Transferwise details questions.

[lungbing]

Please can somebody who uses Transferwise help me out.

I understand how it works, ie I transfer GBP from my UK account to their UK account and they transfer the

equivalent in baht from their Thaiaccount to my Thai account so no money crosses the world.

But how does it take place in detail?

 

1. Do I have my own account with Transferwise with my own account number in my own name?
2. Can I keep a balance in there and not yet transfer it as my pensions  come in at different times of the month.
3. When I tell them to transfer the money how do I pay for it?  eg if I   transfer 1,000 GBP do they transfer 1,000 GBP

     minus the charges or do they transfer 1,000 GBP and I pay the charges separately and if so how,  

     eg from my account with them so the account should hold 1,000 plus charges?
   
Thanks very much for your help

 

.

Edited September 6, 2018 by lungbing
edited for formatting

[lungbing]

Sorry about the formatting of the above.   The 'new topic' page has more characters than the actual topic.

[wgdanson]

I have used them several times and never any problem. Yes, you do have your own account with them, in GBP, and as and when you want to transfer to Thailand, or anywhere, you go online and if you have the funds in your account off it goes. Last one took 23 hours NAtionwide to Bangkok Bank. You can say whether you want to transfer with or without the charges. Up to you as they say over here.

[vinegarbase]

Last time I used transferwise to Thailand it was from the USA it went like this.

 

1. Register for an account. 

2. Go to their website and put in how much you are transferring and they will quote you the final amount you will receive in Thai baht into your Thai bank account. 

3. Transfer the money to transferwise from your bank account with one of their transfer options.

4. Your money in Thai baht that was originally quoted to you will end up in your account in a couple days and done.

Edited September 6, 2018 by vinegarbase

[Langsuan Man]

3 hours ago, vinegarbase said:

Last time I used transferwise to Thailand it was from the USA it went like this

Are the fees similar to what Bangkok Bank currently charges for EFTS,  via the New York branch, that are going away in April 2019 ?

[KhunBENQ]

13 hours ago, vinegarbase said:

Last time I used transferwise to Thailand it was from the USA it went like this

Well described and no basic difference to what I do from a German account.

 

EUR to THB:

There are two different fees depending on payment options (credit/debit card more expensive,).

Cheap fee is 2 EUR + 0.5% after that.

Fee is deducted from the amount you pay to Transferwise.

 

The remaining amount is converted with currency market rate and transferred to Thai account (domestic transfer, no fee deducted by Thai bank).

 

EUR rate at this moment: 38.10779

EUR TT rate at Bangkok Bank (foreign transfer): 37.73500

So their rate is almost 1% better at this moment.

(a bit exceptional, yesterday I saw about 0.6%)

They have an email alarm function for specific rate or two week high.

 

Edited September 7, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[gusincebu]

Please can somebody who uses Transferwise help me out.

I understand how it works, ie I transfer GBP from my UK account to their UK account and they transfer the
equivalent in baht from their Thaiaccount to my Thai account so no money crosses the world.
But how does it take place in detail?
 

2. Can I keep a balance in there and not yet transfer it as my pensions  come in at different times of the month.

   
Thanks very much for your help
 
.

No , you dont keep a balance with them. You only transfer funds that are available in your bank account at the time .
Although it might sound complicated,only the first set up and transaction takes a little working through ..
after that its simple and fast .( for me ,anyway, and Im no Einstein :) )

Sent from my vivo 1713 using Tapatalk

[steve73]

You can also set up a "borderless account" with TW.  This allows you to deposit money in a range of currencies, and either hold it as that, or convert it to any other and hold it there.  You can pay it out in any of the currencies you hold, or convert it at the time of payout...

 

For the OP, with a borderless account, you could receive your pension into your TW GBP account, and hold it there until you're ready to convert and even hold it as THB until you need to pay it into your Thai account.  It would eliminate the need to hold a separate UK bank account in which to receive your pension.

 

It would also allow you to switch back and forth as the exchange rate varies.

 

I haven't tried this as I can transfer from my UK Nationwide account immediately at zero cost, convert to THB at  a fixed rate, and receive into my Thai account usually in less than 24 hours.

 

 

[livram]

Can you set up direct deposit of pensions with Transferwise?

[Jip99]

15 minutes ago, livram said:

Can you set up direct deposit of pensions with Transferwise?

 

 

Yes. Just done it for 2 friends.

[Jip99]

1 hour ago, steve73 said:

You can also set up a "borderless account" with TW.  This allows you to deposit money in a range of currencies, and either hold it as that, or convert it to any other and hold it there.  You can pay it out in any of the currencies you hold, or convert it at the time of payout...

 

For the OP, with a borderless account, you could receive your pension into your TW GBP account, and hold it there until you're ready to convert and even hold it as THB until you need to pay it into your Thai account.  It would eliminate the need to hold a separate UK bank account in which to receive your pension.

 

It would also allow you to switch back and forth as the exchange rate varies.

 

I haven't tried this as I can transfer from my UK Nationwide account immediately at zero cost, convert to THB at  a fixed rate, and receive into my Thai account usually in less than 24 hours.

 

 

 

 

Steve... I think you would need to hold it as GBP not THB...

[Jip99]

1 hour ago, gusincebu said:

 

 

No , you dont keep a balance with them. You only transfer funds that are available in your bank account at the time .
Although it might sound complicated,only the first set up and transaction takes a little working through ..
after that its simple and fast .( for me ,anyway, and Im no Einstein ? )

Sent from my vivo 1713 using Tapatalk
 

 

 

 

You can keep a balance by using a Borderless account and then do you Thai Baht transfers from there.

[gusincebu]

Thanks I didnt know that ..probably because it would never interest me to use that .. Cheers

 
 
You can keep a balance by using a Borderless account and then do you Thai Baht transfers from there.

Sent from my vivo 1713 using Tapatalk

[steve73]

10 minutes ago, Jip99 said:

 

 

Steve... I think you would need to hold it as GBP not THB...

The way I understand it you can hold it as THB (but to exchange it back to GBP has a much higher fee)  The currencies they are supporting is growing all the time.

[KhunBENQ]

33 minutes ago, gusincebu said:

Thanks I didnt know that ..probably because it would never interest me to use that .. Cheers

Not for me too as I retained two bank accounts at home and will keep at least one.

But maybe interesting for those who left their country without having an account.

 

Interesting to learn that this way you can open a Euro account from here just by identifying and proof of address (via upload) which I already was successful with.

 

It is completely impossible to do this the traditional way in written form with a German bank. The consulate DOES not notarize your identity and proof of address for that purpose. (at least this was the case some four years ago).

How is it with other countries?

 

Edited September 7, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[jackdd]

21 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Interesting to learn that this way you can open a Euro account from here just by identifying and proof of address (via upload) which I already was successful with.

  

It is completely impossible to do this the traditional way in written form with a German bank. The consulate DOES not notarize your identity and proof of address for that purpose. (at least this was the case some four years ago).

How is it with other countries? 

Today there are many banks in Germany offering "video ident" instead of the classic "post ident", so you can open an account from everywhere in the world. For example: http://www.dkb.de but there are many others.

[Jip99]

54 minutes ago, steve73 said:

The way I understand it you can hold it as THB (but to exchange it back to GBP has a much higher fee)  The currencies they are supporting is growing all the time.

 

 

Presumably you would fund the account with Sterling....... paying fees to exchange to Baht, holding in Baht..... then can you transfer Baht to Thailand...... I don't think so.

[Jip99]

43 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Not for me too as I retained two bank accounts at home and will keep at least one.

But maybe interesting for those who left their country without having an account.

 

Interesting to learn that this way you can open a Euro account from here just by identifying and proof of address (via upload) which I already was successful with.

 

It is completely impossible to do this the traditional way in written form with a German bank. The consulate DOES not notarize your identity and proof of address for that purpose. (at least this was the case some four years ago).

How is it with other countries?

 

 

 

I have retained 4 UK bank accounts but I use TW for transferring money to Thailand.

 

 

People will also eventually realise that they should set a TW account up for their Thai wives/partners to receive money after their demise.

[jackdd]

5 minutes ago, Jip99 said:

 

 

Presumably you would fund the account with Sterling....... paying fees to exchange to Baht, holding in Baht..... then can you transfer Baht to Thailand...... I don't think so.

With transferwise borderless you can have an account in many different currencies, and generally you get charged when you transfer from one currency to another and you can hold in any currency that you want (out of the currencies that they offer).

So you could collect GBP on your transferwise borderless GBP account and then convert them to THB and transfer them to THB in one step. Or you could also create a borderless account in THB (not sure if they offer it), and always when money is going in the GBP account convert it to THB and store it on your THB borderless account until you transfer it to your Thai bank account.

But the second way doesn't make much sense because the effective fees for the many small conversions will be higher than for one conversion with an higher ammount

[Jip99]

17 hours ago, wgdanson said:

I have used them several times and never any problem. Yes, you do have your own account with them, in GBP, and as and when you want to transfer to Thailand, or anywhere, you go online and if you have the funds in your account off it goes. Last one took 23 hours NAtionwide to Bangkok Bank. You can say whether you want to transfer with or without the charges. Up to you as they say over here.

 

 

WGD..... just so others understand...... you don't have to have the Borderless account. You can simply sign up with TW (receiving a membership number) and then instruct a transfer to your Thai bank. That transfer is linked to your UK bank details (provided by you) and you then go into online banking with your UK bank and transfer XX amount to TW (account at Barclays Shoreditch) with the membership number quoted as the reference.

[kekalot]

1 minute ago, jackdd said:

With transferwise borderless you can have an account in many different currencies, and generally you get charged when you transfer from one currency to another and you can hold in any currency that you want (out of the currencies that they offer).

So you could collect GBP on your transferwise borderless GBP account and then convert them to THB and transfer them to THB in one step. Or you could also create a borderless account in THB (not sure if they offer it), and always when money is going in the GBP account convert it to THB and store it on your THB borderless account until you transfer it to your Thai bank account.

But the second way doesn't make much sense because the effective fees for the many small conversions will be higher than for one conversion with an higher ammount

 

I just emailed them but you might know the answer to this

if I am a Canadian but have no utility bills or whatever is it still possible to make a borderless account or would they ask for some kind of paperwork

or maybe ask for paperwork from Thailand?

 

I put that I was from Canada (probably a mistake) and they started asking for utility bills and blablas..

but I was only made aware of the borderless account this morning.. when I went with a different email to put thailand to check it out it told me I already had an account.

 

wondering if i should be deleting that account and making another one as living in thailand or if they would STILL ask for Canada paperwork or maybe the Thai one would be fine.

 

only asking cause yesterday I read about this, related to the Bangkok Bank ACH changes in 2019 (just in preparation) as I assume my bank will be like "we can't do those IAT blabla because you are just transfering to the US" or other nonsense

[jackdd]

3 minutes ago, kekalot said:

 

I just emailed them but you might know the answer to this

if I am a Canadian but have no utility bills or whatever is it still possible to make a borderless account or would they ask for some kind of paperwork

or maybe ask for paperwork from Thailand?

 

I put that I was from Canada (probably a mistake) and they started asking for utility bills and blablas..

but I was only made aware of the borderless account this morning.. when I went with a different email to put thailand to check it out it told me I already had an account.

 

wondering if i should be deleting that account and making another one as living in thailand or if they would STILL ask for Canada paperwork or maybe the Thai one would be fine.

 

only asking cause yesterday I read about this, related to the Bangkok Bank ACH changes in 2019 (just in preparation) as I assume my bank will be like "we can't do those IAT blabla because you are just transfering to the US" or other nonsense

They want some type of address verification (utility bills, bank statement or similar) without this it's impossible.

If you put your address in Thailand they also want this verification, the easiest thing to get this (it has to be in english, they won't accept your address written in Thai) is to go to your Thai bank and request and bank statement in english, will cost something like 200THB (does of course depend on your bank) and Transferwise will accept it.

[kekalot]

2 minutes ago, jackdd said:

They want some type of address verification (utility bills, bank statement or similar) without this it's impossible.

If you put your address in Thailand they also want this verification, the easiest thing to get this (it has to be in english, they won't accept your address written in Thai) is to go to your Thai bank and request and bank statement in english, will cost something like 200THB (does of course depend on your bank) and Transferwise will accept it.

would you reckon it makes a difference it the Transferwise account is made as of back home or Thailand?

what i'm trying to do is transfer the funds from my US account to their US account and then ultimately to me (doesn't have to be Bangkok Bank)

I have been doing that with the Bangkok Bank ACH thing but that's going away.

[kekalot]

 

I was able to login and upload some PDF from online banking, hopefully that is acceptable.

looks like it will work so far but there is up to 5 days wait for document verification so unless I get rejected on document verification should be fine.

I'll do a test next week and see how the fees and whatnot compare to stuff like straight up ATM, crypto (which I can do within an hour) and if its acceptable then i'll use transferwise

 

Bangkok Bank used to take about 3-7 days depending on how much you paid ($3 for "3 days", $7 for "1 day") but they are more like 3 to 7 days.

[wgdanson]

1 hour ago, Jip99 said:

 

 

WGD..... just so others understand...... you don't have to have the Borderless account. You can simply sign up with TW (receiving a membership number) and then instruct a transfer to your Thai bank. That transfer is linked to your UK bank details (provided by you) and you then go into online banking with your UK bank and transfer XX amount to TW (account at Barclays Shoreditch) with the membership number quoted as the reference.

Absolutely correct sir. 

[jackdd]

1 hour ago, kekalot said:

would you reckon it makes a difference it the Transferwise account is made as of back home or Thailand?

No difference, your account will have the same functionality ?

 

29 minutes ago, kekalot said:

I'll do a test next week and see how the fees and whatnot compare to stuff like straight up ATM, crypto (which I can do within an hour) and if its acceptable then i'll use transferwise

You can find the fees on their website, just use the fee calculator for sending money, don't have to wait until your account is activated: https://transferwise.com/

Edited September 7, 2018 by jackdd

[lungbing]

I think I explained myself badly. I'll have another go.

 

Let us say I have two pensions a month, each of 1,500 GBP.  One arrives in my HSBC account on the 15th and one on the 28th of each month.  After receipt of the 1,500 GBP on the 15th can I sent it to my Transferwise (TW) account but not yet transfer the money to Thailand, just hold it in my TW account until I send the other 1500 GBP to my TW account thus making it hold 3,000 GBP.  

 

Then can I tell TW to send the equivalent of just 2,500 GBP to my Thai account in baht leaving my TW account with 500 GBP less the cost of the 2,500 transfer.

 

ie I want to treat my TW account as a bank account. Ultimately I aim to have my pensions paid directly into my TW account  thus bypassing HSBC, just in case they get uppity about me living here.

 

[BritManToo]

22 minutes ago, lungbing said:

After receipt of the 1,500 GBP on the 15th can I sent it to my Transferwise (TW) account but not yet transfer the money to Thailand, just hold it in my TW account until I send the other 1500 GBP to my TW account thus making it hold 3,000 GBP.  

Yes you can, I have around 4,000gbp in my transferwise account waiting for the exchange rate to get better, or for me to desperately need it.

[BritManToo]

5 hours ago, kekalot said:

would you reckon it makes a difference it the Transferwise account is made as of back home or Thailand?

There's a debit card available to customers living in Europe, which you can't get living in Thailand.

[BritManToo]

6 hours ago, Jip99 said:

ou can simply sign up with TW (receiving a membership number) and then instruct a transfer to your Thai bank. That transfer is linked to your UK bank details (provided by you) and you then go into online banking with your UK bank and transfer XX amount to TW (account at Barclays Shoreditch) with the membership number quoted as the reference.

Reference number isn't vital (being an old fool I messed it up)

But you've already given them your home bank details, and if they get money from there, they know where to put it.