Money Exchange advice

[lockwood74]

I need to exchange £10,000 (pounds) in to thai Baht in order that I can pay for a plot of land this July when I come to Hua Hin. I have a Bank account in Hua Hin.

Transfering money from the UK is a good option but doesnt give the best rate.

Am I better bringing out cash ( £ ) and exchanging it for Baht at a currency / jewellery store where the rates are sometimes more preferable than the banks ?

Any advice is helpfull

John

[Jaime]

Hi Lockwood,

As you will no doubt have realised, the banks in the UK give a crap rate. However, if you send the money using your UK high street bank but - and this is important - send it as sterling rather than Baht, then the exchange will take place at the receiving bank and you will get the exchange rate being offered that day in Thailand. I've done it a few times and you genuinely get the better rate. I think there is a flat fee (at Bangkok Bank in my case) for handling the transaction of 500 baht. Your UK bank will probably try and tell you that they 'do not recommend' that you send money in this way, giving some vague and unsubstantiated warning including sucking of teeth and worried frowns. Ignore them and insist on sending sterling - it's only because they can't make money on the transaction that they object. The one downside is that you won't know exactly what rate you will get because of the daily fluctuations but you can be guaranteed that it will be considerably better than the rate your UK bank would offer - usually to the tune of 5 to 10 baht per pound and with only the 500 baht fee to pay. Don't forget to tick the box to ensure that your receiving bank pays all fees. You can check the daily exchange rate at your Thai bank's website of course.

Hope this was useful and good luck,

Jaime

[PeteC]

In addition to what Jaime said, I've never run across a "moneychanger" whose rate was more than .50 Baht better than a bank. That means you may be able to achieve 5,000 baht more on 10,000 pounds than at a bank but......what are you going to do with the bag of cash? Leave it in your room when you go out to eat....bad idea. Take it with you everywhere then, the bad guys will start to wonder what's in that bag this guy is carrying all the time? For me, the extra 5,000 Baht would not be worth the anxiety. Pete

[PeteC]

Forgot to mention. Some receipts here are not worth the paper they are written on. Pay for your land with an official bank draft from a Thai bank and not in cash. That way there is a record of the transaction in case something goes wrong. Pete

[Wanderlust]

I totally agree with Jaime's advice, but this is assuming that you already have a Thai bank account, which you do not mention. If you do you will need the SWIFT code of your Thai bank to make the transfer, as well as your account details obviously. If you do not have a Thai bank a/c another alternative is to buy Travellers Cheques in pounds sterling in the UK (you can normally get them without paying commission I think) and then use them to open an account over here rather than carrying bags of cash around! The exchange rate on travellers cheques is normally higher than on cash too, but not as good as a direct money transfer. It also gives you the (safe) option of waiting for the best rate before exchanging. One warning though - do not get American Express travellers cheques, because I had a bad experience after having had some stolen a few years ago, and had to go to the small claims court before they would honour refunding them!

[Jim]

Be very careful with this if you ever want the option of taking the money out of Thailand at some stage in the future. You MUST transfer the money from the UK to a Thai bank, specifically stating it is for property investment and get it properly receipted, or else the money is stuck in Thailand forever. As you already have a Thai bank account, I suggest you go to Bangkok Bank in London and get them to arrange the transfer. They are very efficient and the exchange rate they offer is much much better than any British bank. Once in Thailand, I suggest you go to your bank with whomsoever you're buying the land from, draw a cashiers cheque and hand it to them. You can get your TT40 or other receipt at the same time.

[dr dave soul monsta]

Just a quik Note for you all if you transfer funds into thailand send in your own currency pounds; $ Euro etc and make sure you instruct the bank to do it this way( they have a habbit of exchanging before they transfer it ) ,they will give you a far lower exchange rate .
your currency will be more valuble here for exchange in Thailand than at home