Transferwise account blocked .........again

[Susco]

I receive frequently money deposits from customers abroad.

 

As we know the reputation of Paypal, who will block your money for 180 days if they see anything they don't like, transferwise seems to have become worse lately.

 

I had an account blocked last year, and they simply don't give you a reason why, even if you call them or send them emails.

 

When you try to login to your account is says Sorry, your account is deactivated. If you believe this is a mistake, please contact customer support at [email protected]

 

Then when you contact appeals they send your own email back without telling you anything.

 

Now i have a second account deactivated, and I will not bother to contact them, for obvious reasons.

 

So what is a good alternative, other than crypto and Paypal?

[Matzzon]

bank to bank transfers. Also called swift-transfers. The best and safest way. Maybe you pay a little bit more or lose a fraction in exchange, but it´s still the best hassle free choice.

[ripstanley]

https://www.ofx.com/en-au/

 

Not as good a rate as Transferwise. 

[Sundown]

Revolut

[steven100]

TT transfers ... or bank to bank. Western Union for cash within 5 minutes. 

[Susco]

Revolut charge a 1% upmark on Thai Baht exchange rate +0.5% fee. From 12 August that upmark will be 2%.

 

TT transfers are too slow and involve fees by the recipient bank. Since I need to receive a fixed amount, it's difficult to calculate what the customer has to send.

 

Western Union, unless something has changed, my understanding is that involves high fees, and I would need to go to the WU kiosk each time to collect.

[Susco]

1 hour ago, ripstanley said:

https://www.ofx.com/en-au/

 

Not as good a rate as Transferwise. 

According to that link, can't send money to Thailand

 

[baansgr]

9 minutes ago, Susco said:

Revolut charge a 1% upmark on Thai Baht exchange rate +0.5% fee. From 12 August that upmark will be 2%.

 

TT transfers are too slow and involve fees by the recipient bank. Since I need to receive a fixed amount, it's difficult to calculate what the customer has to send.

 

Western Union, unless something has changed, my understanding is that involves high fees, and I would need to go to the WU kiosk each time to collect.

You can have an online WU account...fees for bank to bank transfers are not as expensive as you think and their XE is comparable to TransferWise. Fees for collecting at a WU booth are expensive. I would add, transferring from UK to my SCB in Thailand bank through WU can take upto 5 days, whereas when I transfer to my Phillipine account it is there in a few minutes...also your customers would need to be WU registered

[owl sees all]

I've no idea why you should be 'deactivated'. Strange one that. When they ended their service for 6 months in their early days, I tried:

 

Azimo

Currencyfair.

 

Both were fine. Then Transferwise came back on line, so I switched back.

Edited June 15, 2020 by owl sees all

[Pib]

21 minutes ago, Susco said:

According to that link, can't send money to Thailand

 

 

You can transfer to Thailand....I've got an acct with OFX....transferred several times.   Below is a OFX to TW comparison as of 15 June for a 5K AUD to THB transfer.   I expect on their main page they only list certain countries for advertising purposes versus listing many, many countries.

 

Couple of important things to know about OFX is the use SWIFT to Thailand and the final leg of the transfer is via Bahtnet which means the transfer posts to your acct as a domestic transfer..  Also, when you become an OFX customer they will assign you to a certain category as to the exchange rate given.   The exchange rate they show on their public webpage is "indicative" only (it's the full FX rate)....fancy word meaning it's not the exchange rate you will get once opening an acct with OFX

 

When I first registered with OFX the exchange rate they always offered me  was significantly lower than TW....so low, that I never did an OFX transfer.  But about 6 months later they bumped me up to a new category where the exchange rate is very, very similar to TW...and OFX charges lower/fewer fees than TW which means after all the exchange rate and fee dust settles you could get more baht posted to your Thai bank acct using OFX than using TW.

 

OFX

 

Transferwise

[ripstanley]

52 minutes ago, Susco said:

According to that link, can't send money to Thailand

 

I just logged in and they quoted me 

You transfer

AUD (Australian Dollar)CAD (Canadian Dollar)EUR (Euro)GBP (British Pound)HKD (Hong Kong Dollar)NZD (New Zealand Dollar)SGD (Singapore Dollar)USD (US Dollar)AUD

Recipient gets

AED (UAE Dirham)AUD (Australian Dollar)AZN (Azerbaijani New Manat)BGN (Bulgarian Lev)BND (Brunei Dollar)CAD (Canadian Dollar)CHF (Swiss Franc)CZK (Czech Koruna)DKK (Danish Kroner)EGP (Egyptian Pound)EUR (Euro)FJD (Fiji Dollar)GBP (British Pound)HKD (Hong Kong Dollar)HUF (Hungarian Forint)IDR (Indonesian Rupiah)ILS (Israeli New Shekel)INR (Indian Rupee)JPY (Japanese Yen)KRW (Korean Won)KWD (Kuwaiti Dinar)LKR (Sri Lanka Rupee)MAD (Moroccan Dirham)MGA (Malagasy Ariary)MXN (Mexican Peso)MYR (Malaysian Ringgit)NOK (Norwegian Kroner)NZD (New Zealand Dollar)OMR (Omani Rial)PEN (Peruvian Nuevo Sol)PGK (Papua New Guinea Kina)PHP (Philippine Peso)PKR (Pakistani Rupee)PLN (Polish Zloty)RUB (Russian Rouble)SAR (Saudi Arabian Riyal)SBD (Solomon Islands Dollar)SCR (Seychelles Rupee)SEK (Swedish Krona)SGD (Singapore Dollar)THB (Thai Baht)TOP (Tonga Pa`anga)TRY (Turkish Lira)TWD (New Taiwan Dollar)TZS (Tanzanian Shilling)USD (US Dollar)VND (Vietnamese Dong)VUV (Vanuatu Vatu)WST (Samoa Tala)XOF (CFA Franc (BCEAO))XPF (Pacific Franc)ZAR (South African Rand)THB

Your rate21.0391Inverse 0.0475

 

Edited June 15, 2020 by ripstanley

[RedCardinal]

Instagram is another alternative, but I don't think they accept third party payments. The funds have to come from your bank account.

 

You might want to consider that the payments you're receiving that get flagged by TransferWise may be the problem. If so, you may face similar issues no matter where you go.

[DeeMoney]

Usually financial services will block a user's account if fraudulent activities are suspected. Some organizations simply try to put a blanket policy based on citizenship to avoid implementing complex systems and reduce human input. For example, some nationalities in Thailand are outright banned from sending money overseas as enforced by the Bank of Thailand, regardless of where they are sending it to.

 

Other services that do not have a blanket policy and instead, have algorithms in place to detect suspicious activities and automatically block accounts after certain parameters are met. We assume the parameters are lenient otherwise many more would have their accounts blocked. 

 

Unfortunately they are in under no obligation to inform users of the exact reason. 

 

Azimo and MoneyGram are good alternatives

[Susco]

31 minutes ago, DeeMoney said:

Usually financial services will block a user's account if fraudulent activities are suspected. Some organizations simply try to put a blanket policy based on citizenship to avoid implementing complex systems and reduce human input. For example, some nationalities in Thailand are outright banned from sending money overseas as enforced by the Bank of Thailand, regardless of where they are sending it to.

The transactions are all inward Thailand, are small amounts of 2 - 3000 Baht, and are all sent as send money to others, and given a reason like gift or similar.

 

I had one one transaction where I sent money to a TF account, but for that I'm linked to my Western bank mastercard

 

My bank accounts are not blocked, only the TF accounts.

 

I'll look at that Azimo.

 

Someone suggested Xoom to me. Any experience with that.

 

Edit : Forget that Xoom. I just checked and for a 59$ transfer they charge 4.99$ + unfavourable exchange rate.

 

Looks more like money sharks

Edited June 16, 2020 by Susco

[treetops]

On 6/15/2020 at 1:18 PM, owl sees all said:

I've no idea why you should be 'deactivated'. Strange one that.

He/she is using a personal account as a business account. Very few, if any, banks will tolerate that.

[userabcd]

13 hours ago, treetops said:

He/she is using a personal account as a business account. Very few, if any, banks will tolerate that.

Exactly and receiving several deposits into an account labelled as gifts would raise some attention.

[Matzzon]

On 6/15/2020 at 2:01 PM, Susco said:

Revolut charge a 1% upmark on Thai Baht exchange rate +0.5% fee. From 12 August that upmark will be 2%.

 

TT transfers are too slow and involve fees by the recipient bank. Since I need to receive a fixed amount, it's difficult to calculate what the customer has to send.

 

Western Union, unless something has changed, my understanding is that involves high fees, and I would need to go to the WU kiosk each time to collect.

Customer? Sorry, I missed that in your OP. Not hard at all. If you have customers I will assume that you have a registered company and WP in Thailand. Then you can use bank, due to that the customer always stands for the cost and have to pay the amount on your invoices to you.

Also, what is the hurry, when you are talking about customers and a business. You not invoice with due date? 

[Susco]

20 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

If you have customers I will assume that you have a registered company and WP in Thailand.

We all know already that you just scour threads for posts to start an argument.

 

Unfortunately, only an ignorant like you would not know that for online business you don't need a work permit in Thailand.

 

Have a nice day, and see you in the next thread

[Scott]

Troll post reported and removed.  

 

[samsensam]

On 6/15/2020 at 11:46 AM, ripstanley said:

https://www.ofx.com/en-au/

 

Not as good a rate as Transferwise. 

 

but excellent customer service

[CanuckThai]

Not sure the reason of your grief, but my tranferwise transaction times have sped up lately.  If I start a CDN to Thailand transfer before noon, it's in my Thai account at or before 5pm.  Ruthlessly efficient

[Chelseafan]

28 minutes ago, CanuckThai said:

Not sure the reason of your grief, but my tranferwise transaction times have sped up lately.  If I start a CDN to Thailand transfer before noon, it's in my Thai account at or before 5pm.  Ruthlessly efficient

 

For me, transferring money is usally done in seconds but there have been occassions whereby it can take a couple of days.

 

[torturedsole]

Have another look at Azimo for small transfers from UK to LOS.  Instant payments to major Thai banks 24/7 now.  Tried and tested as well.

[Susco]

5 hours ago, torturedsole said:

Have another look at Azimo for small transfers from UK to LOS.  Instant payments to major Thai banks 24/7 now.  Tried and tested as well.

Thanks, I will have a look, I hope the same applies for all countries.

 

How are the fees compared with TF

 

@CanuckThai  The issue is not the speed of transfers. When they disable your account, there are no transfers any more

[CanuckThai]

19 hours ago, Chelseafan said:

 

For me, transferring money is usally done in seconds but there have been occassions whereby it can take a couple of days.

 

Yeah, transfers within Thailand or within Canada for me, are basically instantaneous.   I'm impressed with Tranferwise'  recent international transfer timing.  It used to be at least a full day ++, from transfer to received.

[Susco]

On 6/18/2020 at 2:58 AM, torturedsole said:

Have another look at Azimo for small transfers from UK to LOS.  Instant payments to major Thai banks 24/7 now.  Tried and tested as well.

Just had a loo at Azimo.

 

Seems to be limited who can register. US and Australia can't