Transfering 10K Aussie to Thai bank

[gobbledonk]

Hi All,

 

Yes, I've read the Paypal posts and other threads, but this is the approach I've settled on.

 

My Commonwealth Netbank account is now configured for IMT (International Money Transfer), and I've been told that my bank will charge me $22 for every transfer, up to max daily limit of $AUD 10K. That should work in nicely with my budgeting plans (300K baht a week, er, quarter !).

 

They issue you with a 'clicker' for increased security, but I've always been cynical about 'net security' (a contradiction in terms) : I've decided that the risk is still preferable to paying almost $AUD12 everytime I withdraw 10K baht from an ATM.

 

The bank assured me that the $22 is the only fee I will pay, but I'm sceptical - will the Thai bank charge me a fee ? Should I make the initial transfer a small amount, say $AUD 1K, just to see how long it takes before I can access my money ?

 

Thanks,

 

Gobble

 

 

[jai-dee]

For larger amounts IMT is the way to go. The receiving Thai bank may well charge you a fee, as

I discovered when I made a small test transfer. Depends on the bank.

 

For ATM size (up to 20kB) transfers I use an

account with ANZ which charges only $5 per ATM withdrawal.

[Bangkoktraveler]

Make sure it is in Aussie dollars. One place banks make money is offering a shitty exchange rate along with a really nice transfer fee.

[fool]

And plan ahead. Most Thai banks will sit on your money for upto a week despite the transfer being almost immediate. I have only done this from UK and signed on the form to make all payments on the UK side.

Unfortunately my UK bank demands the IMT to be done at a branch and in person by the sender. Annoying.

[gobbledonk]

Make sure it is in Aussie dollars. One place banks make money is offering a shitty exchange rate along with a really nice transfer fee

 

OK - this is where I get confused.

 

My balance with the Thai bank will always appear as baht when I use their card at the ATM (correct me if I'm wrong). At some stage, any amount of foreign currency that I transfer into that account will have to be converted into baht, or am I missing something here ? A computer can do the conversion in a couple of clock cycles, but my experience is that someone wants their cut for doing that calculation.

 

I accept that my understanding of foreign exchange leaves a lot to be desired, and apologise if this is a naive query. Any feedback most welcome.

[CTO]

It's WHERE The conversion takes place

 

IF you convert in Australia - you loose about 10% in crappy exchange rates PLUS you have problems IF you ever want to export money back to Australia in future.

 

IF you send Aussie $ and then the THAI BANK converts you get

a) MUCH better exchange rate

A bank statement showing $10 000A arrived and was converted into Thai baht allowing you in future to send money out easier if for some reason you win the local lottery

 

CONVERTING in Thailand is best!

 

NEVER send more than $19 999 as 20 000 US is the "Report" limit where a bank automatically holds the oney till you tell them why you have it.

 

Money will always show up as baht - even a Aussie ATM card if you hit "Balance" at a Thai ATM will show your aussie $ ballance in Baht.

 

Exchange rates here are good in Australia CRAP!

 

 

[CTO]

For example

Bangkok Bank

AUD Australia 29.44 30.32

ANZ 32.7850 26.7928

 

Note in Australia you'll get 26.7928 baht per A$

In Thailand 29.44

 

Big difference!

 

[gobbledonk]

Thanks CTO - lets see if I have this right:

 

1. I transfer $10K Aussie from my Netbank account to my e-account with Krung Thai (for example) AS AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS

 

2. Krung Thai records the amount in Australian dollars, then sits on my money for about a week while they run the relevant checks

 

3. Krung Thai does the conversion to baht, based on a more favourable rate (almost 3 baht to the dollar more than their counterpart in Oz).

 

4. Krung Thai charges me for the currency conversion and the transfer. Dont know what they will charge me for the conversion, but they list their max fee per transaction as 500 baht:

 

http://www.ktb.co.th/PublicApp/ktbweb/en/pid/0700001198

 

Even if the charge for the currency conversion is more at Krung Thai than CBA would have charged me, I have to come out ahead based on the numbers you've quoted. Its the kind of thing that you let slide when on holiday, but I cant afford to let it slide for $10K transfers.

 

Thanks again for your advice - greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

[Mekong]

Just to clarify CTO's Figures

 

In Thailand the rate quoted is BUY AUD for 29.44 THB and SELL AUD for 30.32 THB This is also known as "The Onshore Rate"

 

The Aus rates are BUY THB 32.788 and SELL THB for 26.7928 This is also known as "The Offshore Rate"

 

As you can see the Onshore rate is 9.8% better than the Offshore rate.

 

As for the how to do transfers and costs involved, My bank accounts are held in the Isle of Man a nice offshore tax free haven and I have internet access to the accounts, whenever I need to Transfer funds to Thailand I just log on and fill in the amount into an existing template I have set up, you just have to reme,ber that the transfer date is 2 working days after the time you hit the submit button. For this it is a fixed fee of 35STG no matter if I am sending 2000STG or 10,000 STG.

 

So I get Onshore rate pay the bank charges to my offshore account and funds are available within 48 hours since I always make transfers at weekends from home.

 

 

[Torneyboy]

10K and over is reported to the Reserve bank down here ...the tax man looks at everything ..