Transferring 150K GBP To Bangkok Bank

[Yellowtail]

47 minutes ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

when trasfering such large amount, what you have to worry about is weather the transaction

will be approved by both banks and will not be blocked for investigation.

such block might take weeks and cuase much stress.

so why are you so worried about the 2M baht limit? it is propably the transfer wise limit.

if you need to transfer , say, 6 M baht, than better do it in 3 TW payments, and if the amount is larger, than better use the BANKS swift system.

anyway fees are not the main worry here.

 

Is it your position that TW is somehow less of a risk than a direct transfer from bank to bank? 

 

When I transfer from my home country bank in the US to one of my Thai bank account, it's done with a few clicks. I can select from a dropdown menu what the transfer is for, which among a number of other things includs "Real Estate Investment".  It is no more difficult than using TW and it is more secure. 

 

For large transfers the bank is cheaper, for small transfers TW is cheaper. 

[scubascuba3]

1 hour ago, Chivas said:

 

Transferwise dont "usually" give a better rate than the banks..  They use interbank and there is no higher rate

 

Some of the mickey mouse outfits I see Thaivisa posters (in general) recommending are just mind boggling on the bottom line

Huge fee as the transfer gets big, so there is likely a trade off at a certain size. Banks fee is usually fixed whatever the size of transfer

[LosLobo]

1 hour ago, Chivas said:

 

"Transferwise dont "usually" give a better rate than the banks.. "

Anyone who has compared Transferwise fx rates to the banks' know that this is not the case.

[Yellowtail]

1 hour ago, LosLobo said:

Anyone who has compared Transferwise fx rates to the banks' know that this is not the case.

 

Anyone that does not understand arithmetic anyway...

 

For small transfers TW is cheaper, but it is more expensive once you get up around US$10K, at least from my bank in the US.

[Chivas]

3 hours ago, LosLobo said:

Anyone who has compared Transferwise fx rates to the banks' know that this is not the case.

 

I assume you're agreeing with my accurate statement....

 

2 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

 

Anyone that does not understand arithmetic anyway...

 

For small transfers TW is cheaper, but it is more expensive once you get up around US$10K, at least from my bank in the US.

 

Fella after 37 years in finance I can assure you I can add up quicker than anyone on this forum bar none......

I'll repeat that I was referring clearly to the full interbank offered and the fact no other provider/sender does likewise.

[Yellowtail]

6 hours ago, Chivas said:

 

I assume you're agreeing with my accurate statement....

 

 

Fella after 37 years in finance I can assure you I can add up quicker than anyone on this forum bar none......

I'll repeat that I was referring clearly to the full interbank offered and the fact no other provider/sender does likewise.

 

Oh, a real fart smella... I mean smart fella huh? 

 

Or not. Re-read my post.

[ianguygil]

22 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

when trasfering such large amount, what you have to worry about is weather the transaction

will be approved by both banks and will not be blocked for investigation.

such block might take weeks and cuase much stress.

so why are you so worried about the 2M baht limit? it is propably the transfer wise limit.

if you need to transfer , say, 6 M baht, than better do it in 3 TW payments, and if the amount is larger, than better use the BANKS swift system.

anyway fees are not the main worry here.

All companies moving money have to comply to the same AML and KYC rules. Not obeying them is the quickest way to lose a license and to face punitive fines in the billions as you see with some of the big banks. The software we all use is not silly enough to allow people to break a large amount into many small amounts and stay under the radar. As I always say here, you should all applaud banks and money transfer companies for doing this strictly because this is how we stop loonies like ISIS, Al Queda and Pablo Escobar and buddies from moving money to pay for their disgusting activities.

 

Doing multiple transfers via a retail operation will cost you the most overall.

And as I said don't focus on rates, fees or commissions because those area all ways of hiding charges. Look at how many of currency B you actually receive net divided by how many of currency A you sent (including any up front fees) and you will know what your real rate is. The absolute worst are these TRAVELX places at the airport where you lose 15% in each direction. Just use an ATM for a large amount not small amounts many times. 

 

Probably the final thing I need to mention is that you need to make sure that whoever you move your money with is actually approved, insured and ethical. If they fail in the middle of it you will end up with nothing. Companies like Transferwise and WU are approved, well capitalized and ethical. But they are Retail options and not for large amounts. 

 

If you know you are going to move a really large amount you can even do an FX deal and tie the payment to the settlement of that deal (in the settlement instructions). That is worth doing definitely if you want to lock in a rate if you think the "to" currency may appreciate significantly. If you are moving 1 Million USD for a property purchase a 1% move against you is $10,000 USD. Worth considering. 

 

I'm signing off on this subject now. Enjoy.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

21 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Banks fee is usually fixed whatever the size of transfer

THAT IS NOT TRUE. bank fees are changing with the size of transfer, but of course not all banks

are made the same.

[Yellowtail]

17 minutes ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

THAT IS NOT TRUE. bank fees are changing with the size of transfer, but of course not all banks

are made the same.

 

I know that for Chase Bank in the US the SWIFT transfer fee $40 and is the same regardless of the amount of the transfer.

 

Do you have an example of a bank that has a variable SWIFT transfer fee that is dependent on the amount of transfer? 

 

 

[ianguygil]

In my experience the fee with a bank is flat and they make on the rate

 

If a payment is over a street rate it will automatically bounce to a dealer or to an auto-dealer to assign a rate but that is probably a bit worse that if you pre arrange something.

 

I really need to stop wasting time on this. Bottom line as you say is that a bank to bank transfer is always better than a Retail operation for any large amount, and that for a very large amount you should probably arrange an FX deal. I always give a heads up before I move the funds even though sometimes I am moving from a USD account in Thailand into THB. They assign the rate then I do the deal. 

[LosLobo]

19 hours ago, Chivas said:

...... "after 37 years in finance I can assure you I can add up quicker than anyone on this forum bar none......"

37 years in finance !  Don't expect any sympathy from anyone on this forum!

 

Monty Python Accountant to Lion Tamer

[ianguygil]

20 hours ago, Chivas said:

 

I assume you're agreeing with my accurate statement....

 

 

Fella after 37 years in finance I can assure you I can add up quicker than anyone on this forum bar none......

I'll repeat that I was referring clearly to the full interbank offered and the fact no other provider/sender does likewise.

I'm way past 37 years and I still can't add ???? 

[scubascuba3]

2 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

THAT IS NOT TRUE. bank fees are changing with the size of transfer, but of course not all banks

are made the same.

you missed the word "usually", my bank Santander charges £25 a transfer whereas TransferWise charge a %. What UK bank charges different amounts for different size swift transfers? 

[LosLobo]

2 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

 

Do you have an example of a bank that has a variable SWIFT transfer fee that is dependent on the amount of transfer? 

 

Bangkok Bank

"An electronic transfer (SWIFT instruction) is the fastest way to receive funds directly to your Bangkok Bank account. What fees are payable to receive funds from abroad? The fee is 0.25% of the total amount (minimum fee of 200 baht and a maximum fee of 500 baht)."

[ianguygil]

11 minutes ago, LosLobo said:

Bangkok Bank

"An electronic transfer (SWIFT instruction) is the fastest way to receive funds directly to your Bangkok Bank account. What fees are payable to receive funds from abroad? The fee is 0.25% of the total amount (minimum fee of 200 baht and a maximum fee of 500 baht)."

You also need to look at the fees from the sending bank and any intermediaries. Banks like us have more Correspondent relationships so less intermediaries, often none at all

[pokerface1]

I can save you some money here:  Once your funds are transfer to the Thai bank and your ready to convert your GBP to Thai Baht instruct the bank to contact their dealing desk for a better rate compared to the published rate. I did this when I transfer a large amount to the BBK. 

[ianguygil]

29 minutes ago, pokerface1 said:

I can save you some money here:  Once your funds are transfer to the Thai bank and your ready to convert your GBP to Thai Baht instruct the bank to contact their dealing desk for a better rate compared to the published rate. I did this when I transfer a large amount to the BBK. 

 

[Yellowtail]

5 hours ago, LosLobo said:

Bangkok Bank

"An electronic transfer (SWIFT instruction) is the fastest way to receive funds directly to your Bangkok Bank account. What fees are payable to receive funds from abroad? The fee is 0.25% of the total amount (minimum fee of 200 baht and a maximum fee of 500 baht)."

 

Okay, so fee is variable if you're RECEIVING between ~ US$333 and US$833, but for transfers less than $333 or greater than $833 it's constant.

 

 

 

[Pib]

8 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

 

Okay, so fee is variable if you're RECEIVING between ~ US$333 and US$833, but for transfers less than $333 or greater than $833 it's constant.

Just for example purposes if the receiving exchange rate was 30 baht per USD, then it would take approx $2666 or less to incur the minimum Bt200 fee.  And approx $6,667 or more to incur the maximum Bt500 fee.   

 

Amounts greater than $2,666 and less than $6,667 would have a variable receiving fee ranging between Bt200 to Bt500.

[Yellowtail]

6 minutes ago, Pib said:

Just for example purposes if the receiving exchange rate was 30 baht per USD, then it would take approx $2666 or less to incur the minimum Bt200 fee.  And approx $6,667 or more to incur the maximum Bt500 fee.   

 

Amounts greater than $2,666 and less than $6,667 would have a variable receiving fee ranging between Bt200 to Bt500.

 

Don't know why I used 2%, good catch, thanks.

[ukrules]

2 hours ago, Pib said:

Amounts greater than $2,666 and less than $6,667 would have a variable receiving fee ranging between Bt200 to Bt500.

 

Exactly, it's pocket change

 

[ianguygil]

20 hours ago, LosLobo said:

Bangkok Bank

"An electronic transfer (SWIFT instruction) is the fastest way to receive funds directly to your Bangkok Bank account. What fees are payable to receive funds from abroad? The fee is 0.25% of the total amount (minimum fee of 200 baht and a maximum fee of 500 baht)."

Just to be clear, this is the fee for receiving the funds. The guy earlier was talking about variable fees for sending funds which is not usual. Receiving funds often depends on the amount with a cap. We cap at 500 Baht as you show here which in Thailand is common. In some countries there is no cap on receiving. I was once charged a SWIFT fee to send money from the UK - HALIFAX - to my wife who has an account in Jersey and a fee. Jersey is in the UK so <deleted> a SWIFT transfer has to do with it I don't understand. 

 

Bottom line is that the fees charged in Thailand are low compared to other countries.

 

And, as I have said repeatedly, look at how many Baht you get for how many USD or GBP or EUR or whatever. Just divide the THB by your home currency including all fees and commissions and charges and that is your effective rate