Internet Banking In Thailand

[Guest Astrrro]

I'm trying to figure out which Thai banks have internet banking such that I can transfer funds from my account to my teerak's account online without a service charge. I know I can walk in and ask but it seems when speaking with bank reps I often just get the answer that I want to hear.

 

I am especially interested in Kasikorn, where I have an account, Ayuttaya Bank, where teerak has account, and Bangkok Bank, where I am considering opening an account due to low wire transfer fees.

 

Thnx.

[Gaybutton]

Are you talking about transferring money from one Thai bank account to another Thai bank account or are you talking about an international transfer? If it's an international transfer I don't know of any way to avoid fees.

 

If you are transferring from one account to another account with a Thai bank, depending on the bank there are either no fees at all or a fee of about 20 baht or so, depending on the bank. That applies if it's the same bank. In other words from one Bank of Ayudhya account to another Bank of Ayudhya account. If you wish to find a bank that does this kind of transfer with no fees at all, then don't walk into a bank to ask. They really wouldn't know. What you want to do is call their service number and talk to an online banking agent. That's where you'll get a reliable answer. I could be wrong, but I think you can do this kind of transfer with no fee with both Bank of Ayudhya and Siam Commercial. I'm not certain. There may be other banks that will do intra-bank transfers without charging any fees, but you'll need to call their service numbers to find out.

 

If you are transferring from one Thai bank account to an account at a different Thai bank, you can do that online too with most banks, but depending on the amount of the transfer, most banks charge a fee of 25 to 35 baht. In other words, from a Bank of Ayudhya account to a Kasikorn bank account.

 

One possible solution, if you're talking about international transfers, can work if you have your own Thai bank account. International transfers usually cost a set fee, and the fee is the same per transfer, regardless of whether you are transferring a small amount or a large amount of money. What you could do would be to transfer as much money as you can to your own Thai bank account and pay the fee. After the money is in your account, you can then transfer smaller amounts to your friend's account online without additional international fees until the funds in your own account are depleted. You won't avoid fees that way, but you can at least save a lot of money because you will be reducing the number of times you have to pay the international fees.

 

It's been a long time, but before Thai banks offered online banking I used to wire funds to a Thai bank account from the USA. At the time, the fee was $40 per transaction, regardless of the amount of money I was sending.

[Guest Astrrro]

Thanks for the detailed reply GB!

 

Yes, I'm talking about a transfer from my Kasikorn account to my teerak's Kasikorn account which is not yet opened. I'll be back in the States for a few months and prefer to give a small living allowance on a monthly basis rather than as a lump sum.

 

My post was somewhat confusing because I brought up Bangkok Bank. I was thinking of opening a new account there as I have reason to believe that you can do an ACH transfer through the New York branch of BKK Bank for 10 USD as opposed to an international wire transfer for which I was charged 18 USD by my local bank, 25 USD by JPMorgan Chase,the routing bank, plus some amount of baht that I forget from Kasikorn. This is a side issue and not the intent of my post.

[billyhouston]

Yes, I'm talking about a transfer from my Kasikorn account to my teerak's Kasikorn account which is not yet opened. I'll be back in the States for a few months and prefer to give a small living allowance on a monthly basis rather than as a lump sum.

 

Have internet banking on my Kasikorn account. For the past year or so it has been possible to make INSTANT online transfers, not only to other Kasikorn accounts, but also to those of five or more other banks. The fee is Bht 25 and you can have the bank send an SMS to the recipient included in that fee.

 

Works very well for me but setting up the transfer initially is a tedious exercise in paperwork.

[Gaybutton]

Works very well for me but setting up the transfer initially is a tedious exercise in paperwork.

 

It depends on the bank. They all have their own system. Many now have an OPT, which stands for One Time Password. When you make the transfer, they send you an OTP. You have to enter the OTP to complete the transfer. Some banks don't use OPTs. The ones that do usually give you a choice of receiving the OTP either by mobile phone text message or by Email. Siam Commercial, for whatever reason, has suspended the Email OTP and will only send by text message, which doesn't do much good if you are making the transfer from somewhere outside of Thailand.

 

I think the easiest bank to work with for online transfers is Bank of Ayudhya. TMB is easy too. Bangkok Bank is fairly simple. With all three banks you can set up the transfers online. No paperwork is involved. You can do the same with Siam Commercial, but it's a problem if you need to do the OTP by mobile phone.

 

I don't have an account with Kasikorn, so I don't know what's involved with their system. Based on what Billyhouston said, it sounds like you'll have to make a trip to your bank branch office to set it up. But try online anyway. Billyhouston didn't say how long ago he set things up with his account. Until recently, several banks required paperwork to set it up, but only recently have changed their system so that the whole thing can easily be done online. You might as well try setting it up online first. If you can't, that's when to go to your branch office. If you do have to go to your branch office, try to go to the same branch where you first opened your account. Some banks won't do that sort of thing unless you are in your primary branch office.

[firecat69]

I have an account with Kasikorn and they are a pleasure to do business with. Their reps on the 24 hour line speak excellent English and are completely familiar with the system.

 

 

They have the OTP system which if you use while in Thailand you can add other accounts to be transferred to in the future with no paperwork

 

You just need Bank, Branch, account number and name. Then remember before you leave Thailand to call and change from OTP to Secondary password and you will be able to make instant transfers from your Home Country

[mahjongguy]

I agree entirely with firecat69. K-bank is great. To set up online banking you must make a personal appearance at your designated branch but after that it's all roses.

 

You will be able to make instant transfers to his K-bank account with no fee (unless his account is upcountry).

 

You might also want to turn on the mobile text notification feature of your ATM card. You'll get a text message every time money goes in or out of your account. If the b/f also turns on that feature, then he'll know instantly when his allowance is available.

 

Since the preferred mode of transaction verification is mobile text, you must be sure to follow firecat69's guidance about switching to another method before you depart Thailand. Just call K-bank.

 

 

[Bob]

I and my Chiangmai "boss" have had accounts at SCB for a few years and I can use the internet to transfer funds from my account to his account with the click of my mouse and with no fee at all (but you have to get it set up with the bank first as your limited to the number of accounts are linked that way).

 

 

[Guest GaySacGuy]

I have been using Bangkok Bank, and have been sucessful in transferring money to other accounts both in Bangkok Bank and Other banks.

 

It is also nice to be able to put money on out phones without buying cards.

 

It is possible to make international transfers on-line, but I haven't tried that yet. All my money is coming from the US to here, so no need to send the other direction!!

[mahjongguy]

It is possible to make international transfers on-line, but I haven't tried that yet. All my money is coming from the US to here, so no need to send the other direction!!

 

Just FYI, Bangkok Bank is possibly the only bank here whose online services include inbound wire transfers. Instead of "pushing" the money from your US bank to your account here, you can login to Bangkok Bank and "pull" the money from the US.

 

If, as an example, your US bank requires you to send them a fax with signature in order for them to perform an outbound transfer, Bangkok Bank's inbound service would allow you to skip that (or any other) tiresome authorization process.

 

Kasikornbank does not offer this feature from online but otherwise has the best overall package of online and traditional services. Fortunately I don't need the inbound transfer feature, as Wells Fargo allows me to initiate outbound transfers with just a 45-second phone call and the money shows up at Kbank within 24 hours.

[Gaybutton]

you can login to Bangkok Bank and "pull" the money from the US.

What fees are charged for that service?

[mahjongguy]

What fees are charged for that service?

 

Sorry, I don't know. You would need to query the banks involved.

 

Just as a benchmark, it is fairly standard for the initiating bank to charge at least $25 (or as much as $40) and the responding bank around $15. In this case, Bangkok Bank would be initiating the inbound transfer.

 

- When Kasikornbank receives a transfer originated from my US account, they seem to waive the 500 baht incoming fee when the amount is in the order of US$20,000 but I haven't asked them for the details on that. It is also possible that I am given a marginally better exchange rate for an amount in that range. It can be difficult to determine because rates are set several times a day.

 

- A total cost of $40 for a transfer of $20,000 is only one-fifth of a percent, and the exchange rate given is highly competitive.

 

- Just as a reminder, bringing money into Thailand is one thing, trading in currencies online is another. Sites like XE.COM should not be used to determine the current cost of baht. They provide Buy and Sell prices (or their average, called the "market rate") for offshore trading of baht. Thai banks, on the other hand, sell you baht at a rate that is based on the hour's government rate. Early this year, when the offshore market price fell to 30 baht the local banks were still giving better than 31.5 on incoming conversions, as the government was attempting to keep the baht from getting too strong.