Transfering money from UK to Thailand

[lockwood74]

I have a Bankok Bank account, I am wanting to transfer money in to thailand through the Bankok Bank in London in to my account in Thailand. Any advice on the best and cheapest way. Over the next few weeks as the Thai government is in question, I am hoping the rate will increase and this may provide an opportunity to transfer some funds over.

any advice would be great
regards

John

[lomuamart]

The only time I've ever done it was from Barclays to BKK Bank. Cost 20 pounds, no matter how much was sent and took, they said, up to 10 working days. In fact, the money arrived in 5 working days.
There are other methods of wire transfer, but not having used them I won't try to give you a steer.
Others probably know more about this.

[johnnyk]

Most banks use the SWIFT system.
It's 20-25 pounds depending on your bank.
It can take up to 10 business days but IME the delays are mostly on the Thai end of things as its only a few keystrokes from the UK end.

[jambo]

are you allowed to transfer to your thai acount from abroad without a work permit ?
chok dee
jambo

[Randy Cornhole]

Are you sure you want to transfer money here! I have been here 2 years but would never keep any money here.
Just rent and keep my money in the UK. All set for a quick getaway.

[Norseman]

are you allowed to transfer to your thai acount from abroad without a work permit ?
chok dee
jambo

Yes.
You don't need a work permit to transfer money.
Every month I log on to my internet connected bank and transfer money to my account here in Thailand.

[lomuamart]

are you allowed to transfer to your thai acount from abroad without a work permit ?
chok dee
jambo

I would have thought that doing so was a positive indication that you weren't working here.
Still, I'm not 100% sure. Best to ask, same as opening an account and some banks, or branches (allbeit not many) wanting to see a WP.

[lomuamart]

are you allowed to transfer to your thai acount from abroad without a work permit ?
chok dee
jambo

Yes.
You don't need a work permit to transfer money.
Every month I log on to my internet connected bank and transfer money to my account here in Thailand.

Do you do that from Norway, Norseman?
My UK bank dosn't allow international transfers over the net "for security reasons".
And, thinking again about Jambo's question again, how could anyone have the requisite 400/800,000 Baht in a Thai bank account for visa purposes if it wasn't transferred from overseas? A retiree is not working - or at least shouldn't be.

[Norseman]

Yes lomu.
Every single month I transfer my pension from my Norwegian bank to Thailand (Bank of Ayuhdya).
I use only my computer to do this and the cost is about 3 GBP for each transaction. (I use of course only 1 transaction).
I have done this about 2 years time.
Before that I used my Visa card, but then I had no house, nor a Thai-bank.
As soon as I wanted my own house, I opened a bank account in Thailand, tranferred my money via internet, and paid the house.
I could only transfer appx 8.000 GBP each day, (for norwegian tax reasons), so it took me some days to do this.

In May my pension will be transferred automatically from Norway's national insurance office.
Then I don't need internet anymore.

[Jim]

Just to come back to the OP, using BKK bank is easy. You need to arrange a CHAPS transfer from your own bank to BKK in London. I think the sort code is on the website. You need to quote your Thai bank account number and the branch (I assume it's Hua Hin). Give the bank a call and let them know the money's on its way. They'll then transfer it to Hua Hin.

[Geordie Farang]

Transfering money to any account in Thailand through British banks to Thai banks will cost you about £20 and take about 3 to 7 days. However between Thai banks may be different, but you can transfer by Moneygram at moneygram.com with a limit of $999 per transaction. And as long as both accounts are in your name you can set up an account online with moneybookers at moneybookers.com and transfer monies in 3 to 4 days for as little as £5.

moneybookers.com moneygram.com

[PeteC]

[quote="lomuamart
My UK bank dosn't allow international transfers over the net "for security reasons"[/quote]

Lomu, some banks will do it if you first register the people/accounts you are transfering to. HSBC is one of them and of course, they are really a HQ British bank, not HQ Hong Kong or China. I do it from my account in HK from time to time but...only what is needed. If you transfer the entire farm to here it's tough to get it out. Over $10,000.00 USD/Equiv., and you almost need an act of Thai Parliment to do it, including proof the funds came in from overseas in the first places and were not earned here and thus taxable. Large inbound amounts are not worth it unless to be used for a major purchase and, the person intends to stay here for a long time. I know....many have said the same thing over and over again before but it's worth reminding as it can be a big problem. Pete

[Jim]

The banks seem to have abandoned the previous practice of issuing a TT40 for proof of transfer from overseas for property investment. The best thing to do now is to make sure the bank in the UK specifies "for property investment" on the transfer and you get a copy of the transfer fax from your Thai branch. I guess however that all this is untested and no-one has tried to get the moeny out of the country after selling their land/house? It would be interesting to hear if anyone has.

Jim

[2dandan]

Lockwood 74

I too have an account with the Bangkok Bank and thought it would be easy to transfer money to Hua Hin through the London branch.

I telephoned the Bank and sent them a letter and they replied that the London Branch is a commercial Bank and did not have an electronic link to their branches in Thailand and could therefore not accept and transfer money into domestic Thai bank accounts.

As previously stated, all UK banks will transfer cash for you for about 20/25 pounds, or, if your transferring sums of 5,000 pounds or above it might be worth contacting an FX company who will usually transfer the money for free.

[Guess]

I have a Bankok Bank account, I am wanting to transfer money in to thailand through the Bankok Bank in London in to my account in Thailand. Any advice on the best and cheapest way. Over the next few weeks as the Thai government is in question, I am hoping the rate will increase and this may provide an opportunity to transfer some funds over.

any advice would be great
regards

John

I have already posted this on another thread abut here goes again.

You have three options.

Take cash into the BKK Bank branch in St. Mary Axe. Us the slow transfer method (a few days) and will be available to you the next time they update their ATM network. Usually about 4:00 PM local time. The charge in London is 15 pounds and a very small perentage will be taken by the bank.

The second is th do the same but use express delivery which will cost another 30 pounds. The limit by the way using this method is 6000 pounds per year per account.

The third is to give them a cheque made out to you that will be credited to you and then sent the slow way. I am not sure if there is any charge for clearing the cheque but I doubt it. The money will arrive in Thailand in ten working days.

The good thing about this method is that the cheque can be sent by post.

Any invoving SWIFT will cost more. You will need a form for the payment.

BTW BKK Bank is listed in the Phone book so you could give them a call. It may be possible to have the form sent to you abeter still download it from the Internet.