Foreign currency account ,any good?

[bert bloggs]

I was looking at opening a foreign currency account ,i am with Ayudda bank , but it seems that you have to pay 1% to even withdraw it , cant see if you earn any interest , anyone have one ? or any advice , perhaps a safe deposite box is just as good .

[trd]

I have an FCD account with Krungsri. There is no transaction charge for withdrawing foreign currency and changing to Baht or depositing foreign currency. The 1% is just on the initial deposit of foreign currency deposit which was GBP 500 in my case, which is needed to open the account and must be in cash bank notes.

 

 

[THAIJAMES]

SCB allows you to open an account and then wire transfer funds in the same currency at no charge.

There is also no charge for taking out money in Thai baht.  Where they get you is if you need to send money back home or take out money in the original currency.

 

UOB seems to have the best rates if you need to take out money in foreign currency

If you just need to hold foreign currency and take out Thai Baht as needed then most of them will be ok.

[trd]

Sorry, just realized. The maximum charge for inward remittance of foreign currency is 500 baht which is pretty good as far I'm concerned.

 

 

[i claudius]

Thanks for replies i was intending to take cash out in foreign currency as the bank exchange rates are not to good also i would not be transfering currency just depositing it over here

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[12DrinkMore]

1 hour ago, i claudius said:

Thanks for replies i was intending to take cash out in foreign currency as the bank exchange rates are not to good also i would not be transfering currency just depositing it over here

1. They will hit you for 1% if you withdraw foreign banknotes.

 

2. You can transfer from the forex account to a THB account and get the TT rate, which is almost certainly better than being charged 1% and then going to an exchange booth.

 

3. They have to ring head office before making transactions, so do not expect to head in just before closing and taking out cash.

 

4. Transfer from the forex account to the THB account can take a couple of hours or overnight if you go in late.

 

5. Safety deposit boxes are (around here) all subscribed with a waiting list. Krungsri wanted THB 20,000 deposit (might be local charge, I dunno)

 

6. You can get interest on longterm fixed deposits. AUD will give you 2.5% for 1 year, less tax which you can claim back.

[fletchsmile]

Generally FCY accounts aren't good value for money in Thailand, and if you are able to it's very likely you'll get better value overseas.  Likely better rates too.

 

General availability of the product to is relatively new in Thailand for retail investors. Fees for depositing, withdrawing etc are a reflection of that, and all these charges make them poor vfm, as you often don't need to pay the charges elsewhere outside Thailand.

 

That said there are occasionally some decent promotions on FCY accounts. Stan Chart had some reasonable ones a while back, but given the Tisco takeover I wouldn't hold your breath for the future. Which leads into another factor, Thai banks don't have large foreign currency balance sheet assets so have little relative need for FCY deposits/liabilities to fund them. (Perhaps with the exception of USD, although even then most Thai banks typically have under 5% USD on their balance sheets. They lend very little USD to individuals,  and it's more common to lend USD for corporates/ companies) 

[trd]

Regarding Point 4.
Transfer and conversion from the FCD account to your Thai savings account is instantaneous. You can do it through online banking. Also you can use your FCD ATM debit card to convert the foreign currency in your account to Baht and withdraw it from any Krungsri ATM machine.

[i claudius]

Thanks for the replies

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[Isan Farang]

3 hours ago, 12DrinkMore said:

1. They will hit you for 1% if you withdraw foreign banknotes.

 

2. You can transfer from the forex account to a THB account and get the TT rate, which is almost certainly better than being charged 1% and then going to an exchange booth.

 

3. They have to ring head office before making transactions, so do not expect to head in just before closing and taking out cash.

 

4. Transfer from the forex account to the THB account can take a couple of hours or overnight if you go in late.

 

5. Safety deposit boxes are (around here) all subscribed with a waiting list. Krungsri wanted THB 20,000 deposit (might be local charge, I dunno)

 

6. You can get interest on longterm fixed deposits. AUD will give you 2.5% for 1 year, less tax which you can claim back.

6. You can get interest on long term fixed deposits. AUD will give you 2.5% for 1 year, less tax which you can claim back.

 

Am i correct if you have AUD in a Thai Bank and the funds are in a Time Deposit they will pay you 2.5 % interest and the interest received will be in AUD.

 

 

[JayBird]

I have yet to find a bank that will let you manage your foreign currency account online. So if you are out of country and want to wire money out of Thailand from your fcd account, you can not. Personal presence in branch in Thailand required.

 

Confirmed at Bangkok Bank and UOB.

 

If someone else knows better please share.

[maxcorrigan]

47 minutes ago, JayBird said:

I have yet to find a bank that will let you manage your foreign currency account online. So if you are out of country and want to wire money out of Thailand from your fcd account, you can not. Personal presence in branch in Thailand required.

 

Confirmed at Bangkok Bank and UOB.

 

If someone else knows better please share.

Plus you obviously cannot have a debit card, which presumably means a trip to the bank everytime to change FC to THB which is free except for a one of charge this is with KRUNG Thai bank. 

[jacko45k]

I didn't like the cost associated nor see much interest to be had.

Perhaps useful if you need to park money and your home country  bank is making it difficult for you as a non-resident.

[12DrinkMore]

15 hours ago, Isan Farang said:

6. You can get interest on long term fixed deposits. AUD will give you 2.5% for 1 year, less tax which you can claim back.

 

Am i correct if you have AUD in a Thai Bank and the funds are in a Time Deposit they will pay you 2.5 % interest and the interest received will be in AUD.

 

 

Yes, that is correct.

 

Here's the link to BBL.

 

http://www.bangkokbank.com/DocumentsFCD/02FCD_160408.pdf

 

Edited July 22, 2017 by 12DrinkMore

[bert bloggs]

Thank you all for your replies , looks like its not really worth opening one

 

[ukbiker]

If you open one it can be used as funding for your retirement extension and exchanged into baht when the exchange rate is in your favour.

 

[Isan Farang]

5 hours ago, 12DrinkMore said:

Yes, that is correct.

 

Here's the link to BBL.

 

http://www.bangkokbank.com/DocumentsFCD/02FCD_160408.pdf

 

I have a AUD TD with HSBC in Perth, at present they give me around 2.05%, the previous one was 1.95%, there is also some deductions because i am not Australian.

A few years back when the AUD and USD were almost 1 to 1 i thought i would be clever and change some USD to AUD as the  TD rate then in OZ was 5.5%, and then not long after it started creeping down.

 

At some point this funds will be sent to Thailand and converted to Baht, so i was thinking in having it sent over here and opening a AUD account with BB and just leave in a 1 Year TD. I do not need access to this funds so it might be handy to have here if the AUD to TB rate should ever take a jump north

 

 

[12DrinkMore]

47 minutes ago, Isan Farang said:

I have a AUD TD with HSBC in Perth, at present they give me around 2.05%, the previous one was 1.95%, there is also some deductions because i am not Australian.

A few years back when the AUD and USD were almost 1 to 1 i thought i would be clever and change some USD to AUD as the  TD rate then in OZ was 5.5%, and then not long after it started creeping down.

 

At some point this funds will be sent to Thailand and converted to Baht, so i was thinking in having it sent over here and opening a AUD account with BB and just leave in a 1 Year TD. I do not need access to this funds so it might be handy to have here if the AUD to TB rate should ever take a jump north

 

 

 

Yep, you should have moved from AUD to USD at that point. But trying to outguess forex moves is a way to lose money.

 

Aussie banks will deduct 10% tax, which you cannot recover.

 

Thai banks deduct 15% tax which you can claim back.

 

The AUD has been strengthening since June on the back of optimism that China is growing again. 

[AlfonsV]

During last 10+ years I had accounts including 1 FCD at 5 different banks. Cancelled all except Bkk bank and Kasi. Here the staff at Ayutthaya was specially slow and ignorant and much less ATMs and offices here. Also exchange rate worse than at others. To get money from FCD always with paperwork and staff needed to call headquarter. In my case not worth anyway as, after observing the exchange rate EUR - THB, I decide which day I want transfer and order it online early morning when Europe is still sleeping. In the last 2 - 3 years money from European bank arrived after 10!! upto 36 hours at Kasikorn.

Edited July 22, 2017 by AlfonsV
typi

[trd]

I don't understand what you're talking about AlfonsV. When I want to change FCD and transfer to my Thai savings account it takes about 5 seconds online.