Best Bank Exchange Rates Usually? TMB? SCB? Transferwise etc..

[ElephantEgo]

I am getting ready to make a large purchase and looking at which bank to use for transferring in USD.

 

I found that the rates on Transferwise are similar to Banks and that some banks actually have better rates than Transferwise (to my surprise).

 

I found this website comparing bank FX rates in Thailand: https://daytodaydata.net/ On here I see that TMB appears to be the mainstream bank with the best rates (at least today).

 

Also when I use the SCB currency converter calculator and select "inward" https://www.scb.co.th/scb_api/calculator.jsp it always amounts to a better rate as compared to K-Bank and Bangkok Bank.

 

Given that the rate is not guaranteed by the banks and fluctuates daily and the transaction takes more than a day....

 

Basically my question is this: which banks should I consider using? or should I definitely use? In which order?

 

Thank you for advice!

[Chivas]

Transferwise use Interbank rates so your own Thai bank wont come anywhere near that. However there comes a point where your own foreign bank if it has a flat "transfer fee" will give a better bottom line with the monies "landing" at TT rates in your account

Transferwise use a rising fee scale but certainly for small transfers are unbeatable

 

If you use landing TT rates you are of course open to market movement in the interim when its sent whereas TW will tell you exactly whats going to hit your Thai account normally the next day in my experience

 

Edited to add.....on my UK bank using the flat fee transfer the bottom line landing becomes better at around £5800. That will vary depending on your own bank flat fee

Anything under £5.8k and TW wins with my accounts

Edited January 18, 2019 by Chivas

[Pib]

Quote

I found that the rates on Transferwise are similar to Banks and that some banks actually have better rates than Transferwise (to my surprise).

That's very hard to believe since Transferwise uses the mid-market rate which is the top rate....bank rates will always be a little less....like probably around 0.5% less as their profit margin.

 

Can you give me a weblink to just one bank with better exchange rates than Transferwise?  

[ElephantEgo]

Hi Chivas, I am getting ready to make a LARGE purchase to buy a house. As you noted, it can be better with the Thai Banks in such cases of large transfers.  Actually I already have the money in my Transferwise account, but I am considering about not converting it to THB and instead letting the best bank convert it to THB (by sending USD to the bank account).

 

This makes sense? If so I wonder which bank is best?

 

 

[Chivas]

4 hours ago, JakeR said:

Hi Chivas, I am getting ready to make a LARGE purchase to buy a house. As you noted, it can be better with the Thai Banks in such cases of large transfers.  Actually I already have the money in my Transferwise account, but I am considering about not converting it to THB and instead letting the best bank convert it to THB (by sending USD to the bank account).

 

This makes sense? If so I wonder which bank is best?

 

 

Jake can I suggest that @Pib comes back to you on that. I'm pretty switched on re general finance but Pib is the acknowledged top guy on Thaivisa over banking

There is probably a website that lists TT landing rates in Thailand or it may be a case of going to the main ones and looking individually. Unlike tourist rates which vary enormously at Banks I'd hazard a guess that TT rates are pretty close on all of them

Course you need then the appropriate bank account with that one as well

Transferwise on the app stopped me putting in the equivalent of around 2,500,000 baht  (just an example) as a transfer but allowed 2,250,000 but gives the indication that if you go to full site you may be able to do more in one hit

 

 

Edited January 19, 2019 by Chivas

[topt]

8 hours ago, JakeR said:

I am getting ready to make a LARGE purchase to buy a house. As you noted, it can be better with the Thai Banks in such cases of large transfers. 

Do you have accounts with all the Thai banks otherwise surely that is going to limit who you send it to?

The only way to get an idea which is best is to look at the banks individual rates at a point in time and do the calculation based on the amount you want to send. That is obviously easy to do with Transferwise and then compare to the 2, 3 or however many banks you can use.

 

For SCB go here  https://www.scb.co.th/en/personal-banking/foreign-exchange-rates.html

and use the "Bank Buys TT" column. Include your home bank transfer cost and the receiving banks cost - SCB is 500 baht maximum plus 20 baht if your account is outside Bangkok.

You will notice that SCB has multiple sheets for different times of the day.

 

Bangkok Bank is here - https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/View-Rates/Foreign-Exchange-Rates 

Use TT Buying rates. I think their maximum inward charge is also 500 baht.

 

I have noticed in the past that SCB rates always tend to dip on a Friday afternoon...... 

When it arrives you should be able to improve the published rate they offer you by some satang as they should contact you to confirm reason for transfer and that you are happy to go ahead and transfer into your account in baht.

 

As you have already noticed whereas the TW rate/amount is locked in you will be subject to potential movement depending on how long the transfer takes. Another option to consider if you are talking more than the equivalent of 3/4m baht is someone like HiFx where the rate can possibly be negotiated and (when I used them a long time ago) there were no fees.

 

The other question is if you need proof of a foreign inward transfer you may not be able to get that with TW and there have been some discussions around this on the TW threads.

 

 

[The Fat Controller]

Most of the Thai banks are here, they update several times a day, but if something looks wrong, do check the date.

 

https://daytodaydata.net/

Edited January 19, 2019 by The Fat Controller

[topt]

51 minutes ago, The Fat Controller said:

Most of the Thai banks are here, they update several times a day, but if something looks wrong, do check the date.

 

https://daytodaydata.net/

The OP actually posted the same link in his OP.............

[Chivas]

3 hours ago, topt said:

The OP actually posted the same link in his OP.............

Its not Telegraphic transfer rates in that link but best cash rates varying on denominations offered up to them

[The Fat Controller]

Apologies for the duplicate link folks !

 

However, @Chivas, that page has the option to select the TT rates from the "CURRENCY TYPE" drop-down menu.

 

 

 

 

[Chivas]

2 hours ago, The Fat Controller said:

Apologies for the duplicate link folks !

 

However, @Chivas, that page has the option to select the TT rates from the "CURRENCY TYPE" drop-down menu.

 

 

 

 

Apologies indeed it does....very close between all the banks at TT rates

[ElephantEgo]

It does indeed look like Transferwise has the best rates confirmed!

 

Best TT is 31.56 whereas TW is at 31.75

 

So I guess that settles it.

 

Now @topt mentioned about whether TW can show proof of foreign inward transfer.

As I am buying a house in my wife's name, I definitely want to have some record that the money actually came from me! I suppose that will be clear enough on the purchasing brank drafts and I guess I can also have some record of that with TW and my Bank and I am also commenting on the transfers by mentioning the purpose and house address in the transfer notes.... I suppose that's all the best I can do?

Edited January 20, 2019 by JakeR

[surfdog]

I would not trust transferwise with that large of a sum, they are a remittance service, not a bank. they disabled my first account with no explanation, likely due concerns of laundering money. In that time they held my funds for 2 weeks, but eventually reversed my last transfer.

The best rate will be easy to find, they are published daily, HOWEVER keep in mind banks will and have done this: hold your money or clear your money an additional day or two in order to commission a better rate. So don't transfer in times of highly fluctuating currency.

Transferwise same issue, if they suspect will lose money on guaranteed rate, they will delay or reverse transfer.


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[surfdog]

also last tip on transfereise, if you are Thai permanemt resident, do not ise Thai id, yellow book, etc to open up Thai based account, use your home country id and address, I think they flagged my account because of this even though I just answered questions truthfully. My second account is US acccount and no problems so far.


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[ncc1701d]

My two bob on using bank to tx. I have always had less money arrive in my Thai bank account when using an overseas bank as they seem to send it to an intermediary bank before going to the destination account. Not sure if it’s a sliding scale or one off. Has always seemed to be about thb 1,000 per transaction. That’s why I switched to tw.

 

if there’s concern over sending large amounts with tw - I’d just send them an email asking if they foresee any particular issues. They’ve been very helpful to me in the past.

[Griffo63]

In my experience you need to factor in the 'outbound' and 'inbound' charges as well as looking at the promised exchange rate.

 

Most financial institutions will charge something for sending your money to Thailand (outbound) and Thai banks often charge for receiving your money (inbound). It's the net amount that matters not the published rate. 

 

Transferwise outbound charge is low for relativley small amounts but increases as the amount of transfer increases ( not linearly it must be said) and because of the way they are structured there is no inbound charge. This in my opinion makes them the best choice for amounts up to £5000. 

 

Above that I tend to use a FX company like Global Reach for larger sums. I can transfer from a UK bank to them without charges, can agree a fixed exchange rate ( usually very close to Transferwise published rates), and because of the size of the transaction there is no outbound charge. My Thai bank charges 500 baht inbound irrespective of the amount transferred in. Net a better result.

 

Other FX companies operate in a similar way.

[woffgm]

I am originally from Australia and I always use XE Money.    So easy and best rates.

[tweedledee2]

When I'm at a Mall, I usually check the exchange rates displayed by each bank.  Bangkok Bank usually offered the best.

[rwill]

TransferWise gives you a good rate however their fees can be very large.  I looked into a $50K transfer from the US and their fee was around $450.  I sent the money to my sister and she wired it to me for $75.

[baansgr]

Check WU, they offer good rates and a transfer fee of only a few dollars if done from bank to bank although restricted amounts so may need to do a few transfers...worth looking at

[chickenslegs]

2 minutes ago, rwill said:

TransferWise gives you a good rate however their fees can be very large.  I looked into a $50K transfer from the US and their fee was around $450.  I sent the money to my sister and she wired it to me for $75.

Fees are just one part of the equation.
If the exchange rate was just 0.25 THB better with TFW that would pay for the extra fees and still give you more THB.

Bottom line is - How many THB did you receive into your Thai bank for your 50,000 USD - versus - how many THB did Transferwise promise to send.

[Jaggg88]

On a previous thread, a poster claimed he negotiated a rate with his Thai bank - might be worth asking if its a large transfer. As previously stated it's important the establish how much will actually land in your account as charges are just as important as the exchange rate. When I transferred GBP to my Bkk Bank account I got their TT rate and no other charge (I presume they make a profit on the exchange) but the following time I was forced to send THB and was charged over a 1300 bht for just 27,000 bht transfer. This equated to about 5%, which is ridiculous, so make sure you check with your branch for charges.

[KittenKong]

6 hours ago, Jaggg88 said:

On a previous thread, a poster claimed he negotiated a rate with his Thai bank - might be worth asking if its a large transfer.

That may have been me. The rate is definitely negotiable for large sums with all banks I have ever dealt with here.

 

As for incoming fees on international transfers, all banks here that I have ever used seem to charge 0.25% capped at 500B. My own UK bank charges me nothing for outgoing GBP SWIFT transfers, and they dont use an intermediary bank, so all I ever pay is that 0.25% (plus the exchange spread).

[Pib]

11 hours ago, baansgr said:

Check WU, they offer good rates and a transfer fee of only a few dollars if done from bank to bank although restricted amounts so may need to do a few transfers...worth looking at

Always good to start the day off with a laugh.  WU exchange rates can include up to a 6% currency exchange markup (i.e., 6% lower...an indirect fee).  Yes, while their "direct" sending fee is low, their exchange rate sucks...similar to PayPal's exchange rate.

[Thjames]

I always refer to www.datodaydata.net for best rates  

 

vasu is generally the best but most of the best legit ones are "cash only" but worth asking for large sums.

 

 

[denby45]

I don't know about buying a house but if you were buying a condo then Under the 1991 Condominium Act, non-residents who purchase condominium units must transfer the funds to pay for the unit from overseas, with the money entering Thailand as foreign currency. I always use Transferwise myself but but obviously could not when I bought a condo. However I contacted the head office of Kasikorn before I did the transfer and agreed with them that when the funds arrive they would give me a preferred rate which was better than their usual rate.

 

Den