Depositing foreign checks into Thai bank account

[Chuckles]

Does anyone know how hard it is to deposit a check from to Canadian Bank into a Thai Bank, and how long before it was cleared so you could use the money.

 

 

 

DJ

[Guest]

It's not hard at all, as long as the name on the check exactly matches the name in which the account is registered. Expect it to take between three and four weeks for the funds to clear, however.

[Guest]

Post deleted by DoxyBlue

[Guest]

I have deposited US checks (personal checks) to accounts both at Bangkok Bank and Bank of Ayudhaya. Both took just about three weeks to clear the funds.

[Pom Michael]

That is surprisingly fast, only three weeks. Maybe the banking system is getting better.

 

 

 

I stopped depositing foreign checks (or cheques) into my Thai account (Thai Farmers Bank) after the first time. Took 6 weeks and cost about 1,500 baht in fees.

 

 

 

Cheaper and faster to courier the check back to your home country and deposit it, if you have this option.

[gummigut]

Agree with all the sentiments here with the exception of pvtdick's.

 

 

 

Do yourself a favor, mail it back to where you come from and have it deposited there.

 

 

 

When I first moved here, I had a HSBC bank check. Well above the limit to open a $ denominated account. Some banks wouldn't even open the account based on the check. I ended up mailing it back to the States.

 

 

 

While I'm sure Pvtdick is speaking the truth, I believe he's just been quite lucky with his timing.

 

 

 

Basically, this is what happens when you deposit the check here. From the local bank Thai bank it goes to Bank of Thailand for clearance. The Bank of Thailand gets the funds from your bank in Canada. Bank of Thailand remits the funds back to your local Thai bank. You'd then think that after all this you'd get your funds. Maybe 7 days max.

 

 

 

Nuh uh. Think again. Every month the Bank of Thailand will give your local Thai bank a statement. Your local Thai bank does not clear your funds when they receive them, but clear your funds upon receipt of this statement so delays can be quite long. I'm also given to understand you don't get the exchange rate when the funds are remitted to the Thai bank, or when you actually receive your funds. I understand they look at the exchange rate over the whole period from deposit to disbursement and will give you the worst rate.

 

 

 

Any information to the contrary of what I stated is very welcome but I do believe that's the way it goes. The other alternative is to have money wired into your Thai bank account and that's pretty straightforward.

 

 

 

<<burp>>

[Guest]

Bangkok Bank quotes 45 days which seems in line. I remember when they said that to me I thought I misunderstood and replied "did you just say 4 to 5 days?", LOL. This is just another reason I do not have a Thai bank account. Instead, I withdraw money from ATMs, pay bills at 7/11, pay rent by depositing baht into the owners account, and anything too big for ATM withdrawal takes VISA. Fancy autopay has not seemed to catch on yet in Thailand, but withstanding that, I could not be happier with this arrangement.

 

 

[whosyourdaddy]

DJ

 

 

 

It does cost 500B per check for a foreign check.. There is a Bank of Nova Scotia on Ploenchit which is mainly for commercial but maybe the could help. What i ALWAYS do is send the check home an get someone to deposit it into my account and then I withdrawl on ATM

[Guest]

I guess this is not answering your question but I just kept my USA bank acc't (BofA and had my monthly pension checks deposited into same acc't I had prior to relocating to LOS. Just use ATM when need money. With online banking offered by most banks you can pay most bills on line and transfer funds between saving accounts.No problems thus far and do not have to worry about baht going from 40 -1 to 80-1; :>)