Transfer money from USA bank to Thai bank

[BKKSTAN]

When I moved here permanently,I brought a cashiers check with me.It took 6 weeks to clear and be posted in my Thai account.

A couple of other times,I had my daughter transfer funds for me as she is on my account in America!My daughters health is not very good and there are concerns about the future,so I checked with my bank and they said that I could have my Thai bank to send them a request for a transfer of funds with my notarized signature enclosed!OR I could write a personal check that my Thai bank could forward to the USA bank!

My bank,Kasikorn,is always accomodating!But this time,they can't do the letter part!

They did accept a personal check,BUT,it will take about 45 days! I now realize that the Cashiers check years ago was a waste of time

[tigerryan]

Stan, I set up a CEO (commercial executive office) account at Wells Fargo to pay my international vendors. It allows you to see the spot rate exchange and it gives you 60 seconds to accept. It has been really slick, the security for it is a bit obnoxious and you need a digital key fob to execute the exchange. I would imagine that some of the other big banks have similar set ups. Setting up a "biz" for international travel/living travel, etc., can be a big tax help if you can legitimize it and the biz banking aspect makes the money transfering issues much easier I think.
Best

[BKKSTAN]

Stan, I set up a CEO (commercial executive office) account at Wells Fargo to pay my international vendors. It allows you to see the spot rate exchange and it gives you 60 seconds to accept. It has been really slick, the security for it is a bit obnoxious and you need a digital key fob to execute the exchange. I would imagine that some of the other big banks have similar set ups. Setting up a "biz" for international travel/living travel, etc., can be a big tax help if you can legitimize it and the biz banking aspect makes the money transfering issues much easier I think.
Best

This sounds over my head technology wise!What is a digital key fob?

[papaguido]

Stan, I sent you a PM....

[polehawk]

One from me, also.

[BKKSTAN]

Got them both,Thanks!

[DDWebb]

Set-up Paypal account and pay yourself, instant or can take several days, up to U

[UdonExpat]

I just call my credit union in the US and ask them to do an international transfer and give them the ABA or SWIFT code and account number of the Thai bank. Get the money whenever their transfer person does the job. Usually within a hour or so. Did the same with my bank. Both ask me a couple of security questions to verify that it's me.
They charge me $30 for the service on their end.

[BKKSTAN]

Did you have a Pin # to give them?

[UdonExpat]

With the credit union, no. They ask a couple of verification questions.

With the bank it's a bit more complicated. Start the process online and then call to complete the transaction. Citibank.

[BKKSTAN]

Update on my check for money transfer.

On July 23,I wrote a personal check to myself for $35,000 on my USA bank account for deposit into my Kasikorn Thai bank acct.

I was charged a bank fee of 338.10 by Kasikorn as a commission fee by Kasikorn for the handling of the transaction and told that it would take 6 weeks!

Checking my online USA bank acct. this morning,I see the check was posted against my acct on 8/8/2007,which is 16 days from when I deposited it here!

There is no notice of a tranfer fee posted as yet(usually $35 for money tranfers),so I don't know if there is a charge!Usually when I do bank card withdrawals from an ATM,the fee is not posted immediately!That may be the case here,I will wait and see!

I don't know if the money is credited to my Kasikorn Bank now or not!I will check when it is credited and pass that on also as this might be a cheaper and hassle free way of getting money here if you are not in a major hurry!

[UdonExpat]

The last time I wrote a check to myself at Citibank in Bangkok it cleared my US account in 5 days. It deposited into the Thai Citibank account about 14 days later. They held it and drew interest on it for about 10 days. With thousands of accounts doing this it adds up to pretty penny for them. Thai Citibank charged me 1% for handling the transaction. My US account charged me nothing, as they would on any check.

A previous time I wrote a check to myself at Thai Military Bank to put in my account there. The check cleared my bank in the US in 7 days. They deposited to my account 30 days after I presented it to them. I no longer recall the fees TMB charged, although I'm sure they didn't approach 1%.

It seems the Thai banks hold the money and make interest on it for that period. I highly doubt that it's held in interest free accounts until deposited into our accounts. US banks do the same thing, but usually only for overnight or a day or 2. Citibank has the fastest turn around time I've experienced but the fee is too much. Will never use them again.

[BKKSTAN]

This will probably be the case also as I checked today and the funds have not been credited to my account!
The bank did tell me 45 days,so I don't have a beef,just feeling hopeful because I saw that it had cleared my bank already!
1%,wow,That would have been $350 in my case! Kaskorn charged about $10!

I wonder if because it is not a ''SWIFT'' wire transfer and maybe no transfer fee there it would take longer to get to Kasikorn.In the meantime ,which bank has control of the funds

It will be interesting to see what daily exchange rate is applied when it is credited to my account!

I will post all the details as I recognize them!

[aznyron]

all I do is go to siam bank with my passport and atm card tell them how much I want to deposit in thai baht and the rest is history
I get the current exchange rate minus 1%
it lot cheaper than 45 bucks
and the money there about 15 minutes
Citicorp has a branch in BKK
if you want to look into that

[aznyron]

oh also BKK bank has a office in New York City
don't quote me because I could be mistaken but it is my understanding they charge you five dollars for every check that is deposit to your account
and they do all the work in getting it to your thai bkk account
let say you get SS check a DAV check and pension check that comes to 15 bucks a month that still less than 45 bucks

[nevket240]

Please correct me if I'm wrong but there should be NO 45 day or 30 day wait for funds. Everything is now electronic, computerised cash. There is no physical exchange of cash. I believe the Bank of International Settlements handles the accumulated transactions, may be some delay here.
Simple take is "hold for profit", cash market, money for nothin and the bonuses are free.(apologies to Dire Straits).
OH, we bottom feeders really are being taken for a ride.

cheers..

[papaguido]

oh also BKK bank has a office in New York City
don't quote me because I could be mistaken but it is my understanding they charge you five dollars for every check that is deposit to your account
and they do all the work in getting it to your thai bkk account
let say you get SS check a DAV check and pension check that comes to 15 bucks a month that still less than 45 bucks

If you have SS, DAV or military pension it can be direct deposited into BKK bank in NY. But you need to have local BKK bank branch to receive money. I believe there's a $5.00 service charge from the source of funds to NY BKK bank & 200bt fee from the local BKK bank branch.

[glalt]

I use Citibank in the US. I set up a wire transfer online. They email me a code number which I copy in their form and submit it. My money is in Siam Commercial bank the very next day. I get the Thai onshore rate. Citibank charges a flat $30 regardless of the amount of the transfer and the Siam Commercial charge is so small that I don't even know how much it is. You do have to make sure you make the transfer in US dollars or you will choke on the conversion fee from Citibank. I always do it this way now since Citibank has seen fit to add a three percent exchange fee if you use their ATM card.

[JimboPSM]

............ I always do it this way now since Citibank has seen fit to add a three percent exchange fee if you use their ATM card.

"glalt" good example of what is happening more & more - everyone needs to be vigilant about the charges on their ATM & Credit Cards, the banks will be trying to use every available oportunity to recoup their Sub-prime & CDO losses through their "ordinary" customers.

This is most easily done on foreign currency transactions where they can easily hide their additional charges in the exchange rate spread and adding special charges & fees for overseas use.

Note that pretty well all companies are desperately seeking ways to increase prices and it is becoming increasingly common for companies to add extra fees on for using credit cards for payment

As an example of another tack to get even more money off their customers, British Airways are now also adding a charge on for issuing a paper ticket instead of an e-ticket - tough if you don't have access to a computer.

Apologies for having gone futher off topic

[leterry60614]

Bad news from Citibank. Effectively immediately, transfers between Citibank and any financial institution are limited to 2,000 USD per day. There isn't any mention of a reduction in transfer fee and I guess it remains at 30 USD. I used Citibank to transfer money to Thailand for years but this new constraint "effective immediately" is a BIG turn off. There was a lot of negatives for Citibank in the news lately related to their 11 billion or so losses in subprime mortgage derivatives but are they really afraid of people running to the bank? Time to look into WaMu...
although how long before other banks apply the same restriction?