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How does your UK pension arrive and what code?


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4 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

One of the reasons were that some "income letters" were not official, stamped and signed statements. They were sworn affidavits. Immigration didn't buy that. They told the UK, US and the Aussie embassies that they required same type of statements that other embassies issued. These three embassies didn't for some reason accept that. So,again, don't blame Immigration for the income letter mess. This is not a secret and has been discussed in several threads here at TVF. 

 

This is old stuff that has been debated to death. However, FYI the UK embassy did not offer sworn affidavits. Their letters were income letters based on income info provided by the applicant.

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14 hours ago, essox essox said:

the clearing bank as I understand is CITI BANK in the STATES

If the transfer gets routed to the final account from another bank,then the transfer will show up as an Interbank Transfer with another bank code in the bankbook.

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13 hours ago, MartinL said:

 

I was on the phone to the UK pension people this week and asked about this. Yes, it's CitiBank in the States - that's why there's a warning on the pensions website that there might be payment delays around US public holidays. Payments are sent there - my next is due on 16th. and was sent to the bank on 6th., so 10 days early. All Thai payments are then sent to Citibank Thailand for distribution.

 

This'll be my first pension payment to Thailand so I've no idea how close to the due date your payment actually arrives in your account.

"All Thai payments are then sent to Citibank Thailand for distribution"

This is the reason for the transfers not showing up as International/foreign transfers in for example a Bangkok Bank bankbook. They will show up as Interbank Transfers with another bank code. This is at the moment not accepted at Immigration when using the >65k monthly method.

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18 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

One of the reasons were that some "income letters" were not official, stamped and signed statements. They were sworn affidavits. Immigration didn't buy that. They told the UK, US and the Aussie embassies that they required same type of statements that other embassies issued. These three embassies didn't for some reason accept that. So,again, don't blame Immigration for the income letter mess. This is not a secret and has been discussed in several threads here at TVF. 

 

Absolute nonsense!

 

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9 hours ago, Max69xl said:

I think there's a misunderstanding about the bank codes. Some people doesn't seem to understand that we are talking about the codes in the bankbook. Those codes are always in 3 letters. 

 

5 hours ago, Thailand said:

Mine do not as with many others who have posted here, they show as Bahtnet & GPSD on head office statements.

There still appears to be confusion over what type of codes are generated by the Thai banks and how they are generated.

 

Immigration requires proof that all transfers originate from abroad, usually by the banks code. If the transfer comes DIRECTLY from a foreign source into the individuals Thai account it WILL show an international code (FTT in the case of Bangkok Bank).

 

Some financial institutions however (eg: DWP for UK pensions, some Banks, some private pension companies, etc etc) use a system to transfer all monies on block first, to a central receiving Bank within Thailand who then distribute it to each individuals own Thai Bank accounts. When this occurs, because the final leg of the transfer to the individuals account has come from the 'receiving bank' within Thailand, it is classed as a local transfer, not an International Transfer,  so the coding will show that (usually BTN bahtnet, GPSD or SMT smart). It's the method used to transfer the money that creates the problem.

 

This on its own is not acceptable to Immigration. Usually a credit advice receipt from the original Thai receiving bank is needed to prove where the transfer originated, although some (but not all) IO's will for example, accept Transferwise receipts as the required proof.

 

 

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40 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

If the transfer gets routed to the final account from another bank,then the transfer will show up as an Interbank Transfer with another bank code in the bankbook.

Only if that 'other' bank is situated within Thailand. If The transfer is routed via another International bank and then deposited directly into the individuals Thai account, because that intermediary bank was still outside Thailand, it will still show as an International transfer.

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9 hours ago, Max69xl said:

I think there's a misunderstanding about the bank codes. Some people doesn't seem to understand that we are talking about the codes in the bankbook. Those codes are always in 3 letters. 

That is not always the case. When I was receiving my pension direct from the DWP to my TMB account the column in the bankbook marked "code" showed NT which means "No Book", over on the right hand side was another code "9890BNET"

An online statement would show the transaction as "Transfer via Bahtnet"

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1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

That's not the bank code we're talking about. That's the misunderstanding. The bank code is the one in the bankbook. For every transaction there is a three letter code. Bangkok Bank and for example K-Bank uses FTT showing an international/foreign transfer. That code is very important to Immigration. Get it? 

Really, so why do mine show Bahtnet for international transfers in my Bangkok Bank book?

They do show GPSD on the statement from head office, that means international transfer via BB Global Payment Services Dept. Not enough columns in the book. 

I was told GPSD was acceptable, on the day it was not, apparently now it is.

Get it?

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23 minutes ago, john terry1001 said:

 

There still appears to be confusion over what type of codes are generated by the Thai banks and how they are generated.

 

Immigration requires proof that all transfers originate from abroad, usually by the banks code. If the transfer comes DIRECTLY from a foreign source into the individuals Thai account it WILL show an international code (FTT in the case of Bangkok Bank).

 

Some financial institutions however (eg: DWP for UK pensions, some Banks, some private pension companies, etc etc) use a system to transfer all monies on block first, to a central receiving Bank within Thailand who then distribute it to each individuals own Thai Bank accounts. When this occurs, because the final leg of the transfer to the individuals account has come from the 'receiving bank' within Thailand, it is classed as a local transfer, not an International Transfer,  so the coding will show that (usually BTN bahtnet, GPSD or SMT smart). It's the method used to transfer the money that creates the problem.

 

This on its own is not acceptable to Immigration. Usually a credit advice receipt from the original Thai receiving bank is needed to prove where the transfer originated, although some (but not all) IO's will for example, accept Transferwise receipts as the required proof.

 

 

"If the transfer comes DIRECTLY from a foreign source into the individuals Thai account it WILL show an international code (FTT in the case of Bangkok Bank)."

 

There are no direct transfers from an international source to an individual Thai account. Thailand only uses 8 character swift codes, the bank head office, for retail banking, you need an 11 character code for the transfer to go straight to a branch and they are only used in commercial banking.

The DWP does hold the branch code and I believe that this is somewhere in the transaction string. If positioned correctly it would allow a bank to automatically reroute the transaction to the branch. I believe this may be the reason for the discrepancy in the time taken for pension payments.

I got my pension paid directly from the DWP from 2012 until shortly after the referendum and in all that time it invariably turned up around 9am on the Friday morning it was due, others report delays of up to several days. These delays I think may be down to manual distribution by the Thai bank head office.

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Max69xl  - You asked why myself and others do not change to transferwise and ditch the transfer from Citibank to our Thai banks.

 

Unfortunately this is not possible as the transfer from Citibank is generated automatically by the UK govt for state and civil service pensions. The only only way around it is having the pension paid into a UK account then transferring it yourself to transferwise. They will not pay direct to transferwise, I did ask but was told its not possible.

 

I got the impression from my local IO that the BNT code was not that much of a problem but I also had issues with the back up proof he required as he did not seem to keen on the letter provided to confirm the source of the money. I'm working on that one and may make another attempt next year if I get fed up of leaving the country every 90 days. To be honest the non o process is so much easier it still feels a winner at this stage for me. 

 

I will not need to do anything for a another 11 months and who knows what the requirements will be then as that is a long long time for many more changes to happen with the current immigration dept. 

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16 minutes ago, sandyf said:

There are no direct transfers from an international source to an individual Thai account. Thailand only uses 8 character swift codes, the bank head office, for retail banking, you need an 11 character code for the transfer to go straight to a branch and they are only used in commercial banking.

So what do TRANSFERWISE use then. They certainly don't use SWIFT for their normal transfers, although there is a SWIFT method within their system you can ask about.

 

As you would know by now, Transferwise have three partner banks, Bangkok bank, Kasikorn and TBM. If you have an account with one of those banks you can ask them to transfer directly into your account and it shows as an International Transfer. If you don't specify which bank you want the transfer to be sent to and they use one of their other partners instead, the transfer will go through just as quickly but will show it going via their partner bank with the code being a local bank transfer (SMT smart in the case of your account being the Bangkok Bank).

 

I've used them continually for over two years now and when I first contacted them in January this year regarding the restrictions Immigration had put on the transfers they told me, in their normal transfers, they definitely DO NOT use the SWIFT method used by UK High St Banks. 

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25 minutes ago, gregsmithy said:

Unfortunately this is not possible as the transfer from Citibank is generated automatically by the UK govt for state and civil service pensions. The only only way around it is having the pension paid into a UK account then transferring it yourself to transferwise. They will not pay direct to transferwise, I did ask but was told its not possible.

If you open a Borderless account with Transferwise the UK gov will definitely accept it as a UK account and pay your money into it. There are several regular posters on here who do that already.

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38 minutes ago, sandyf said:

"If the transfer comes DIRECTLY from a foreign source into the individuals Thai account it WILL show an international code (FTT in the case of Bangkok Bank)."

 

There are no direct transfers from an international source to an individual Thai account. Thailand only uses 8 character swift codes, the bank head office, for retail banking, you need an 11 character code for the transfer to go straight to a branch and they are only used in commercial banking.

The DWP does hold the branch code and I believe that this is somewhere in the transaction string. If positioned correctly it would allow a bank to automatically reroute the transaction to the branch. I believe this may be the reason for the discrepancy in the time taken for pension payments.

I got my pension paid directly from the DWP from 2012 until shortly after the referendum and in all that time it invariably turned up around 9am on the Friday morning it was due, others report delays of up to several days. These delays I think may be down to manual distribution by the Thai bank head office.

Swift codes are international, every bank has an 8 digit Swift code. That code is always used when transferring money using the Swift system.

If an European bank transfers money to an account in Thailand,and let's say that bank are routing their transfers through Bangkok Bank, then transfers to Bangkok Bank will show up as international in the statement, and in the bankbook it will say FTT. In every other bank the transfers will show up as Interbank Transfers (SMT in some banks bankbooks).

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16 minutes ago, john terry1001 said:

So what do TRANSFERWISE use then. They certainly don't use SWIFT for their normal transfers, although there is a SWIFT method within their system you can ask about.

 

As you would know by now, Transferwise have three partner banks, Bangkok bank, Kasikorn and TBM. If you have an account with one of those banks you can ask them to transfer directly into your account and it shows as an International Transfer. If you don't specify which bank you want the transfer to be sent to and they use one of their other partners instead, the transfer will go through just as quickly but will show it going via their partner bank with the code being a local bank transfer (SMT smart in the case of your account being the Bangkok Bank).

 

I've used them continually for over two years now and when I first contacted them in January this year regarding the restrictions Immigration had put on the transfers they told me, in their normal transfers, they definitely DO NOT use the SWIFT method used by UK High St Banks. 

FYI, if banks are using the Swift system when transferring money,they always use the 8 digit code. Swift codes are international. 

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On 9/12/2019 at 12:14 PM, spornb said:

At 75 in poor health, I find immigration on marriage extension way too stressful

 

Even after ten yrs they always find something wrong, and also an immaterial item, my cash is always as required, we play the game and dress respectfully as well

 

All too often we are told if you do not like it leave, by some junior civil servant

 

I would willingly pay a reasonable amount to get rid of all this, like 5000 pa to an agent for renewal and 90 day reports,

 

anyone know of anyone needs to be KhonKaen

Sorry, I can't help you with an agent in Khon Kaen, but for what it's worth I used an Agent to assist me when doing my last extension in Bangkog (CW), as I only had a few days to get it done before I had to be back in Singapore for work so didn't have the luxury of there being anything missing/wrong.

  • Cost was 8,900 THB (Includes the 1,900 Visa extension charge)
  • Did not include 90 day reports (would be an additional 1,000 THB or 250 THB a time, I work permanently in Singapore so am in & out every 2 weeks & never spend more than 10 days in-country)
  • Did not include the Multi Re-entry Permit (This was another 5,000 THB which included the 3,500 immigration charge, this is the same price as doing it separately from the Extension as I'd previously got them to do one for me on the last 90 day entry of my Non-O ME Visa, I didn't need to go to Immigration that time)
  • I needed to provide Passport, Passbook showing 800K in bank (which they did the photocopies for) & 2 photos
  • On the day I had to go to immigration with them, they did all the getting queue numbers etc. while I had a coffee
  • On the day they took me to the Bank to get my passbook updated & the letter of proof of 800K in the account (I had to pay the 100 THB)

Only way to completely avoid having to go to Immigration is to get a "Dodgy" extension, for which I believe the going rate is around 25,000 THB, but at least having an agent with you when you go helps to make sure that you have all your documentation in order (having said that one of the forms they'd got me to sign was apparently out of date, no problem, Agent explained, IO handed me a new one with a smile & once I'd signed it, was swapped out - I'm not sure what would have happened if I'd have been there on my own).

 

Good luck ???? 

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1 hour ago, gregsmithy said:

Max69xl  - You asked why myself and others do not change to transferwise and ditch the transfer from Citibank to our Thai banks.

 

Unfortunately this is not possible as the transfer from Citibank is generated automatically by the UK govt for state and civil service pensions. The only only way around it is having the pension paid into a UK account then transferring it yourself to transferwise. They will not pay direct to transferwise, I did ask but was told its not possible.

 

I got the impression from my local IO that the BNT code was not that much of a problem but I also had issues with the back up proof he required as he did not seem to keen on the letter provided to confirm the source of the money. I'm working on that one and may make another attempt next year if I get fed up of leaving the country every 90 days. To be honest the non o process is so much easier it still feels a winner at this stage for me. 

 

I will not need to do anything for a another 11 months and who knows what the requirements will be then as that is a long long time for many more changes to happen with the current immigration dept. 

Check out this link from TransferWise how to open a Borderless account. But you need to register at TW first having a bank account in the UK and a Thai bank account, preferably with Bangkok Bank,K-Bank or TMB. 

https://transferwise.com/help/17/borderless-account/2897234/how-do-i-set-up-a-borderless-account

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16 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

Sorry, I can't help you with an agent in Khon Kaen, but for what it's worth I used an Agent to assist me when doing my last extension in Bangkog (CW), as I only had a few days to get it done before I had to be back in Singapore for work so didn't have the luxury of there being anything missing/wrong.

  • Cost was 8,900 THB (Includes the 1,900 Visa extension charge)
  • Did not include 90 day reports (would be an additional 1,000 THB or 250 THB a time, I work permanently in Singapore so am in & out every 2 weeks & never spend more than 10 days in-country)
  • Did not include the Multi Re-entry Permit (This was another 5,000 THB which included the 3,500 immigration charge, this is the same price as doing it separately from the Extension as I'd previously got them to do one for me on the last 90 day entry of my Non-O ME Visa, I didn't need to go to Immigration that time)
  • I needed to provide Passport, Passbook showing 800K in bank (which they did the photocopies for) & 2 photos
  • On the day I had to go to immigration with them, they did all the getting queue numbers etc. while I had a coffee
  • On the day they took me to the Bank to get my passbook updated & the letter of proof of 800K in the account (I had to pay the 100 THB)

Only way to completely avoid having to go to Immigration is to get a "Dodgy" extension, for which I believe the going rate is around 25,000 THB, but at least having an agent with you when you go helps to make sure that you have all your documentation in order (having said that one of the forms they'd got me to sign was apparently out of date, no problem, Agent explained, IO handed me a new one with a smile & once I'd signed it, was swapped out - I'm not sure what would have happened if I'd have been there on my own).

 

Good luck ???? 

Many agents are not doing marriage visas unless we are talking about CW Immigration. It's because marriage visas are not approved locally. Immigration in BKK has to approve them, hence,who to pay at Immigration? 

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11 hours ago, Max69xl said:

Of course they do. Bangkok Banks international/foreign transfers shows up as FTT in the bankbook. Just like they should. Same at Kasikorn Bank. 

Last time I sent my pension to KBank it cane up with dummy account but certainly not as FTT.

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To all those who are bickering about whether DWP will deposit a state pension into a TransferWise account.

 

Please read #15 of the following thread. There are a few more around like this as well, but I've got better things to do with my time than go searching for them.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Max69xl said:

Your transfers from Citibank to Bangkok Bank,are they automatic? You can't manage them yourself? 

My 3 pensions go automatically to my UK TW account. When they arrive I get an sms from TW, usually between 2 and 2:30 pm. Later in the day I do a manual transfer from TW to my BBL account in Thailand. Provided that it is not a Friday, Saturday or Sunday the money arrives in my account around 2 to 2:30 the next working day.

 

BBL send me an sms telling me that the money is in my account after which I transfer the money to my KBank joint account.

 

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1 hour ago, gregsmithy said:

Max69xl  - You asked why myself and others do not change to transferwise and ditch the transfer from Citibank to our Thai banks.

 

Unfortunately this is not possible as the transfer from Citibank is generated automatically by the UK govt for state and civil service pensions. The only only way around it is having the pension paid into a UK account then transferring it yourself to transferwise. They will not pay direct to transferwise, I did ask but was told its not possible.

 

I got the impression from my local IO that the BNT code was not that much of a problem but I also had issues with the back up proof he required as he did not seem to keen on the letter provided to confirm the source of the money. I'm working on that one and may make another attempt next year if I get fed up of leaving the country every 90 days. To be honest the non o process is so much easier it still feels a winner at this stage for me. 

 

I will not need to do anything for a another 11 months and who knows what the requirements will be then as that is a long long time for many more changes to happen with the current immigration dept. 

I have a State pension, an Armed Forces pension and a company pension all paid directly into my TW Borderless account in the UK.

 

I had no problems with any of them sending my pensions to my TW account in the UK.

 

Check out this link from TransferWise how to open a Borderless account. But you need to register at TW first having a bank account in the UK and a Thai bank account, preferably with Bangkok Bank,K-Bank or TMB. 

https://transferwise.com/help/17/borderless-account/2897234/how-do-i-set-up-a-borderless-account

 

I closed my last UK bank account about 12 years or so ago yet I had no problems opening a TW Borderless account last year.

Edited by billd766
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19 minutes ago, billd766 said:

My 3 pensions go automatically to my UK TW account. When they arrive I get an sms from TW, usually between 2 and 2:30 pm. Later in the day I do a manual transfer from TW to my BBL account in Thailand. Provided that it is not a Friday, Saturday or Sunday the money arrives in my account around 2 to 2:30 the next working day.

 

BBL send me an sms telling me that the money is in my account after which I transfer the money to my KBank joint account.

 

Your first transfer to your BBL account does show up as an international transfer,right? FTT in the bankbook?

But when you move money from BBL to K-Bank,that's an Interbank Transfer with another bank code in the bankbook. That's the way it should be. 

Edited by Max69xl
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25 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

How did you transfer the money? From what bank?

TW in the UK of course.

 

17 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

Your first transfer to your BBL account does show up as an international transfer,right? FTT in the bankbook?

But when you move money from BBL to K-Bank,that's an Interbank Transfer with another bank code in the bankbook. That's the way it should be. 

And that is the way it works for me.

 

TW charge me a small transfer cost, BBL charges me nothing for the incoming FTT and nothing again when I transfer to my KBank joint account.

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1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

FYI, if banks are using the Swift system when transferring money,they always use the 8 digit code. Swift codes are international.

That's true SWIFT does use an 8 digit code, but that doesn't mean your SWIFT transfer goes DIRECTLY to your Thai account without any international deviations along it's route. I can't say exactly how all UK banks do things but HSBC UK bank's SWIFT transfers for example very often get routed via a third bank system with the final leg to your own Thai bank being via a Thai holding bank who actually route the transfer into your personal account. That final part of the route makes it an internal transfer so the coding in your bankbook denotes that accordingly, usually with a bahtnet code.

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1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

Many agents are not doing marriage visas unless we are talking about CW Immigration. It's because marriage visas are not approved locally. Immigration in BKK has to approve them, hence,who to pay at Immigration? 

My extension was "Above Board" so I had to provide exactly the same documents/proof & jump though exactly the same hoops as anybody doing it themselves so I'm sure the Agent would also do an extension based on Marriage (in fact, when I was waiting to present my docs to the IO I saw a lot of Married Couples/Families there being guided by Agents), but this was at CW so you maybe right that there could be problems doing it elsewhere (though I doubt an Agent would refuse money to help you complete the documents / go through the process if everything was kosher).

 

If you were getting a "Dodgy" extension without showing proof of funds or having to turn up at the Immigration office then I guess it would make no difference whether it was Retirement or Marriage as long as you are over 50, but I take your point that Married guys under 50 would struggle.

 

 

Apologies OP for straying off topic... Back to(wards) Topic, my ad hoc transfers from Citibank in Singapore show up as "Interbank Transfer via SMART" on Bangkok Bank Mobile Banking, I'm pretty sure they show up as FTT in my Passbook though.

 

 

 

 

Edited by Mike Teavee
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19 minutes ago, billd766 said:

TW in the UK of course.

 

And that is the way it works for me.

 

TW charge me a small transfer cost, BBL charges me nothing for the incoming FTT and nothing again when I transfer to my KBank joint account.

I know how it works. I have used TW about 2,5 years. But I'm really surprised that so many people have a hard time understanding it. 

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5 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

My extension was "Above Board" so I had to provide exactly the same documents/proof & jump though exactly the same hoops as anybody doing it themselves so I'm sure the Agent would also do an extension based on Marriage (in fact, when I was waiting to present my docs to the IO I saw a lot of Married Couples/Families there being guided by Agents), but this was at CW so you maybe right that there could be problems doing it elsewhere (though I doubt an Agent would refuse money to help you complete the documents / go through the process if everything was kosher).

 

If you were getting a "Dodgy" extension without showing proof of funds or having to turn up at the Immigration office then I guess it would make no difference whether it was Retirement or Marriage as long as you are over 50, but I take your point that Married guys under 50 would struggle.

 

 

Apologies OP for straying off topic... Back to Topic, my ad hoc transfers from Citibank in Singapore show up as "Interbank Transfer via SMART" on Bangkok Bank Mobile Banking, I'm pretty sure they show up as FTT in my Passbook though.

 

 

 

 

An Interbank Transfer does not show up as a foreign transfer = FTT in the bankbook. They should show up as SMT in your BBL bankbook. 

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10 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

An Interbank Transfer does not show up as a foreign transfer = FTT in the bankbook. They should show up as SMT in your BBL bankbook. 

I'm stuck in Singapore until 26th Sept & my Passbook is in Bangkok so I can't check but all the earlier transfers I did showed up as FTT so was assuming this one would (I only transfer every 2-3 months so obviously don't use the income method & don't pay too much attention save the correct amount arrives).

 

 

Hmmm... I've just been back to a Transfer I did in May & that shows up as "International Transfer AUTO DEBIT/CREDIT" in Mobile Banking so I'm willing to bet you're correct and these 2 more recent ones won't show as FTT.

 

Scary stuff if you're using the Income Method & I can only recommend to anybody that does that they speak to transferwise to ask them to ensure all transfers "Land" as FTT and keep at least a months payment ready to be sent should 1 not "Land" correctly... 

 

Edited by Mike Teavee
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