Transferwise Borderless Account

[Brunolem]

Before getting into details and questions, I would like to ask if some of you have opened a Transferwise Borderless Account.

 

I am not talking about using Transferwise to transfer money from time to time, but to actually open an account with them.

 

From the look of it, it seems quite interesting, at least for those who operate in different currencies, or travel frequently abroad.

 

They also offer a Mastercard debit card, yet not in Thailand for the time being.

 

Please feel free to share your experience.

[Pilotman]

I cant help with your question, but I will be interested in the replies you get.  I very nearly used them to transfer money from my UK account, but I chickened out in the end, giving them any of my UK account details seemed risky when I know nothing much about them. 

[billd766]

I opened a TransferWise Borderless account in October so that I could have greater control over my 3 pensions.

 

I get notification of when my pensions go into TransferWise and I can have the choice when to send the money to my Thai bank.

 

For example my company pension arrived on the 20th at TW and I transferred £260 that day and it was in my Thai account the next day before noon. The cost was £3.38 and I got a higher rate than when it was sent from the UK the old way.

 

My state pension was paid in yesterday and I transferred £630 this morning and the cost was £5.39 but that will not be in my Thai bank until Monday simply because Thai banks don't work the weekend.

 

The transfer system works very well and is easy enough for even a 74 year old man to do. Additionally there is a hot live available should you need it. 

[roger buttmore]

I've been using Transferwise for quite a number of years already, had a borderless account for two years and collected the 'Hello World' debit card on my last trip back to the UK over songkran 2018. Living in Thailand gives me little or no reason to use the TW debit card, certainly not for regular withdrawals, but it completes the set and is handy to have.

 

Transferwise is really, really good. What it allows me to do is to transfer money from my GBP UK bank account to my GBP borderless account at zero cost. Also, because it is a transfer within the UK I am not required to jump through Natwest's security hoops each and every time I transfer money. Then, when required, funds are transfered from the GBP borderless account to my THB Bangkok Bank account, incurring a modest transfer fee. TF's transfer fees are very reasonable and all displayed before committing to the transfer each time. Nothing is hidden, it is totally transparent.

 

The borderless account acts as a holding station for funds and when it comes time to make a transfer it is a seamless affair both online or via their smartphone app. Logging in online prompts an SMS to be sent to my Thai phone for online access.

 

My UK bank (Natwest) pays zero interest on my current account, as does the TW borderless account, so no loss. It is also covered by the FSA as their accounts are held with Barclays.

 

If I charged my Natwest debit card in order to make a GBP to THB transfer I would need to undertake all Natwest's security measures, which include a security code sent audibly, rather than via SMS and this has been known to fail in the past, causing my account to be locked, which is a real pain in the backside to deal with from Thailand. Whereas, transferring GBP from Natwest to my GBP TF borderless account is effortless and requires no security once it's been setup, as it is a UK GBP to UK GBP transfer.

 

Hopefully that all made sense ????

[Brunolem]

As Roger Buttmore states above, it seems that this kind of account is more like a holding account than a regular account where you park money for a certain amount of time. 

 

It seems to be very useful for people collecting pensions on a regular schedule, not so much for people doing random transfers once or twice a year. 

[KittenKong]

28 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

As Roger Buttmore states above, it seems that this kind of account is more like a holding account than a regular account where you park money for a certain amount of time. 

Indeed.

 

I think that a Starling bank account is much more useful in that it pays 0.5% interest and also provides a debit card with no forex weighting, and it does international transfers to Thailand at prices that very slightly undercut Transferwise. It is also a proper bank account.

 

I opened an account with Starling this year so as to get their debit card for use when travelling, but I've hardly used it as NatWest removed the forex weighting on their own credit card around the same time, so I just use that instead.

[billd766]

3 hours ago, billd766 said:

I opened a TransferWise Borderless account in October so that I could have greater control over my 3 pensions.

 

I get notification of when my pensions go into TransferWise and I can have the choice when to send the money to my Thai bank.

 

For example my company pension arrived on the 20th at TW and I transferred £260 that day and it was in my Thai account the next day before noon. The cost was £3.38 and I got a higher rate than when it was sent from the UK the old way.

 

My state pension was paid in yesterday and I transferred £630 this morning and the cost was £5.39 but that will not be in my Thai bank until Monday simply because Thai banks don't work the weekend.

 

The transfer system works very well and is easy enough for even a 74 year old man to do. Additionally there is a hot live available should you need it. 

Additionally there is a hot live line available should you need it. 

 

Stupid computer.

 

[Moonlover]

4 hours ago, billd766 said:

I opened a TransferWise Borderless account in October so that I could have greater control over my 3 pensions.

 

I get notification of when my pensions go into TransferWise and I can have the choice when to send the money to my Thai bank.

 

For example my company pension arrived on the 20th at TW and I transferred £260 that day and it was in my Thai account the next day before noon. The cost was £3.38 and I got a higher rate than when it was sent from the UK the old way.

 

My state pension was paid in yesterday and I transferred £630 this morning and the cost was £5.39 but that will not be in my Thai bank until Monday simply because Thai banks don't work the weekend.

 

The transfer system works very well and is easy enough for even a 74 year old man to do. Additionally there is a hot live available should you need it. 

I'm in the transition period at the moment. I've been testing out T/W for the last 2 months and I'm very pleased with the service. I've even had a couple of 'same day' payouts recently.

 

So I shall be arranging to have my 2 major pensions credited straight to my borderless account next month. The plan is to consolidate all my monthly incomes into one payment. This should make it easier when it comes to proving my 40K+ monthly income that will be required for TI when I extend next August.

 

Another good feature is that the Android App is so user friendly. I'm training my not too tech savvy wife to use it in case I become incapacitated for any reason. I don't perceive any dangers there because it's only possible to drawer money as it is received. No runaway ATM spending in this household!

 

ML

[billd766]

45 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

I'm in the transition period at the moment. I've been testing out T/W for the last 2 months and I'm very pleased with the service. I've even had a couple of 'same day' payouts recently.

 

So I shall be arranging to have my 2 major pensions credited straight to my borderless account next month. The plan is to consolidate all my monthly incomes into one payment. This should make it easier when it comes to proving my 40K+ monthly income that will be required for TI when I extend next August.

 

Another good feature is that the Android App is so user friendly. I'm training my not too tech savvy wife to use it in case I become incapacitated for any reason. I don't perceive any dangers there because it's only possible to drawer money as it is received. No runaway ATM spending in this household!

 

ML

I would love to train my wife to do the same but she seeks to have Logizomechanophobia which is of course the long winded way of saying Logizomechanophobia is the fear of computers.

 

http://common-phobias.com/logizomechano/phobia.htm

 

The origin of the word log is Greek (meaning talk or word), machano is Greek (meaning machine) and phobia is Greek (meaning fear). Logizomechanophobia is considered to be a specific phobia, which is discussed on the home page. Logizomechanophobia is also related Cyberphobia (fear of computers or working on a computer) and Technophobia (fear of technology).

 

It could be of course that she is either too lazy or can't be bothered to learn it but the problem in the future after I die will be hers and not mine.

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

Additionally there is a hot live line available should you need it. 

 

Stupid computer.

 

I know what you mean, in my case (74 soon) it's my fingers, they're not so good at spelling nowadays.

 

 

[billd766]

2 hours ago, scorecard said:

I know what you mean, in my case (74 soon) it's my fingers, they're not so good at spelling nowadays.

 

 

My fingers are great at spelling but my keyboard switches the keys around randomly.

[sirineou]

2 minutes ago, billd766 said:

My fingers are great at spelling but my keyboard switches the keys around randomly.

F*%N Keyboards 

[4myr]

i've been using TFW without the borderless for about a year to transfer money into my Kasikorn bank account.

 

Since a few months I have also borderless account in EUR and thai baht, including a TFW debit card. As part of a pilot TFW also offered me a free business debit card.

 

My usage pattern is as follows:

1) I still use TFW to transfer to my Kasikorn bank account, without using the borderless account. The reason is that the fixed fee is a bit cheaper than if you transfer between your TFW account and Kasikorn. 

 

Besides if you have a NL bank account, its instant and free to transfer straight from your NL bank account using Ideal payment system.

 

2) the TFW debit account I use as a backup debit card for payments in Thailand. I prefer to use the N26 debit card as the markup fee is lower, except when the volatility at the FX market is high

 

3) TFW still does not have a bank license, another reason why I am not using TFW to store money in between my NL bank account and Kasikorn 

 

4) Besides, recently TFW charges 0.80 euro even for EUR-EUR transfers, while in SEPA world EUR transfers are supposed to be free of charge

[Jip99]

On 12/22/2018 at 1:11 PM, Pilotman said:

I cant help with your question, but I will be interested in the replies you get.  I very nearly used them to transfer money from my UK account, but I chickened out in the end, giving them any of my UK account details seemed risky when I know nothing much about them. 

 

 

Google them....they are stable, I have been using them for over a year. Excellent.

[Jip99]

On 12/22/2018 at 4:37 PM, Brunolem said:

As Roger Buttmore states above, it seems that this kind of account is more like a holding account than a regular account where you park money for a certain amount of time. 

 

It seems to be very useful for people collecting pensions on a regular schedule, not so much for people doing random transfers once or twice a year. 

 

 

You can do random transfers twice a year, you don’t need the Borderless account. Just sign up and create TW as a beneficiary in your internet banking.

 

2m Baht is the individual transfer limit. 

[Jip99]

A friend had a problem in that his private UK pension could not be paid overseas.

 

TW Borderless overcame that problem and it is same day in, same day out for him.

 

It also became apparent that in the event of him dying, his widow would have a problem receiving her widows pension. Solution - open a Borderless account for her now so she has “a UK account” to receive her pension.

[owl sees all]

19 minutes ago, Jip99 said:

 

 

Google them....they are stable, I have been using them for over a year. Excellent.

Ecellent indeed.

 

I have been using them from the start, and apart from when they lost their Thai agent (a few years ago) and had to get another, I've never had any problems.

 

Borderless accounts are the banking future it seems for international currency conversions. They are not transfers, but peer to peer transactions. I'm pretty sure that 2019 will see currency debited in an account in the UK and be credited into the Thai account within hours, if not minutes.

 

 

Edited December 23, 2018 by owl sees all

[Skeptic7]

Yes...have a TFW Borderless Acct. Have parked a grand or 2 there on a couple occasions and transferred to my Bangkok Bank acct at my whim. Both times I waited out higher exchange rates, but that can work the opposite too. Can also add other recipients and transfer directly to their banks accts, which is a nice feature...but believe that can be done regardless. Love TFW! 

 

https://transferwise.com/help/article/2811590/borderless-account/how-is-this-different-than-a-bank-account

Edited December 23, 2018 by Skeptic7