Remitting via the Post office...

[Guest catawampuscat]

A special boy I like needed some baht to come to Pattaya from his village in Issan.. He gave me

the required information and I went to the Post Office on Soi Post Office (Prasanee?) and for

less than 50B. I was able to send him money same day..

Even thou the P.O. is open Sat. and Sun. mornings, the remittance part is only open weekdays until around 3PM..

 

I believe Western Union also does the same thing but I believe it is more expensive than the P.O.

 

Another special boy (aren't they all) got me to open a bank account and he took the ATM and I

kept the bankbook, so it would be easy for me to make deposits.. While this system worked fine,

it got old after a while and each time he withdrew it costs only 10B.

 

These ways of sending money work in Thailand and those sending from abroad should consider setting up a separate account with their home bank and giving the boy an ATM and controlling it via the internet.. Of course,the boy will lose the card, it will be stolen, some one will hold it for him or the dog will get to it, but it is another option and best for a responsible boy..

 

One friend used to leave an ATM card with instructions on how much to withdraw daily, but somehow

he must have been misunderstood and slightly more than intended was actually withdrawn..

[Guest stef]

Oh really, what a surprise

 

It is like putting a bunch of candies on the table and telling the kids to only eat One a day

 

[TotallyOz]

One friend used to leave an ATM card with instructions on how much to withdraw daily, but somehow

he must have been misunderstood and slightly more than intended was actually withdrawn..

 

I resent (or resemble) that remark. I have done this too in the past. It always works well for me. I had one boy take more than his share but last year I had one boy that was in charge of the ATM card and never once took anything more than he was supposed to. I also guess I learned a lesson from the first guy. I find this method of leaving money for "boy special" the best. But, it is to each his own.

[Guest mauRICE]

If you and your friend are both in Thailand (but in different parts) and have local bank accounts, then you can easily do an account-to-account transfer via your bank's ATM. There's an admin fee of 35Bt per transfer, I believe, and the transfer is immediate. You should be able to do the same through a local Internet banking account. I believe it's possible to obtain an Internet banking account from Siam Commercial Bank without much fuss but Bangkok Bank (my bank of choice) and Kasikorn will only grant them to applicants with work permits or retirement visas.

[Gaybutton]

I believe it's possible to obtain an Internet banking account from Siam Commercial Bank without much fuss but Bangkok Bank (my bank of choice) and Kasikorn will only grant them to applicants with work permits or retirement visas.

 

You can also get bank accounts with Thai Military Bank and Bank of Ayudhya. Bank of Ayudhya seems to have the easiest rules of all. Also, it doesn't hurt to try again even if you are told you can't open an account. I know of several instances in which a "farang" tried to open an account at one branch, was told he couldn't, and then went to another branch and walked out ten minutes later with a bank account.

 

Regarding Bangkok Bank, I think they have now changed the rules so that you can open an account if you have a 90-day tourist visa. I know for a while they were saying that you must have the retirement visa or work permit, but only a few months ago I accompanied a friend to Bangkok Bank. He had the 90-day tourist visa and had no problem at all opening an account.

 

You can get online banking with all of the banks, but as far as transferring money is concerned, you have to go to the bank, the branch office where the account was opened, and make arrangements to be able to transfer money online.

 

With ATM's you can transfer money to any bank account, even if it is not the same bank. For example, if I want to transfer money at a Bank of Ayudhya ATM to an account someone holds with Siam Commercial, that is no problem at an ATM. You have to have an account with the bank from which you are doing the transfer, though. If you are transferring from a Bank of Ayudhya ATM, then you have to have an account with Bank of Ayudhya.

 

Online is a different story. You can make arrangements to transfer money online, but both the source account and recipient account have to be the same bank. In other words, online you can arrange to transfer from one Bank of Ayudhya account to another Bank of Ayudhya account, but you can't transfer from a Bank of Ayudhya account to a Thai Military Bank account online.

 

Many Thai banks also have telephone service and most have English speaking personnel. I've never tried it, but you might be able to do a transfer right over the telephone. Has anyone tried that?

 

[Guest mauRICE]

Thank you for that update on online banking.

 

The moderators might want to make a copy of GB's post and stick in a resource thread pinned to the top of this forum.

[Bob]

You can do the online banking with Siam Commercial Bank. Presuming you're going to transfer funds repeatedly to your thai friend, you both set up an account at SCB and then you just set up your account with his account number as an authorized transferee account. Then, with a click of your

mouse from wherever you are, the funds are transferred (within 12 hours usually) to your friend's

account.

There is no charge at all for the transfers done this way.

[Gaybutton]

You can do the online banking with Siam Commercial Bank. Presuming you're going to transfer funds repeatedly to your thai friend, you both set up an account at SCB and then you just set up your account with his account number as an authorized transferee account. Then, with a click of your

mouse from wherever you are, the funds are transferred (within 12 hours usually) to your friend's

account.

There is no charge at all for the transfers done this way.

 

I'm surprised it takes up to twelve hours. I do online transfers with Bangkok Bank and it's instant.

[Guest pete1969]

My next trip to LOS, I plan to open a Thai bank account. I've been here three months, and Bank of America has charged me almost $500 in that time in ATM and International transaction fees. The other bad thing is that I can only withdraw $300 USD per day from my ATM. On some days, it is easy to blow through that amount and be stuck without enough cash. IMO, better to have a Thai account if one travels frequently to LOS.

 

I sent my last BF an ATM card from America. I only deposited as much as I wanted him to withdraw and did not keep excess funds in the account. It worked out well until he lost the card (twice).

 

Pete

[Gaybutton]

I can only withdraw $300 USD per day from my ATM.

 

There is a solution to that. Simply go into a bank and have them withdraw funds from your ATM card as if they are doing a cash advance on a VISA or MasterCard. Then you can take out whatever amount you wish. Of course, that works only if your ATM card has the VISA or MasterCard logo on it. I did that when I had to come up with a huge amount of money to finish paying off the mortgage on my home in Thailand. There was no problem at all.

 

Also, whenever traveling to a foreign country you should notify your bank and credit card companies as to where you will be, your arrival date, your departure date, and whether you intend to do any large-amount transactions. That way, if they know what to expect in advance, you won't end up trying to use an ATM card or credit card only to find it locked or the transaction rejected. It also helps them track down the culprit if there is ever any fraudulent use of your card.

 

One time that happened to me. When I arrived back home after a trip to Thailand there was letter from my credit card company asking me to contact them as soon as possible. When I did, they told me that there were several large transactions that had taken place in Korea and they wanted to know if those were mine. I said they were not. They immediately restored the amount of those transactions to my account. Three weeks later I received a 'thank you' letter from them, telling me that the fact I had notified them in advance as to where I will be alterted them and they were able to charge back to whoever had accepted the phony transactions. They said they lost no money at all because I had informed them in advance.