Bangkok Bank transfer to/from USA?

[TWS60]

If you're established in Thailand with all the usual big ticket purchases out of the way, Non-O Retirement using 800k in the bank method for Immigration instead of monthly income (the FTT issue), and just need routine monthly living expenses, doing a few 30k ATM pulls each month with the Schwab ATM/Debit card, works for me.  Deposit into local Thai bank account (CDM), then use cash, QR Scan payments. 

The Visa logo card foreign exchange rate is generally 1 or 2 points below the mid-market rate, which is where WISE threads the needle but gets their end with the service fee.   The key diff is Schwab reimburses the 220 Baht ATM Fee(s) at the end of the month, whereas with WISE, you eat the transfer/service Fee.  

ATM reimbursements are roughly $230/year in my case.  Not earth shattering, but I just like the idea of cost avoidance where possible, even if it involves a bit of elbow grease on my end.  Being unemployed, I've got more time than money as the saying goes, so doing a few trips to the Mall over a few days, isn't a bother.  

If I needed to pull over a one-off larger sum again, I'd look at the options, including WISE, and weigh it up.

[Dezmo]

Thanks.. i did notice the ~30k limit (~$1k USD) for Schwab ATM.  I wonder how many days in a row I can do this :)

[Dezmo]

21 hours ago, Marc26 said:

But what about time?

I've only used a bank transfer once in the last 3 years to send 3mil when we bought a house because it can take 2-3 days

We send WISE to Bangkok Bank and Krungsi and it takes seconds, usually 

I transferred 3,500 baht (34.44 rate; $101.63) yesterday and the transfer seemed to take a few hours on Bank of America end (got email while I slept).  Later today it showed up in my Bangkok Bank app but was only 3,400 baht (thats an exchange rate of 33.45). 

Wonder what happened to the 100 baht?

[TWS60]

On 2/1/2024 at 12:05 PM, Dezmo said:

Thanks.. i did notice the ~30k limit (~$1k USD) for Schwab ATM.  I wonder how many days in a row I can do this :)

 

I typically do 3 ATM pulls during the first week of a new month, no red flags that I'm aware of. 

Heard from another guy here years ago that you can call Schwab for a temporary increase to that daily $1k ATM limit, but I've never tried.  

One stray piece of info is I usually get $18-$20 reimbursed at the end of a month for 3 previous ATM transactions, but only got $6 something back for December 2023.  Only thing I can think of is 2 of the 3 ATM pulls were at stand-alone ATMs instead of the usual machine outside a proper bank branch in the local mall.  Maybe something to do with location coding, or a gaff by Schwab's accounting robot or something, not sure.

 

[Dezmo]

23 hours ago, Dezmo said:

I transferred 3,500 baht (34.44 rate; $101.63) yesterday and the transfer seemed to take a few hours on Bank of America end (got email while I slept).  Later today it showed up in my Bangkok Bank app but was only 3,400 baht (thats an exchange rate of 33.45). 

Wonder what happened to the 100 baht?

So Bangkok Bank responded about my missing 100baht.... but it is unclear if this is a flat 100b fee or a Percent of amount sent.    If the latter, it may be even better to use Wise... assuming they do not do this..   I asked the bank a follow-up.

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Regarding for your inquiry, please be advised that your payment was sent from an overseas bank to another Bank in Thailand, Then other Bank, Bangkok sent the payment further to Bangkok Bank in Thai Baht via a local payment system called BAHTNET. Once payment is sent via BAHTNET, there will be fees of THB100.00 per transaction which will be deducted by receiving banks according to banking practice in Thailand.

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[Dezmo]

On 2/2/2024 at 4:46 PM, Dezmo said:

So Bangkok Bank responded about my missing 100baht.... but it is unclear if this is a flat 100b fee or a Percent of amount sent.    If the latter, it may be even better to use Wise... assuming they do not do this..   I asked the bank a follow-up.

---

Regarding for your inquiry, please be advised that your payment was sent from an overseas bank to another Bank in Thailand, Then other Bank, Bangkok sent the payment further to Bangkok Bank in Thai Baht via a local payment system called BAHTNET. Once payment is sent via BAHTNET, there will be fees of THB100.00 per transaction which will be deducted by receiving banks according to banking practice in Thailand.

---

FYI,...

Apparently my account is registered in a metropolitan area.

If money is transferred via the Bahtnet system through the Bank of Thailand and then forwarded to other banks within Thailand, there will be a fee of 100 baht.
 However, if the account is registered in a provincial area, there will be an additional cross-border fee. This fee is calculated at a rate of 10 baht for every 10,000 baht transferred, with a maximum fee of 750 baht per transaction.

 

(So my experiment shows BAC giving a little lower exchange rate than Wise but no fee but there is this fee on the Thai end... so would have to compare to Wise exchange and fee also to determine which is better :)

-----------------
Regarding your inquiry about BAHTNET Fees, we would like to inform you that BAHTNET is a system for transferring high value amounts to accounts at other banks and fees for BAHTNET are paid by both the
sending party and the receiving party.

BAHTNET Fees for transferring from Bangkok Bank to other commercial Banks as follows:

-Within Bangkok metropolitan area
Sending Bank Fee 150Baht
Receiving Bank Fee 100Baht

-From Bangkok metropolitan area to provincial areas
Sending Bank Fee 150Baht
Receiving Bank Fee 100Baht plus Inter-Region Transfer Rate

-Provincial areas to Bangkok metropolitan area
Sending Bank Fee 150Baht plus Inter-Region Transfer Rate
Receiving Bank Fee 100Baht

-Within provincial areas
Sending Bank Fee 150Baht
Receiving Bank Fee 100Baht plus Inter-Region Transfer Rate

Inter-Region Transfer Rate 10Bt per every 10,000Bt transferred with a maximum fee of 750Bt per transaction.

 

[TSS]

On 1/31/2024 at 9:53 AM, Dezmo said:

So using my debit card they can transfer whatever amount I tell them?

They just use the card number I assume? Thanks.

My Non-O didn'r require income when i opened it but I saw on SIam Legal website that it may on renewal but I am unsure...

The bank swipes the debit card and you get a receipt same as any merchant does.

[WilliamG]

On 1/31/2024 at 6:31 PM, Dezmo said:

I forgot to ask if you encounter a limit using your S card also... I know when I use it at an ATM I am limited to about 1,000 USD a day.

How much a day do you need?

[Dezmo]

16 minutes ago, WilliamG said:

How much a day do you need?

Oh i was wondering if I wanted to transfer a large amount at once... maybe $10k+

[Dezmo]

Seems no need for Wise or Schwab.   Transferred another $5k from Bank of America and no charge (in USD this time), and decent exchange rate, and only 100b charge by BahtNet, and it arrives in ~1 day.  BAC releases it in a few hours but I think it take time before BahtNet sends to Bangkok Bank.

[Marc26]

2 hours ago, Dezmo said:

Seems no need for Wise or Schwab.   Transferred another $5k from Bank of America and no charge (in USD this time), and decent exchange rate, and only 100b charge by BahtNet, and it arrives in ~1 day.  BAC releases it in a few hours but I think it take time before BahtNet sends to Bangkok Bank.

I'd imagine Bangkok Banks rate was sitll worse than Wise rate

 

At least that was the case when I sent 3mil baht from my bank to Bangkok Bank

 

But I basically paid the same as Wise vs Bangkok Bank 

 

Wise had their fee but flat rate

Bangkok made the money on the FX

[Dezmo]

1 hour ago, Marc26 said:

I'd imagine Bangkok Banks rate was sitll worse than Wise rate

At least that was the case when I sent 3mil baht from my bank to Bangkok Bank

But I basically paid the same as Wise vs Bangkok Bank 

Wise had their fee but flat rate

Bangkok made the money on the FX

You may be right.. seems Bank of America rate was about 1b lower than what i see on Wise now.. but Wise has a flat fee also of ~$40 (on $5k) so Wise may be cheaper... would have to check exchange rates for both in real time :)

[Marc26]

10 minutes ago, Dezmo said:

You may be right.. seems Bank of America rate was about 1b lower than what i see on Wise now.. but Wise has a flat fee also of ~$40 (on $5k) so Wise may be cheaper... would have to check exchange rates for both in real time :)

I think it's neglible so whatever way you prefer

 

I remember trying to see what would be cheaper when I sent that 3mil

 

But whichever way I did it, I would end up paying about  $600