transferring money to Thailand

[1FinickyOne]

Has anyone had experience using transferwise? good or bad? easy or not?

[CharlieH]

Plenty on this in the money /Banking forum.

 

MOVED

[Puchaiyank]

Yes, they are credible, reliable...tell you up front how much baht will be going into your Thai account...no hidden costs...tracks transaction so you can too...depending on weekends, holidays, and such time varies...normally 2-3 days more or less...????

[Moonlover]

I've been using TransferWise for over a year now and never had a hiccup.

 

You'll read a lot of talk about about 'transaction codes' in the forum. I used my T/W transaction slips along with my bank statements to prove my income to Immigration recently and the codes were, it seems, irrelevant. My extension was approved.

[Stocky]

Been using them for over a year; quick, easy and transparent. 

[JimGant]

43 minutes ago, Stocky said:

Been using them for over a year; quick, easy and transparent. 

Yeah, nice for smaller amounts of money. But because of their percentage cost formula, to send larger chunks becomes non competitive. Example: to send $30,000 to buy, say, a new car -- I'd pay my bank $45 for an International wire, plus 500 baht ($16) on the Bangkok Bank receiving end. TransferWise would charge me $204! The break even point seems to be around $7000; this would be even lower for those who get international wire fees cheaper than my $45.

[BJM1950]

I have used them a lot in the past year, and found that they are very reliable, quick and much cheaper than OFX and what used to be AusForex. 

Just do a quick check against the bank. 

Good luck. Unfortunately the Aus$ is way down! 

[CLS]

Yeah, nice for smaller amounts of money. But because of their percentage cost formula, to send larger chunks becomes non competitive. Example: to send $30,000 to buy, say, a new car -- I'd pay my bank $45 for an International wire, plus 500 baht ($16) on the Bangkok Bank receiving end. TransferWise would charge me $204! The break even point seems to be around $7000; this would be even lower for those who get international wire fees cheaper than my $45.

Are you sure about that? I think the bank steals your money with a worse exchange rate. In the end TW is cheaper for any amount.


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[Moonlover]

34 minutes ago, CLS said:

1 hour ago, JimGant said:

Yeah, nice for smaller amounts of money. But because of their percentage cost formula, to send larger chunks becomes non competitive. Example: to send $30,000 to buy, say, a new car -- I'd pay my bank $45 for an International wire, plus 500 baht ($16) on the Bangkok Bank receiving end. TransferWise would charge me $204! The break even point seems to be around $7000; this would be even lower for those who get international wire fees cheaper than my $45.

 

34 minutes ago, CLS said:

 

Are you sure about that? I think the bank steals your money with a worse exchange rate. In the end TW is cheaper for any amount.


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I agree with @JimGant and I'm a regular user of T/W.

 

When you compare a fixed price transfer against a percentage based fee, there comes a point when the two become neck and neck. From there on upward the bank's fixed price method has the advantage, despite to lower exchange rate. It's basic math that is easy to prove using a spreadsheet.

 

However, in practice, the kind of sums that we are generally moving, T/W does have the advantage. Which is why I use them of course.

 

 

Edited October 19, 2019 by Moonlover

[CLS]

I agree with [mention=611]JimGant[/mention] and I'm a regular user of T/W.
 
When you compare a fixed price transfer against a percentage based fee, there comes a point when the two become neck and neck. From there on upward the bank's fixed price method has the advantage, despite to lower exchange rate. It's basic math that is easy to prove using a spreadsheet.
 
However, in practice, the kind of sums that we are generally moving, T/W does have the advantage. Which is why I use them of course.
 
 

BBL today’s TT buying rate is 30.14, TW 30.29


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[KhunBENQ]

Just did my 5th transfer.

3000 Euro resulting in 100,323.74 Baht.

That's a rate of 33.44.

Better than all TT rates of Thai banks (yesterday) and for such transfer you would have to pay additional fees.

 

Edited October 19, 2019 by KhunBENQ

[Stocky]

3 hours ago, JimGant said:

Yeah, nice for smaller amounts of money. But because of their percentage cost formula, to send larger chunks becomes non competitive. Example: to send $30,000 to buy, say, a new car -- I'd pay my bank $45 for an International wire, plus 500 baht ($16) on the Bangkok Bank receiving end. TransferWise would charge me $204! The break even point seems to be around $7000; this would be even lower for those who get international wire fees cheaper than my $45.

That depends on the x-rate the receiving bank gives you.

 

Transferring from HSBC Singapore to Krungsri via Transferwise always works out better than using HSBC to Krungsri direct.  The Transferwise fee is fixed at 0.65% once you're above 25K SGD. Going via HSBC there's an upfront charge of S$10 for the wire charge, plus an addition S$20 taken by 'intermediaries' (opaque charges). Moving S$10,000 early this week going via Transferwise I received THB220,286, the fee was S$66.67. If I'd used HSBC and and the Krungsri rate I would have received THB217,944, so a loss of THB2,542.

 

The X-rate Transferwise gave was THB22.1765 the TT rate offered by Krungsri that day was THB21.84.  That discrepancy is magnified as the size of the transfer increases but isn't offset by the increasing gap between the fixed fee and % fee. So for example if I'd opted to move SGD100,000 that day instead of 10,000, via Transferwise I would have received THB2,203,235 whilst via HSBC and Krungsri it would have been THB2,183,345 a difference of THB19,890.

[The Fat Controller]

The "TransferWise vs SWIFT to Thai Bank" comparison also depends on the currency pair.

 

A recent thread regarding the requirement for 6 million into Thailand from the UK resulted in a win for TransferWise even though 3 transfers would have been required using TW versus one by SWIFT, the TW rates outweighed the fees and, yes, the calculation was sending Sterling by SWIFT and converting in Thailand.

 

However, doing the same calculations for US $, the TW rates were less attractive and a bank transfer was the winner.

 

Check for your individual currency and be aware TW does have a limit, it's 2 million Baht per transfer from the UK to Thailand.

[Stocky]

15 minutes ago, The Fat Controller said:

Check for your individual currency

For sure. I would guess the more popular / widely traded a currency is, the more competitive the bank rate will be. But in my case, being paid in SGD, Transferwise is the winner. I check what the option via the bank will be and I have an account with OFX, but they have never bettered Transferwise on the SGD/THB rates.