# Banking, international transfers



## Overandout

Hi everyone, :wave:

I’m new on here, but not new to living away from “home”, I’m English and have lived in Madrid for some time now.

Anyway, it seems likely that I, along with my family (wife and two small boys) will be moving to Bangkok in early 2013. I’ve spent some time reading the forum but as you will imagine I still have some questions.

Sorry if these are topics that have been covered thousands of times, but newbies in forums always do this!.

My prime concern is a financial one. I have a property in Spain with a mortgage from which there is no escape (thanks to the crisis). The property is already rented out, but the income does not cover the mortgage payments so I will have to regularly pay the difference from my income in Thailand.

So is this even possible? How much money can I transfer (if any) out of a Thai account to a € account abroad per month / year? And how much will it cost me roughly?

I know already that this could be the deal breaker that stops my move going ahead, which would be a real shame, but better to plan ahead!

Any other advice will be greatly appreciated; this seems like a great forum.


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## Newforestcat

Hello

Welcome to the forum.

I am assuming that you will need or have an income in Thailand and that you don't have much savings in Euros or Pounds, based on your info. But if you do, may I suggest that you send the savings to a UK account, as it is the easiest start to deal with your Spanish issue.

I can only give you a few other risky options, anyway: 

I am again assuming that you need to do a monthly transfer possibly a few hundred Euros at a time. You can transfer money from a Thai bank to a Spanish bank in Euro or to a UK bank in Pounds, but it costs a lot of money at both ends. I know this because we were discussing the best ways to get money in Baht or Pounds across to the UK in another forum but it is in Thai. Using this kind of transfer is more expensive than taking cash out with your Thai ATM or Thai credit card in England. Thai credit cards don't penalise you much (only a few Pounds) when you withdraw cash (maybe only if you have topped it up with your own cash beforehand). I am assuming that it does not differ much when you do the same in Spain. 

Also if you still have a UK or Spanish credit or debit cards and still have trusted friends in the UK or Spain, I suggest you pay them via Paypal, top up their phone and/ or vouchers such as Amazon, etc and then they do the transfer to Spain for you. Not all UK vouchers can be purchased online. some require you or someone else to buy a gift card at a petrol station before you can top it up online. 

You can transfer min. of £3K free of charge at both ends from the UK via HiFX. Lower amounts incur £9 charge each time. 

Or get a Thai ATM card and send it to someone in Spain to get cash out. Thai ATM cards don't come with overdraft in general. It will cost something to get cash out, no more than a few Pounds but surely cheaper than bank transfer. 

I am afraid that my suggestions are not ideal but in reality a lot of Thai people abroad use them. 

I know also that it is absolutely none of my business, but if you don't already have a job or a business waiting for you in Thailand or at least have someone very close and dear to you here, Thailand may be a worse place for you to come than Spain or the UK. You won't get free medical care, Job Seekers Allowance or even a CAB to run to. In normal circumstances, Thailand is a great place to live but it is usually more expensive than people expect, especially food-wise. Inflation is high and wages don't seem to catch up.

Let's hope someone else has a better idea for you!

Good luck.

Cheers

Dani


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## stednick

*possible avenues to explore*



Overandout said:


> Hi everyone, :wave:
> 
> I’m new on here, but not new to living away from “home”, I’m English and have lived in Madrid for some time now.
> 
> Anyway, it seems likely that I, along with my family (wife and two small boys) will be moving to Bangkok in early 2013. I’ve spent some time reading the forum but as you will imagine I still have some questions.
> 
> Sorry if these are topics that have been covered thousands of times, but newbies in forums always do this!.
> 
> My prime concern is a financial one. I have a property in Spain with a mortgage from which there is no escape (thanks to the crisis). The property is already rented out, but the income does not cover the mortgage payments so I will have to regularly pay the difference from my income in Thailand.
> 
> So is this even possible? How much money can I transfer (if any) out of a Thai account to a € account abroad per month / year? And how much will it cost me roughly?
> 
> I know already that this could be the deal breaker that stops my move going ahead, which would be a real shame, but better to plan ahead!
> 
> Any other advice will be greatly appreciated; this seems like a great forum.


Overandout:

I haven't lived in Thailand for quite some time now so I am unfamiliar with the details concerning money transfers today. In the past I had "after-tax" money transferred out of Thailand by my employer, no cost to me, as a condition of my employment. 

The avenues I would explore if I were in your shoes are; 1) speak to my future or potential employer as to the possible transfer of funds to an offshore account (perhaps a percentage of your salary to be paid to your foreign account in Europe with the remainder paid to your Thai account), 2) I would consider paying for a consultation with a Thai financial lawyer to determine my specific legal options, 3) I would contact a couple of Thai banks requesting their legal and financial criteria, such as formal reporting criteria, fees and allowances to transfer money overseas. 

As you speak of the possibility of this financial situation being a deal breaker I would start with the potential employer concerning the issue. Perhaps they will be willing to absorb the financial burden this presents without any qualms.

Good luck.


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## Overandout

Thanks for the info.

Both have been very helpful.

In order to clear up a few things:

I will be moving with a contract of employment, but will be paid locally in Bhat.

I have investigated the conditions, and although I am a bit worried about the cost of living, the deal I am being offered seems to be sufficient for a decent quality of life. I don't expect to get rich (financially) with this experience!

Health care will have to be a part of my remuneration package, or the deal will be off.

I do have savings in the UK, but if I use these to pay my day to day costs, I will not be able to replenish them with any income made in Thailand without the same problem arising.

Newforestcat: The notion of anywhere in the semi-developed world being worse than Spain at the moment is quite frightening (except Greece and Portugal of course). Spain is self destructing at an alarming rate, in 2011 1 million people left Spain, in 2012 it will be more, in 2013 I'll be amonst them and given the general situation in Europe I think that Thailand is one of the better (of the few limited available) choices. It will be a great experience for my family, and for me professionally!

Anyway, back to the question;

I would need to send around 300€ per month of my Thai salary to Spain. Of course, I could do this in different stages, e.g. 900€ per quarter or 1800€ per semestre, but I wouldn't want it to build up too much.

I will investigate the possibility of my company paying a portion of my income into an EU account, but as it will be a local contract as opposed to an expat contract, I think this might be a problem.

The Paypal idea could work, but I'm a bit concerned that a regular payment to a family member in Europe could be a bit risky, both for me as a Thai tax payer and them as an EU tax payer....


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## Newforestcat

Hi

Don't worry for your UK relatives about receiving your money; they can accept any money or anything else from you as gifts tax-free providing you live for six more years at least and can take your money in order to send it to someone else abroad. You are no longer an ordinary resident of the UK for tax purposes (right?) and the money is not actually going to be spent in the UK. I cannot see how all that will bring up double-taxation or residency issues. Make sure you don't send it to your own account though, or it could be a different matter! Keep all evidence just in case. Thai govt don't care what you do with your income in Thailand after taxes paid. You could send it to the moon, they would not be concerned.

I know a little bit about Spain, sadly. A friend is studying Spanish hard, so what he reads in the news is also my benefit. A few Brits I know have had similar experience to yours. My Spanish friends never could go back to Spain from the UK due to the financial issues. 

Thailand has its own problems though, I should know as I am Thai. However, like you, I am bringing my Brit husband to live in Thailand permanently or he would just keep working until he gives up breathing.

Good luck!

Dani


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## Overandout

Well, things move slowly on.

My company is looking into the possibility of paying some of my wage in Europe but it doesn't look likely...

I've been looking into other possibilities and it seems that passing the money through the UK is ridiculous from a cost perspective. It would have to come to Spain directly.

So I'm back to square one, still wondering how to best transfer money from Thailand to Spain (legally and economically).

Does anyone have any experience of repeatedly using Paypal for this kind of "gift" operation?


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## cooked

You need an International Money Transfer service. I used one when I came to Thailand. They make their money by playing with the exchange rate and this was a good solution for me. 
You can google it, there are comparison sites also.


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## Song_Si

I'm unclear what the problem is?

Bangkok Bank - Transferring Money Out of Thailand - charge 400 baht

Kasikorn allow online transfers. Site states a daily limit of '1,000,000 Baht / User ID / Day'

Largest amount I've sent - over the counter at Kasikorn, was 300,000 baht. 5 minutes and done. 

Here's a Bangkok Post page with links to all the major banks

note:


> Transferring money out of Thailand is more problematic. For sums of US$50,000 and above, you may need to supply proof of how these funds were earned as well as the taxes paid on them.


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## Overandout

Song_Si said:


> I'm unclear what the problem is?
> 
> Bangkok Bank - Transferring Money Out of Thailand - charge 400 baht
> 
> Kasikorn allow online transfers. Site states a daily limit of '1,000,000 Baht / User ID / Day'
> 
> Largest amount I've sent - over the counter at Kasikorn, was 300,000 baht. 5 minutes and done.
> 
> Here's a Bangkok Post page with links to all the major banks
> 
> note:


Now that you have directed me to the links in your post there is appears to be much less of a problem !

I had not found this kind of information on the Bank of Thailand website.

Thank you. :clap2:


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## Newforestcat

Song_Si said:


> I'm unclear what the problem is?
> 
> Bangkok Bank - Transferring Money Out of Thailand - charge 400 baht
> 
> Kasikorn allow online transfers. Site states a daily limit of '1,000,000 Baht / User ID / Day'
> 
> Largest amount I've sent - over the counter at Kasikorn, was 300,000 baht. 5 minutes and done.
> 
> Here's a Bangkok Post page with links to all the major banks
> 
> note:


Thanks a million, Song_Si!

Your link could save me a few thousand Pounds! Thanks for the hint! I forgot about having a Pound Sterling bank account completely. Well, my trouble is rather different from Overandout's. I could see that having a Pound Sterling account could deal with getting money in and out of Thailand easily. Now let me see how much deposit I need to be able to get one! Last time I asked HSBC, well, about a decade ago, I needed 5-7 M Baht before they would care to open one for me. I hope Thai banks are less greedy. LOL

You have made my day BIG TIME! If I ever see you, I will buy you and your partner two large pints! 

Cheers!

Dani eace:eace:eace:


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## davidstipek

*help with banking issues*



Overandout said:


> Hi everyone, :wave:
> 
> I’m new on here, but not new to living away from “home”, I’m English and have lived in Madrid for some time now.
> 
> Anyway, it seems likely that I, along with my family (wife and two small boys) will be moving to Bangkok in early 2013. I’ve spent some time reading the forum but as you will imagine I still have some questions.
> 
> Sorry if these are topics that have been covered thousands of times, but newbies in forums always do this!.
> 
> My prime concern is a financial one. I have a property in Spain with a mortgage from which there is no escape (thanks to the crisis). The property is already rented out, but the income does not cover the mortgage payments so I will have to regularly pay the difference from my income in Thailand.
> 
> So is this even possible? How much money can I transfer (if any) out of a Thai account to a € account abroad per month / year? And how much will it cost me roughly?
> 
> I know already that this could be the deal breaker that stops my move going ahead, which would be a real shame, but better to plan ahead!
> 
> Any other advice will be greatly appreciated; this seems like a great forum.


Something else you might try is what I do from Chiang Mai... 

We have a Bank of Bangkok in New York. So I can have deposits mde there it shows up here immediatly, same Vise-Versa... Example my Retirement and SSI checks are electronicly deposited in America. As soon as they are deposited I get a Message on my cellphone such is made (It costs me 2 USD) I can be at Bank here and withdraw at same time, no waiting for checks to clear etc... I can also have automatic withdrawl (payment made monthly) to whoever I choose. I am sure that there is a Bank of Bangkok in Spain to work with. Everything can be done here (setup) in Thailand. Also this account is in my name only, no joint setup allowed with my Social Security checks being deposited to it. No Credit or ATM cards either. If you choose to do otherwise as I did with another account I just go in and transfer to other account, withdaw cash I need at time, the rest that I want is on ATM card for emergencies. 

This has worked for me for 6 years, it gives me a running balance to use for Retirement Visa renewals, as ammount is always there no need to wait 2-3 months 

Just an idea email Bank of Bangkok... www "dot" bangkokbank "dot"com to get email and Telephone info. (System won't let me give you a direct link so I used "dot" instead of ".") sorry....
Full name is: Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited, 333 Silom Road Bangrak 10500 Thailand. 

Lots of luck! It worked for me!


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## davidstipek

*Another Idea!*



davidstipek said:


> Something else you might try is what I do from Chiang Mai...
> 
> We have a Bank of Bangkok in New York. So I can have deposits mde there it shows up here immediatly, same Vise-Versa... Example my Retirement and SSI checks are electronicly deposited in America. As soon as they are deposited I get a Message on my cellphone such is made (It costs me 2 USD) I can be at Bank here and withdraw at same time, no waiting for checks to clear etc... I can also have automatic withdrawl (payment made monthly) to whoever I choose. I am sure that there is a Bank of Bangkok in Spain to work with. Everything can be done here (setup) in Thailand. Also this account is in my name only, no joint setup allowed with my Social Security checks being deposited to it. No Credit or ATM cards either. If you choose to do otherwise as I did with another account I just go in and transfer to other account, withdaw cash I need at time, the rest that I want is on ATM card for emergencies.
> 
> This has worked for me for 6 years, it gives me a running balance to use for Retirement Visa renewals, as ammount is always there no need to wait 2-3 months
> 
> Just an idea email Bank of Bangkok... www "dot" bangkokbank "dot"com to get email and Telephone info. (System won't let me give you a direct link so I used "dot" instead of ".") sorry....
> Full name is: Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited, 333 Silom Road Bangrak 10500 Thailand.
> 
> Lots of luck! It worked for me!


You know this would also save on any money transfer fees also! as you are not actually transfering anything!


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