Transferwise increasing fees.

[davehowden]

New fee

7.73 GBP

from June 2019

Compare to the banks

Old fee

6.81 GBP

Increased fees for 1000 GBP transfer, looks like a 13.5% increase or am I misunderstanding what their site is saying?.

 

https://transferwise.com/price-change

[Pumpuynarak]

TW have obviously realised how good their product is lol

[Old Croc]

I initiated a transfer of a substantial sum with TW over the weekend to take advantage of a temporary spike in exchange rates.

My Australian bank sent the money to them at opening this morning (Monday) and TW sent a credit to my Thai bank almost immediately. They had quoted it would be finalized by Wednesday 11 Dec. 

Just checked, the money was in Kasikorn before 9am this morning! Quicker than I could have envisaged, and the rate far exceeds what I would have obtained under bank to bank transfer.

Despite any small increase in their fees, I'm very happy with their service. 

[Nyezhov]

34 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

I initiated a transfer of a substantial sum with TW over the weekend to take advantage of a temporary spike in exchange rates.

My Australian bank sent the money to them at opening this morning (Monday) and TW sent a credit to my Thai bank almost immediately. They had quoted it would be finalized by Wednesday 11 Dec. 

Just checked, the money was in Kasikorn before 9am this morning! Quicker than I could have envisaged, and the rate far exceeds what I would have obtained under bank to bank transfer.

Despite any small increase in their fees, I'm very happy with their service. 

Same here. Done. Two days.

[luckyluke]

Not complaining at all. 

 

However don't understand, why sometimes same day, or day after (order always the same time). 

Taking into account holidays in homeland and Thailand. 

 

[Pib]

TW increasing price to transfer USD...below is a 15.6% increase.  And TW did another price increase earlier in 2019.

 

TW say below they are increasing fees when paying via ACH....that implies it's costing TW more to pull funding when paying via ACH.  However, the great, great majority of US banks/credit unions/brokerage/etc., do not charge any fee when using ACH to pull or push money....zero cost to use ACH.  Now a few of the more fee-evil banks like Bank of America do charge a $3 ACH sending fee.

 

In below example the new & improved TW ACH fee comprises $7.56 of the total $23.95 fee.

 

 

 

[Pib]

The chart below is an updated price comparison between a TW and U.S. bank Int'l Wire (SWIFT) for various USD-THB amounts using TW's new (higher) fee structure effective 13 Dec 2019.  

 

Exchange rate used are TW and Bangkok Bank rates as of 9 Dec 2019 @ 6:45pm.  And a sending bank SWIFT fee of $25 was used...but SWIFT fees can vary from $0 to approx $60...all depends on the sending financial entity.  Some people can even get free SWIFT transfers but most people seem to pay in the $20 to $45 ballpark.  

 

TW is still a slightly better deal for most amounts (not all) assuming your Sending bank SWIFT fee is $25 which I used in the comparison (that fee can be lower or higher depending on your sending bank).  But TW's increasing fees is reducing that cost advantage.   If you are lucky enough to be with a bank/brokerage/credit union/etc., that does not charge you a SWIFT fee or a fee significantly lower than $25 then you are probably better off using your bank for most any amount sent.   It seems to be approaching a cost point where cost is very similar and ease of use is becoming more of the determinant.   By "ease of use" I mean how easy (or hard) is it for you to send a SWIFT transfer....for some it's easy...for others it can be hard.  See chart below.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by Pib