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Post by eldivino on Jul 8, 2021 22:17:53 GMT 7
Thanks everyone.
IBRK just accounted they don’t impose that inactivity fee anymore so I could open an account without having to transfer 100,000$ in assets. So I’m reconsidering it now.
Happy to hear more experiences about them.
And have to Google how to best fund the account from my EU account and my TH account.
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Post by realisedurgency on Jul 9, 2021 17:39:18 GMT 7
My base currency with IBRK is EUR and so far all funds sent to IBRK have been via my Irish account. Simple, and straightforward process. Just follow the steps outlined in the online portal.
Interested to hear more experiences depositing from a Thai bank account to IBRK with a USD or EUR base currency. I remember FIREinTH said he got his Thai bank to convert THB to USD and send that.
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Post by rgs2001uk on Jul 9, 2021 21:01:10 GMT 7
My base currency with IBRK is EUR and so far all funds sent to IBRK have been via my Irish account. Simple, and straightforward process. Just follow the steps outlined in the online portal. Interested to hear more experiences depositing from a Thai bank account to IBRK with a USD or EUR base currency. I remember FIREinTH said he got his Thai bank to convert THB to USD and send that.Wonder how much that little exercise cost him in exchanges rates. Thanks for the info. Was this before the days of Dee money?
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Post by eldivino on Jul 10, 2021 21:29:05 GMT 7
So I signed up for an IBRK account. Account opening was pretty fast and straightforward. Everything is done online. Only documents required are passport copy and one document (bank statement or utility bill, for example) confirming place of residency. No authentificathon whatsoever that you are indeed the person, which is pretty common with European brokers and banks.
Approval process was supposed to take some days but was done after one day. They say they prioritize accounts that have already received some funds but I only transferred 5€ to make sure it works because the wiring instructions aren’t that straightforward. I transferred money from my European bank account and that didn’t cost any fees. They have an own EUR account with JP Morgan in Frankfurt (and I believe accounts for all major currencies) so I could do a SEPA transfer to their IBAN. The trickiest part was to figure out what data to fill in with my bank and at their end (they ask to announce an incoming transfer so they can route it) but in the end it worked.
The reduced 15% withholding tax was set up automatically (W8-BEN).
In the future I’ll have to fund it with money from my Thai account so will have to find a solution for that. Understand user FireInTh is using a UOB USD account for that. Not sure what the fees and f/x rates would be for that.
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Post by realisedurgency on Jul 13, 2021 14:46:27 GMT 7
My base currency with IBRK is EUR and so far all funds sent to IBRK have been via my Irish account. Simple, and straightforward process. Just follow the steps outlined in the online portal. Interested to hear more experiences depositing from a Thai bank account to IBRK with a USD or EUR base currency. I remember FIREinTH said he got his Thai bank to convert THB to USD and send that.Wonder how much that little exercise cost him in exchanges rates. Thanks for the info. Was this before the days of Dee money? Going back through the thread, the post he mentioned this in was from Nov 2019. Not sure how long Dee money has been around and how it generally compares to exchange rates offered by Thai banks.
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FIREinTh
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Post by FIREinTh on Sept 6, 2021 17:39:15 GMT 7
My base currency with IBRK is EUR and so far all funds sent to IBRK have been via my Irish account. Simple, and straightforward process. Just follow the steps outlined in the online portal. Interested to hear more experiences depositing from a Thai bank account to IBRK with a USD or EUR base currency. I remember FIREinTH said he got his Thai bank to convert THB to USD and send that.Wonder how much that little exercise cost him in exchanges rates. Thanks for the info. Was this before the days of Dee money? Just saw this. I'm sure you know, there is no way to send THB out of the country directly, so it has to be converted to a foreign currency. A pilot friend tried taking THB cash to HK to take advantage of the internal vs external THB exchange rate, but the banks in HK refused to play that game.
I looked into Dee money a while ago, but I found a ton of negative reviews online with transfers of a few thousand baht being stopped with no explanation. I've never had a transfer stopped with UOB so I've kept using it. They do need a pile of documents each time though.
I send money out regularly since my salary is in THB, regardless of the exchange rate. I'm assuming the benefits of dollar cost averaging outweigh the sunk cost of leaving THB in my bank account betting on a more favorable exchange rate in the future. I continue to max out RMFs too.
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AyG
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Post by AyG on Sept 6, 2021 17:44:07 GMT 7
the benefits of dollar cost averaging Ain't no such thing. All serious research has shown that one is usually better off investing a lump sum at the start of a period than waiting. (From memory, it's something like 95% of the time better off, based on real world scenarios.) "Dollar cost averaging" is simply a myth, probably made up by investment companies to encourage the public to invest something every month out of their wages.
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FIREinTh
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Post by FIREinTh on Sept 6, 2021 17:56:04 GMT 7
the benefits of dollar cost averaging Ain't no such thing. All serious research has shown that one is usually better off investing a lump sum at the start of a period than waiting. (From memory, it's something like 95% of the time better off, based on real world scenarios.) "Dollar cost averaging" is simply a myth, probably made up by investment companies to encourage the public to invest something every month out of their wages. I completely agree, but I'm talking about a salary that's paid monthly in THB, not a lump sum.
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Post by rgs2001uk on Sept 7, 2021 21:09:18 GMT 7
Wonder how much that little exercise cost him in exchanges rates. Thanks for the info. Was this before the days of Dee money? Just saw this. I'm sure you know, there is no way to send THB out of the country directly, so it has to be converted to a foreign currency. A pilot friend tried taking THB cash to HK to take advantage of the internal vs external THB exchange rate, but the banks in HK refused to play that game.
I looked into Dee money a while ago, but I found a ton of negative reviews online with transfers of a few thousand baht being stopped with no explanation. I've never had a transfer stopped with UOB so I've kept using it. They do need a pile of documents each time though.
I send money out regularly since my salary is in THB, regardless of the exchange rate. I'm assuming the benefits of dollar cost averaging outweigh the sunk cost of leaving THB in my bank account betting on a more favorable exchange rate in the future. I continue to max out RMFs too.
Cant fault your logic. Funny you should mention HK, cant imagine theres much demand for Thai Baht over there. I remember the days when CP pilots used to fly out of HK with gold they were trying to resell in India, some things never change.
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Post by eldivino on Sept 12, 2021 1:18:48 GMT 7
I looked into Dee money a while ago, but I found a ton of negative reviews online with transfers of a few thousand baht being stopped with no explanation. I've never had a transfer stopped with UOB so I've kept using it. They do need a pile of documents each time though. There are a couple of banks that now have international transfers in their apps where you’re not asked for any paperwork and the fees seem to be lower as well. I used to do my international transfers with BBL and every year again I would have to give them a salary confirmation from my HR. I’m now using BAY’s app where none of that is required. Fee is 250 Baht (used to be 150 Baht) and the money arrives within a business day. Only downside is they have a maximum amount per day and per transfer which I understand is because of that paperwork. I had to split a 1mb transfer into two tranches because of that. Call center told me that bigger amounts would have to be transferred using the counter service which would ask for paperwork again. I compared this method against BBL and DeeMoney using the f/x rates and fees at the same day and found BAY to be the cheapest. Understand other banks also have international transfers in their apps now such as Kbank. I think even BBL has it but they charge the same 1,200 Baht or so fee that you pay at the counter. Maybe the f/x rates are better though.
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chiangmai
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Post by chiangmai on Sept 12, 2021 4:14:21 GMT 7
I looked into Dee money a while ago, but I found a ton of negative reviews online with transfers of a few thousand baht being stopped with no explanation. I've never had a transfer stopped with UOB so I've kept using it. They do need a pile of documents each time though. There are a couple of banks that now have international transfers in their apps where you’re not asked for any paperwork and the fees seem to be lower as well. I used to do my international transfers with BBL and every year again I would have to give them a salary confirmation from my HR. I’m now using BAY’s app where none of that is required. Fee is 250 Baht (used to be 150 Baht) and the money arrives within a business day. Only downside is they have a maximum amount per day and per transfer which I understand is because of that paperwork. I had to split a 1mb transfer into two tranches because of that. Call center told me that bigger amounts would have to be transferred using the counter service which would ask for paperwork again. I compared this method against BBL and DeeMoney using the f/x rates and fees at the same day and found BAY to be the cheapest. Understand other banks also have international transfers in their apps now such as Kbank. I think even BBL has it but they charge the same 1,200 Baht or so fee that you pay at the counter. Maybe the f/x rates are better though. I've been with UOB for years and am able to transfer money overseas using their online system, it's all pretty seamless and free from interruption and requests for paperwork.
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FIREinTh
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Post by FIREinTh on Nov 6, 2021 20:19:41 GMT 7
There are a couple of banks that now have international transfers in their apps where you’re not asked for any paperwork and the fees seem to be lower as well. I used to do my international transfers with BBL and every year again I would have to give them a salary confirmation from my HR. I’m now using BAY’s app where none of that is required. Fee is 250 Baht (used to be 150 Baht) and the money arrives within a business day. Only downside is they have a maximum amount per day and per transfer which I understand is because of that paperwork. I had to split a 1mb transfer into two tranches because of that. Call center told me that bigger amounts would have to be transferred using the counter service which would ask for paperwork again. I compared this method against BBL and DeeMoney using the f/x rates and fees at the same day and found BAY to be the cheapest. Understand other banks also have international transfers in their apps now such as Kbank. I think even BBL has it but they charge the same 1,200 Baht or so fee that you pay at the counter. Maybe the f/x rates are better though. I've been with UOB for years and am able to transfer money overseas using their online system, it's all pretty seamless and free from interruption and requests for paperwork. Can you confirm you are able to transfer funds to Interactive Brokers by using a banking app with no extra paperwork required for each transaction? I've used SCB's app to transfer money to my own bank account at home before and it worked fine, but the problem with transferring to Interactive is that they have to be listed as the beneficiary. Then they credit the funds to your account with them once they receive the money of course.
This causes a problem with Thai currency regulations that limit the reasons why foreigners are allowed to send money out of the country. I always use the 'transfer of savings' option, but it requires the person sending the money to also be listed as the beneficiary. This is why the account confirmation letter and transfer instructions from Interactive are always required because it shows the bank you are transferring to yourself even though Interactive is listed as the beneficiary. If what you say is true, it would be great because I've had to go into the bank and provide the same forms every few months for over 10 years. Occasionally, I get a teller who is new or I have to use a different branch and have to explain everything again.
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chiangmai
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Post by chiangmai on Nov 7, 2021 0:33:38 GMT 7
I've been with UOB for years and am able to transfer money overseas using their online system, it's all pretty seamless and free from interruption and requests for paperwork. Can you confirm you are able to transfer funds to Interactive Brokers by using a banking app with no extra paperwork required for each transaction? I've used SCB's app to transfer money to my own bank account at home before and it worked fine, but the problem with transferring to Interactive is that they have to be listed as the beneficiary. Then they credit the funds to your account with them once they receive the money of course.
This causes a problem with Thai currency regulations that limit the reasons why foreigners are allowed to send money out of the country. I always use the 'transfer of savings' option, but it requires the person sending the money to also be listed as the beneficiary. This is why the account confirmation letter and transfer instructions from Interactive are always required because it shows the bank you are transferring to yourself even though Interactive is listed as the beneficiary. If what you say is true, it would be great because I've had to go into the bank and provide the same forms every few months for over 10 years. Occasionally, I get a teller who is new or I have to use a different branch and have to explain everything again. No! What I can do is to transfer funds from my UOB TH account to my HSBC UK account, using my desktop, on demand. In practice that means I've only needed to do that twice and the ammount was never over 300k Baht each time.
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FIREinTh
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Post by FIREinTh on Nov 7, 2021 10:55:08 GMT 7
Can you confirm you are able to transfer funds to Interactive Brokers by using a banking app with no extra paperwork required for each transaction? I've used SCB's app to transfer money to my own bank account at home before and it worked fine, but the problem with transferring to Interactive is that they have to be listed as the beneficiary. Then they credit the funds to your account with them once they receive the money of course.
This causes a problem with Thai currency regulations that limit the reasons why foreigners are allowed to send money out of the country. I always use the 'transfer of savings' option, but it requires the person sending the money to also be listed as the beneficiary. This is why the account confirmation letter and transfer instructions from Interactive are always required because it shows the bank you are transferring to yourself even though Interactive is listed as the beneficiary. If what you say is true, it would be great because I've had to go into the bank and provide the same forms every few months for over 10 years. Occasionally, I get a teller who is new or I have to use a different branch and have to explain everything again. No! What I can do is to transfer funds from my UOB TH account to my HSBC UK account, using my desktop, on demand. In practice that means I've only needed to do that twice and the ammount was never over 300k Baht each time. Thanks. The apps work fine for transferring money to your bank account, but sending to Interactive is a bit more complicated because of the currency controls here.
Next time I leave Thailand I'm going to open a bank account in the US. Then I can transfer money to it using the banking apps like you suggested, then use internet banking to transfer to Interactive.
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Post by realisedurgency on Oct 31, 2022 10:29:38 GMT 7
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