Should my friend send money in Thai Baht or US Dollars when transferring to Thailand?

My golden rule of changing money has always been “wait until you’re there”

I.e. In your case use the local Thai bank exchange rate

Obviously bank “steals” from the exchange rate spread. Small amount - negligible

Big amount - significant difference

Er.. that’s why bankers make obscene $$ 🤣

Yah ! Reason why Wise & other digital banks exist

Try Remitly, I think their rates are better and fees are lower

That is B of A

not a dumb question a smart question

When transferring money from my bank in Australia I always use Australian dollars. The reason is that one always get a better rate of exchange in a Thai bank. Or you can set up an additional account in Thailand to transfer the dollars into it. Then leave it there until the rate improves; then convert and transfer into your main account.

“Thai baht”, regardless whether the US dollar is low now, it’s still higher than the baht. Good to always follow both governments when it comes to currency. Also when transferring check and try using ACH, American, especially the radical liberal democrat bank, “Bank of America”, fees are high.

you should have choosen "send US Dollar" and choose "side costs" paid by the sender. ... why do you ask AFTER you transferred . . why didn't you ask here in the group BEFORE you transferred ? 🤨

I've been using Western Union for 2 years now no problems and the rates are negligible !

@Samuel *****

"Okay I have the next dumb question. My buddy is trying to transfer money from Bank of America to Bank of Thailand."

Bank of Thailand is not a retail bank that deals with general public. It is Thai Central bank, no individual accounts nor money can be sent to there by individuals.

Try Remitly for sending.

@Samuel *****

don't use the US bank to do a international transfer but use WISE so transfer US Bank to wise and then transfer to Bangkok bank.

Here's wise rate

There is a lot of good information about sending money in this thread. Thanks.

I agree sending your transfer in USD is the best way, keep in mind the bank at least Bangkok Bank, where I send my money to my account, will always discount the current rate. The bank takes the difference in what they give you and what the current rate is, I guess is a service fee

Keep in USD. My financial brokerage account charges about $6.50 for a SWIFT transfer and arrives in Thailand the next day. Wise has a history of horrible customer service if there is any problem. And I've had a couple problems before so I would never use them again.

Always send in your own currency, if from USA send dollars

You get better rates for pound sterling and US dollars from Bangkok Bank so always transfer in your own currency

Don't think it's a dumb question, the more information we get like this the better it all helps, thanks

Does your buddy have an account at The Bank of Thailand? I think not. Or maybe he has an account at a Thai Bank? I don't think you can transfer (SWIFT) from BofA remotely unless you have a Standing First-Party Order on file, established in person at your BofA branch. Yes, you should send USD to your Thai bank. You can pull funds from BofA to WISE to make a transfer.

Always choose dollars and let your Thai bank do the conversion. It will end up better for you.

Some Thai bank offers a better rate with a specific amount on the wire transfer with USD. I use Charles Schwab which only charges $15 fee.

Transfer money to Bank of Thailand? Thats the central bank in Thailand. Use Wise instead of bank to bank transfers. Better exchange rates.

Regardless of what you choose, BOA will give you same exchange rate backwards or forwards $1=32thb

I always take cash, because i always get a better deal. In the UK the currency exchange places, always give you 5 thb in the £ less. So if you change £1000 at 39 thb. You get 39-000 thb. Change it in TT currency exchange you will get 44 thb in Thailand. That is a 5-000 thb difference. A saving of £125. 🙏🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧

By requesting to change the currency from USD to baht, your automatically creating the "middle guy" aka the ahole, who makes a nice chunk of change for doing,bare bones min, fir a nice handsome kick back, which is gonna cost you the consumer on a shit exchange rate.

Leave as is, leave it in USD 👍

Likewise, if you pay for something like a meal in a restaurant with credit card, and the ahole waiter says nicely to you, would you like to charge this to your local currency, majority fall for that shite, never, ever do that, always charge to local currency, this cuts out the "middle guy" aka the ahole, trying to make a killing on the exchange 😂

Outrageous but TRUE 👍

Iv bank transferred to my k bank from UK bank and always send in sterling, have done for nearly 20 years, always a better exchange rate.

I’ve always used WU to transfer funds to BB, I use my debit card for WU to access funds, regular cost is $1.99, each transfer gives you bonus points to reduce the cost, my current cost is $.99. On my last transfer I got a screen that said more information was required. I had to upload a photo of my passport page and also take a live photo of myself, describe source of funds (income) and reason for transfer (family support, living expenses), those choices were from a drop down menu. The funds were in my BB account within seconds of exiting WU app.

Change banks I am with a credit union BofA is a gov shill

I let my bank do it and I get good rates

First, your friend should have Facebook and ask his own questions.

Second, Wise easily is the most cost effective- so your “friend”should not discount it.

Third, always send USD and let the foreign country convert it. The exception is when paying by credit card- always choose payment in the local currency.

Fourth, for very large amounts of money- you can often negotiate the exchange rate slightly with the bank’s branch manager on a one off basis.

Fifth, you can leave the U.S. with any amount of USD, as long as you declare any amount over $10,000 USD. According to ChatGPT, you can bring up to 20,000 USD (or its equivalent) in foreign currency without declaring it. There is no limit on the amount of declared money you can bring into the country.

Send us dollars

Yes I get a great rate on aud

Have you tried Moneygram? It allowed you to receive in $$.

My wife tried to wire money from Bank of America to her Thai bank, and they said she had to come into a local branch to identify herself or she couldn’t do it. We told them we were in Thailand and couldn’t do that, and they froze her account. She can’t even use her app. We don’t go back to the U.S. for a visit until next year, so she’ll have no access to her money until then.

Why don't you use Wise?

What fee does the bank of america charge? my credit union would charge $25 to transfer internationally ... I use wise.. cheaper.. and I only use the debit/checking account.. transfer from savings into debit/checking before doing the wise transfer of funds.. never transfer from savings....

To add to the OP, are there any banks that tend to have a better exchange rate than others? Or are there any that are low to be avoided?

Let the Thai bank convert it

Use USD and let the bank convert in Thailand, always a better rate

I am from UK BUT always send sterling and take the better exchange offered in Thailand. When you select Thai baht you are given a rate as you mentioned, so then as a comparison Google the bank you are using in Thailand and check Telex transfer rate. That's what you get when send $ less admin charge about 350 baht

Yes, let the Thai bank convert, just send USD. Current TT rate is about 32.66