Transferring from abroad to Thailand a large sum of money – Could I have problems - Advice Please

[thailand49]

I'm one of those guys who do all the research and take the math and see what is the best bang for the baht.

In the end, Transferwise was by far the best option especially when it came to the best rates even after the fee.

Once I set up my account which they will ask you where the money is coming from I said   " sale of property " and indicated the Thai bank I wanted the money placed I waited until I felt was the best time with the best rate I just logged on and click, the rate is set for 24 hours, they give you the location and bank to wire the money etc..  I went into my bank told them to wire the money 90,000 USD and once they receive the wire transfer they place the baht into your Thai account.

[Suradit69]

On 10/18/2018 at 6:46 PM, blackhorse said:

Some Chinese and Indians carry that amount around in Pattaya for a night ???? out if you believe the crime reports 

... and attempted insurance claims.

[Suradit69]

On 10/18/2018 at 11:22 AM, Naam said:

relax mate! transferring that peanuts amount of money will trigger nothing.

Yes it's barely more than needed if you're doing an extension of stay based on retirement using the "money in the bank" method or buying a very modest condo.

[Zack61]

TransferWise

[Naam]

8 hours ago, pjuk said:

Use Transferwise. You will save a load on fees and get the best exchange rate.

 https://transferwise.com/

the usual fairy tale as the "load on fees" compared to a SWIFT transfer is a mere USD 10. the same applies to "best exchange rate". tramsferwise are by far not "best". their comparisons are usually with PayPal and not with the published rate of Thai banks which are better than PayPal and of course better than Transferwise.

 

anybody can check my claim.

 

https://daytodaydata.net/

 

 

[steve73]

TW use mid-market rates updated continuously.

They will always be much better than bank TT rates (although I concede that Bank USD rates have a much lower spread than GBP - which I follow).

 

The best thing about TW is that you decide if you want to exchange at the rate offered.  When you SWIFT, you get the rate when it arrives which could be much higher or lower (again, GBP is perhaps more variable than other CCY's due to Brexit uncertainty).

 

I can only comment on my personal circumstances, but I save around 1500bt on a 1000GBP transfer using TW compared to my own bank combination (and assuming the Fx doesn't change on arrival).  I have a fairly high sending bank fee, so the relative benefit would reduce on a larger transfer, but I prefer to make smaller transfers to (try to) optimize FX when I actually send.

 

It's up to everyone to make their own comparisons, since every sending bank and receiving bank has slight differences.

[kalasiner]

10 hours ago, Naam said:

the usual fairy tale as the "load on fees" compared to a SWIFT transfer is a mere USD 10. the same applies to "best exchange rate". tramsferwise are by far not "best". their comparisons are usually with PayPal and not with the published rate of Thai banks which are better than PayPal and of course better than Transferwise.

 

anybody can check my claim.

 

I checked Naam's claim and found it to be false.

The best current TT rate on https://daytodaydata.net/ for EUR/THB is 37.0456 and currently Transferwise is giving 37.51109 which after fees gives e.g. 37,249.64 THB for 1000 Euro or 373,170.08 for 10,000 Euro. In other words, Transferwise's  after-fee rate is far better than the best bank's pre-fee rate. This rate comparison is especially valid since they are both based on the same Friday market closing rate.

 

 

[Naam]

8 hours ago, steve73 said:

When you SWIFT, you get the rate when it arrives which could be much higher or lower (again, GBP is perhaps more variable than other CCY's due to Brexit uncertainty).

when i swift i get a call from my bank (Siam Commercial) whether i accept x-Baht for y-Forex. i f i don't like the rate i can keep the conversion on hold for up to six months.

[Naam]

7 hours ago, kalasiner said:

The best current TT rate on https://daytodaydata.net/ for EUR/THB is 37.0456

i stand corrected! my mistake was using USD/THB as i hardly ever transfer €UR.

[steve73]

38 minutes ago, Naam said:

when i swift i get a call from my bank (Siam Commercial) whether i accept x-Baht for y-Forex. i f i don't like the rate i can keep the conversion on hold for up to six months.

Useful to know.... I've lost a fortune with kasikorn from getting shit rates over the years.. (often it would take a week to be credited, and they'd given me the lowest rate of the whole week... once it was 2bt less than the highest in that week, on a 1MMbt transfer).   For GBP TW would still give a worthwhile saving even if I could fix a rate with Kasik.

[moana]

All the Transferwise supporters miss a huge caveat.

 

TW fees are in %. Bank transfers are normally fixed. It's easy to figure out that at a specific higher sum it becomes more economical to make a bank transfer.

 

Let's take today for example with a few sums (TW rate ฿32.59, BBL rate ฿32.47):

 

Transferring $1000: TW gets you ฿32,202 (fee $11.90), Bank gets you ฿31,458 (fee $25+฿200).

Transferring $5000: TW gets you ฿161,270 (fee $51.55). Bank gets you ฿161,135 (fee $25+฿403).

Transferring $10,000: TW gets you ฿322,604 (fee $101.12). Bank gets you ฿323,388 (fee $25+฿500).

 

Any higher amounts and the bank just wins bigger. There are some factors to take into account, of course, such as the daily spread between TW and the target bank rate, your specific bank fees, any correspondent banks on the way, etc. However, there will always be a point where the bank starts to win (unless your bank charges a % as well - which really means you should move to a better one).

 

Note: even for smaller sums there are better solutions than TW, but this is getting long...

Edited October 20, 2018 by moana

[steve73]

7 minutes ago, moana said:

 

All Thai bank rates are much better (i.e. lower spread) for USD than for GBP... and TW fees are a little higher for USD (0.85%) than for GBP (0.55%).

A quick comparison suggests that a USD transfer may indeed be a little cheaper using Swift vs. TW.  I hadn't checked this before.

 

But for GBP, the bank TT rate is ALWAYS lower than TW's rate (even including the 0.55%), so as well as saving a 20GBP Swift sending fee (for my bank, and I know others are less), and 500Bt receiving fee, the more I send the more I save... (TW less fee is VERY close to SuperRich's GBP cash rate, and a lot more convenient - for me).

 

btw, TW's Euro fees are 0.7%, and Bank rates usually about the same below TW's rate, so any benefits are probably marginal.

[kalasiner]

steve73 said:

btw, TW's Euro fees are 0.7%, and Bank rates usually about the same below TW's rate, so any benefits are probably marginal.

 

 

Just for info;  TW's EUR/THB fee is 0.5% + 2 Euro.

[Naam]

3 hours ago, steve73 said:

4 hours ago, Naam said:

when i swift i get a call from my bank (Siam Commercial) whether i accept x-Baht for y-Forex. i f i don't like the rate i can keep the conversion on hold for up to six months.

Useful to know.... I've lost a fortune with kasikorn from getting shit rates over the years.. (often it would take a week to be credited, and they'd given me the lowest rate of the whole week... once it was 2bt less than the highest in that week, on a 1MMbt transfer).   For GBP TW would still give a worthwhile saving even if I could fix a rate with Kasik.

additional info: in 13 years i had the transfer only twice (perhaps 3 times) on hold for a week or so.

reason: when SCB calls i can always negotiate a few Satang (best was +26 on a $185k transfer) more.

[BritManToo]

12 hours ago, moana said:

All the Transferwise supporters miss a huge caveat.

Not if you're transferring British Pounds.

[Peter Denis]

Hi, I am not affiliated with TransferWise but in my experience it is by far the best option for transfering money.

1. TransferWise uses the actual mid-conversion rate, which is very hard to beat.  They charge a modest fee for their service (fee is a fixed % of the amount transfered, but the % is lower when the amount to transfer gets bigger);

2. Money transfered with TransferWise is usually next day or day after already on the target bank-account;

3. YOU choose the moment - and thus also the conversion rate on that moment that will be applied.  When I want to transfer money I check twice a day in the week preceding my transfer to pick the best rate (a conversion rate graph of previous week/month is available at the click of a button).

TransferWise is very transparent during all steps of the transfer process, no surprises no hidden fees.  When you click GO you will know the exact amount that will be transfered.

>>> A simple money transfer from bank-to-bank is done on minutes (and the money is there next day or day after).  But for your particular case, I would suggest that you order a FREE TransferWise debit-card (takes approx 1 week before you have it). Then have the Euros from the Spanish property-sale transfered at no cost on your TW account of that debit-card, and then transfer the money from this TW account to your Thailand bank-account at a convenient moment picking a 'high' conversion rate.