Guest Posted January 20, 2003 Report Share Posted January 20, 2003 For those of you who have Thai wives/grilfriends/friends... and you live outside of Thailand, but, have financial obligations in the Kingdom could you please let me know whether your TG transfers money through traditional banking mechanisms (i.e Telegraphic Transfer with local bank) or whether she uses the local Thai "grocery shop".... The example I have is: The local market where we live in HKG has a Thai grocery store where you can pick up all sorts of diferent thai products that are not availale in the standard supermarkets.....Now one of the services offered by the grocery store is money transfers.....So in our case we needed to pay an annual fee for a membership in Thailand, so, my wife goes to the local "grocery store" and asks them to transfer xx thousand baht to a certain account in Bangkok. Sure enough, 2 days later money recieved in Bangkok with a total cost of HKD 40. If I did this through the Bank it would have cost 200 HKD. I just wonder how many other people have experienced this method ? SB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirit_of_town_hall Posted January 20, 2003 Report Share Posted January 20, 2003 This is a traditional way of transfering $$, the arabs have a similar system, its based on trust and local agents. STH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laxman1960 Posted January 20, 2003 Report Share Posted January 20, 2003 Easiest way to provide money to your gf or wife or whatever in Thailand is to give her an ATM card with access to an account you control. Then just put the money in and she can take out whatever she needs. You have total control and the fees are not expensive on ATM withdrawals, least not when I do it myself on another account (US based) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 20, 2003 Report Share Posted January 20, 2003 SOTH, yeah I knew about the Arabs doing it that way...I wanted to know other peoples experiences with Thailand. SB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shotover Posted January 20, 2003 Report Share Posted January 20, 2003 It was reported Al Queda used this method to move large sums of money between countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shotover Posted January 20, 2003 Report Share Posted January 20, 2003 "give her an ATM card with access to an account you control." I wonder if there might be a risk of overdrawn balances due to time delays when processing overseas transactions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted January 21, 2003 Report Share Posted January 21, 2003 Yes. this is the best way i think...controll is a must. She knows the date i send so overdrawing is not a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 21, 2003 Report Share Posted January 21, 2003 the point of the post was how to meet your financial obligations (not to family) when your Thai Wife/girlfriend/friend and you are NOT in Thailand.... I think you are looking at the scenario of Farang in Farangland and TG in Thailand. SB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harlequinbkk Posted January 21, 2003 Report Share Posted January 21, 2003 Recently I came across an Interpol report that describes this system - an alternative banking system that relies on the bonds within an ethnic subgroup in Asia. The link is at: http://www.interpol.int/Public/FinancialCrime/MoneyLaundering/EthnicMoney/default.asp The report is mostly about how money is laundered using this system. Of course, these systems must be coming under scrutiny these days as a possible means of banking service for terrorism. I think the ATM card is an excellent suggestion. You should shop around in your home country for a bank that offers a debit card with zero or very low fees, and can be used internationally (i.e. on the Plus or Cirrus system). Harlequin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think_too_mut Posted January 25, 2003 Report Share Posted January 25, 2003 >For those of you who have Thai wives/grilfriends/friends... and you live outside of Thailand, but, have financial obligations in the Kingdom could you please let me know whether your TG transfers money through traditional banking mechanisms (i.e Telegraphic Transfer with local bank) or whether she uses the local Thai "grocery shop".... Sending her an ATM card from the account you opened in your name is one option. Withdrawals are 50bahts but some banks do not charge if the money is taken out of ATMS of the banks in the same chain. Another way is - she can set an account with, say, BKK bank and you can use Internet to move money from yours to the new account. 7-9 US$ per transfer, takes 2 business days to settle. Just edited my post - I did not understand that the money could be going to someone unable to use ATM (old parents) or for paying a monthly repayment for something. Anyway, HSBC is pretty big in Thailand... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.