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Best Ways to Transfer Money Out of Thailand

The options for transferring money out of Thailand are fairly limited, but it's actually quite easy.

Once you understand the fees involved and the time it takes for each method, you can make a decision on what's best for you.

In this post, I'll give you an overview of the options a few price comparisons to help you decide on the most practical, cost-effective option.

What's the Best Way to Transfer Money Out of Thailand?

The three main options for moving your cash out of Thailand and to your home country or anywhere else in the world are:

  1. Direct Bank Transfer
  2. Western Union
  3. DeeMoney

There is a fourth, and that is to use cryptocurrency, but since hardly anyone is going to want to get involved in that I won't be covering that option.

1. Direct Bank Transfer

SWIFT direct transfer option is great if you have a Thai bank account with one of  the following banks:

Fees:

Fees vary depending on the country you are sending to. Bangkok Bank, for example, charge around 1,150 Baht per transaction.

You can also send via Western Union through the Bangkok Bank app and at branches, if you have an account. It costs 1,200 Baht for 70,000 Baht, and 300 Baht for every additional 30,000 thereafter.

Lead Time:

Note that a SWIFT transaction can take 1-5 days, depending on the bank, so if you want cash to arrive immediately, see the next option.

The fee for a direct transfer isn't too bad if you are sending a fairly large amount of money, but if you want to send a moderate amount you're better off using a remittance service.

Additionally, some banks can be a pain and require documentation. For example, Bangkok Bank requires a supporting document stating the income’s source, and requires you to fill out this application form.

All in all, you might need a week to set this up and get the money from Thailand to overseas.

Sending limit:

The maximum amount you can transfer out of Thailand is determined by the Bank of Thailand, depending on the source of funds and/or the purpose of payment, including supporting documents.

2. Western Union

Western Union is the most popular remittence service, trusted the world over.

The service is instant because they don't actually send the money overseas, but instead pay you back the money in your home country.

Fees:

Western Union is best priced for sending moderate amounts of money.

For example, you can send 40,000 Baht to the US or UK for a fee of 850 Baht. But on small amounts such as 2,500 Baht, you will pay 400 Baht.

You can use WU online or on via their app, or through a bank provider or high street booth.

One thing to consider is the exchange rate fee.

They make a little on the exchange rate and don't give you the mid-market rate as one might expect.

At the time of writing, the official Thai Baht to GBP rate is 40.65, but Western Union is offering an exchange of 40.05.

It's not that much of a difference, and works out that you'd lose around 100 Baht on every £250. That said, it will add up on larger transfers.

Lead Time:

It depends on the type of payment you use. You can use the Money In Minutes service to send cash to an agent for pickup. Using a bank transfer will take 2-5 days.

Sending limit:

You can send up to 250,000 THB per transaction.

3. DeeMoney

DeeMoney is a unique remittance service in that it charges a flat fee to send money from Thailand to 35 different countries.

The fee ranges between 150 and 300 Baht, depending on the country.

You can use the app to set up a transaction, or attend one of 4 branches in Bangkok to transfer cash.

Fees:

The fee is really cheap, but don't get too excited.

When I compared the DeeMoney exchange rate to that of Wise – who unfortunately don't do transfers out of Thailand – I was quoted around £5 less on 10,000 Baht. The numbers worked out at £237 (TX) vs £242 (DM).

On 100,000 Baht, that would be a currency exchange fee of £25, plus the 300 Baht fee; so approximately 1,350 Baht in Total.

Lead Time:

They have a Next Day service with a flat fee of 250 Baht, and outside of this transfers take 3-5 working days.

Sending limit:

You can send a maximum of 800,000 Baht per day.

In Summary

Overall, the cheapest option for sending money out of Thailand is DeeMoney, though only on amounts less than around 100,000 Baht.

Once you get to that sort of level, the money they nick on the exchange rate starts to catch up with you and you may be better off with a direct bank transfer.

If you don't have a bank account, you can use Western Union, which is pretty competitive on moderate amounts of money: You can transfer 100,000 Baht for a 1,500 Baht fee.

The added benefit of Western Union is that the transfer is instant.

Western Union also comes without the hassle of having to fill out the bank form and potentially provide a supporting document stating the source of income.

In terms of daily limits, DeeMoney has a higher transaction limit at 800k, but you can't exceed this in one day. Western Union has a transaction limit of 250k, but you can make more than one transaction in a day.

In short, the bank route may be a bit of a hassle, unless you aren't in a rush. DeeMoney is cheapest at a low level, while Western Union gets more competitive (including exchange rate fees) once you hit moderate amounts of cash.

DeeMoney can guarantee next day delivery. Western Union can do the same, or go one better with the Money In Minutes service.

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Comments Sort by : newest | oldest

  2. John says

    Example..is this to thailand or always money from thailand, i am sick of getting ripped off by thailand bank bank and anz bank both ripping me off to get my pension sent to me each fortnight whilst in thailand.,please explain how i benefit besides currently being tprioped off by both banks..you mention bangkok bank, they are ripping us off, no intersst but take fees all year, reply from deemoney only thanks, i do not want knowalls giving false info..
    Reply

  3. Dennis says

    KrungThai bank charges a whooping 1500 Bhat per transaction using KrungThai Next online.
    DeeMoney only sends to some countries. Also, you have to go to Bangkok to register.

    Best would be Western Union, just 99 Baht fee, but I'm not sure about the exchange rate.
    Reply

  6. Kevin says

    I wonder if you since you have to use a Thai bank for the retirement visa could you withdrawl money Kasikornbank and deposited into JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA, Bangkok Branch and convert it when you get back to the USA to USD and ellimate the fee for moving it just pay the loss in exchange rate fee.

    Also can you not just write a check with a deposit slip to your US bank and mail it?
    Reply

  7. Philippe says

    Would be great if Wise makes transfers out of Thailand possible, not expecting it any time soon though (2021).

    At this point in time, with many Crypto brokers in almost any country, it's surely something to look into.

    1. Buy your favorite coin (eg. Bitcoin/Ether) on a Thai online exchange with your THB and send it to your favorite Crypto wallet (eg. Exodus) or, not advised, directly to an online broker/exchange wallet in your destination country.
    2. Sell your coins with any online broker in your destination country (connected to your local bank account) and transfer it all back to Fiat.

    You may even make some money if the market is bullish :-)
    Reply

  9. OSSIE says

    I have a Thai buyer for my property 25 million baht they don’t need my company so I will retain that just in case I decide to invest some of the money in Thailand in the future ,however I would like to send a big chunk to my off shore account in Singapore any suggestions on how I could do this the buyer will be paying in Thai baht ☹️
    Reply

  10. James says

    Do you know of any issues that may arise from keeping a low bank balance, but transferring 100,000B through the account and out of Thailand each month? I used to live in Thailand and am thinking of using my bank account with my forex broker to get around restrictive regulations in my current country. Everything is in my name so it should be ok, however ever since Citibank closed my account without reason a few years ago I am hesitant. I don't want Thailand holding my funds.
    Reply

  11. Graham Nash says

    Hi Guys, I have just sold a property in Thailand and want to shift about 2mil Thai baht to the UK. I have the documents from the sale and the cash in in SCB. I was thinking of carrying what I can in £ less than 10grand back with me and sending the rest by direct Bank transfer from my SCB account into 5 UK accounts about 8grand into each. What do you think?
    Reply

    • TheThailandLife says

      You can take more into the UK, you just have to declare it. You can declare it before you arrive - up to 72 hours. The number of bank transfers will clock up around £120 in fees I reckon. What is SCBs sending limit? Can't you transfer more than 8k at a time?
      Reply

  12. kurt gerhard tietje says

    thank you peter for our advise, it is very helpfull, how many times in a year, can you send 250 000 baht out of thailand, i brought my money from canada, on banks cheques, i still have the records, i live in thailand for 12 years now, just in case, i have to leave thailand, i am married to my thai wife for 28 years, 12 of it in canada gary in singburi
    Reply

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