Deemoney or Transferwise isn't an option for this Thailand to USA transfer. What fees have you guys seen for outgoing international wire transfers from the Thai banks? I am interested in fees from any of the banks (I may open another account at one with a good rate). Right now I have accounts at: Kasikorn, Kungsri, Thanachart, and Bangkok bank.

The Thai bank outgoing fee range will be from approx Bt350-Bt500 if instructing the Thai bank "not" to cover any correspondent bank fee along the way. 

 

If instructing them to cover any such correspondent bank fees then that's another Bt800 to Bt1000 fee.   

 

Thai banks use their TT "Selling" Rate to sell you the currency you want to send (DeeMoney calls it Money Transfer Rate).  Keep in mind for a Selling Rate, lower is better....that means you need to fork out less baht to buy USD, GBP, EUR, whatever currency you are sending.

Is it usually cheaper to let them cover the middleman fees, or the destination bank?

 

My US bank charges $0 for incoming wires so I'm guessing they may be generous in this regard, although the middleman fee may be much higher

In the Krungsri SWIFT transfer I did last year for them to cover an middleman bank fee the extra fee was going to be Bt800....on top of their upfront Bt350 sending fee. 

 

I instructed Krungsri "not" to cover any middleman bank fees which means any middleman bank would just slice-off their fee as they relayed the funds.  So my total Krungsri SWIFT fee was Bt350.   Turns out there was indeed a middleman bank fee along the way of exactly $20 which equated to approx Bt650. 

 

So, I saved Bt150 by instructing Krungsri not to cover any middleman bank fee.   Your results may vary.