Transfer funds to Thailand.

[DrJack54]

5 hours ago, Nemises said:

 

10k daily Westpac limit?

 

I was recently able to increase my daily Westpac limit (via a phone call from Thailand) to 200k AUD. 
 

Hope this helps. 

Thanks for this info.

When I go into my online banking app (Westpac) I notice in my profile details my phone number has statement "no phone number registered".

Can you outline/describe how they verified your ID. Obviously I have my pin number to my account. What else do I require. Thankyou

[Nemises]

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

Thanks for this info.

When I go into my online banking app (Westpac) I notice in my profile details my phone number has statement "no phone number registered".

Can you outline/describe how they verified your ID. Obviously I have my pin number to my account. What else do I require. Thankyou

Sure...
First you will need to speak with them about having YOUR mobile number registered. Then phone them regarding the increase. You will need to have opened your online banking to correctly answer questions relating to recent transactions as well as the normal security questions DOB, your telephone banking PIN etc. 

Once they’re satisfied it’s you and you have correctly answered all recent transaction questions, they will then send an OTP whilst talking to you. You must immediately repeat that code back to them. Limit is then set to your requirement and remains in place until you call them back to lower it. 
The mobile I used is my AU mobile set up for int. roaming.  
Good luck. Let us know outcome. 

 

 

 

[DrJack54]

16 minutes ago, Nemises said:

The mobile I used is my AU mobile set up for int. roaming.  
Good luck. Let us know outcome. 

Thankyou. Very clear instructions. Think my only trip up may be that I don't have an AU sim. Hopefully I can register Thai #.

Going to have a crack at it tomorrow and will report back.

Thanks for advice.

[DrJack54]

Final report. 

Again thanks for all the help given in my thread. Feel a bit foolish as all I needed to do was ring bank and after security questions was able to increase my limit to 150k.

The guy from Westpac was super helpful. Just to note he had the authority to raise it to max 200k per day. If I had increased limit myself via online app the maximum was 10k.

One reason I was bit confused is that some time ago I was told by teller in Oz that could not use a Thai #. 

I was able to register my Thai #.

The security questions were simple.

Wanted my birth date and list of accounts in my name. Any home loans etc. That was it.

Just checked my daily transfer limit and indeed on the spot increased to 150k.

So I made a big noise about a simple fix.

As was pointed out in the thread it appears Transferwise has limit per transaction so I need make 2 separate transfers 75k each.

Thanks for all the advice from posters.

[DrJack54]

On 12/14/2020 at 9:47 AM, MadMuhammad said:

 

FYI the max limit for TransferWise is 2 million baht ($90Kaud give it take) so it will need to be done in two transactions 

Do you know if those two transactions can be done on same day. Just did a transfer of 80k aud and would like to send another 70k. 

BTW aside info. The 80k with Transferwise yes was at mid market rate but transfer fee was ~ $500 aud. Was still better than my OFX a/c.

[YT3k72Em]

54 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Final report. 

Again thanks for all the help given in my thread. Feel a bit foolish as all I needed to do was ring bank and after security questions was able to increase my limit to 150k.

The guy from Westpac was super helpful. Just to note he had the authority to raise it to max 200k per day. If I had increased limit myself via online app the maximum was 10k.

One reason I was bit confused is that some time ago I was told by teller in Oz that could not use a Thai #. 

I was able to register my Thai #.

The security questions were simple.

Wanted my birth date and list of accounts in my name. Any home loans etc. That was it.

Just checked my daily transfer limit and indeed on the spot increased to 150k.

So I made a big noise about a simple fix.

As was pointed out in the thread it appears Transferwise has limit per transaction so I need make 2 separate transfers 75k each.

Thanks for all the advice from posters.

 

Have you checked the fees?  Transferwise is good for small amounts but transferring $150k is another matter.  They charge a % of the total which will be about $900 whereas Westpac charge a flat fee of $20.

 

Exchange rates need to be looked at too, so check what the total receiver will get.

[AlfHuy]

On 12/11/2020 at 4:40 PM, DrJack54 said:

Hoping someone can point out if this is possible or suggest better idea.

So I wish to transfer funds from Au bank to my Thai bank. Done that previously with Transferwise and OFX. Now to my problem. One bank account allows me to transfer max 20k aud per day. I scrambled the access to the online banking trying to transfer data to new phone.

My other bank has max limit 1500aud/day.

So the plan....send a family member in Oz a personal cheque for 150k aud and have them deposit into their personal account. Last step is for them to transfer using say transferwise to my Thai bank.

As for sending personal cheque....have done that before when needing to transfer large sum into my super account in Oz.

Any thoughts/ideas very much appreciated.

Ta

I don't know about AUS but sending a family member 150k, would this not get them into trouble?

"for your family members" Where did the money come from, why did you get the money, did you inherit the money, potential tax implications, money laundering etc....

[DrJack54]

1 hour ago, YT3k72Em said:

 

Have you checked the fees?  Transferwise is good for small amounts but transferring $150k is another matter.  They charge a % of the total which will be about $900 whereas Westpac charge a flat fee of $20.

 

Exchange rates need to be looked at too, so check what the total receiver will get.

Your right in that the bottom line is "total receiver will get"

So on the 80k aud transfer just completed.

Transfer wise fee. $486 aud. Amount received into Thai bank 1,803,800 baht.

OFX zero fee Amount received 1,795,656 baht.

Westpac direct transfer $15 aud fee. Received 1,718,872 Received.

 

[MadMuhammad]

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

Do you know if those two transactions can be done on same day. Just did a transfer of 80k aud and would like to send another 70k. 

BTW aside info. The 80k with Transferwise yes was at mid market rate but transfer fee was ~ $500 aud. Was still better than my OFX a/c.

I did mine on seperate days so I can’t help you with that one sorry. I just wasn’t comfortable with 3mil baht swinging in the wind.
In saying that I’ve transferred over $300Kaud in just under 3 years without any issue whatsoever 

[MadMuhammad]

48 minutes ago, AlfHuy said:

I don't know about AUS but sending a family member 150k, would this not get them into trouble?

"for your family members" Where did the money come from, why did you get the money, did you inherit the money, potential tax implications, money laundering etc....

After sending my two large sums for a property purchase I was contacted by TransferWise to provide proof of source of funds. I provided them with my Australian property sale contract and bank account with term deposits and regular trust fund deposits. They were fine with those. 
My next transfer was held up 1 day ‘for checks’ and then released. Had no issue since  

[DrJack54]

9 minutes ago, MadMuhammad said:

I did mine on seperate days so I can’t help you with that one sorry. I just wasn’t comfortable with 3mil baht swinging in the wind.
In saying that I’ve transferred over $300Kaud in just under 3 years without any issue whatsoever 

Thanks. I'm happy to send the second 80k tomorrow. The townhouse settlement is in few weeks so no rush. AUD exchange not too bad at present. Thanks for your help in this thread.

BTW, I was surprised by need to upload identification during process with Transfer wise. Has not been required in the past however the transfers were far less than 80k.

The process was easy I choose the AU drivers license and just took picture and the Transferwise app uploads it. Easy peasy.

Edited December 16, 2020 by DrJack54

[Peter Denis]

18 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Your right in that the bottom line is "total receiver will get"

So on the 80k aud transfer just completed.

Transfer wise fee. $486 aud. Amount received into Thai bank 1,803,800 baht.

OFX zero fee Amount received 1,795,656 baht.

Westpac direct transfer $15 aud fee. Received 1,718,872 Received.

 

Did you also check WesternUnion on-line transfer option.

For Australian citizens it seems to be an even better deal than TransferWise (no service fee charge, and just a tiny exchange rate difference providing the highest Total Receipt bottom-line).

[DrJack54]

15 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Did you also check WesternUnion on-line transfer option.

For Australian citizens it seems to be an even better deal than TransferWise (no service fee charge, and just a tiny exchange rate difference providing the highest Total Receipt bottom-line).

Thanks. I will check it out now as still have another 80k to transfer. 

Think I have always had a mental thing about WU as some USA guys seem to complain that's it's an expensive method. 

As you point out might be better for Oz folk.

Just did the WU check transfer. Much better that I thought..I posted above some results for Transferwise, OFX, Westpac bank..

So even though I paid 486aud service fee from Transferwise it's still better option.

WU zero fee amount received in Thailand is 1,80,367baht. 

Transferwise 486aud fee amount into Thai bank 1,803,800

Edited December 16, 2020 by DrJack54

[FNQ]

On 12/14/2020 at 10:49 AM, DrJack54 said:

Thanks.

However did you provide the Thai # in person at bank in Oz?

No from the phone I was using at the time.

[Peter Denis]

55 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Thanks. I will check it out now as still have another 80k to transfer. 

Think I have always had a mental thing about WU as some USA guys seem to complain that's it's an expensive method. 

As you point out might be better for Oz folk.

Just did the WU check transfer. Much better that I thought..I posted above some results for Transferwise, OFX, Westpac bank..

So even though I paid 486aud service fee from Transferwise it's still better option.

WU zero fee amount received in Thailand is 1,80,367baht. 

Transferwise 486aud fee amount into Thai bank 1,803,800

For smaller amounts (where the service fee charged by TransferWise is relatively higher), WesternUnion on-line transfer would provide a higher total receipt yield for Australian citizens.

So if your Australian bank does not allow you to transfer more than say 25.000 AusD per day, WesternUnion seems the better choice yield-wise, but obviously you also need to take time of transfer arrival and transparency of transfers into consideration.  I don't know how WU is comparing vs TW when also these factors are taken into consideration.

@Danny Australia might be able to comment on the above, having used WU to transfer his 800K in a few transfers due to max transfer limitations of his Australian bank-account.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Peter Denis

[fceligoj]

Why not have a family member send the large fund amount by International Funds Transfer.  Should cost about 50-75AUD.  It will transfer in less than one day.  All they need is your Thai Bank's SWIFT ID and your Thai bank name and account number.

[Danny Australia]

1 hour ago, Peter Denis said:

For smaller amounts (where the service fee charged by TransferWise is relatively higher), WesternUnion on-line transfer would provide a higher total receipt yield for Australian citizens.

So if your Australian bank does not allow you to transfer more than say 25.000 AusD per day, WesternUnion seems the better choice yield-wise, but obviously you also need to take time of transfer arrival and transparency of transfers into consideration.  I don't know how WU is comparing vs TW when also these factors are taken into consideration.

@Danny Australia might be able to comment on the above, having used WU to transfer his 800K in a few transfers due to max transfer limitations of his Australian bank-account.

 

Indeed, I just recently transferred a total of AU$40,000 via Western Union in 7 different transfers due to my Bankwest daily limit of 5000

 

I paid zero transfer fee and total amount deposited into my Thai bank account was equal or slightly better than transfer Wise. Each transfer took 48 hours to arrive into my TMB account

 

I was not in a hurry though. My bank had told me that I could transfer any amount by filling out and sign International Fund Transfer Form which can be sent back via bank email as an attachment albeit they charge $35 fee and with lower exchange rate).

 

I called the bank earlier asking them to increase the daily limit but they insisted that I must make the application in person. They were happy (after some identity verification questions) to change my password and register new Thai bank sim but not to increase the limit.

 

Next time I go to Australia, I will do two important things to avoid future problems.

1. Get the daily limit increased to whatever amount I want.
2. Request the bank exempt me of the sms verification method because I don’t use an Aussie phone number and instead use the ‘Secret Questions’ method (answer some personal questions such as the name of your first pet, model of your first car, name of first child etc.). This way, when doing online banking , no OTP will be required.

[Peter Denis]

37 minutes ago, fceligoj said:

Why not have a family member send the large fund amount by International Funds Transfer.  Should cost about 50-75AUD.  It will transfer in less than one day.  All they need is your Thai Bank's SWIFT ID and your Thai bank name and account number.

When transferring money from a foreign bank-account to your Thai bank-account there are several factors that you need to take into account.

The most obvious one when choosing a method to do the above,being the Actual amount that you will receive on your Thai bank-account.  Also the speed of receipt and the up-front transparency on what you will receive are factors to consider.

When ordering your foreign bank to send money to your thai bank-account, the amount you receive can differ considerably because of

- your foreign bank charging a 'transaction fee'

- the foreign or Thai bank using a different rate than the real exchange rate

- the receiving Thai bank also charging a transaction fee

To avoid all these costs associated with an international transfer of money, many expats/retirees are using a service like TransferWise.  TWs 'trick' is that they do not actually transfer the money from your foreign account to your Thai bank-account, but rather they order their Thai partner-bank to transfer the money you did sent to TW to your Thai bank-account.  That way thy avoid expensive international bank-transfers and can make use of the real exchange rate (without the sending/receiving bank taking a cut on that).  And TransferWise charges a modest service-fee for doing that, so in practice they are almost always the cheapest option for transferring money.  And depending on the routing of the money you transfer it will be there in 2 business days or shorter (in some cases it's a matter of seconds to receive the funds on your Thai bank-account).  And on top of that TW is fully transparent so you know exactly what amount you will receive when you click GO on your transfer.  As they are using the real exchange rate, the rate (and thus the amount you will receive) fluctuates continually.  So you can wait for a favourable exchange-rate and then click GO on the transfer and TransferWise guarantees that your transfer will be done according to that rate.

There is a reason that many expats/retirees make use of the TransferWise service.

Note: Some other financial services have 'wisened up' due to the competition they experienced with their old-fashioned expensive money-transfers and are now also offering smart transfer-services.