Transfer Money Using WISE (Formerly TRANSFERWISE)

[VBF]

51 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

I never realised that bank's computers shut down or do not work when the actual bank is closed. Or that there is a human intervention in Wise's transfer system.

Neither did I! 

But, as I said, this is what I have observed over a few years of using (Transfer)Wise and it's the only explanation I can come up with.

 

Hence my earlier remark "This my empirical finding NOT based on anything I've read or been told!"

 

I agree it's odd but it's certainly possible to set systems up in this way which is why I asked   @Henryford to be good enough to report back to either support or refute my observation!

 

[KhunBENQ]

15 minutes ago, VBF said:

I agree it's odd but it's certainly possible to set systems up in this way which is why I asked

Absolutely. German bank computers are in deep sleep over the weekend.

(likely setup with the 40 to 50 year old COBOL software I guess)

When I initiate a transfer from German bank account to Belgian bank (SEPA!) account on Friday afternoon it will be credited Tuesday morning.

Fortunately Thai bank computers do not sleep that much.

Only some restrictions for bill payments from midnight to 5 AM as far as I remember.

[AlexRich]

8 hours ago, Salerno said:

 

Bank fees can quickly add up, especially in Thailand with their 220 Baht ATM fee on top of any home bank fees. Contrary to the "cash is king" cohort (indeed it is in certain countries, but you have to get it somehow and I prefer not having a wad of cash laying around) I've been purely using ATMs while travelling for decades. I didn't really give fees a second thought until I did a 3 month trip (Asia, Europe, Middle East) a decade or so ago and noticed I was losing around AU$25 every withdrawal.

 

Look into cards available in the UK that are fee and forex free, reimbursing foreign ATM fees may also be available. For example Aussies have ING and people from the States have Charlie Swab, both cards meet the fee free and reimbursement criteria. For the UK, I think people have mentioned Halifax and Revulute (?) Also look into the fee structure on credit cards - for the first year or two after noticing the fees, my best option was actually using a credit card as my ATM card, just "pre loaded it" to avoid interest charges.

 

Depending on what country you are in (easily done in Thailand) you can make cash withdrawals in a bank to negate/minimise fees. Make sure you have multiple options available (it can be a real pain the proverbial if your card for some reason doesn't work/you lose it) my Wise borderless is purely one of my backups, let the banks know your travel plans if necessary and bump the daily withdrawal limits if appropriate (I've heard ridiculously low, talked to a guy before who said his card was £250). 

Thanks again. I’m going to try and have at least 3 different options, as my banks have a habit of shutting me down when I withdraw money overseas, even when I’ve advised them that I am travelling. Happened in Bali and Thailand, and would have been a nightmare if I didn’t have a credit card on my possession. I’ll look into new banks like Revolut (I think that’s what it’s called), I also heard of something called Xoom, where you can send cash to a pick up point and collect it locally. 

[KhaoYai]

On 6/14/2021 at 12:15 PM, Scouse123 said:

I was amazed when my phone pinged and had an entry into my Thai bank account in such a short space of time.

I've had the same but I've also had some very slow transfers.  If you transfer on a Friday or around one of Thailand's numerous holidays, transactions take longer.

[Sundown]

2 hours ago, KannikaP said:

As an FTT International transfer?

It's not how Wise works. They use banks located in each country so the transfer comes from a Thai entity. The description says " transfer from other bank" and the name of the sender is in Thai. 

[KannikaP]

2 minutes ago, Sundown said:

It's not how Wise works. They use banks located in each country so the transfer comes from a Thai entity. The description says " transfer from other bank" and the name of the sender is in Thai. 

On my Bangkok bank statement it says International Transfer, and in my book FTT.

[scubascuba3]

3 minutes ago, Sundown said:

It's not how Wise works. They use banks located in each country so the transfer comes from a Thai entity. The description says " transfer from other bank" and the name of the sender is in Thai. 

Wrong, you don't seem to know about the Bangkok Bank FTT process

[Blue Muton]

FWIW I have read other posts on here about (Transfer)Wise so I gave them a try for the first time earlier this month. I should be kicking myself for not doing it sooner but I'm not overly keen on being kicked.

[billd766]

5 hours ago, KannikaP said:

As an FTT International transfer?

That is how mine show up in the bankbook and the downloaded statements.

 Kbank does not show the transfer as FTT automatically and I had to request a form from the bank.

BBK Bank does it automatically and it makes life a lot easier for the lady at Immigration. Plus, what makes her life easier, makes my life easier.

 

4 hours ago, KannikaP said:

I never realised that bank's computers shut down or do not work when the actual bank is closed. Or that there is a human intervention in Wise's transfer system.

When I use BBK bank and Wise it goes straight to my account. When I used Wise and my KBank account the transfer stopped and the central bank stage and then required a nudge (during bank working hours only) probably by a human, to finish the last stretch to my account.

Edited June 16, 2021 by billd766
Added extra text

[Henryford]

13 hours ago, billd766 said:

That is how mine show up in the bankbook and the downloaded statements.

 Kbank does not show the transfer as FTT automatically and I had to request a form from the bank.

BBK Bank does it automatically and it makes life a lot easier for the lady at Immigration. Plus, what makes her life easier, makes my life easier.

 

When I use BBK bank and Wise it goes straight to my account. When I used Wise and my KBank account the transfer stopped and the central bank stage and then required a nudge (during bank working hours only) probably by a human, to finish the last stretch to my account.

 

I use BBK and WISE but it still takes 6 hours, or the next day if initiated late in the day, to reach my account.

[treetops]

22 hours ago, VBF said:

and it's the only explanation I can come up with.

 

I don't think it's that computers are shut down or not working when the bank is closed but rather that some operations are performed in batches.  Not instantaneous but at pre-programmed times like the ~2:00pm BBL receipt of money when International Transfer is selected and funded from a UK bank on line through Faster Payments.

[Genix]

We use Wise daily to send money globally and they have been nothing but extraordinary.

 

You can deposit funds into your Wise account (offers multicurrency too) and that will save you the time it takes to transfer from bank to wise, but still will have to wait for wise to their bank. But at least it's much faster (& guarnateed rate as you wanted)

[VBF]

1 hour ago, treetops said:

 

I don't think it's that computers are shut down or not working when the bank is closed but rather that some operations are performed in batches.  Not instantaneous but at pre-programmed times like the ~2:00pm BBL receipt of money when International Transfer is selected and funded from a UK bank on line through Faster Payments.

That is true - "batch processing" has been a feature of computing since the 1960s. When I first joined the IT industry in 1974, there were shifts of Operators on mainframes and the night shift often ran the batches,

However, that wouldn't really explain why at certain times, the UK-Thailand Wise transfer is pretty much instantaneous: not even waiting for a batch to be run. 

[AlexRich]

A side topic, but for those impressed with the Wise business, they are listing on the London Stock Exchange in the near future. They claim to have been profitable since 2017, but I haven’t seen the financials yet. A Fintech may be a bit pricey, but worth a look at least.

[Genix]

38 minutes ago, AlexRich said:

A side topic, but for those impressed with the Wise business, they are listing on the London Stock Exchange in the near future. They claim to have been profitable since 2017, but I haven’t seen the financials yet. A Fintech may be a bit pricey, but worth a look at least.

 

Interesting to know thanks. They'll just keep growing as the world gets more digital and the old banking system gets competition with modernized players like Wise. 

[AlexRich]

4 hours ago, Genix said:

 

Interesting to know thanks. They'll just keep growing as the world gets more digital and the old banking system gets competition with modernized players like Wise. 

Just read in the Guardian. Revenues for y/e 31 March 2021 was £421m with profit before tax of £41m. They suggested the market cap would be around £9 billion, which means the P/E will be eye watering. Much will depend on expected growth prospects. 

[scubascuba3]

9 hours ago, AlexRich said:

A side topic, but for those impressed with the Wise business, they are listing on the London Stock Exchange in the near future. They claim to have been profitable since 2017, but I haven’t seen the financials yet. A Fintech may be a bit pricey, but worth a look at least.

Revolut went down hill as soon as that happened. No one talks about them anymore

[AlexRich]

6 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Revolut went down hill as soon as that happened. No one talks about them anymore

Another article in the Times today suggesting a market cap of £5 billion, which seems a little better. Apparently there is a very large addressable market? One to watch, but probably don’t dive in at float. 

[Somtamnication]

Got verified today by Wise. (Rather, waiting on verification). There is no atm card with them in Thailand. I see no option to add a Thai bank account. Does that show up after verification?

[lopburi3]

33 minutes ago, Somtamnication said:

Got verified today by Wise. (Rather, waiting on verification). There is no atm card with them in Thailand. I see no option to add a Thai bank account. Does that show up after verification?

You can transfer into Thai bank accounts fine but if you are talking drawing from a Thai bank account Wise does not offer that.  Suspect you are offered banks when making a transfer but gray matter has lost that over the years - although did add another Thai bank account last year so that must be the process.

[GrandPapillon]

For those who are using WISE regularly, you can now pre-buy shares of WISE before the IPO on LSE ????

 

not sure if it's a good deal though, introductory price will be high

[scubascuba3]

36 minutes ago, GrandPapillon said:

For those who are using WISE regularly, you can now pre-buy shares of WISE before the IPO on LSE ????

 

not sure if it's a good deal though, introductory price will be high

I'm not bothering. It's quite likely their competitive advantage will be lost over the next couple years

[Excel]

42 minutes ago, GrandPapillon said:

For those who are using WISE regularly, you can now pre-buy shares of WISE before the IPO on LSE ????

 

not sure if it's a good deal though, introductory price will be high

Limited to 100,000 applicants

Edited June 24, 2021 by Excel

[ballpoint]

On 6/17/2021 at 8:23 PM, AlexRich said:

A side topic, but for those impressed with the Wise business, they are listing on the London Stock Exchange in the near future. They claim to have been profitable since 2017, but I haven’t seen the financials yet. A Fintech may be a bit pricey, but worth a look at least.

[davidhen]

I too was interested in Wise's "direct listing" on the LSE. Alas, when I clicked on "interested" on the email invitation to join "Ownwise", which is the way to try to join the first 100,000 applicants in owning shares with bonuses/perks etc., the site informed me that I had to actually be in the UK or the EU to take part. Obviously, the site knew that I was in LoS.

One may, of course buy shares in the aftermarket, just like any other listed company.

[scubascuba3]

2 hours ago, davidhen said:

I too was interested in Wise's "direct listing" on the LSE. Alas, when I clicked on "interested" on the email invitation to join "Ownwise", which is the way to try to join the first 100,000 applicants in owning shares with bonuses/perks etc., the site informed me that I had to actually be in the UK or the EU to take part. Obviously, the site knew that I was in LoS.

One may, of course buy shares in the aftermarket, just like any other listed company.

If you have a UK address use a VPN if you want the shares

[sandyf]

On 6/14/2021 at 5:44 PM, KannikaP said:

100% agree, the best way to do it. And build your THB balance over a period of time, when rates look best. Then you are not tied down to the rate on the day you want/need to transfer it.

I have bought stuff on Lazada with my THB balance, quite easy other than the security questions.

When I sent some money to an account in Belgium it took less than 5 seconds, they sent me a message to say so.

[sandyf]

On 6/16/2021 at 12:05 AM, Salerno said:

 

Depends on your intent.

 

I got their card as soon as it became available to me intending to transfer into Baht now and then when the interest rates where favourable, let the balance build over time and then use it for ATM withdrawals on trips. Have never used it once - I am lucky enough to have cards with far better options. 

 

If you are thinking of using it as an ATM card look into the withdrawal limits and fees https://wise.com/help/articles/2935769/how-much-does-it-cost-to-withdraw-cash

I didn't pay any fee when I withdrew cash from ATM in UK. There was a message about fees came up on the ATM screen but none were applied.

[sandyf]

On 6/16/2021 at 2:12 PM, KannikaP said:

I never realised that bank's computers shut down or do not work when the actual bank is closed. Or that there is a human intervention in Wise's transfer system.

I think all foreign transfers into Thailand are distributed by Bahtnet, and that is only online if I remember right from 08.30 till 17.30 Thai time.

[Salerno]

3 minutes ago, sandyf said:

I didn't pay any fee when I withdrew cash from ATM in UK. There was a message about fees came up on the ATM screen but none were applied.

 

What country did you get it in, how many times did you use it and how much withdrawn in that time?

 

Personally the fee structure for me makes it basically useless other than as emergency back up:

• If your card was issued in Australia, New Zealand, or Singapore**: You can take out money for free twice a month — as long as it’s under 350 AUD/NZD/SGD. But after that, we’ll charge you 1.50 AUD/NZD/SGD per transaction. This is a fixed fee. If you take out over 350 AUD/NZD/SGD in one month, we’ll charge you 1.75% on top of that.

If I used it as my primary, I'd be back to eating fees of around AU$17 per withdrawal after the first day.