisa where the person was sending this way and getting hit with the lower exchange rate.

My hunch it's your Sending bank or the method of sending which "you" selected which is allowing conversion within the U.S.

[ChouDoufu]

it works!  took 2 weeks to link my brokerage account in 

new york to the bangkok bank account; required to download

a form, sign and mail in.  (no notary or medallion needed).

 

got email from broker on 8/9 that link was active, sent 

$1000 that night online EFT.  email on 8/10 received 

that transfer had been sent to bank bank new york branch.

 

took five days to post to bangkok account, possibly due to

the 4-day holiday here.  checked sunday evening...nothing.

8/15 (checked atm at noon) showed deposit of 34,246

 

rates last night 8/14 9PM:  BKK BK  34.38  XE.com  34.77

rate 2pm today:  SCB bangkapi mall  34.18

online 3pm today:  BKK BK  34.22  XE.com  34.61

 

and what rate did i get for the conversion?

 

xfer $1000, minus $5 for New York Branch.

deposit after local branch fee (min 200, max 500) of 200 baht:  34,246

(fee works out to $5.78)

deposit before service fee (my calculation anyway):  34,446

 

conversion rate:  34.619  total fee for $1000 transfer:  $10.78

[Sojuncoke]

On 8/15/2016 at 5:23 AM, ChouDoufu said:

it works!  took 2 weeks to link my brokerage account in 

new york to the bangkok bank account; required to download

a form, sign and mail in.  (no notary or medallion needed).

 

got email from broker on 8/9 that link was active, sent 

$1000 that night online EFT.  email on 8/10 received 

that transfer had been sent to bank bank new york branch.

 

took five days to post to bangkok account, possibly due to

the 4-day holiday here.  checked sunday evening...nothing.

8/15 (checked atm at noon) showed deposit of 34,246

 

rates last night 8/14 9PM:  BKK BK  34.38  XE.com  34.77

rate 2pm today:  SCB bangkapi mall  34.18

online 3pm today:  BKK BK  34.22  XE.com  34.61

 

and what rate did i get for the conversion?

 

xfer $1000, minus $5 for New York Branch.

deposit after local branch fee (min 200, max 500) of 200 baht:  34,246

(fee works out to $5.78)

deposit before service fee (my calculation anyway):  34,446

 

conversion rate:  34.619  total fee for $1000 transfer:  $10.78

 

 

why did it take 2 weeks to link your brokerage account? Did you use BK bank New york branch routing number to send 2 small deposits? Which should just take 3 days? 

[lopburi3]

BBL rates change several times a day so you would get rate when deposit made. If you have BBL send SMS it will be listed.

[Pib]

On 8/15/2016 at 4:23 PM, ChouDoufu said:

it works!  took 2 weeks to link my brokerage account in 

new york to the bangkok bank account; required to download

a form, sign and mail in.  (no notary or medallion needed).

 

got email from broker on 8/9 that link was active, sent 

$1000 that night online EFT.  email on 8/10 received 

that transfer had been sent to bank bank new york branch.

 

took five days to post to bangkok account, possibly due to

the 4-day holiday here.  checked sunday evening...nothing.

8/15 (checked atm at noon) showed deposit of 34,246

 

rates last night 8/14 9PM:  BKK BK  34.38  XE.com  34.77

rate 2pm today:  SCB bangkapi mall  34.18

online 3pm today:  BKK BK  34.22  XE.com  34.61

 

and what rate did i get for the conversion?

 

xfer $1000, minus $5 for New York Branch.

deposit after local branch fee (min 200, max 500) of 200 baht:  34,246

(fee works out to $5.78)

deposit before service fee (my calculation anyway):  34,446

 

conversion rate:  34.619  total fee for $1000 transfer:  $10.78

Well, from your description the bulk of the time was the initial setup of the funds transfer link (including mailing time) with your U.S. brokerage.  Blame that on your brokerage company setup requirements.   Apparently your brokerage company don't allow a person to setup the funds transfer themselves via your online account?    If they do allow online setup by the individual then they would have used one of two methods....one method is a setup which allows "Send and Pull" transfers which usually will require trial deposits and the other method is just a setup to send "Send" which usually does not require trial deposit.  The setup methods allowed used by your financial company all depends on the policy of the company. 

 

And in setting up a transfer link to Bangkok Bank although you may set it up as a Send and Pull link with your U.S.financial company do not, repeat, do not attmpt a Pull as it will be rejected by Bangkok Bank...and then  your U.S. financial company will probably freeze the transfer link things some fraudulent transaction was attempted.  Summary:  No-Can-Pull from Bangkok Bank due to Bank of Thailand tight controls on outflow of funds.

 

And just because your U.S. brokerage said they initiated the transfer on day X that does not necessary mean the funds actually left their hands...instead it may just  indicated the started their internal transfer to get it out their front door.

 

When it comes to transfers, weekends and holidays (U.S. and Thai) are non-business days and your transfer just sets wherever it was at when the weekend/holiday arrived.   With the possible exception of a SWIFT transfer, you will not see any posting action from a Thai bank on a weekend or holiday even if the transfer did arrive their inbox so to speak...and I doubt you would even see a SWIFT transfer posted on a weekend.   On the Thai bank end posting is pretty much just a Mon-Fri thing, which is pretty much the same for U.S. financial companies although some U.S. financial companies may count a Saturday as a normal business day.

 

Now that you have your transfer link setup, your future ACH transfers should go much faster...1 to 3 business days....and just remember, weekend and holidays don't count in the transfer time.

 

 

 

 

[ChouDoufu]

two weeks was the total time period, starting from downloading and printing the

required form AND mailing it to new york.  i'm not sure they did the two small

deposit routine.  just got an email from the broker that the link was now

active.  according to pib above, i've only got the send link set up.

 

the first real transfer took 5 days to post at bangkok bank, but that

was over a holiday weekend.  next time may be shorter....or longer.

 

not complaining in any way about the time or paperwork. 

just reporting my experience.

 

[Pib]

Highly doubtful the brokerage did two small trial deposits; trial deposits usually involved the account owner.  The sending bank sends to small trail deposits for under one dollar....it's then up to you the account owner to get with the receiving bank and see what amount the two deposits were for (only you the account owner could get that info)...you then report that back to your sending bank/brokerage which completes the verification process....the transfer link is now setup.    

 

And even if you had used used two trial deposits method while the deposits would have arrived Bangkok Bank and you could contact the bank to see what the amount was in U.S. dollars the sending bank would not be able to pull back the trial deposits as Bangkok Bank would not have allowed it.   I've been through the process several times over the years in setting up and changing transfer links (Send & Pull and Send Only) between my U.S. brokerage and banks to a couple of Bangkok Bank accounts I have.

[Langsuan Man]

14 hours ago, ChouDoufu said:

two weeks was the total time period, starting from downloading and printing the

required form AND mailing it to new york

 

How about naming this brokerage firm so that other TV members can stay away from them

 

Have never heard of anyone having to "mail" anything to New York.  I established the EFTS function with Bangkok Bank's New York branch with Fidelity, Schwab, USAA  and several other financial entities without anything other than establishing a link electronically using my online brokerage or banking system

 

And as PIB stated none required a test deposit once they were aware that the EFTS transfers were only going to be a one way: TO Bangkok Bank.  All that had to be done was to wait three business days for the Bangkok Bank Account ownership to be verified  

[Pib]

Some financial companies/banks still require a mail-in form to setup funds transfers links as they want your signature....they are just not satisfied with a person doing it via their online account.

 

In fact and just for example if going back just around 5 years (or less) when setting up a funds transfer link with Schwab, to setup a transfer link tied to our Schwab Bank "checking" account you had to mail-in a form to Schwab...you could not do it online.  Once the form was rec'd and approved it then appeared in your online account for use.  But now I'm pretty sure you can setup that online with trial deposits from a brief look a few minutes ago at my Schwab brokerage and checking accounts.  

 

And to this day if you have a Schwab Bank "Savings" account you have to mail in a form...no can do online....and it was only with the last two months that Schwab Bank started offering estatements for it's savings accounts....but they have had estatements for their brokerage and checking accounts for a long time.   Schwab hasn't been the fastest in getting away from paperbased forms for some things.

 

However, for the Schwab "brokerage" account you could setup transfer links online via trial deposits for a long time.  

 

And in all cases above where setting up the link online was allowed you still also had the option of mailing in a form instead to setup the link(s).  Still that way with Schwab Brokerage/Bank.

 

Don't know what brokerage company the OP was talking about...just wanted to give these example of a well known brokerage/bank like Schwab.   And some people still don't like using online accounts that much and prefer to stick with mail-in forms or calling in transfers.  To each his own.

 

[ChouDoufu]

this was with fidelity.

 

followed directions from their online chat rep.

perhaps the rep doesn't know all.

there was no mention of push-pull.

indeed, the rep at first said it was not possible,

until restated (a few times) that would be using

the new york branch of bkk doing a domestic transfer.

 

perhaps fidelity changed the rules to increase security?

 

[Langsuan Man]

16 hours ago, ChouDoufu said:

this was with fidelity.

 

followed directions from their online chat rep.

perhaps the rep doesn't know all.

there was no mention of push-pull.

indeed, the rep at first said it was not possible,

until restated (a few times) that would be using

the new york branch of bkk doing a domestic transfer.

 

 

 

I can add any external account with Fidelity online so I still don't understand this  printing the required form AND mailing it to new york. that you talk about in post # 70

 

 

 

[ChouDoufu]

yes, you can apply to add any bank account online.

but NOW if that bank is bkk, your online application

will be held in review until you provide the requested

signed and mailed document.  scan/email not

accepted.

 

4-page fidelity document #1.932149.107

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Authorization

 

AND

 

"...Attach a deposit slip or account statement..."

 

AND you will find that despite being a fidelity customer

since 1985 and using the same us residence address

that entire time, once you link bkk bank, your (well, at

least MY) account will be restricted.....no purchase

of mutual funds.

 

so, ummm, any brokers left that will still do business

with expats, including buy/sell us-based mutual funds?

 

BLANK-electronic-funds-transfer-and-bank-wire.pdf

[Langsuan Man]

7 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

yes, you can apply to add any bank account online.

but NOW if that bank is bkk, your online application

will be held in review until you provide the requested

signed and mailed document. 

 

AND you will find that despite being a fidelity customer

since 1985 and using the same us residence address

that entire time, once you link bkk bank, your (well, at

least MY) account will be restricted.....no purchase

of mutual funds.

 

so, ummm, any brokers left that will still do business

with expats, including buy/sell us-based mutual funds?

 

 

Did you even look at the screen shot that I posted?   It is pretty clear that one of my "linked" accounts is Bangkok Bank and it was added online with NO PAPERWORK required, in fact it did not even need to do test deposits since Fidelity was smart enough to understand that I could only PUSH to Bangkok Bank and not PULL from Bangkok Bank

 

Unfortunately since I have already linked to Bangkok Bank from Fidelity I can't do it over again to show you the process step by step

 

And believe me there have been absolutely no restrictions from Fidelity and trading because I have linked to Bangkok Bank:

15 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

AND you will find that despite being a fidelity customer

since 1985 and using the same us residence address

that entire time, once you link bkk bank, your (well, at

least MY) account will be restricted.....no purchase

of mutual funds.

  

Just like the same setup with Schwab, has not effected my ability to trade with them either 

 

 

 

[ChouDoufu]

and WHEN did you link your account?

i did the same.....APPLIED online to link the account.

the APPLICATION was of course accepted, but held

in review until the paper documents were confirmed.

 

the online application is just that, an APPLICATION.

normally the approval would be automatic....a domestic

bank should be linked almost immediately.  but with

BKK (at least in my case, YKMMV!), the application

is flagged for review.

 

brokerages are tightening up due to increased

enforcement of treasury rules/regulations.

what was possible in the past, may not be so

in the now.

 

you are most welcome to prove me wrong.  feel free

to delete your linked account and re-apply online.

 

and with my account, there were no restrictions

whatsoever.  or so i thought.  transaction was

restricted when attempting to purchase a mutual

fund last night.  online rep told me a letter stating

same had been sent to my us residence dated

december 12.   haha, was also told i can clear

the restriction any time by appearing in person

at a fidelity investment center in the us.