How to pay for the property in Thailand?

"How to bring money to Thailand" - this is one of the most important questions which you ask buying a real estate here. There are several options of payments and each of them has advantages and disadvantages. Let`s focus on this options.  

Cash

Firstly this is not the most saving and convenient method. The loss can be up to 2-2,5% when you buy the currency of the house and then sell it. There are no any limits for the amount of imported money in the Thai Kingdom, but there are some restrictions for Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and etc. So, it is too hard to bring to Thailand a big sum of money in cash. Even if you manage to import a prominent sum in cash, you will meet some obstacles in Thai bank. There will be problems with handing out a special document required for buying a condominium "FET". So, for cash you will be able to buy a territory, house or a townhouse.

Foreign ATM cards

Thailand has a perfect bank system. It is possible to pay buy a debit or credit card, VISA and Mastercard  are accepted everywhere except those small private shops. And you can find ATM in every street. When you withdraw cash in ATM from foreign bank cards the commission is 180 THB. The commission  doesn`t depend on the sum you withdraw. You can take only 20 000 THB, sometimes 25 000 or even 50 000 THB at a time. If you go directly to some bank office, you will manage to withdraw up to 150 000 THB per day per bank office.  Moreover, every card has a limit for daily withdrawal and you will be able to take the second part of the sum only the next day. Also European bank consider Thailand to be a high risk area concerning electronic money deception, so your card can be blocked at any time for your safe. It really happens here! In this case you will have to call your bank and ask to unblock the card. As a result we don`t advice you to come to Thailand without any cash and holding only one credit card.

Bank ATM cards are useful to pay for the reservation of the flat in the office of the developer. The sum usually varies from 20 000 to 50 000 THB. But this option will cost 3% of the sum.

Mainly, the money withdrawn from the card won`t allow to get in a bank an obligatory document for the flat purchase - FET. So, this money can be used for buying a territory, a house or a townhouse.

Payment by the credit card isn`t a cheap and useful way to operate.

Travelers' Cheques

Holding travellers cheques is convenient to transport money to buy both secondary market property and new flat. The most popular and handy travellers cheques are American Express. When you cash travellers cheques, their purchasing rate will be higher than purchasing rate of usual money. If you lose your travellers cheques you will always be able to restore them because this documents possess the ID of the holder and can be cashed only by the buyer. The process of the recovery can take a month but you won`t lose your money. You can buy travellers cheques in any bank. It is better to buy the bank papers with a big denomination as 500 euro or 500 dollar. Because you will have to pay a fixed commission (33 THB) for any denomination. Please, remember that sometimes it can be hard to buy many traveller cheques at once, so you should order them in the bank in advance. Also it is better to check the prices of the cheques in different banks because they can differ. In order to buy the cheques it is necessary to present the  ID. You should save all the documents confirming the buying of the cheques which you will get in the bank because they will be required in Thailand bank. When you buy a cheque you sing it, and when you sell it in Thailand you will sign it again.

The travellers cheques are convenient to buy property because when you cash them every Thai bank will provide you with document which is necessary for purchasing a flat. The document is called "Foreign Exchange Transaction Form". Now dayly limit to exchange Travel Cheques is 25,000 USD per day.

International bank transfer

International bank transfer is the best way to operate money in travelling, moreover, this is the cheapest way. Every international currency which comes to Thailand will be automatically converted into THB. This course is more profitable than cash and travellers cheques.

Bank transfer can be used both for buying a new flat and transferring money to a private account in Thailand for purchasing flat in a secondary market. You can send your money to any country from a bank office. You have two options. International transfer can be made without opening an account or can be realized from an existing account. The first option is more expansive than the second one. Besides this, it is easy to use an internet-client of the bank account as you will operate your money from home. The limits of money are set by the bank. For example, the commission held by the bank is 1.5%, 1.0% or 0.5%. In addition to this there is a special commission which you should pay to the bank-responders. As a rule, when you send money to Thailand the loss is 30-45 dollars regardless from the sum of the transfer.

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