Transfer of Funds to Thailand

[JAFO]

I am from the U.S. and transfer randomly 2 to 4 times a year. I use my U.S. Bank and transfer to BKK in NY. Fee is $3

 

Transfer from BKK bank NY to  BKK bank Thailand appx $5.  Total fees about $8 USD. It's easy. I do it online and never an issue.  

[jackdd]

21 minutes ago, JAFO said:

I am from the U.S. and transfer randomly 2 to 4 times a year. I use my U.S. Bank and transfer to BKK in NY. Fee is $3

 

Transfer from BKK bank NY to  BKK bank Thailand appx $5.  Total fees about $8 USD. It's easy. I do it online and never an issue.  

But the exchange rate of Transferwise is better, so in the end with Transferwise you get a few more THB.

[JAFO]

18 minutes ago, jackdd said:

But the exchange rate of Transferwise is better, so in the end with Transferwise you get a few more THB.

possibly. It depends on time if transfer and exchange rate.  

 

When my wife and I travel back to the US we bring cash as she insists on using Super rich.  

 

I just follow conversion and move when its good.  That said for people moving money frequently that might be better using transferwise.  I just don't feel compelled to chase it all the time.  

[observer90210]

On 5/25/2018 at 1:57 PM, Beechboy said:

I sent £6, 000 pounds yesterday evening and have just been informed that that amount has already been deposited in to the Thai bank account.

 

They sent me an email to confirm part of which is below (with costs and rate)

 

 

 

 

Transfer details Amount: 255,512.95 THB Rate: 42.83041 TransferWise fee: 34.31 GBP     The system is that you pay the money into their account in UK from your own bank. They can then inform their Thai branch to send this exact amount in baht to the intended recipient's account as they have the money in their UK account.   There is therefore no international transfer of currency as such.   Novel idea and it is getting popular.

A modern version copied from the ancient indian hawala money transfering set-ups between India and abroad that were or still are quite underground, but fool proof and efficient !!?...

Edited May 31, 2018 by observer90210

[55Jay]

16 hours ago, observer90210 said:

A modern version copied from the ancient indian hawala money transfering set-ups between India and abroad that were or still are quite underground, but fool proof and efficient !!?...

That's what I was thinking as well.  A Thai lady in the ME ran a small, Asian supermarket, and also did quiet money transfers.  To the best of my knowledge, she offered a decent exchange rate + a healthy fee, but simply called a family member/business partner in Thailand and said transfer X amount of Baht into X Thai bank account number.  There was no actual transfer of funds internationally through a banking/money sending system.   The lady eventually settled up the fees for the Thai end, probably when she or someone she knew and trusted, flew to Thailand.

[55Jay]

16 hours ago, jackdd said:

But the exchange rate of Transferwise is better, so in the end with Transferwise you get a few more THB.

I was on the verge of opening a Transferwise account but decided to put aside the altruistic marketing slogan, ignore fee comparisons, and all the posts on TVF, and see for myself how much Baht landed in my account here doing it my normal ACH method vs. Transferwise's quote. 

 

My normal monthly transfer ($2,000) via my ACH method, resulted in about 500 Baht more in my account here than the Transferwise quote.  Their fee was nearly $19 to send $2,000, which probably ate up the benefit of their better exchange rate. 

 

It is what it is for my situation, YMMV.  The "extra" 500 Baht will go toward my new retirement home on the beach in Tahiti.  Not! ?

[Pib]

For U.S. folks using "ACH transfers" to their Bangkok Bank account, below is comparison of Transferwise and Bangkok Bank transfers in terms of exchange rate and fees as of the afternoon of 14 Jun 18.   Please take note of the Notes as it explains how and when Bangkok Bank ACH fees are applied during the transfer which is important in determining the amount of baht posting to your account. 

 

If you do "SWIFT/International Wire transfers" from your U.S. bank below comparison does not apply as SWIFT/Int'l Wire transfers usually incur healthy sending bank fees and sometimes a correspondent/intermediary bank fee also but "do not" incur the Bangkok Bank New York branch fee but "do" incur the in-Thailand Bangkok Bank receiving/currency conversion fee.   Summary: this comparison is only for Bangkok Bank ACH transfers and using ACH debit to fund your Transferwise account.  I expect most U.S. folks would use an ACH debit (i.e., an ACH pull) to fund their Transferwise account....if you fund your Transferwise account a different way like using your Debit Card or Wire transfer then their fee is different.

 

You will see for U.S. Dollars transfers Transferwise will usually put more baht into your Bangkok Bank account for amounts up to around $3000, but that will vary on the exchange rate.   And keep in mind we are talking U.S. dollars transfers and not Pounds, Euro's, etc., as Transferwise has different fee structures for different currencies.   The Transferwise fee structure for U.S. dollars is higher than Pounds and Euro's.

 

This is the third time I've done such a Transferwise and Bangkok Bank ACH comparison over the last few months.  While Transferwise's fees for US dollar transfers get very healthy for higher amounts their higher exchange rate offsets a lot of that fee.  Ultimately, you want to concentrate on how much baht posts to your account after the exchange rate and fees dust settles.

 

If I remember right a few months ago it was up to around $2,700 where Transferwise was a better deal...a few days ago it was around $4000, and today's comparison it's somewhere between $3000 to $4000.   But for all the amounts in the comparison below there is not a lot of difference between the two. 

 

The blocks highlighted in Green means whether Transferwise or Bangkok Bank ACH put the most baht in your account for a certain transfer amount.    

 

And of course the results are the numerical results only; does not say anything as to the speed, convenience, security,  and other pros & cons related to the two different transfer methods.    

 

 

 

[Bang Bang]

27 minutes ago, Pib said:

For U.S. folks using "ACH transfers" to their Bangkok Bank account, below is comparison of Transferwise and Bangkok Bank transfers in terms of exchange rate and fees as of the afternoon of 14 Jun 18.   Please take note of the Notes as it explains how and when Bangkok Bank ACH fees are applied during the transfer which is important in determining the amount of baht posting to your account. 

 

If you do "SWIFT/International Wire transfers" from your U.S. bank below comparison does not apply as SWIFT/Int'l Wire transfers usually incur healthy sending bank fees and sometimes a correspondent/intermediary bank fee also but "do not" incur the Bangkok Bank New York branch fee but "do" incur the in-Thailand Bangkok Bank receiving/currency conversion fee.   Summary: this comparison is only for Bangkok Bank ACH transfers and using ACH debit to fund your Transferwise account.  I expect most U.S. folks would use an ACH debit (i.e., an ACH pull) to fund their Transferwise account....if you fund your Transferwise account a different way like using your Debit Card or Wire transfer then their fee is different.

 

You will see for U.S. Dollars transfers Transferwise will usually put more baht into your Bangkok Bank account for amounts up to around $3000, but that will vary on the exchange rate.   And keep in mind we are talking U.S. dollars transfers and not Pounds, Euro's, etc., as Transferwise has different fee structures for different currencies.   The Transferwise fee structure for U.S. dollars is higher than Pounds and Euro's.

 

This is the third time I've done such a Transferwise and Bangkok Bank ACH comparison over the last few months.  While Transferwise's fees for US dollar transfers get very healthy for higher amounts their higher exchange rate offsets a lot of that fee.  Ultimately, you want to concentrate on how much baht posts to your account after the exchange rate and fees dust settles.

 

If I remember right a few months ago it was up to around $2,700 where Transferwise was a better deal...a few days ago it was around $4000, and today's comparison it's somewhere between $3000 to $4000.   But for all the amounts in the comparison below there is not a lot of difference between the two. 

 

The blocks highlighted in Green means whether Transferwise or Bangkok Bank ACH put the most baht in your account for a certain transfer amount.    

 

And of course the results are the numerical results only; does not say anything as to the speed, convenience, security,  and other pros & cons related to the two different transfer methods.    

 

 

 

Thanks, Pib.

It's contributions like this to TV that offset the trolls who often break out like a bad rash.

[Pib]

This regards transfer from the U.S. to a Thai bank account using Transferwise....a USD-THB transfer with funding coming from a U.S. bank via the Automated Clearing House (ACH) method which is the primary funds transfer system used in the U.S.

 

Late last week I signed up for a Transferwise account....and since then I have also completed my first USD-THB transfer using Transferwise.  I'm happy with the transfer.

 

The transfer took 6 "calendar" days or 4 "business/working" days when subtracting out the weekend.  I funded the transfer via ACH Debit (i.e., Transferwise does an ACH pull of funds from your U.S. bank account to fund the transfer).  The portion of the process that took the longest was the ACH funding process....that is, getting money to Transferwise to fund your transfer.

 

For those of you familiar with ACH Send/Deposit & Pull/Withdraw transactions then you know that process takes some time since ACH is generally a business day "batch" process (not real time...normally one batch per day for many banks/companies) with the transaction needing to occur before a daily cutoff time set by each bank.  Miss that cutoff time and you must wait until the next business day to get things moving.   

 

Like in this ACH Debit transaction Transferwise initiates the ACH Debit (Pull of funds from your bank account), it flows thru a Federal Reserve Clearing House overnight on its way to your bank the funds are being pulled from.  Then that trek reverses as your banks honors the pull by sending the funds back through a Federal Reserve Clearing House on its way back to Transferwise.   Each one of these three entities (i.e., Transferwise, Clearing House, and your bank) require x-amount of time to do their thing....for the settlement process to complete....make all entities happy. 

 

And if you really want to get technical, there are really four entities involved as Transferwise must use a bank it's on contract with to transmit/receive funding relating to its ACH transactions as only banks can perform certain aspects of an ACH transaction.  Anyway, ACH Debit takes X-business/working days to complete.  Transferwise estimates it normally takes 1 to 4 working days for your funds transfer request to be funded....then they can continue the transfer on to your Thai bank account which takes another day or so.   Only 1 business day is highly optimistic due to the nature of the ACH batch process and since Transferwise must contact your bank to ask for money to fund your transfer and your bank respond by sending the money....and remember, they have a middleman Federal Reserve Clearing House involved in that two way communication which adds time.   So, probably best to expect 3 or 4 business days to fund your ACH Debit...it it takes less then great.

 

There other ways to fund your USD-THB transfer which a person can read about on the Transferwise web site like funding from your Debit Card which is probably much faster than an ACH Debit, but the downside to using your  U.S. Debit Card is your card probably only allows up to $1000 per transaction....and some cards allows less like only around $500....a few allow more than $1000 but they are the exception for cash transactions.   

 

So, if your need to send more than $1000 you will need to use an ACH Debit, Bank Wire, or Credit Card to fund your transfer.  And of course Bank Wires are usually pricey and Credit Cards usually carry a 3% Cash Advance Fee plus an interest charge immediately beginning.  Plus Transferwise adds on a higher fee for transfers funded via Credit Card.  Depending on the amount your are sending, use of ACH Debit or Debit Card is probably what most U.S. folks will use to fund their Transferwise USD-THB transfer.   

 

Personally, since I'm sending money to my Thai bank account and assuming I'm in Thailand at the time I would not fund with my Debit Card since I have multiple debit cards that do not charge any foreign transaction fee and also reimburse the Thai ATM ripoff Bt220 foreign card fee.  I would just go to any ATM and pull $1000 worth of baht and have money in my hand immediately with no fees.  But if I was outside of Thailand and needed to put money of $1000 or less in baht in my Thai bank account or maybe some one else's Thai bank account, then using the Debit Card to fund the transfer would probably be best and fastest.  Otherwise, use the ACH Debit funding method.   

 

I'm going to do at least one more transfer over the coming weeks using ACH Debit and see if that transfer goes faster because on the first transfer there was some Transferwise new account verification which took some time/maybe slowed down the transfer somewhat....maybe they eyeballed the transaction more. The Transferwise website and other website reviews indicate your first transfer will probably take longer than subsequent transfers.   

 

Regarding how long the guarantee exchange rate stays in effect.  Normally it's 24 hours....you have 24 hours to get the transfer funded.  Since an ACH Debit is usually going to take longer than that...maybe around 4 business days as talked above....per the Transferwise website as long as the ACH Debit is "successful" the exchange rate stays guaranteed even when taking much longer than 24 hours like in the case of my transfer.

 

The Transferwise exchange rate which is the FX mid market rate does indeed follow the FX rate.  I've checked it by comparing the Transferwise rate with the real time FX mid market rate given on XE.com.     Based on comparing the last 10 business days of Transferwise exchange rates against the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate used from incoming international transfers the Transferwise exchange rate averages 0.55% higher than the bank TT Buying Rate.   This higher exchange rate is important when you set down and calculate-out the "exchange rate plus all associated fees"....both the exchange rate and fees must be fully evaluated to determine which method is the best deal cost-wise.  Don't base your transfer method purely on exchange rate or purely on fees---you must consider both along with other considerations such as speed of transfer, security, ease of use, just whatever you consider a factor.

 

 

USD-THB Comparison Between Bankgok Bank and Transferwise

 

 

 

 

[The Dancer]

4 hours ago, Pib said:

Personally, since I'm sending money to my Thai bank account and assuming I'm in Thailand at the time I would not fund with my Debit Card since I have multiple debit cards that do not charge any foreign transaction fee and also reimburse the Thai ATM ripoff Bt220 foreign card fee. 

Curious, how do you get such a card? I avoid using my US credit union debit card except for emergencies because of that 220b. fee and I doubt I get a great exchange rate either (well, probably the bank rate you quote above).

 

But that fee really hurts because the cash withdrawal limit per transaction is about $500, at least for my CU, which means the fee works out to more than 1%.

[CARLO BALDASSARRE]

Hi,

         I use  Torfx for all my money transactions be it buying land,cars or money transfers "FROM AUSTRALIA TO THAILAND" for free , no fees,any amount with a completion time of each transaction/s

        of 3 days ,

          torfx.com not sure if it's available for the residents of ...U.S.A....(trumpsville)....

       When i am in thailand i bring 30-50,000  AUD  with me and get it exchanged at Superrich Thailand , IJust put an attatchment for everybodyto see what the rate is today in thailand today......

      

                                                                                    

[Pib]

6 hours ago, The Dancer said:

Curious, how do you get such a card? I avoid using my US credit union debit card except for emergencies because of that 220b. fee and I doubt I get a great exchange rate either (well, probably the bank rate you quote above).

 

But that fee really hurts because the cash withdrawal limit per transaction is about $500, at least for my CU, which means the fee works out to more than 1%.

You just need to research for banks/financial companies that offer debit cards with no foreign transaction fee with ATM reimbursement.  Quite a few posts on ThaiVisa talking various cards. 

 

One such U.S. card talked about very often on ThaiVisa is the Schwab debit card.  And if you are thinking right now Schwab is a stock brokerage company and you don't want to open a brokerage account and trade stocks; well, you do not have to trade stocks or fund the brokerage account.  Just open the  brokerage and checking account (which comes with their debit card) on their combo account opening form, no need to fund the brokerage account, just fund your checking account, get the card and use it.  There debit card is issued by Schwab Bank. If not being able to open a U.S. Schwab account they also have an International account option but the international account has different funding rules...but it still comes with the debit card that does not charge an foreign transaction fee and reimburses ATM fees.

 

But please don't overuse the Schwab debit card in Thailand which incurs a bunch of Bt220 Thai ATM ripoff fees which Schwab reimburses at the end of each monthly statement cycle because you don't want to help kill the Golden ATM Fee Reimbursement Goose.   By overuse I mean using the card frequently each month for small withdrawals like you might do in your home country where there is no or just a low ATM use fee.  Better to go with large withdrawals of Bt20K to Bt30K to incur only one (or two) Bt220 fees per month...which means less for Schwab to reimburse each month...Schwab might get tied of you if they are spending too much of their money for then to keep your account/ business.    Krungsri and TMB ATMs will provide Bt30K per withdrawal....Bangkok Bank Bt25K....varies from Bt20K to Bt30K among Thai banks as to their max per ATM withdrawal.  The Schwab card itself has a $1000 per day limit which is around Bt32K at the current exchange rate. Yes, treat the goose well. 

 

Yeap, using a card that does not reimburse ATM fees plus charges a foreign transaction fee in the 1 to 3% ballpark does makes such a card somewhat expensive to use.  Maybe best for such a card to live in the darkness of your safe when outside the U.S. unless that's your only option to get money.

 

Regarding the exchange rate you get when using your Visa/Mastercard, unless you accept a Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) transaction (DON'T DO THAT) the ATM might offer which is the local ATM owner exchange rate but with an approx 3% lower exchange rate than the full Visa/Mastercard rate, the exchange rate your card-issuing bank gives you is the full Visa/Mastercard exchange rate "minus their foreign transaction fee" like the 1% your card charges.   Their foreign transaction fee effectively lowers the exchange rate....cost you more....makes more profit for the bank....preaching to the choir I know.

 

 

 

 

[mokwit]

On 5/25/2018 at 8:39 PM, grollies said:

HSBC charge £4.00 for any amount.

..and 340 pips off the interbank rate - about 3% in GBP:USD. Put it another way they buy from you and then sell it 3% higher in the interbank market - but note some compensation for risk from holding multiple small orders until large enough to sell in interbank is in order - although i am not sure one time minimum order sizes still apply in interbank.

 

Another thing while I am here is always use a bank that has its own international network/a rep office in Thailand - otherwise it will go through a correspondent bank who may change your USD to THB (despite 'remit as currency' instruction)at a bad rate (JPM is notorious for doing this).

 

You could also theoretically have a situation where you send USD and have a USD Thai account and have a situation where a correspondent bank changes it (despite 'remit as currency' instruction) to THB to make a fee and then the Thai bank has to change those THB back to USD so you are charged twice.

 

If sending from UK or to US use BBL is best option

Edited June 23, 2018 by mokwit

[claynlr]

2 hours ago, Pib said:

Regarding the exchange rate you get when using your Visa/Mastercard, unless you accept a Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) transaction (DON'T DO THAT) the ATM might offer which is the local ATM owner exchange rate but with an approx 3% lower exchange rate than the full Visa/Mastercard rate, the exchange rate your card-issuing bank gives you is the full Visa/Mastercard exchange rate "minus their foreign transaction fee" like the 1% your card charges.   Their foreign transaction fee effectively lowers the exchange rate....cost you more....makes more profit for the bank....preaching to the choir I know.

Can you talk more about this Pib? When the screen come up "accept exchange rate?" what should be looking for? I didn't know we had a choice at an ATM.

[Pib]

1 hour ago, claynlr said:

Can you talk more about this Pib? When the screen come up "accept exchange rate?" what should be looking for? I didn't know we had a choice at an ATM.

 

Sure....go to below post...read it "and the one after it which includes an ATM screen example of a DCC offer." 

 

Remember, any time an ATM shows you an exchange rate you are being offered a DCC transaction.  Read the screen closely to continue on past that so you can get the Visa/Mastercard rate.  

 

 

[claynlr]

Thanks Pib...got it!!

[Pib]

On 6/22/2018 at 9:22 PM, Pib said:

The Transferwise exchange rate which is the FX mid market rate does indeed follow the FX rate.  I've checked it by comparing the Transferwise rate with the real time FX mid market rate given on XE.com.     Based on comparing the last 10 business days of Transferwise exchange rates against the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate used from incoming international transfers the Transferwise exchange rate averages 0.55% higher than the bank TT Buying Rate.   This higher exchange rate is important when you set down and calculate-out the "exchange rate plus all associated fees"....both the exchange rate and fees must be fully evaluated to determine which method is the best deal cost-wise.  Don't base your transfer method purely on exchange rate or purely on fees---you must consider both along with other considerations such as speed of transfer, security, ease of use, just whatever you consider a factor.

 

 

USD-THB Comparison Between Bankgok Bank and Transferwise

 

 

Update to where I said above the Transferwise exchange rate does indeed follow the FX market rate....that is, practically the same.   

 

Well, after watching the Transferwise and FX market rates this "weekend, repeat, the weekend" when the FX markets are closed (or should I say doing very little money trading)" the Transferwise exchange rate was approx 0.20% to 0.25% lower than the FX mid market rate which can add-up to a significant amount for large transfers.   The above table and my earlier comments in my earlier post was a comparison of rates during business days when the FX markets are open.

 

With several of the major markets now open on this Monday morning the Transferwise exchange rate is back to  being practically the same is the FX mid market rate...give or take just a very, very little....sometimes a hair better...sometimes a hair worst....I mean like plus or minus 0.05% like shown in the snapshot below where its 0.01% better.  So, apparently Transferwise plays it safe by offering a slightly lower than mid market rate when all the major FX markets are close.

 

I noticed this difference when doing some more research on various money transfer services such as Transferwise and I stumbled across one comparison website (weblink listed below) that would provide real time current customer exchange rate of various money transfer services in comparison to XE.com/mid market rate. 

 

Yes, a person could do basically the same just by having two browser tabs open....one on Transferwise  and one on XE.com but this particular website basically did it automatically for various money transfer services & XE.com at the same time and also gave a percentage difference in exchange rates.   That's when I noticed the Transferwise rate was approx 0.20 to 0.25% lower than the FX market rate during times when all major FX market are closed/doing very little trading like on the weekend.   When doubling checking by going to the Transferwise and XE.com website I confirmed the comparison was correct.

 

https://www.monito.com/send-money/united-states/thailand/usd/thb/2000?mail

 

 

So, you may be better off waiting for a least one major FX market to open to get the best exchange rate from Transferwise assuming some major world event didn't happen over the weekend...maybe avoid initiating a transfer on the weekend when FX market are closed and when Transferwise apparently starts playing it a little safe.   

 

Playing it safe over the weekend regarding exchange rates is not unique as Visa/Mastercard does the same thing by locking their rates for the weekend which can sometimes work for or against you regarding rates.   Even Thai banks don't change their TT Buying Rates for incoming transfers over the weekend.

 

The weblink below provides FX Market Operating Times....you can select your local times zone.   Like when I made below snapshot with a Thailand timezone setting it shows 2 of the 5 major world FX market are open.   And when checking Transferwise with two market open its exchange rate is following the FX market rate plus or minus a hair. 

 

Yeap, might be better to initiate a transfer on Transferwise (or any money transfer service) when at at least one of the major FX market is open....FX market are generally open 5 and 1/2 days per week up to mid day Saturday.

 

http://forex.timezoneconverter.com/?timezone=Asia/Bangkok&refresh=5

 

 

[Pib]

On 6/22/2018 at 9:22 PM, Pib said:

 

I'm going to do at least one more transfer over the coming weeks using ACH Debit and see if that transfer goes faster because on the first transfer there was some Transferwise new account verification which took some time/maybe slowed down the transfer somewhat....maybe they eyeballed the transaction more. The Transferwise website and other website reviews indicate your first transfer will probably take longer than subsequent transfers.   

 

 

I have completed the second transfer test using ACH Debit to fund the transfer and it did go faster.  Instead of taking 4 business days as the first transfer did, the second transfer took only 2 business days....specifically 53 hours.     And I'm think the transfer might have arrived X-hours faster if I had initiated the transfer a little later in the day Thailand time...I initiated it in the mid morning..  Yes, later as that would have been closer to U.S. banking opening time versus when I initiated the transfer around 12 hours before U.S. bank opening time. 

 

This  U.S. bank opening time is probably important because an ACH transaction which I used to fund the transfer can not get going when the U.S. banking system is closed as Transferwise must use its sponsor U.S. bank, which is apparently the Community Federal Savings Bank in New York, to ramrod the ACH Debit.  As mentioned earlier ACH transaction as done on a "batch" basis usually once a day which requires a trek through a Federal Reserve Clearing House and also your bank the funds are being debited/pulled from.  

 

Second transfer was sent to a different Thai bank than the first, but that's not why the second  transfer went faster than the first because from tracking the status of the transfer and the status updates provided by Transferwise I could tell that Transferwise processed the second transfer faster probably because they did not have to verify me this time around as in my first transfer.