TransferWise - foiled again!

[garyk]

5 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

I get a better interest on my money here than in the bank back home.

You're just another whiner and you  don't know what you're talking about. I guess you don't have any money to park in a bank here,anyway. 

 

Then I would say you don't know anything about how to invest. 

Typical response.  "park in a bank"??  unreal

Edited November 3, 2019 by garyk

[Max69xl]

6 minutes ago, garyk said:

This is the banking industry lobbying, to pass laws to be enforced in their interest. Up until a very few year ago you could go in, and draw money directly from your country. Then put it in a Thai bank. If Thailand wanted retiree's that is an easy way to verify income from your county. But, of course the banks don't want that. They want you to use the ATM or deposit in their banks. It is banks lobbying getting laws passed. It has nothing to do with immigration other than when the laws are passed they enforce. 

Personally I see it as extremely poor government regulating the industry. 

But, <deleted> happens.. haha

Do you think expats living here are using their debit cards from banks back home? Using a thai banks ATM's is free. 

[garyk]

8 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

Do you think expats living here are using their debit cards from banks back home? Using a thai banks ATM's is free. 

What does that have to do with bringing in money from abroad?  And actually I used my debit card to live there for years, it was free?

 

Edited November 3, 2019 by garyk

[billd766]

5 hours ago, Kadilo said:

In summary once again, I’ve done all the set up process TW ask your to do but it’s still not guaranteed to give you an International coding because in fact the money does not get transferred from one country to another, it’s done internally in Thailand. Their words not mine. So the hassle is the possibility of having to retrospectively obtain a credit note from the International department of the bank which I’ve already found out personally is a load of unnecessary hassle, if indeed you end up managing to get one in the event of a rogue transfer. 
 

Use a SWIFT transfer from my U.K. BANK, 100% guaranteed International Code because it does in fact result in money being transferred from one country to another. No rogue transfers and no chance of the same happening as TW due to that reason. 
 

Not complaining just pointing out the options people have instead of painting a rosy picture of TW like a salesperson would. When it’s as important as getting your next extension, people need to know both sides. 

I do know both sides.

 

I used to get my pensions sent to my KBank account using Swift. The pension providers transferred GBP via City Bank UK, City bank USA, KBank head office and eventually to my KBank account. I think I was paying fees at every stop and nit took anywhere from 4 days to a week to get to my account.

Whilst I knew how much was sent in GBP I had no idea of the exchange rates I would get nor did I know when it would arrive. From my statements which I download every month it showed up as dummy account payment and NOT as FTT.

 

Now, using TW I know how much I send, what the fees are, what forex rate they will give me, (usually 40 to 50 satang above the bank rates) and when it will arrive at my BKK Bank account, usually within 24 hours except for Fridays, when it arrives the following Monday, and Thai bank holidays. I can track my transfer at any time plus TW sends me an sms confirming my transaction and a second one on the day of transfer. BKK Bank send me an sms when they get my funds, which shows up as FTT in my bankbook and as a foreign transfer on my statement

 

TW transfer fees are cheaper than Swift and it is IMHO a much safer way than Swift.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

Do you think expats living here are using their debit cards from banks back home? Using a thai banks ATM's is free. 

But only if you use the ATM of your bank within the same province. Draw in another province it will cost you a whacking 20 baht.

 

Many years ago I used to use my UK ATM card but the fees got too high so I get my pension providers to transfer using Swift and dumped my UK bank, plus they wanted to charge me 70 GBP for the privilege of using their bank.

Edited November 3, 2019 by billd766

[BritManToo]

15 minutes ago, billd766 said:

But only if you use the ATM of your bank within the same province. Draw in another province it will cost you a whacking 20 baht.

TMB has no charges for using ATMs, any banks ATM in any part of the country.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

TMB has no charges for using ATMs, any banks ATM in any part of the country.

The problem for me is that the nearest TMB branch and the nearest TMB ATM is some 65km from where I live. In fact the nearest ATM is 6 km away and that is KBank where I have had an account for about 15 years.

 

If I have to worry about 20 baht I will be in deep <deleted>.

[john terry1001]

7 hours ago, Kadilo said:

Use a SWIFT transfer from my U.K. BANK, 100% guaranteed International Code because it does in fact result in money being transferred from one country to another. No rogue transfers and no chance of the same happening as TW due to that reason. 

Simply not true. Ask Lloyds, HSBC and Nationwide. They have told me they can't guarantee an International coding and have no control over the routing of the transfers other than to confirm it's an electronic routing. Their words, not mine. I have statements of past Swift transfers from HSBC and Nationwide banks where the coding was a local transfer and the final leg of the routing involved an internal transfer within Thailand.

 

Although I haven't used them myself, there are also examples posted here where people's pensions are transferred directly from their pension providers to to their Thai accounts, with the pension providers using Citi Bank UK to make the (Swift) Transfer. Those transfers arrive as a local transfer because the final leg is a transfer within Thailand.

 

As I understand it, no UK bank can/will guarantee any Swift transfer will definitely show as an International Transfer in the Thai bank coding. Ask your UK bank for that information as a written guarantee and they will simply say it's out of their control.

 

The UK banking system is obviously a tried and trusted system. I'm not knocking it, I'm simply suggesting it's more expensive, generally slower and offers less guarantees than the 'specialist' alternative that Transferwise have set up. 

 

But, as you've said already 'Each to his own'.

[garyk]

3 hours ago, billd766 said:

But only if you use the ATM of your bank within the same province. Draw in another province it will cost you a whacking 20 baht.

 

Many years ago I used to use my UK ATM card but the fees got too high so I get my pension providers to transfer using Swift and dumped my UK bank, plus they wanted to charge me 70 GBP for the privilege of using their bank.

It has been a juggling act in Thailand for years trying to figure out the best way to bring in money. Being from the US I was lucky to be able to research and get around the fees for many years. I could still get around most of the fees easy, but the transferring and keeping money in a Thai bank is a little over the top for me. The Thai banks have the US, UK and Australian expats by the balls.  

[jacko45k]

11 hours ago, BritManToo said:

TMB has no charges for using ATMs, any banks ATM in any part of the country.

Other than that they are crxp! 

[Apiwan2]

I used TW for the first time and its bloody good.

 

I got 39.0355 rate and a charge of £5 for a £1,000

 

But with Lloyds bank I got 37 rate and a £5 charge, 

 

However TW done this Saturday arrived this morning 9 AM and Lloyds took 4 days. 

 

TW shows as transfer no book on Krungsi bank app.

 

Will use again 

[treetops]

2 hours ago, Apiwan2 said:

I got 39.0355 rate and a charge of £5 for a £1,000

I get a £7 fee for £1,000 transfer - I wonder why the difference?

 

2 hours ago, Apiwan2 said:

But with Lloyds bank I got 37 rate and a £5 charge,

Did you transfer in baht or in GBP and allow Krungsri to convert it?

[Max69xl]

2 hours ago, Apiwan2 said:

I used TW for the first time and its bloody good.

 

I got 39.0355 rate and a charge of £5 for a £1,000

 

But with Lloyds bank I got 37 rate and a £5 charge, 

 

However TW done this Saturday arrived this morning 9 AM and Lloyds took 4 days. 

 

TW shows as transfer no book on Krungsi bank app.

 

Will use again 

You can see the transfer code using the app. If it says International, than the code in the bank book will also be foreign/International. If it says Interbank Transfer it's a transfer between banks within Thailand. If you like me, are using the money in the bank method, it doesn't matter. 

[billsmart]

On 11/2/2019 at 9:28 AM, Max69xl said:

May I ask how much you pay for every transfer to your bank overseas when transferring money to Thailand?  

 

Sure,

 

I transfer about US$2,800 a month which is about THB 85,000 to my account at Ahudhya Bank (Krungsri).

 

My US bank (BofA) charges $45 per transfer, or about THB 1,500. It only takes one business day and comes in as an international transfer.

 

Transferwise's fee for the same transfer is about $30, or about THB 1,000. It takes at least two and sometimes three or four business days and comes in as a domestic transfer from Thai Military Bank.

 

This has been my experience.

[Max69xl]

50 minutes ago, billsmart said:

Sure,

 

I transfer about US$2,800 a month which is about THB 85,000 to my account at Ahudhya Bank (Krungsri).

 

My US bank (BofA) charges $45 per transfer, or about THB 1,500. It only takes one business day and comes in as an international transfer.

 

Transferwise's fee for the same transfer is about $30, or about THB 1,000. It takes at least two and sometimes three or four business days and comes in as a domestic transfer from Thai Military Bank.

 

This has been my experience.

It seems that the time delay when transferring money from overseas only exists when we're talking about money from the US. My money (from Europe) always arrives within 24 hours and I use the 'Low cost transfer' option. I don't need my money in 15 min. When did you use TW the last time? Have you sent any money after TW came up with the new 'Reason for transfer'? 'Funds for long term stay in Thailand'? 

[john terry1001]

1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

2 hours ago, billsmart said:

Sure,

 

I transfer about US$2,800 a month which is about THB 85,000 to my account at Ahudhya Bank (Krungsri).

 

My US bank (BofA) charges $45 per transfer, or about THB 1,500. It only takes one business day and comes in as an international transfer.

 

Transferwise's fee for the same transfer is about $30, or about THB 1,000. It takes at least two and sometimes three or four business days and comes in as a domestic transfer from Thai Military Bank.

 

This has been my experience.

It seems that the time delay when transferring money from overseas only exists when we're talking about money from the US. My money (from Europe) always arrives within 24 hours and I use the 'Low cost transfer' option. I don't need my money in 15 min. When did you use TW the last time? Have you sent any money after TW came up with the new 'Reason for transfer'? 'Funds for long term stay in Thailand'?

Looking at the US process it would seem that, to avoid money laundering etc, people are 'encouraged' to use the ACH system and have TW to pull the funds from their personal US bank accounts, whereas we in the UK (and Europe) push the transfer from our accounts to TW. Transfers are then (virtually) immediate so are prcessed quickly.

 

Pulling the transfer in the US means it must go via their ACH process (which transfers money in batches rather than individual transfers) and it is this that which causes the usual 2day+ delay in the transfer.

 

It was explained to me that If the transfers in the US could be pushed from their account in the same way as we do in the UK the delay they experience at the moment would disappear.

[genobkk]

1 hour ago, john terry1001 said:

Looking at the US process it would seem that, to avoid money laundering etc, people are 'encouraged' to use the ACH system and have TW to pull the funds from their personal US bank accounts, whereas we in the UK (and Europe) push the transfer from our accounts to TW. Transfers are then (virtually) immediate so are prcessed quickly.

 

Pulling the transfer in the US means it must go via their ACH process (which transfers money in batches rather than individual transfers) and it is this that which causes the usual 2day+ delay in the transfer.

 

It was explained to me that If the transfers in the US could be pushed from their account in the same way as we do in the UK the delay they experience at the moment would disappear.

My account in in the aU.S and lately I get mine un a few hours, ine time it came within 10 min, but yes the ACH system in the U.S is very outdated and while money laundering is used as an excuse it is mostly just to watch are every move. 

[Apiwan2]

On 11/1/2019 at 3:58 PM, Jumbo1968 said:

I did a transfer yesterday, TW said it would be in my BB Account  in 13 minutes, in fact it was in after 5 minutes.

TW must have changed their system as up until a few weeks ago the funds never arrived in my account until after 14.00 the following day in fact on the odd occasion it was 2 days.

Just used again at 9:57 Thai time and money was in the bank in 5 minutes. 

 

Damn good service, good rate definitely better than bank transfer with Lloyd's bank.

 

Reference on bank statement is 99##WEF

 

I believe WEF means international inward transfer .

 

Hope this helps someone. 

[Max69xl]

8 minutes ago, Apiwan2 said:

Just used again at 9:57 Thai time and money was in the bank in 5 minutes. 

 

Damn good service, good rate definitely better than bank transfer with Lloyd's bank.

 

Reference on bank statement is 99##WEF

 

I believe WEF means international inward transfer .

 

Hope this helps someone. 

The reason for the very fast transfers is moving money in Thailand between accounts/banks instead of actually transfer the money from overseas.

[lopburi3]

On 11/6/2019 at 8:25 AM, billsmart said:

Sure,

 

I transfer about US$2,800 a month which is about THB 85,000 to my account at Ahudhya Bank (Krungsri).

 

My US bank (BofA) charges $45 per transfer, or about THB 1,500. It only takes one business day and comes in as an international transfer.

 

Transferwise's fee for the same transfer is about $30, or about THB 1,000. It takes at least two and sometimes three or four business days and comes in as a domestic transfer from Thai Military Bank.

 

This has been my experience.

Information as of 10:30 today -

Transferwise $2800/fee $26.14/exchange 30.325 = 84117.30

Your bank $2800/fee$45/exchange 30.05/fee 207= 82581.00

[john terry1001]

1 hour ago, Max69xl said:

The reason for the very fast transfers is moving money in Thailand between accounts/banks instead of actually transfer the money from overseas.

Which is exactly the way banks transfer the money around the world, apart from may the US ACH system.

[Max69xl]

14 minutes ago, john terry1001 said:

Which is exactly the way banks transfer the money around the world, apart from may the US ACH system.

A normal swift transfer from a bank in Europe to a thai bank takes normally 3 banking days. Never 15 min using  'Fast transfer' at TW. The 'Low cost transfer' takes less than 24 hours. 

[john terry1001]

1 minute ago, Max69xl said:

A normal swift transfer from a bank in Europe to a thai bank takes normally 3 banking days

That's because international electronic transfer routing is done in batches, not individually. The actual total length depends on the route chosen and the length of time it takes for each bank used in the chain to transfer their batch of transfers.

[billsmart]

On 11/6/2019 at 9:34 AM, Max69xl said:

It seems that the time delay when transferring money from overseas only exists when we're talking about money from the US. My money (from Europe) always arrives within 24 hours and I use the 'Low cost transfer' option. I don't need my money in 15 min. When did you use TW the last time? Have you sent any money after TW came up with the new 'Reason for transfer'? 'Funds for long term stay in Thailand'? 

Thanks for your comments.

No, I haven't used Transferwise since the first of the year.

[billsmart]

3 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Information as of 10:30 today -

Transferwise $2800/fee $26.14/exchange 30.325 = 84117.30

Your bank $2800/fee$45/exchange 30.05/fee 207= 82581.00

...and, how would the transfer be recorded in my bank book -- international or domestic?

[lopburi3]

11 minutes ago, billsmart said:

...and, how would the transfer be recorded in my bank book -- international or domestic?

Transfer to that bank would not be listed as international but as said this does not appear to be an issue as long as bank and immigration can see the paperwork that is actually came from a foreign account.  Or you could open a Bangkok Bank account and it would be listed as international with simple selection of the Thailand reason for transfer option. 

 

Understand it may be worth the loss right now to be sure - but believe things will become clearer next year and Transferwise remittance will likely be accepted to any bank.

[Max69xl]

47 minutes ago, billsmart said:

...and, how would the transfer be recorded in my bank book -- international or domestic?

Depends on what thai bank you're using and what 'Reason for transfer' you choosed.

[Max69xl]

2 hours ago, john terry1001 said:

That's because international electronic transfer routing is done in batches, not individually. The actual total length depends on the route chosen and the length of time it takes for each bank used in the chain to transfer their batch of transfers.

You get what you pay for. At many banks overseas you can choose an Express option, and then the money will arrive within 24 hours. But it will cost at least 5-6 times more than the standard transfer. The Express option is what you get with TW normally, when using the 'Low cost transfer' option. 

[john terry1001]

24 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

The Express option is what you get with TW normally, when using the 'Low cost transfer' option. 

Plus a better exchange of course ????