# UK Military Pension



## whiteheat

Hi All,

At the moment my wife and I are living of my Army pension. I am looking for anyone else who has a monthly UK income and what the best way to send it across is.

I have tried 2 methods at the moment:

1) Finance broker, they gave me the best exchange rate, even beating what the street traders were offering, but it came with a hefty £23 comission. Ideal for sending a very large lump sum but not a small monthly amount.

2) Drawing straight from my UK bank, At first it seemed costly with £3 tranfer rate from UK and another 150Bht from my Thai bank (this had to be done 3 times to get all of it out) plus a non favourable exchange rate, but despite all this it was on par with option 1.

I'm thinking about speaking to pension people (Paymaster) and get it sent straight over to here.

Is there anyone who has gone through the same problem and what's the best option?. Am I missing another option?


----------



## rickirs

Suggest you use ATM in Bangkok to draw funds from UK account.


----------



## whiteheat

rickirs said:


> Suggest you use ATM in Bangkok to draw funds from UK account.


Why should I go to BKK to do it? Option 2 is drawing it from an ATM but locally.


----------



## rickirs

from wherever in thailand where you find an ATM


----------



## rooineckrsa

whiteheat open a thai bank account,you will only get a savings but you will get a atm card and you can transfer from uk to los. bkk bank have cool web site go check it out


----------



## whiteheat

Thanks but that's what I'm doing in Option 2


----------



## Newforestcat

Hi

hifx.co.uk charges no fee at both ends, if you transfer at least £3000 each time. If you want a better exchange rate, try transfering in bigger chunks. Any transfer under £3000 costs you £15 all in clusive (no more fees at your Thai bank, if there is, HiFX will give you a refund). 

I cannot see why or how Paymaster would transfer your govt pension payments to your Thai bank account any cheaper. 

If using a UK ATM card is a must (maybe for emergency in Thailand and abroad), next time you go back to the UK, if you can still open a new bank account with Metro banks (in and near London). 

Please see the link below for more generous debit cards:

Cheap Travel Money: Top cards for spending abroad...

IF you do live in a Thai city and want to hold your cash locally in Sterling, you could open a Foreign Deposit Account with a Thai bank (selected branches only. Please check your chosen bank's website). I cannot see much point in this as the interest rate for Sterling is amost if not 0%. If it was AUD, you could get approx over 3% (minus 15% tax). The only attractions are possibly:

- there is no fee when the Sterling reaches your FDA in Thailand; providing that you don't have to pay a lot of money to transfer it from the UK, this could save you some money. If you want to exchange some, there should be no fee if the bank deposits the funds into your Baht bank account held by the same bank/branch. If you ask for Baht in cash, then there could be charges! Just use a Thai ATM card. 

- it could be more convenient. You can wait for the exchange rate to improve.

Negative points:

- usually there is no interest to be had.
- stability of the bank VS the change in the Thai Govt's bank account deposit guarantee.
- having to keep records of funds transferred in, just in case you need to take the money out of Thailand. 

Please excuse my typos and errors, if any.

Cheers

Dani


----------



## Newforestcat

More info re FDA and using the Bangkok Bank's London branch to transfer Sterling to Baht from UK to Thailand.

First of all it is FCD Foreign Currency Deposit Account.

You can transfer Sterling to your Sterling FCD account held by a Bangkok Bank's branch in Thailand. The bank charges £20 per transfer, then you pay min. 200 Baht to max. 500 Baht when the money reaches Thailand. The only way to exchange this into Baht free of charge at the Thai Bangkok Bank rate is to deposit it into a THB bank account then use ATM. 

You also pay the same fees if you only want to transfer Sterling or ordinary Baht account held by a Bangkok Bank's branch in Thailand (depending on the day's exchange rate). Alternatively, if you only want to transfer Sterling into an ordinary Baht account, the Bangkok Bank's London branch charges £15 per transfer. No other fees, I do however suspect that the exchange rate is poorer than paying £20 per transfer plus 200-500 Baht charges. 

Anyone with a UK bank account can use the the Bangkok Bank's London branch; there is no need to go to the branch or to have a bank account with them!

FCD is not in the Thai govt's guarantee scheme. 


Transfer money from the UK to Thailand


Types of FCD accounts (some receive low to decent interests, some don't.): 
Foreign Currency Deposit Interest Rates



Deposit and Withdrawal Fees for Foreign Currency Deposit Account


Rates and Fees


----------

