Post by Fletchsmile on Aug 28, 2015 13:48:03 GMT 7
The easiest and often cheapest way to transfer money to Thailand is via a "SWIFT transfer" - also sometimes referred to as a "telegraphic transfer" or "tt" or "wire transfer".
You complete a SWIFT transfer request form and send money from your overseas bank account to a bank account in Thailand and will get a decent rate for doing so.
A couple of key tips:
SWIFT Transfers
1. Send the money in foreign currency to be converted into Thai Baht (THB) in Thailand. So if sending from the UK, specify you want to send GBP. This will then be converted into THB when it is received in your Thailand bank account. DON'T send the amount in THB or allow your UK/ foreign bank to do the conversion for you outside Thailand you will get a poor rate. Onshore rates for THB are much more favourable to you
2. It's useful to have the "SWIFT code" of your Thai Bank account you are sending to you'll need to have this to complete the SWIFT transfer form. Every bank in each country will have its own SWIFT code. But in most countries there will be one SWIFT code you need for all branches as it tends to go thru head office, but there are exceptions
3. For fees you can often choose to have them paid by sender, beneficiary/receiver or both. The sending bank will often levy a charge and the receiving bank will often levy a charge. Receiving bank fees in Thailand are reasonably priced (often under THB 500) so it should be rare that you use the "sender" choice and more likely you would select "both" or "beneficiary" for charges
4. Be mindful that not all banks are part of the bank clearing system in Thailand. Your foreign bank may very well therefore use an "intermediary" or "correspondent bank". These will often levy additional charges on top of the sender's fee and the receiver's fee. If you selected sender to pay foreign bank fee and receiver for Thai bank fee (both) don't be surprised if someone else has deducted a fee as well. Your Thai bank isn't cheating you, this is the correspondent or intermediary bank.
- It can be difficult to find out correspondent charges before hand as they vary. Also if you are sending USD just because of the currency they will often be routed via New York via a correspondent bank and US banks love to charge you for this. One way is to learn by trial and error how much they levy. You may be able to specify the correspondent bank
5. Some banks like Standard Chartered have free international transfers if you are a priority banking customer. they will waive transfer fees on both sides or credit them back. Again be careful about correspondent banks. If sending say USD from Vietnam to Thailand it will go via New York. Ask Stan Chart to use their own Stan Chart bank NY as their correspondent bank rather than say Wells Fargo or whoever as the US bank takes up to $50 even though your Stan Chart sender and receiver is free
6. For Americans, Bangkok Bank provides one of the best and cheapest methods of transferring money from Bangkok Bank US to Bangkok Bank Thailand. So route your money thru Bangkok bank
Cash
7. If bringing in cash you will generally get better rates inside Thailand than outside Thailand. A UK bank will give much worse cash rates than a Thai bank. Basically outside Thailand no-one wants THB so the demand is here.
8. If you have some of the other minor currencies (not USD,GBP, EUR but say IDR, PHP etc) and are coming from say Indonesia change your IDR cash to USD cash in Indonesia. Then change your USD to THB cash in Thailand. Otherwise the IDR/THB exchange rate can be terrible here in Thailand with a very wide spread. In the same way no-one outside Thailand wants THB and there is no demand, Thai banks don't want IDR and have no demand for it so give you a poor rate
You complete a SWIFT transfer request form and send money from your overseas bank account to a bank account in Thailand and will get a decent rate for doing so.
A couple of key tips:
SWIFT Transfers
1. Send the money in foreign currency to be converted into Thai Baht (THB) in Thailand. So if sending from the UK, specify you want to send GBP. This will then be converted into THB when it is received in your Thailand bank account. DON'T send the amount in THB or allow your UK/ foreign bank to do the conversion for you outside Thailand you will get a poor rate. Onshore rates for THB are much more favourable to you
2. It's useful to have the "SWIFT code" of your Thai Bank account you are sending to you'll need to have this to complete the SWIFT transfer form. Every bank in each country will have its own SWIFT code. But in most countries there will be one SWIFT code you need for all branches as it tends to go thru head office, but there are exceptions
3. For fees you can often choose to have them paid by sender, beneficiary/receiver or both. The sending bank will often levy a charge and the receiving bank will often levy a charge. Receiving bank fees in Thailand are reasonably priced (often under THB 500) so it should be rare that you use the "sender" choice and more likely you would select "both" or "beneficiary" for charges
4. Be mindful that not all banks are part of the bank clearing system in Thailand. Your foreign bank may very well therefore use an "intermediary" or "correspondent bank". These will often levy additional charges on top of the sender's fee and the receiver's fee. If you selected sender to pay foreign bank fee and receiver for Thai bank fee (both) don't be surprised if someone else has deducted a fee as well. Your Thai bank isn't cheating you, this is the correspondent or intermediary bank.
- It can be difficult to find out correspondent charges before hand as they vary. Also if you are sending USD just because of the currency they will often be routed via New York via a correspondent bank and US banks love to charge you for this. One way is to learn by trial and error how much they levy. You may be able to specify the correspondent bank
5. Some banks like Standard Chartered have free international transfers if you are a priority banking customer. they will waive transfer fees on both sides or credit them back. Again be careful about correspondent banks. If sending say USD from Vietnam to Thailand it will go via New York. Ask Stan Chart to use their own Stan Chart bank NY as their correspondent bank rather than say Wells Fargo or whoever as the US bank takes up to $50 even though your Stan Chart sender and receiver is free
6. For Americans, Bangkok Bank provides one of the best and cheapest methods of transferring money from Bangkok Bank US to Bangkok Bank Thailand. So route your money thru Bangkok bank
Cash
7. If bringing in cash you will generally get better rates inside Thailand than outside Thailand. A UK bank will give much worse cash rates than a Thai bank. Basically outside Thailand no-one wants THB so the demand is here.
8. If you have some of the other minor currencies (not USD,GBP, EUR but say IDR, PHP etc) and are coming from say Indonesia change your IDR cash to USD cash in Indonesia. Then change your USD to THB cash in Thailand. Otherwise the IDR/THB exchange rate can be terrible here in Thailand with a very wide spread. In the same way no-one outside Thailand wants THB and there is no demand, Thai banks don't want IDR and have no demand for it so give you a poor rate
