# Money transfer to Thailand



## robine

Hi

I have a friend (really..!!) who has asked me best way (safe, reliable) to send his girl some money here in Thailand. He was wondering what would be the best options (pros and cons) and which methods might be best for a Thai girl from esarn to collect the money without it being too difficult for her.

Has anyone done this recently or have experience you could share?

cheers


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## Guest

Tempted to make a joke out of this  ... ie the best person to ask would be the girl herself, they often have considerable expertise in this particular field! 

But seriously it's a simple enough process if the girl has a bank account. Get hold of the full IBAN etc bank details for her branch, name and account number, and make a standard international transfer. However the bank charges are disproportionately high if the sums involved are small and frequent. 

I've a feeling PayPal can also be used, but that needs checking because Thailand is one of the 'risk countries', and some financial institutions don't cover it as a result.


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## blue eyes

Two easy ways.One is to give her an ATM card to an account only for her.You control the amount of money in it so if she empties it ......oh well bye bye little lady.Or you can use Western Union.It is a bit expensive but she can get the money at almost any post office in Thailand.Years ago I used Western Union.But then went with the ATM for the wifes family.Works for us.


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## Guest

When I looked at Western Union it seemed to work out more expensive than a bank to bank transfer. Still it is a valid and relatively safe option.

The ATM system - that ties in with the bank to bank transfer thing. Chances are she'll already have her own ATM card for her own account, so the simplest way would be to transfer the desired sum into that account. Otherwise you could set up a card on your own account, with a spend limit, but that's a bit more complicated. Plus if it's a foreign as opposed to a Thai bank baht account, there's a charge now on each withdrawal each time the card is used at a Thai bank.


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## blue eyes

The biggest problem I see with the money transfer is the cost involved,$35-$60 US for each transfer.If you are going to transfer a large amount of money then it is the best way to go.But I doubt that the OP was wishing to transfer thousands of Euro's or Dollars.In that case the ATM is the way to go.If you get charged 100-150THB so be it but that is a lot less then 1,200-2,000THB


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## Acid_Crow

When I use my Norwegian ATM-card in Thailand, the thai bank will charge me 150 baht and the norwegian bank will charge me 250 baht. That's 400 baht in charges for evey withdrawal, no matter how small it is. And the maximum withdrawal is 20k, so it's gonna cost me atleast 400baht for every 20k.

I'm not sure what the bank-to-bank transfer charges are. If it's a fixed sum or a percentage. If it's the latter it has to be lower than 0,02% to be worth it (I think, tired :s).

Anyways, I don't know whats cheaper.. sorry for taking up your precious time!


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## Guest

If the relationship is likely to be long term as mine has nicely turned out, it is really useful to be able to prove that the farrang was sending money to the Thai girl, when it comes to visas for her to travel. What I did was open a Thai bank account (Kasikorn let you open one without a work permit). I got my girl to open one at the same bank, and then I did a simple electronic transfer via the internet each month to her account from mine. When it came time to get her visas to travel with me before we were married the bank statements showing the transfers were irrefutable proof that we had had the relationship since at least the time the transfers started. Even the US embassy visa section were reluctantly forced to accept the statements as proof of the duration of the relationship.


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## Mindaugas

4 years ago i send 100 USD for one of thai girl (know from net), she dissapere for 2 years, and after 2 years said sorry about that. I never met her face to face till today 
Be carefull


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## ykcir9

get ready o spend a lot of money . i use an atm card with my bank i requested two cards and sent one to thailand it costs 250 bt for each transfere.effecient . but make sure that the atm she uses has cash in it . last transaction the atm was empty but still charged mt account 10,000bt. took two monthsto get credited back to my account. also in thailand please remember that if you are accepted into a thai family all they have is for yo to use and by servisa (your property becames the property of the family (caR/ House and sometimes banl account ). your girl might be wonderful but watch out for her male kindlings(brothers/ father/ and thousand cousins) good luck


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## Acid_Crow

ykcir9 said:


> also in thailand please remember that if you are accepted into a thai family all they have is for yo to use and by servisa (your property becames the property of the family (caR/ House and sometimes banl account ). your girl might be wonderful but watch out for her male kindlings(brothers/ father/ and thousand cousins) good luck


Welcome to the book recommendations-section of this forum, check out 'Thai Fever' amongst others, and learn that you are able to draw a line. If you are the only one giving, it's not a relationship. So study and get wiser, or get the hell out of it..


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## Serendipity2

frogblogger said:


> Tempted to make a joke out of this  ... ie the best person to ask would be the girl herself, they often have considerable expertise in this particular field!
> 
> But seriously it's a simple enough process if the girl has a bank account. Get hold of the full IBAN etc bank details for her branch, name and account number, and make a standard international transfer. However the bank charges are disproportionately high if the sums involved are small and frequent.
> 
> I've a feeling PayPal can also be used, but that needs checking because Thailand is one of the 'risk countries', and some financial institutions don't cover it as a result.



Debit cards USE to be an option but sadly almost all of SE Asia is on the exclusion list where they will not allow their use due to rampant fraud. Seems the ATM route is probably the best even though she will have to pay a portion everytime she does a withdrawal. The VERY best is, as you suggested, asking the girl herself. She will know or certainly have a friend who will.


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## robine

Thanks guys for all of your input. Much appreciated.


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## ykcir9

thanks


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## blue eyes

ykcir9 said:


> get ready o spend a lot of money . i use an atm card with my bank i requested two cards and sent one to thailand it costs 250 bt for each transfere.effecient . but make sure that the atm she uses has cash in it . last transaction the atm was empty but still charged mt account 10,000bt. took two monthsto get credited back to my account. also in thailand please remember that if you are accepted into a thai family all they have is for yo to use and by servisa (your property becames the property of the family (caR/ House and sometimes banl account ). your girl might be wonderful but watch out for her male kindlings(brothers/ father/ and thousand cousins) good luck


very strange post.


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## ykcir9

one thing i forgot ot say about money transferes with an atm card. make sure you call your american bank and tell them that you approved money withdraws in thailand. they will understand and not freeze transfer because they suspect fraud. (i unfortuately had problems once . one call cleared it up. good luck. also thanksn acid crow for the book recomendations .i owe you


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## cat 740 driver

*Money transfer to thailand*




robine said:


> Hi
> 
> I have a friend (really..!!) who has asked me best way (safe, reliable) to send his girl some money here in Thailand. He was wondering what would be the best options (pros and cons) and which methods might be best for a Thai girl from esarn to collect the money without it being too difficult for her.
> 
> Has anyone done this recently or have experience you could share?
> 
> cheers


Hi,i have used electronic transfer from my uk a/c to the wifes Thai bank a/c,never had a problem.
I have also sent by west/union,again absolutley no problem.The benefit of west/union is speed.i have sent from the uk 1st thing am and had call off the wife to say she had collected late pm,always a trade off and that is its bit more expensive.
Most of the Thai domestic banks Krung Thai,agricultural bank etc all accept western union business.
I am looking into using paypal also,either way competitions building so its not as ludicrusly expensive as it was a few years back.
Good luck.


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## KhwaamLap

Thainews said:


> There is no bank in thai would charge 10000 baht on a transfer thats complete nonsense,regarding family and all freinds using your home in thai,then you make it clear to get the Fcuk out of there and they are not welcome
> 
> Simple as



I think he meant that the ATM marked the transaction as complete though it didn't deliver any cash - there was a spate of this a year or so back with certain banks here. Most banks don't debit until the cash draw has ejected, there was obviously a programming fault in some of the ATM software. Not heard about it recently, so guess its sorted now. A number of banks denied it was happening regardless of the number of complaints - but most repaid given proof (which is pretty much impossible - but persistence seemed to help). 

IBan is just your account number here. Its a European thing, outside of Europe its the account number. I have transferred money using it on many occasions. Banks like Barclays in the UK will only do transfers with an IBan - whereas Nat West is happy to do Telex transfers using just the Banks swift number and account details,


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## geezer

robine said:


> Hi
> 
> I have a friend (really..!!) who has asked me best way (safe, reliable) to send his girl some money here in Thailand. He was wondering what would be the best options (pros and cons) and which methods might be best for a Thai girl from esarn to collect the money without it being too difficult for her.
> 
> Has anyone done this recently or have experience you could share?
> 
> cheers


hi i have been using paypal for over a year now and never had any problems i normally send £100 she gets the money in about 7 working days..when i use paypal i always click on pay household expenses(something like that)..think you get a better rate and get her to pay for transaction  ..on £100 normally about £4.00..i sent £100 2 weeks ago and she recieved 4500 baht..exchange rate was bad then..i did shop around a year ago and paypal was the cheapest way then..hope it helps..


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## Serendipity2

geezer said:


> hi i have been using paypal for over a year now and never had any problems i normally send £100 she gets the money in about 7 working days..when i use paypal i always click on pay household expenses(something like that)..think you get a better rate and get her to pay for transaction  ..on £100 normally about £4.00..i sent £100 2 weeks ago and she recieved 4500 baht..exchange rate was bad then..i did shop around a year ago and paypal was the cheapest way then..hope it helps..



geezer,

4% is pretty stiff considering the money changers take NO risk. Why not set up a "her" account locally and send her an ATM card. If you do it at a credit union you only pay $1 per transaction - regardless of the amount. Then, if she REALLY wants to save money you will make the card limit around $500 [equivalent] and she STILL only pays the $1 [equivalent].


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## KhwaamLap

Serendipity2 said:


> geezer,
> 
> 4% is pretty stiff considering the money changers take NO risk. Why not set up a "her" account locally and send her an ATM card. If you do it at a credit union you only pay $1 per transaction - regardless of the amount. Then, if she REALLY wants to save money you will make the card limit around $500 [equivalent] and she STILL only pays the $1 [equivalent].


Not sure what you meant by "locally" S2 - local to her in Thailand, or local to him overseas?
If the latter, then Thai banks also charge 150Baht ATM fee per transaction - so tell her to go into the branch and draw it over the counter (debit card transaction) - these carry no charges. 

I also think 4,500Baht on 100 quid is painful too - this gives a comparative 44Baht to the pound on a commission free transaction. It hasn't been that bad as far as I'm aware in years. Currently its bad at 48.59 (local to Thailand). Overseas rates are always worse than Thai on-shore rates (as western banks don't want Baht, but Thai banks want pounds, dollars and euros). 

Natwest still does Tel;ex transfers which take about 7 days and cost about 8 pound for small sums and 15 for bigger ones - cheaper than many banks who only use switch (cheack these rates though as it was more than a few years ago I did this). These days I usually use internet banking to do a transfer (in sterling) to my Thai account - or use Western Union if I need it fast.

I transferred some money from Barclays last year and made the mistake of ticking the wrong box and having the money sent in local currency - i.e. changed to Baht in the UK - it cost me about 10% of the principle extra than if I had sent as sterling.

I heard that setting up two PayPal accounts and paying from one to another as a purchase of goods incurred very low charges - using sterling on both. Linking a Thai bank account with one and a Uk with the other, then the Thai bank would get an incoming transaction in sterling and would do the exchange at a much better rate. I haven't used this method (yet) but have heard it is the best.


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## Serendipity2

KhwaamLap said:


> Not sure what you meant by "locally" S2 - local to her in Thailand, or local to him overseas?
> If the latter, then Thai banks also charge 150Baht ATM fee per transaction - so tell her to go into the branch and draw it over the counter (debit card transaction) - these carry no charges.
> 
> I also think 4,500Baht on 100 quid is painful too - this gives a comparative 44Baht to the pound on a commission free transaction. It hasn't been that bad as far as I'm aware in years. Currently its bad at 48.59 (local to Thailand). Overseas rates are always worse than Thai on-shore rates (as western banks don't want Baht, but Thai banks want pounds, dollars and euros).
> 
> Natwest still does Tel;ex transfers which take about 7 days and cost about 8 pound for small sums and 15 for bigger ones - cheaper than many banks who only use switch (cheack these rates though as it was more than a few years ago I did this). These days I usually use internet banking to do a transfer (in sterling) to my Thai account - or use Western Union if I need it fast.
> 
> I transferred some money from Barclays last year and made the mistake of ticking the wrong box and having the money sent in local currency - i.e. changed to Baht in the UK - it cost me about 10% of the principle extra than if I had sent as sterling.
> 
> I heard that setting up two PayPal accounts and paying from one to another as a purchase of goods incurred very low charges - using sterling on both. Linking a Thai bank account with one and a Uk with the other, then the Thai bank would get an incoming transaction in sterling and would do the exchange at a much better rate. I haven't used this method (yet) but have heard it is the best.


KhwaamLap,

I only did withdrawal in Malaysia but I used my ATM from my credit union [no fees] and paid $1 per withdrawal. I was suggesting HE open an account for her at a credit union in his home and then let her know. On her end, to save $$$ make a withdrawal perhaps every TWO months and have a high limit. Again, I didn't do any ATM withdrawals in Thailand so maybe they're greedier dogs. [probably]


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## geezer

*baht exchange rate*



KhwaamLap said:


> Not sure what you meant by "locally" S2 - local to her in Thailand, or local to him overseas?
> If the latter, then Thai banks also charge 150Baht ATM fee per transaction - so tell her to go into the branch and draw it over the counter (debit card transaction) - these carry no charges.
> 
> I also think 4,500Baht on 100 quid is painful too - this gives a comparative 44Baht to the pound on a commission free transaction. It hasn't been that bad as far as I'm aware in years. Currently its bad at 48.59 (local to Thailand). Overseas rates are always worse than Thai on-shore rates (as western banks don't want Baht, but Thai banks want pounds, dollars and euros).
> 
> Natwest still does Tel;ex transfers which take about 7 days and cost about 8 pound for small sums and 15 for bigger ones - cheaper than many banks who only use switch (cheack these rates though as it was more than a few years ago I did this). These days I usually use internet banking to do a transfer (in sterling) to my Thai account - or use Western Union if I need it fast.......
> 
> 
> I transferred some money from Barclays last year and made the mistake of ticking the wrong box and having the money sent in local currency - i.e. changed to Baht in the UK - it cost me about 10% of the principle extra than if I had sent as sterling.
> 
> I heard that setting up two PayPal accounts and paying from one to another as a purchase of goods incurred very low charges - using sterling on both. Linking a Thai bank account with one and a Uk with the other, then the Thai bank would get an incoming transaction in sterling and would do the exchange at a much better rate. I haven't used this method (yet) but have heard it is the best.


two weeks ago the rate in the UK was 43 baht to the £..now back to 48..what paypal does is change sterling to us dollar then to thai baht..you have no say in this unless you have a UK baht account (which it does ask ie how do you want to change this money) i do try to keep up to date on sending money and paypal so far to me is the cheapest, easiest and quickest..hope this helps..


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## geezer

*sending money to thailand*



geezer said:


> two weeks ago the rate in the UK was 43 baht to the £..now back to 48..what paypal does is change sterling to us dollar then to thai baht..you have no say in this unless you have a UK baht account (which it does ask ie how do you want to change this money) i do try to keep up to date on sending money and paypal so far to me is the cheapest, easiest and quickest..hope this helps..


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