Transferwise increasing fees.

[utalkin2me]

3 hours ago, JamJar said:

 

They've certainly risen to the challenge.

 

£1000

 

Western Union: 39610.74THB

Transferwise: 39,573.91

Xendpay: 39710.52 (choosing the no fee option)

DOes anyone happen to know how an atm transfer from a no fee bank like schwab would stack up to these numbers? 

[KhunBENQ]

Just checked WU for transfer of Euro to Thai bank account using credit card.

 

WU, send 1000, fee 2.90, deducted 1002.90, receive 34669.43 Baht

TW, "send" 1002.90 (8.53 Euro fee deducted before transfer), receive 35222.97 Baht.

TW better with 553.54 Baht.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

16 minutes ago, JamJar said:

You think that people don't know if their card may add it's own fees or not?

 

 

Yes, that's exactly what I think, born out of years of answering and explaining banking details to users here who have little to no idea of all the details go into how their banking transactions are priced.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 minutes ago, utalkin2me said:

DOes anyone happen to know how an atm transfer from a no fee bank like schwab would stack up to these numbers? 

 

If you mean ATM withdrawal from a Thai ATM using the Schwab debit card, you'd get the full VISA network exchange rate at the time of the transaction, without any foreign currency fee. And Schwab would reimburse the Thai bank's ATM charge.

 

31.966 baht to the dollar right now.

 

https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html?amount=1000&fee=0&exchangedate=06%2F07%2F2019&fromCurr=USD&toCurr=THB&submitButton=Calculate+exchange+rate

 

[JamJar]

2 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Yes, that's exactly what I think, born out of years of answering and explaining banking details to users here who have little to no idea of all the details go into how their banking transactions are priced.

 

So you think they will read Mastercard rate and go to pull money out of the ATM and not notice the 220 baht fee on the screen?

If someone wants to know how to achieve the Mastercard rate without fees, they ask and we determine their circumstances to see if it is possible for them or whether it is best for them to use one of the other options....just as we are doing now with Western Union.

Anyway, let's leave it there.

[Pib]

13 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

If you mean ATM withdrawal from a Thai ATM using the Schwab debit card, you'd get the full VISA network exchange rate at the time of the transaction, without any foreign currency fee. And Schwab would reimburse the Thai bank's ATM charge.

 

31.966 baht to the dollar right now.

 

https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html?amount=1000&fee=0&exchangedate=06%2F07%2F2019&fromCurr=USD&toCurr=THB&submitButton=Calculate+exchange+rate

 

Durn....Visa at 31.966....and I just checked to be sure and that is indeed what it is.  That's significantly higher than the current Transferwise rate of 31.30.  But when checking the Mastercard rate it's 31.345...still a lot lower than the Visa 31.966 rate.

 

But there is often a 24 hour lag time in Visa/Mastercard rates depending on when each changes it's daily rates....maybe the Visa rate will drop tomorrow.  

 

 

Edited June 7, 2019 by Pib

[utalkin2me]

4 hours ago, Pib said:

Durn....Visa at 31.966....and I just checked to be sure and that is indeed what it is.  That's significantly higher than the current Transferwise rate of 31.30.  But when checking the Mastercard rate it's 31.345...still a lot lower than the Visa 31.966 rate.

 

But there is often a 24 hour lag time in Visa/Mastercard rates depending on when each changes it's daily rates....maybe the Visa rate will drop tomorrow.  

 

 

So, just checking, the effective rate is better when using the atm no fee schwab card when compared to transferwise? At least when talking small amounts under $1000? 

Edited June 7, 2019 by utalkin2me

[Pib]

5 hours ago, utalkin2me said:

So, just checking, the effective rate is better when using the atm no fee schwab card when compared to transferwise? At least when talking small amounts under $1000? 

Yeap.....if you have a no foreign transaction fee card that also reimburses ATM fees then using such a card will beat Transferwise, SWIFT, ACH, OFX, etc.   And not just for amounts around $1000 but higher amounts also which would come into play if doing a cash advance at the bank counter.  And throw in the fact you get the money immediately in-hand versus needing to wait several days for it to show it makes it an excellent way to get money "IF YOU HAVE A NO FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEE CARD THAT ALSO REIMBURSES ATM FEES."

[Pib]

 

 

12 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

If you mean ATM withdrawal from a Thai ATM using the Schwab debit card, you'd get the full VISA network exchange rate at the time of the transaction, without any foreign currency fee. And Schwab would reimburse the Thai bank's ATM charge.

 

31.966 baht to the dollar right now.

 

https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html?amount=1000&fee=0&exchangedate=06%2F07%2F2019&fromCurr=USD&toCurr=THB&submitButton=Calculate+exchange+rate

 

 

11 hours ago, Pib said:

Durn....Visa at 31.966....and I just checked to be sure and that is indeed what it is.  That's significantly higher than the current Transferwise rate of 31.30.  But when checking the Mastercard rate it's 31.345...still a lot lower than the Visa 31.966 rate.

 

But there is often a 24 hour lag time in Visa/Mastercard rates depending on when each changes it's daily rates....maybe the Visa rate will drop tomorrow.  

 

 

TG,

  Nope...we were both wrong....the Visa rate was "not" 31.966 on 7 Jun....it was 31.283....real close to the Mastercard rate of 31.345. 

 

    Maybe you made the same mistake as me in entering 1000 baht and then just looking at how many USD that converted to and  mistakenly thinking that was the exchange rate.  

 

   But what needed to be done was divide the USD amount into the baht amount used to get the exchange rate.   I knew that from checking the exchange rate before, but "forgot it last night." 

 

    Now the Mastercard exchange rate page does//displays exchange rate differently....going back and forth between the Visa and Mastercard exchange rate page a person needs to take care to ensure they are calculating/determining the rate correctly since each site display the exchange in a different way.  

 

[wgdanson]

14 hours ago, Pib said:

Heck, for me, I'm now better off by around Bt75 when transferring $2,100 by using OFX over Transferwise.  I picked $2,100 since that gets at least Bt65K into your Thai bank account for those doing the monthly income thing for extension of stay purposes.  And please note, I get preferential rates with OFX for some unknown reason....originally I got sucky rates up until around Jan 2019.   Additionally OFX takes 4 business days to get the money into my Thai bank account due the 3 day holding period they apply for ACH bank debits to fund the transfer.  Transferwise gets the money to me in 1 or 2 business days.

 

Transferwise....final amount 65,207.29

 

 

OFX...subtract Bt100 BahtNet Receiving fee from the amount below for final amount of 65,282.24 posting to my Thai bank account.

Wow, Bht 75 is one more beer per month.

I just did Bht 65500 from my UK bank via Transferwise. It was in my Bkk Bank as a FTT in THREE HOURS. Good going, sod the fee rise.

[utalkin2me]

4 hours ago, Pib said:

Yeap.....if you have a no foreign transaction fee card that also reimburses ATM fees then using such a card will beat Transferwise, SWIFT, ACH, OFX, etc.   And not just for amounts around $1000 but higher amounts also which would come into play if doing a cash advance at the bank counter.  And throw in the fact you get the money immediately in-hand versus needing to wait several days for it to show it makes it an excellent way to get money "IF YOU HAVE A NO FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEE CARD THAT ALSO REIMBURSES ATM FEES."

Thanks for posting that. Very helpful. 

 

Is there a limit for cash advances? Are there some banks better than others (ie some with fees and some not)? 

 

Thank you! 

[Pib]

4 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Wow, Bht 75 is one more beer per month.

I just did Bht 65500 from my UK bank via Transferwise. It was in my Bkk Bank as a FTT in THREE HOURS. Good going, sod the fee rise.

 

THREE HOURS!!!!...durn that's a long time and you had to pay around 12GBP in fees.   

 

Heck, I just come back from the mall...did a grocery run and quick stop in the bank....did a counter withdrawal for Bt150,000 using my US debit card, a debit of $4781.64 (that's a 31.37 exchange rate) immediately hit my US bank account for that withdrawal, zero fees on my US bank's end (I have a no foreign transaction fee card) and no fee charged by the Thai bank for the counter withdrawal.  Had the Bt150K directly deposited into my bank account....total time to do this around 5-10 MINUTES!!!  

 

If I had initiated a Bt150K transfer on Transferwise the total charge would have been $4,845.21...about $64 dollars more than using my debit card...and it wouldn't have showed up for a few more business days.

 

Just can't beat a no foreign transaction fee debit card counter withdraw for most baht at least cost....plus you have the funds in your hands almost immediately. 

 

Now, if needing the money to document a monthly income for extension of stay purposes it's no good for that.  But if just needing to get money for day-to-day living or keep your Bt800K deposit topped up for extension of stay purposes you can't beat a no foreign transaction fee debit card....even Transferwise comes in a distance second.

 

[wgdanson]

54 minutes ago, Pib said:

 

THREE HOURS!!!!...durn that's a long time and you had to pay around 12GBP in fees.   

 

Heck, I just come back from the mall...did a grocery run and quick stop in the bank....did a counter withdrawal for Bt150,000 using my US debit card, a debit of $4781.64 (that's a 31.37 exchange rate) immediately hit my US bank account for that withdrawal, zero fees on my US bank's end (I have a no foreign transaction fee card) and no fee charged by the Thai bank for the counter withdrawal.  Had the Bt150K directly deposited into my bank account....total time to do this around 5-10 MINUTES!!!  

 

If I had initiated a Bt150K transfer on Transferwise the total charge would have been $4,845.21...about $64 dollars more than using my debit card...and it wouldn't have showed up for a few more business days.

 

Just can't beat a no foreign transaction fee debit card counter withdraw for most baht at least cost....plus you have the funds in your hands almost immediately. 

 

Now, if needing the money to document a monthly income for extension of stay purposes it's no good for that.  But if just needing to get money for day-to-day living or keep your Bt800K deposit topped up for extension of stay purposes you can't beat a no foreign transaction fee debit card....even Transferwise comes in a distance second.

 

Yes, I needed it for Immigration purposes, hence Bht 65500.

[Wuvu2]

 

OUCH!

 

[CapraIbex]

On 6/8/2019 at 2:46 AM, wgdanson said:

Wow, Bht 75 is one more beer per month.

TransferWise started making bank transfers more affordable than traditional banks by charging lower transfer fees.

But other financial institutions are catching up with their business model. OFX is a most suitable (if not better) alternative, imho.

AFAIC, the responses to queries received from (TransferWise) customer service located in Singapore is absolutely useless and/or pathetic. I am glad that competition is alive!

[CapraIbex]

On 6/7/2019 at 8:35 AM, KhunBENQ said:

Again.

Competition not strong enough?

 

https://www.finder.com/ofx-vs-transferwise-money-transfers

[Neeranam]

Can you send money from Thailand to other countries using this?

Does it have crypto option?

[dabhand]

TW also suffered a recent IT problem. Their payment system went down last Monday (3rd), about 4pm Thai time and took about 12 hours to get fixed, with the app taking a bit longer.

 

I needed to make a transfer from UK to Thailand and could only get through early Tuesday morning. Even then, despite being advised that the funds would be in my BB account 'within 7 hours', it was actually delayed to the following day. Though, TW did apologise for the delay and gave me a fee free transfer of up to Stg500.

 

A bit worrying that their IT system seems not too robust. It may also have been a hack but unlikely to know the full details due to potential customer confidence issues.

[Skeptic7]

On 6/7/2019 at 7:22 PM, JamJar said:

 

Cash advance over the counter and purchases.

Never done a CC cash advance, but in my reading over the years...the finance charges (interest rate) starts accruing from that very day. No 30 day grace period like purchases. This still the case?

[Bangkok Barry]

It's a little bit funny reading about people saving, say, 75 baht on a transfer. Okay, if that 75 baht is so important to you.... I suppose it buys a non-Starbucks cup of coffee.

[Bangkok Barry]

 

57 minutes ago, dabhand said:

A bit worrying that their IT system seems not too robust

 

Not uncommon, though. Facebook has its wobbles, British Airways once lost it big-time. Many more. It's hacking rather than downtime that I'm concerned about. I was caught in a BA hack, come to think of it.

[robin33]

Believe it not WU is very good on rates and even better than TW but can take 5 days to arrive....

Are you sure...did a test a few times. Transferwise was always cheaper.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn Nokia 7 plus met Tapatalk

[Skeptic7]

1 hour ago, dabhand said:

TW also suffered a recent IT problem. Their payment system went down last Monday (3rd), about 4pm Thai time and took about 12 hours to get fixed, with the app taking a bit longer.

 

I needed to make a transfer from UK to Thailand and could only get through early Tuesday morning. Even then, despite being advised that the funds would be in my BB account 'within 7 hours', it was actually delayed to the following day. Though, TW did apologise for the delay and gave me a fee free transfer of up to Stg500.

 

A bit worrying that their IT system seems not too robust. It may also have been a hack but unlikely to know the full details due to potential customer confidence issues.

Can happen at any company. Happens with major airlines around the world every year...usually a few times. Flights canceled...people stranded and pissed off. Happens with banks too and even NYSE. Happens everywhere. Sucks when it happens, but it's gonna happen.

[edwardflory]

At MY bank I write on paper amount in THB , hand to teller with bank book, FOREIGN DEBIT Master Card and Passport.

Master Card
XXXXXXX THB

DEPOSIT To
Xxxxxxxxxx ( account number)

process is.....

I sign the copy they make of passport and charge card, sign the DEBIT MC receipt and bank deposit receipt.

I NEVER touch the money INSIDE the bank.

In 3-5 minutes I am out the door and do a withdraw at the ATM outside the bank

At MY bank this is a normal process.

[[[ At SOME banks you have to go thru customer service.... I did 3 years ago and paid a service charge of 200THB - ask about charges IF you have to go thru Customer Service.]]]

Do a TEST transfer of  even money like 10,000THB, 20,000THB, etc and compare the debit amount charged against your foreign bank account.

[[[ NOTE: I have a SENIOR ACCOUNT at my US bank and have NO bank charges except for a NSF check, YOUR BANK might charge you differently!!!!]]]

I compare WHAT my debit charges are at my US bank ( via apk ) against the XE Currency Converter rate ( via apk ). The difference from the XE Rate  has ranged from $O.60 to $2.62 on 20,000THB the last 2 years, ALL charges included.

This is the most economical way for me.

Edited June 9, 2019 by edwardflory
spelling

[Pib]

2 hours ago, Wuvu2 said:

 

OUCH!

 

I don't know how you got above result....the fee has NEVER been as low as $3.05 for a $2500 transfer.  I just checked and below is what I got.

 

[Pib]

1 hour ago, Skeptic7 said:

Never done a CC cash advance, but in my reading over the years...the finance charges (interest rate) starts accruing from that very day. No 30 day grace period like purchases. This still the case?

Yes...that's still the case for a credit card.

 

But also keep in mind the term "cash advance" is also mistakenly used for a counter withdrawal even when using a debit card.  When I use my US debit card at a Thai bank to get money I ask for a "cash advance" as they understand that....a few times I said "counter withdrawal" and I just got a Deer in the Headlights look....but say cash advance and the light bulb comes on.

[Pib]

2 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Can you send money from Thailand to other countries using this?

Does it have crypto option?

If you are talking using Transferwise you can not send money "from" Thailand...nor can you use a cyrpto option.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Never done a CC cash advance, but in my reading over the years...the finance charges (interest rate) starts accruing from that very day. No 30 day grace period like purchases. This still the case?

 

It's all going to depend on the particular terms/rates of the particular credit card you want to use.

 

There are a few U.S. credit cards that have terms of no foreign currency fee, no cash advance fee either flat or % of amount advanced, and enable you to repay the advance immediately thru an inbound funds transfer to your CC account. Those are a sweet deal.

 

Or at the opposite end of the spectrum, there are credit cards that charge a 3-4 percent foreign currency fee, PLUS a $5 or $10 flat fee on any cash advance PLUS a 3-4% or more fee based on the amount of the advance, PLUS an often very high interest rate that begins accruing on the date of the advance.

 

Choose your CC for any cash advance/counter withdrawal here very carefully.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

3 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Can you send money from Thailand to other countries using this?

Does it have crypto option?

 

The DeeMoney outlets in Thailand and a few of the Thai banks, such as Krungsri/Ayudhya, seem to be among the best current options for relatively easy and reasonably priced outbound international funds transfers where you don't have to show a work permit and jump thru various other hoops.

Edited June 9, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[justin case]

2019 and still cannot send THB to EUR ... go figure