How to use Wise when you want to get the best exchange rate.

[uheuhe]

This is a reply to "Transferwise Charges if you cancel a transfer."

 

We have 2 problems.

 

1: exchanging from one currency to another currency

 

2: transfer money to your Thai account.

 

You don't have to do the two things at the same time.

 

In Wise you should make two balances, 

1 in your currency for example £  

and 1 balance in Thai Baht.

 

Send your money to the Wise £ balance.

 

When the rate is good, convert to Thai Baht.

 

When you need to send Thai Baht to your Thai account, just send the Baht from your Thai Baht balance. 

The transfer takes between 5 and 10 seconds.

(at least it do that for me, I use Kasikorn Bank)

 

An extra bonus is that you don't have to pay the 200 Baht Kasikorn fee because Kasikorn sees the Wise transfer as an inland transfer.

 

By the way, I love my Wise debit card

I have balances in Dkk, US $, Euro, and Thai Baht.

 

If I pay something in US$, Wise will take it from my US $ balance, if I pay something in Thai Baht my balance in Thai Bath is used.

It is very useful, and I love to save money because I can convert when the exchange rates are optimal..

[scubascuba3]

I can't see how you'd get a better rate transferring say £ to your Wise £ account and then buying Baht vs just buying baht using £ from UK bank account transfer

[prakhonchai nick]

31 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I can't see how you'd get a better rate transferring say £ to your Wise £ account and then buying Baht vs just buying baht using £ from UK bank account transfer

If you set up a Wise transfer using £ sterling you are asked whether the money will come from an outside bank or  taken from a Wise account (if you have one)

Strangely, if you take the payment from your Wise account the fee is slightly lower than if you transfer the money direct from a main high street bank

It is therefore best to transfer money to your Wise account first then transfer using money in the Wise account

Only pennies in it, but they do add up, especially if you make many transfers, and get you a few free beers during a year.

[OneeyedJohn]

Last time I looked Wise wasn't offering thecredit card in Thailand, has that changed?

 

[scubascuba3]

15 minutes ago, prakhonchai nick said:

If you set up a Wise transfer using £ sterling you are asked whether the money will come from an outside bank or  taken from a Wise account (if you have one)

Strangely, if you take the payment from your Wise account the fee is slightly lower than if you transfer the money direct from a main high street bank

It is therefore best to transfer money to your Wise account first then transfer using money in the Wise account

Only pennies in it, but they do add up, especially if you make many transfers, and get you a few free beers during a year.

what's the difference in £ fees? i understand for euros they charge a fee for balances

Edited October 3, 2021 by scubascuba3

[prakhonchai nick]

7 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

what's the difference in £ fees? i understand for euros they charge a fee for balances

For a £1,000 transfer, perhaps £1 or £1.50  As I said its only pennies, and it is never constant..   No fees charged to hold a balance in £ ..use it whenever you want.  No interest payable though.

[Chris.B]

33 minutes ago, OneeyedJohn said:

Last time I looked Wise wasn't offering thecredit card in Thailand, has that changed?

 

It's a debit card not credit. They also offer a "digital" debit card which can be activated through your settings.

 

[Chris.B]

40 minutes ago, prakhonchai nick said:

If you set up a Wise transfer using £ sterling you are asked whether the money will come from an outside bank or  taken from a Wise account (if you have one)

Strangely, if you take the payment from your Wise account the fee is slightly lower than if you transfer the money direct from a main high street bank

It is therefore best to transfer money to your Wise account first then transfer using money in the Wise account

Only pennies in it, but they do add up, especially if you make many transfers, and get you a few free beers during a year.

Really? I wasn't aware of that. Seems strange though especially when Wise proudly state "no hidden charges".

[prakhonchai nick]

31 minutes ago, Chris.B said:

Really? I wasn't aware of that. Seems strange though especially when Wise proudly state "no hidden charges".

Not exactly a hidden charge. Maybe it is in lieu of interest.

[Moonlover]

1 hour ago, prakhonchai nick said:

Strangely, if you take the payment from your Wise account the fee is slightly lower than if you transfer the money direct from a main high street bank

Rubbish. The fee is identical no matter which way you do it.

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, OneeyedJohn said:

Last time I looked Wise wasn't offering thecredit card in Thailand, has that changed?

 

Wise never did offer a Credit Card. It is a pre-loaded debit card to all intents and purposes, and a cheap way to transfer to banks in other countries/currencies.

[KannikaP]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

I can't see how you'd get a better rate transferring say £ to your Wise £ account and then buying Baht vs just buying baht using £ from UK bank account transfer

If you do it as and when the rate is good, GBP into THB, keep it in THB until you need/want to send it to your Thai bank, you could win a few quidin exchange rates, or of course, lose.

I exchange the equivalent of Bht 12,500 four times a month in order to reach the Bht 50,000 I need to send. Each one costs £2.63 = £10.52, as opposed to a one off transfer of Bht 50,000 which costs £8.75 plus Bht 32 at Bkk Bank.. But I am not tied down to the exchange rate which is on the day I send it, I have hopefully, picked good days.

And once again, if you put the reason as 'long term stay in Thailand, it will take until 2pm that day, or the next, to be in your Thai Bank, whereas any other reason will be almost instant, but NOT as a foreign transfer.

Edited October 3, 2021 by KannikaP

[KannikaP]

4 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

Rubbish. The fee is identical no matter which way you do it.

The fee is higher if you transfer using a card as opposed to a bank transfer, maybe to cover Wises' cost of card charges.

[prakhonchai nick]

21 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

Rubbish. The fee is identical no matter which way you do it.

Maybe for you, not for me- on many occasons!

[scubascuba3]

20 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

If you do it as and when the rate is good, GBP into THB, keep it in THB until you need/want to send it to your Thai bank, you could win a few quidin exchange rates, or of course, lose.

I exchange the equivalent of Bht 12,500 four times a month in order to reach the Bht 50,000 I need to send. Each one costs £2.63 = £10.52, as opposed to a one off transfer of Bht 50,000 which costs £8.75 plus Bht 32 at Bkk Bank.. But I am not tied down to the exchange rate which is on the day I send it, I have hopefully, picked good days.

And once again, if you put the reason as 'long term stay in Thailand, it will take until 2pm that day, or the next, to be in your Thai Bank, whereas any other reason will be almost instant, but NOT as a foreign transfer.

I can see it can be useful if you need to send the 65k month, but if you have 800k then no benefit transferring to just Wise, might as well transfer as and when the exchange rate is favourable

[KannikaP]

10 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

I can see it can be useful if you need to send the 65k month, but if you have 800k then no benefit transferring to just Wise, might as well transfer as and when the exchange rate is favourable

Using which company's favourable exchange rate? 

[Moonlover]

10 minutes ago, prakhonchai nick said:

31 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

Rubbish. The fee is identical no matter which way you do it.

 

10 minutes ago, prakhonchai nick said:

Maybe for you, not for me- on many occasons!

Again nonsense. When you set up a transfer, the opening page tells you what fee will be charged.

 

At that stage the Wise system does no know how you are going to fund the transfer, but Wise does guarantee that fee you see is the fee you will pay.

 

The only thing that will change the fee is if you decide to change from 'low cost transfer' to one the other 2 choices. But once again, the fee you see is the fee you will pay.

 

There are no hidden secrets to fees Wise charges, which one of the many reasons why so many people use them.

[scubascuba3]

3 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

Using which company's favourable exchange rate? 

Wise,but if exchange rates are getting better daily it's possible that using a UK bank to transfer £ to Thai bank might be better

[KannikaP]

4 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Wise,but if exchange rates are getting better daily it's possible that using a UK bank to transfer £ to Thai bank might be better

The rates will change for better or worse for ALL banks, Wise included. They seem to be the best at the moment.

[prakhonchai nick]

12 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

 

Again nonsense. When you set up a transfer, the opening page tells you what fee will be charged.

 

At that stage the Wise system does no know how you are going to fund the transfer, but Wise does guarantee that fee you see is the fee you will pay.

 

The only thing that will change the fee is if you decide to change from 'low cost transfer' to one the other 2 choices. But once again, the fee you see is the fee you will pay.

 

There are no hidden secrets to fees Wise charges, which one of the many reasons why so many people use them.

What you say is indeed correct -for the opening page. Once you log-in, when you choose to use money from your Wise account, the fee reduces!  Works for me and all my friends, such that we ALWAYS transfer money  to our account, before setting up the transfer.  Just trying to pass on helpful info!

[scubascuba3]

11 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

The rates will change for better or worse for ALL banks, Wise included. They seem to be the best at the moment.

the point is the FX rate you get from your thai bank will be a few days ahead vs Wise is trade date

[Chris.B]

34 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Wise,but if exchange rates are getting better daily it's possible that using a UK bank to transfer £ to Thai bank might be better

I don't think so....... 

[KannikaP]

32 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

the point is the FX rate you get from your thai bank will be a few days ahead vs Wise is trade date

Will the Thai bank rate not be a few days BEHIND Wise. 

[OneeyedJohn]

Some people, really, one sandwich short of a picnic.

 

[Moonlover]

55 minutes ago, prakhonchai nick said:

What you say is indeed correct

Thank you very much!

[gamb00ler]

I have a "Wise account" but I have not yet transferred funds to Thailand using Wise.

When I select send money I am given two choices: )1 An account outside Wise or 2) from my Wise balance.

 

I have checked on the differences and option 1) has higher fees.

 

[scubascuba3]

10 hours ago, KannikaP said:

Will the Thai bank rate not be a few days BEHIND Wise. 

not behind no, why behind? it's just a different days exchange rate in a few days

[scubascuba3]

10 hours ago, Chris.B said:

I don't think so....... 

try and explain why not?

[prakhonchai nick]

21 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Thank you very much!

Read my whole post

 

Gambooler 19 hours ago, has provided proof that you get more  when using your Wise balance...Convinced now?

[phetphet]

I think there are two different things going on here.

One is a normal straightforward Wise transfer (which is what I always do),  and the other, which the OP is using is via a Multi Currency Account. Seeing as he mentions paying into different currency accounts.

There are probably cost differences between the two.