Transferwise: Which payment method?

[SailingHome]

I know that I need to set the reason to be money for long term stay. What I can not figure out what payment type. I did debit card 4 times to satisfy immigration, but what payment type do I choose if I want to send $3000 overnight?

[stouricks]

It doesn't matter how you pay to Transferwise.....debit card, or  bank transfer

[scubascuba3]

I did a bank transfer from UK 2 weeks ago and it took 15 minutes from instruction to settlement

[SailingHome]

Perhaps you do not understand. The only thing that works is debit.

[Pib]

When you say payment type I guess you mean how you will fund the transfer like via debit card, bank debit (ACH), wire, or credit card.   

 

 

Debit or credit would be the fastest....but expensive.  Using a wire would be expensive also.   ACH the cheapest but the slowest. All four methods will work "if your particular banks/cards cooperate"...allow you to do such.

[SailingHome]

Define Bank Transfer. Be exact in which transfer type you used

 

[Pib]

3 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I did a bank transfer from UK 2 weeks ago and it took 15 minutes from instruction to settlement

Yeap, but UK folks have the Faster Payment System to push funds immediately/cheaply...US folks don't have that system.

[SailingHome]

1 minute ago, Pib said:

When you say payment type I guess you mean how you will fund the transfer like via debit card, bank debit (ACH), wire, or credit card.   

 

 

Debit or credit would be the fastest....but expensive.  Using a wire would be expensive also.   ACH the cheapest but the slowest. All four methods will work "if your particular banks/cards cooperate"...allow you to do such.

ACH is Swift? That opion says it will take 9 days

[Pib]

1 minute ago, SailingHome said:

Define Bank Transfer. Be exact in which transfer type you used

 

For the purposes of Transferwise a bank transfer is either Bank Debit (ACH) which you have used/tried to use.....or a Wire transfer.

[SailingHome]

If I try Wire Transfer, I get a notice I must go to Wells Fargo

[Pib]

1 minute ago, SailingHome said:

ACH is Swift? That opion says it will take 9 days

ACH is not SWIFT. 

 

ACH may take 9 days for you because you have had issues with your use/understanding of your new Transferwise acct; for me it takes 1 or 2 business days....for most people it will be a max of 4 business days for a bank debit (ACH) ot fund their Transferwise transfer.

[wgdanson]

2 minutes ago, SailingHome said:

ACH is Swift? That opion says it will take 9 days

A SWIFT transfer is for International payments. The OP is talking about how does he pay TO Transferwise = an internal, domestic transfer. As someone previously said, in UK there is the Faster PAyments which takes seconds from UK bank to T'wise. Then 24 hours T'wise to Thai Bank.

[Pib]

1 minute ago, SailingHome said:

If I try Wire Transfer, I get a notice I must go to Wells Fargo

Then I guess you can't do a wire.  Blame that on Wells Fargo.  Some banks are like that; but most allow wires via ibanking, phone call, or fax.

[SailingHome]

OK. I found a page that says to wire I add Transferwise as a payee for their Wells Fargo account.

[SailingHome]

5 minutes ago, SailingHome said:

OK. I found a page that says to wire I add Transferwise as a payee for their Wells Fargo account.

In San Francisco, so this should be easy.

 

[SailingHome]

Rats... I guess I have to call the bank...

 

[mosan]

You can also use your home bank's debit card to fund TransferWise.  It's only a dollar or so more than an ACH... If necessary, call your bank and have them reset the upper limit on the amount of money you can use on your Debit Card transactions  (understanding that Wells Fargo has their heads stuck where the sun doesn't shine).

[SailingHome]

4 hours ago, SailingHome said:

In San Francisco, so this should be easy.

 

Yeah, right.

I will debit card this month and try to figure out the remainder.

[scubascuba3]

10 hours ago, wgdanson said:

A SWIFT transfer is for International payments. The OP is talking about how does he pay TO Transferwise = an internal, domestic transfer. As someone previously said, in UK there is the Faster PAyments which takes seconds from UK bank to T'wise. Then 24 hours T'wise to Thai Bank.

Took 15 minutes to reach my thai bank account. I guessed it was so quick because I didn't tag it which might slow it down where they divert the transfer

[KhunBENQ]

16 hours ago, Pib said:

Yeap, but UK folks have the Faster Payment System to push funds immediately/cheaply...US folks don't have that system.

German account holders also not "immediately".

Initiated a domestic transfer to TW account on Sat, 28.

Debit on account on Mo, 30.

Not arrived until yesterday Jan 1.

Bank computers on holidays.

As rate went down, cancelled the transfer and waiting for refund.

With such archaic methods (German) are due to extinction!

 

What I now did: setup a borderless account (Balance) with TW and sent/filled up money from bank account (waiting... )

 

This should hopefully expedite the process.

As German bank pays a whopping 0.01% interest, it doesn't matter to stack up some money at the TW account.

Edited January 2, 2020 by KhunBENQ

[Nong Khai Man]

On 1/1/2020 at 6:42 PM, stouricks said:

It doesn't matter how you pay to Transferwise.....debit card, or  bank transfer

It DOES,You pay More by using your Debit Card !!

I Did a Transfer by I Banking from my U.K.Account Direct to my Thai Bank...Money in My Thai Account in Less than An Hour....

Edited January 3, 2020 by Nong Khai Man

[Pib]

On 1/2/2020 at 11:10 AM, KhunBENQ said:

What I now did: setup a borderless account (Balance) with TW and sent/filled up money from bank account (waiting... )

Have you done a transfer yet using your borderless acct balance as the funding source?   Sounds like maybe you haven't based on you mentioning "....waiting...." word. 

 

After having a Transferwise acct for over 18 months I just opened/activated a borderless acct yesterday for USD.   Did this to see if it would speed up the funding of my occasional transfers and also to offset the continuing rise in the Transferwise "Bank Debit (ACH)" fee.  So, I put a little money into my Borderless acct and initiated a transfer this Friday morning (Thailand time) using my Borderless acct balance to fund the transfer. 

 

Was hoping that after clicking the final button my transfer would be funded immediately and get a message the funds are on the way and I should receive in a few hours....I was hoping around 2pm today since my past Transferwise transfers to my Bangkok Bank acct always posted a few minutes after 2pm. 

 

But nope, after clicking the final button for the transfer then my Borderless acct balance is immediately reduced by the amount I'm sending but the transfer completion status was in 3 days (and still is reflecting 3 days as of this Friday afternoon).  That 3 days would would be this coming Monday....3 calendar days or 1 business day which is no faster than when I was using a Bank Debit (ACH) to fund the transfer.   

 

Oh well, hopes of a faster transfer were dashed....but maybe your first transfer using your new borderless acct as the funding source just takes longer....I'll probably try another transfer early next week and see what happens.  If the second transfer using my  borderless acct balance does not speed up the funding and completion of the transfer to like one business day then I just stick with using the Bank Debit (ACH) funding method which allows the transfer to complete in 1 or 2 business days based on a half dozen or so transfers I've done that way.  No use letting my money set in a Transferwise borderless acct earning zero interest and having less protection in comparison to letting it set in my US bank.

 

Note: Did not get their debit card when opening then borderless acct...got no use for that card since it don't reimburse ATM fees and only allows 200 pounds (or equivalent) per month withdrawal before a 2% transaction fee kicks in for amounts over 200 pounds per month.   I have several debit cards that do reimburse ATM fees, have high withdrawal limits, and do not charge any foreign transaction fee.

 

 

 

[KhunBENQ]

1 hour ago, Pib said:

Have you done a transfer yet using your borderless acct balance as the funding source?   Sounds like maybe you haven't based on you mentioning "....waiting...." word. 

I initiated a transfer of 1000 Euro from my "Belgian" TW account yesterday afternoon.

Was sent this morning and credited about noon today at Bangkok Bank.

33488.83 Baht and clearly labeled as "International Transfer".

"borderless account": all I know is that I now have a Euro account at the Belgian branch of TW.

Seems the full functionality (incl. this Mastercard?) is not possible for Thailand.

The "waiting" referred to the process of initial fill up of the TW account from German bank. Went surprisingly quick.

I later added another 2000 Euro to the TW account where it sits now waiting for better times to be transferred painless. The transfer can easily be done from the smartphone. PC is possible too but smartphone needed additionally for two factor authorization (only relevant for Euro/SEPA?).

Edited January 3, 2020 by KhunBENQ

[KhunBENQ]

It's worth mentioning that the initial fillup is needed to make the account active and the transfer has to be done from an account in your own name.

So the TW account is NOT an option to create a sole account for those who have no accounts at all (in the home country).

[BRUFC]

I have always used Transferwise since I've been in Thailand. My money has always been transferred into my Thai GF's account, usually next day but once it took two working days. Now, with my 'permission to stay' expiring in June I have my own Thai bank account and the first 65000 baht transfer was in my Kasikorn account by the time I'd brought my account up on my mobile. Fantastic!

[Pib]

For you US folks doing transfers to Thailand, below is a comparison of funding your Transferwise transfer via Bank Debit (ACH) or via your Transferwise Borderless Account Balance. 

 

Please take note of the two notes at the bottom of comparison.  The notes basically say the Bank Debit (ACH) funding method was chosen to compare against the Borderless Account Balance funding method since the Bank Debit (ACH) method costs less than using a Debit Card, Credit Card, or Wire Transfer to fund your transfer.   And it assumes you top-up your Borderless account via "pushing" money into the account for free from your US bank, Direct Deposit, or incoming payments; otherwise, you'll have to top-up the account via Transferwise doing an ACH Pull where they charge you 0.35% of the amount you are pulling/topping-up which would effectively wipe out any fee savings by using your Borderless Acct to fund your transfer as that 0.35% fee basically equals the basic Bank Debit (ACH) fee when funding the transfer the typical way.    Summary: using a Borderless acct to fund your transfer can completely offset/wipe-out the Transferwise Bank Debit (ACH) fee (which increased twice in 2019 as Transferwise raised their fees) "assuming" your can push/get money to your Borderless acct for free via free ACH transfer from your US bank since most banks do not charge any ACH sending fee....or setup a direct deposit...or have incoming payments.

 

 

[scubascuba3]

10 hours ago, BRUFC said:

I have always used Transferwise since I've been in Thailand. My money has always been transferred into my Thai GF's account, usually next day but once it took two working days. Now, with my 'permission to stay' expiring in June I have my own Thai bank account and the first 65000 baht transfer was in my Kasikorn account by the time I'd brought my account up on my mobile. Fantastic!

Good but is it shown as International transfer? i did one to Kasikorn a couple weeks ago, arrived within 15 minutes but not International, doesn't matter for me as I'm not using for immigration

[john terry1001]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

Good but is it shown as International transfer? i did one to Kasikorn a couple weeks ago, arrived within 15 minutes but not International, doesn't matter for me as I'm not using for immigration

Is your Kasikorn account tagged with TW as your preferred Thai bank account and did you select 'funds for long term stay in Thailand' as your reason for the transfer?

In the TW PDF that details the transfer what Thai bank is listed in the last section of that PDF?

Edited January 4, 2020 by john terry1001

[Peter Denis]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

Good but is it shown as International transfer? i did one to Kasikorn a couple weeks ago, arrived within 15 minutes but not International, doesn't matter for me as I'm not using for immigration

Below some info on how TransferWise actually works, and how to ensure that payments done with TW will show up as International Transfer on your thai bank-book.

 

TransferWise < > https://transferwise.com/ > is a very fast and inexpensive way to transfer funds from your foreign bank-account to a thai bank-account.  Many TVF members are making use of that service, and there are many threads on it on the Forum.

TransferWise uses the mid-exchange rate (which is the actual conversion rate and not the inflated rate that banks charge you) and charges a relatively small fee for its service.

Their 'trick' is that they do not physically transfer your funds, but they have agreements with partner-banks in Thailand and your transfer is actually a domestic transfer, as it is their partner-bank that transfers the funds to your bank-account.

 

When you need to prove to IO that the funds on your thai bank-account originated from abroad, that can cause a problem.

However, the transfer WILL show up in your Thai bank account as an International Transfer WHEN:

1. your account is from one of the three partner banks TW use (Bangkok bank, Kasikorn bank and TMB)

2. you have (previously) requested that TW tag that bank as your preferred direct transfer route (you only have to do this once, NOT for every transfer)

3. you designate that account as the receiving Thai account on your transfer applications and

4. you choose the "long term stay in Thailand option in the reason for transfer in your transfer applications.

If your Thai bank-account is NOT with one of the three partner banks TW WILL still route your transfer via one of those three banks, to be forwarded (immediately) to your own account. But, because the final leg of the transfer is between two Thai banks the code shown in your own bank account will be a "local transfer" code and NOT an International Transfer.

 

So when it is required to prove to IO that the funds on your thai bank-account originated from abroad,

simply make sure that the 4 conditions have been fulfilled the first time you do a test-transfer and check whether the correct international transfer-code appears next to the transaction in your bank-book.  If that's the case, you can from then on use TransferWise to do all your foreign transfers to that thai bank-account and they will show up as international transfers.

 

Note: Some TVF members have been successful convincing their local IO that the transfers in their bank-account were indeed originating from abroad even if they did not carry the International transfer-code. 

They did this by providing copies of the TransferWise transfer-slips, but this might of course not be accepted by all IOs.

[john terry1001]

21 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Note: Some TVF members have been successful convincing their local IO that the transfers in their bank-account were indeed originating from abroad even if they did not carry the International transfer-code. 

They did this by providing copies of the TransferWise transfer-slips, but this might of course not be accepted by all IOs.

A very good and comprehensive description Peter Denis. I would just add that, if instead of going directly to your preferred account, should your transfer be routed initially via one of TW's other partner banks that partner bank will, on request, issue a Credit Advice Receipt to confirm the transfer originated from abroad. Just supply them with the relevant TW PDF for that transfer plus details of your own Thai bank account. It takes them about a week to supply the receipt and Kasikorn charge 200 baht for the service. The one time I needed to use TMB there was no charge at all. They also arranged for the receipt to be sent to my local TMB branch for me to collect (a first class service).

 

Sadly though Peter, I feel you have wasted your time with your post.

 

Over the past year, like you have, I have also posted several very comprehensive explanations on how to use TW correctly, to enable an International coding for all transfers, on many different threads that have been started here. But it always ends up with the same posters complaining about their coding, only to find out that either they haven't used the correct procedure, as advised by TW, OR they repeatedly quote a transfer they had done well over a year ago when the procedure hadn't been established and the type of coding wasn't a requirement anyway.

 

It really needs a pinned topic on here to describe all transfer procedures, whether using Transferwise, banks (Swift process) Debit/Credit cards, etc,etc, describing the various costs and highlighting the differences between the US requirements and (most of) the rest of the world.