TransferWise is taking a long time to reach KBank

[Pib]

This talk about "Borderless Transfers" is really just promotional talk...putting a different spin/name on how domestic and international money transfer occur.  It's not like "actual" money (ie., cash/notes) exchange hands between banks...not like some bank in the UK/US (or any country) transfers real cash to Thailand (or vice versa) like you can hold in your hands; instead, it's just "messaging" and a settlement process between banks which ends up adjusting accounts balances between banks & individuals.

 

I think below webpage gives a give overview of the process...whether you are using SWIFT, ACH, BRACS, or just any electronic system to move money domestically or internationally...just "account settlement messaging" back and forth.  

And with money transfer services like Transferwise they are using a messaging and settlement process also except it's probably more streamlined/contained within their company.  

 

A SIMPLE EXPLANATION OF HOW MONEY MOVES AROUND THE BANKING SYSTEM  

[JAS21]

3 hours ago, Pib said:

This talk about "Borderless Transfers" is really just promotional talk...putting a different spin/name on how domestic and international money transfer occur.  It's not like "actual" money (ie., cash/notes) exchange hands between banks...not like some bank in the UK/US (or any country) transfers real cash to Thailand (or vice versa) like you can hold in your hands; instead, it's just "messaging" and a settlement process between banks which ends up adjusting accounts balances between banks & individuals.

 

I think below webpage gives a give overview of the process...whether you are using SWIFT, ACH, BRACS, or just any electronic system to move money domestically or internationally...just "account settlement messaging" back and forth.  

And with money transfer services like Transferwise they are using a messaging and settlement process also except it's probably more streamlined/contained within their company.  

 

A SIMPLE EXPLANATION OF HOW MONEY MOVES AROUND THE BANKING SYSTEM  

Appreciated ....

[Elkski]

I skipped reading page 2&3. 

But what is the opinion of TW?

I thought I read that most banks are required to pay an international transfer fee?  I'm not sure if this is self imposed by the banking guys?

Where tW has a bank in USA and Thailand.  So I am basically sending them a bill in USA, free like all my electronic bills.  Then it's a free xfer between Thai banks.  

I just know on a 300$ xfer Chase bank charged me a 50$ fee plus I remember after comparing the exchange rate I would have got on TW to what I got I figured my cost was 20% of 300.  I think I remember only 290$ made it to other end but I paid 300.   I was like I can't retire to Thailand if it's like this.   I felt ripped off.   And to do this I got to sit in a nice bank office and it took to long.  To bad she was married.   

My only complaint about TW is that when you xfer I had to input my bank account ID and password.  How do I know this was safe and secure.  Seems one should change the password after every transfer???

[SooKee]

Old topic but rather than start another I have noticed that while the money arrives quick enough they seem to be missing their suggested arrival times quite often.  Normally, transfer on a Monday morning from the UK and it will arrive by lunchtime on Tuesday.  Last few times though they've estimated that arrival time of within 24 hours but checking the app on the day it's supposed to arrive it says "Sorry your money is taking longer to pay out".  It then generally arrives the next day.

 

Still a good service IMO but I generally allow at least 3-4 days for a transfer (excluding weekends and public holidays).  I did wonder if this is in anyway related to how the currencies are performing.  If the rate drops since you made your transfer I wonder if they keep your money an extra 24 hours to earn interest to make up the shortfall.  But I think the micro-management of that would be horrendous and for a pittance over 24 hours.  I just put it down to delays at one end or the other.

[Pib]

A lot depends on how the transfer is funded....how fast the money "actually" get to/clears with Transferwise.  Until Transferwise actually receives your funding they don't start the transfer of money to Thailand (or wherever) and IMO some of there status updates beat around the bush regarding the "actual" status.   I've seen that "Sorry you money is taking longer to payout" status several times that usually lasted around a half a day.

 

I've used Transferwise about a half dozen time.....US to Thailand.  But haven't used them for a couple of months now.  My first transfer took 4 days to arrive my Thai bank, but the rest only took 1 or 2 days.  But once again its been several months since I've done a transfer. 

 

And I've always initiated the transfer on a Monday or Tuesday.  Try to avoid non-business days/weekends since money flows seem to come to a standstill during those times...both on Transferwise's end, any middleman involved, and the receiving bank.

[jakow]

16 minutes ago, Pib said:

And I've always initiated the transfer on a Monday or Tuesday.  Try to avoid non-business days/weekends since money flows seem to come to a standstill during those times...both on Transferwise's end, any middleman involved, and the receiving bank.

This is what I've been doing. I found that if the transfer is initiated on the weekend, it will arrive later than if I had started the transfer on Monday. Although lately TransferWise has been much faster. The last two transfers arrived within 2 days.

[dabhand]

Have used TW to transfer funds from UK to Thailand about 50 times over the last 18 months or so. Only had one transfer take longer that a next day receipt. That one delay was off by two days, with excuse being given as 'partner bank delay'. TW gave me a free transfer for the inconvenience.

 

So, all in all, very happy with the TW performance and have recently changed from SCB to BB as the local receiving bank with no drop off in service.

 

Have seen a few posters complaining about delays / costs. These appear, in the main, to be non UK originating transfers. The TW transfers from the UK seem to 'benefit' from a bigger Fx spread (more brexit volatility?) plus a lower charge % than most other locations, so even high value transfers give a better receipt value than TT transactions. Provided the TW/TT exchange rate differential is greater than the charge %, that will always be the case. 

[Elkski]

If I read things correctly the way they transfer money is, they don't transfer money!   They have people in Thailand that want to send money to your country.  So no actual money moves across borders so no extra fee.  Maybe sometime it takes a but longer to find a partner trader?     I have sent a small amount to Vietnam a few times and it's been same day service. Or under 24 hours.  More like 12. 

 

It is sad when the normal transfers cost 5-10% in fees and poor exchange rates.   I guess if crypto currency really takes off all these transfer companies and money exchange booths will be no more.   

Edited December 4, 2018 by Elkski

[billd766]

I did 3 TW transfers last month. The first one I had trouble with so I called their help line and he saw my problem, and we cancelled the transfer and he walked me through the correct way. It was promised within 24 hours and arrived in 22 1/2.

 

I bolloxed up the second one completely and it was still in the UK 4 days later. Again I called the help line and was talked though it once again while I was taking notes on what to do. I did a 3rd one following the 2nd and both arrived in less that 24 hours.

 

The help line also emailed the the "dummies guide to TW transfers". I will check that out this month. I found that the difference in cost for sending £625 at the premium 24 hour rate and the 3 day rate was about £2.

 

TW use Bangkok Bank in Thailand as their partner Bank and then it gets transferred to my KBank account.

How to transfer from TransferWise.doc

[Pib]

17 minutes ago, billd766 said:

TW use Bangkok Bank in Thailand as their partner Bank and then it gets transferred to my KBank account.

 

Bangkok Bank is "one" of their partners.   The Transferwise PDF receipt shows transfers to my Bangkok Bank account come from another Bangkok Bank account   

 

However, the one transfer i did to my Krungsri Bank account the Transferwise receipt shows it came from a Thai Military Bank (TMB) account.

 

For example below is the bottom portion of the transfer to my Krungsri  Bank account showing Transferwise's banking partner of TMB for this transfer.   The transfers to my Bankgok Bank account show Bangkok Bank as the banking partner.

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by Pib

[orientalist]

My transfers to Kasikorn take 2.5 days. The receipt shows "Earthport THB" as the partner and "Delivered by local bank transfer."

 

My transfers to CIMB bank take about 1 day. The receipt shows TMB as the partner and "Delivered by SWIFT."

 

[SooKee]

I'm guessing there might also be changing relationships with the banks that might affect it, process wise.  First couple of times I used it I had UK transfers arrive at Kasikorn within 4 hours.  Now it's usually 2 but can be 3+ days.  All my transfers are immediately paid into TW and the app gives me an immediate notification saying they have received it.  Just seems to vary in payout times, but nothing overly long.  My latest was set up 9am on Monday 3 December.  The in app progress monitor then showed these updates:

 

Monday 3 9am: payment received.  We'll pay out your money within 24 hours.

Tuesday 4 9am: Transaction being processed, it should reach your account today.

Tuesday 4 1pm: Sorry, your money's taking longer to pay out.

Tuesday 4 4pm: Your money has been sent, it should reach your account by Thursday 6

Tuesday 6:30pm: Money received in account (surprised to get a Kasikorn update this late, normally I've noticed previously that the latest I've ever had a credit notification is about 5:30pm, if not received by then it's invariably next day, so very surprised with the late message).

 

I used to use HSBC Premier standard £4 international transfer but got caught a couple of times after HSBC changed their banking relationships and started using an intermediary bank with a £100 test transfer resulting in just £86 getting converted this end vs the normal £96.  I traced that down to the use of BIC codes where a payment set up to an old Kasikorn account using KASITHBK got the full amount (no intermediary) whereas a payment sent to a new account where the old BIC code was no longer a selectable option, resulting in having to use KASITHBKXXX, got hit with intermediary charges.  Two chums of mine with similar old accounts got the same result.  I've not tried since to see if it's changed again and didn't want to risk any system updates resulting in transfers to the old account BIC being hit with intermediary charges, experimentation gets costly!  Hence changed to using TW for about 18 months.

 

Still use and prefer TW (and not being at the mercy of HSBC policy changes) and the rate I get is still slightly better than Kasikorn doing the conversion from GBP > THB, very good service IMO but their estimates and updates are somewhat confusing at times, more so of late.

Edited December 5, 2018 by SooKee

[Pib]

I think the key factor in how fast a person gets the money posted to their Thai bank account is "how fast Transferwise receives your funding for the transfer."   What funding method is used takes various amounts of time and different countries have different funding systems....some systems are faster than others. 

 

Like for a US to Thailand Transferwise transfer and using the "ACH Debit" option (you can use ACH Debit, Wire Transfer, Debit Card or Credit card for USD to THB transfers).  The ACH Debit method (not to be confused with a Debit card) is going to take 1 to 2 days minimum to get the money to Transferwise.  ACH stands for Automated Clearing House which is the primary funds transfer system used in the US.   While there are various "speed of transfer ACH options" ranging from same day to a few days, Transferwise uses the regular speed option which is going to take at least one "business" day (best case) for the money to be pulled/transferred from your US bank account.   A lot can depend on the time of day in the US the transfer was initiated as their are cutoff times during the day for the ACH transfer to process....miss the cutoff time and you must wait for the next business.  

 

And so far, all of my six Transferwise transfers have posted to my Thai bank accounts between 1:30pm and 2:02pm.  5 of the 6 transfers were to my Bangkok Bank account and all five posted at exactly 2:02pm.  The one transfer to my Krungsri account posted at 1:33pm.  

 

But once Transferwise has "actually received" your funding, the next part of posting to your Thai bank account is the easy & quick part.   Yeap....I think a lot depends on how fast Transferwise "actually receives" your money to fund the transfer....then the remaining part is quick.

 

 

[happydays]

I requested a transfer via TransferWise from my UK bank at midnight & received the money in my SCB account at 1pm today, 13 hours which is a record for me.

[VBF]

I'm about to send some money (about £5K) from the UK to my SCB account. Previously, I've just let my bank transfer it at the prevailing rate and deduct the £25 fee.

This year I'm thinking about using Transferwise but have yet to set it up.

I will be checking their website, but is it really that much cheaper?

 

Also has anyone any experience of https://www.smartcurrencyexchange.com/ ?

 

Thanks.

[billd766]

12 hours ago, VBF said:

I'm about to send some money (about £5K) from the UK to my SCB account. Previously, I've just let my bank transfer it at the prevailing rate and deduct the £25 fee.

This year I'm thinking about using Transferwise but have yet to set it up.

I will be checking their website, but is it really that much cheaper?

 

Also has anyone any experience of https://www.smartcurrencyexchange.com/ ?

 

Thanks.

The thing about TransferWise is that they will get the money and keep it until you call it forward.

 

If you think the rate will be better next week then the money will sit with TransferWise until you make the transfer.

 

I have just done a dummy transaction using £5K as the transfer figure.

 

The fee will be £28.84 and the forex rate will be 41.36243. This is today's rate. The fees will come from the amount you transfer so you will actually transfer £4,179.16 and receive 205619.26 thb using low cost transfer and guaranteed 24 hour rate.

 

If you did that transfer today the money would be in your Thai bank tomorrow.

 

If you make a transfer on a Friday it will take 3 days as Thai banks don't work at the weekends but the forex rate will stay until you get the money.

 

I have no experience of https://www.smartcurrencyexchange.com/ Sorry

 

I hope that this is of use to you.

[VBF]

5 hours ago, billd766 said:

The thing about TransferWise is that they will get the money and keep it until you call it forward.

 

If you think the rate will be better next week then the money will sit with TransferWise until you make the transfer.

 

I have just done a dummy transaction using £5K as the transfer figure.

 

The fee will be £28.84 and the forex rate will be 41.36243. This is today's rate. The fees will come from the amount you transfer so you will actually transfer £4,179.16 and receive 205619.26 thb using low cost transfer and guaranteed 24 hour rate.

 

If you did that transfer today the money would be in your Thai bank tomorrow.

 

If you make a transfer on a Friday it will take 3 days as Thai banks don't work at the weekends but the forex rate will stay until you get the money.

 

I have no experience of https://www.smartcurrencyexchange.com/ Sorry

 

I hope that this is of use to you.

Much obliged, @billd766 

So the fee for TW is over £28 and my bank charges me £25 however much (or little) I send, therefore it's the rate that's the important factor. That's what I shall have to research further. ???? I have asked the same question on another thread....replies are all interesting!

Edited December 26, 2018 by VBF

[Pungdo]

I use OrbitRemit, they only charge A$4 have very good exchange rates and no other fees, I think the fee for British Pounds is £4 but not 100% sure.

OrbitRemit

[rak sa_ngop]

Transferwise gives you a guaranteed rate for 24 hours. If you don't send the money to them within that time frame the rate will be cancelled and you will have to set up a new deal with a different rate.

 

What it does mean is that you can reserve one rate, and then wait to see how rates move throughout the day. If rates improve you can cancel that deal and set up a new one at the improved rate. But for this to work you have to be able to make an instant 2 or 3 hour transfer of funds to them when you want to accept transfer rate.

[Pattaya46]

Lot of talking about TransferWise but not a lot about its competitors...

Did some of you already used InstaReM ?

Never used it personally, but 2 European guys I know recommended it.

They say: Very similar to TW, but a bit Cheaper and a lot Faster. 

Any experience here ?

 

https://www.instarem.com/

[BritManToo]

On 9/7/2017 at 8:16 PM, DiDiChok said:

I do that because I've found that the UK Banks sometimes delay the so called "Instant payment" so that it's not instant.

I've made 3 small online transfers from my UK bank to Transferwise in the last week, they were all in my Transferwise account before I managed to log out (10-60 seconds).

[BritManToo]

On 12/26/2018 at 4:47 PM, VBF said:

Much obliged, @billd766 

So the fee for TW is over £28 and my bank charges me £25 however much (or little) I send, therefore it's the rate that's the important factor. That's what I shall have to research further. ???? I have asked the same question on another thread....replies are all interesting!

Transferwise uses the XE rate, banks usually give 1bht/gbp less.

So a 2,000gbp transfer will lose you 2,000bht through the bank.

Compare your bank charge to the Transferwise charge, then add on the 1bht/gbp you lost.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

On 12/26/2018 at 4:47 PM, VBF said:

Much obliged, @billd766 

So the fee for TW is over £28 and my bank charges me £25 however much (or little) I send, therefore it's the rate that's the important factor. That's what I shall have to research further. ???? I have asked the same question on another thread....replies are all interesting!

 

There is nothing to research. The rate won't come close to transferwise.

[VBF]

Well i'm in the midst of sending a very small "test" transfer (£10) from my UK bank to my SCB account via my newly set up TW account. As I've picked possibly the worst time of year to try it, (New Years weekend) it won't arrive until Jan 2nd. (My fault of course)

 

However, I won't be much the wiser because I normally tell the bank to send UKP which is converted to Baht when it hits SCB, so although I do know the TW rate, I don't know how I can tell what rate SCB would have applied had I sent it my usual way.

 

Cannot see a way around that one.......

[BritManToo]

5 minutes ago, VBF said:

so although I do know the TW rate, I don't know how I can tell what rate SCB would have applied had I sent it my usual way.

Banks give 1bht/gbp below XE rate.

For 10gbp that amount is trivial, for 1000gbp it's a bit more important.

Edited December 31, 2018 by BritManToo

[VBF]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Banks give 1bht/gbp below XE rate.

All Thai banks? Don't they vary at all?

 

Thanks, btw.

Edited December 31, 2018 by VBF

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, VBF said:

All Thai banks? Don't they vary at all?

 

Thanks, btw.

Maybe by as much as 1/4Bht, but the spread between banks is very small.

(and they also make a 300-500bht foreign transfer deduction, which doesn't happen with Transferwise as it's a local transaction)

Edited December 31, 2018 by BritManToo

[VBF]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Maybe by as much as 1/4Bht, but the spread between banks is very small.

???? So I'll need to check the XE rate at about the same time as the money arrives at SCB to get as close as possible?

Edited December 31, 2018 by VBF

[observer90210]

Also had trouble with Transferwise since last week. Programmed a transfer in THB to BKK Bank in Thailand, then had the money sent to TF account, Despite the money arriving, the pending transfer on Transferwise account was not made. Had to cancel the transfer to Thailand and make a new one and not it another 7 days. Considering the small amount transfered $2000,- the savings in expenses etc was say 500 THB max but with substantial loss of time,

 

TF is fine if the amount is small and the money is already in the TF a/c. If the amount is a large amount say 30k, really no point in using TF as they have strong ripoff expenses. From Europe anyhow...

[billd766]

2 hours ago, VBF said:

Well i'm in the midst of sending a very small "test" transfer (£10) from my UK bank to my SCB account via my newly set up TW account. As I've picked possibly the worst time of year to try it, (New Years weekend) it won't arrive until Jan 2nd. (My fault of course)

 

However, I won't be much the wiser because I normally tell the bank to send UKP which is converted to Baht when it hits SCB, so although I do know the TW rate, I don't know how I can tell what rate SCB would have applied had I sent it my usual way.

 

Cannot see a way around that one.......

 

You could look at this link which give the forex rate across most Thai banks.

 

On the top line just put in the amount, the currency and the currency type, Notes, TT and click on show rates.

 

https://daytodaydata.net/default.aspx