Wise transfers not being processed as International (Specifically Bangkok Bank)

[Pib]

1 hour ago, mfd101 said:

Can't help noticing that ALL the successful (FTT) transfers currently - including my 2 mentioned above in October - have been the non-fast transfers.

 

I also recollect the Wise email of 20 July (v. below) - coming to me as an Oz customer - talking about all the improvements they're making and how speeds are getting up to speed but still some way to go here and there. And Thailand was one of the non-speedies (based on my experiences for the last 2+ years) but perhaps now is catching up ... People more expert than me can draw their own conclusions, or hypotheses.

 

https://wise.com/p/mission-update-q2-2021?utm_medium=crm&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=f03127ac-69fe-47c8-a3c6-72fbf41b700e&utm_variant=01a89b9c-d5b0-4547-9444-8a0a3d299eba&utm_date=19-07-2021#Speed

Wouldn't surprise me if Wise removed the programming that triggered use of Bangkok Bank as the partner bank by selecting Long Stay Thailand in order to improve transfer times from a day or so to only seconds.  Maybe it was unintentional...but it could have been intentional to see if any customers noticed or really cared.  Or maybe it was removed because new people/programmers at Wise didn't understand why the special coding existed to route the transfer only thru Bangkok Bank and just removed it.

 

I expect speed of transfer...better stats took priority over meeting the needs of a percentage (probably a small one) of transfers to Thailand needing the upfront Int'l Transfer/FTT coding.  Plus it was only helping select folks with Bangkok Bank accounts vs all Thai banks (not to imply Wise will not try to meet the important needs of a small subset of customers).

 

Tagging an acct/recipient seems to be the only way right now to guarantee getting FTT coding barring those times/technical problems which may prevent use of Bangkok  Bank as the partner bank for any transfer.  

 

And someday Wise and Bangkok Bank may part ways or tagging not even work anymore.  So, we all should have a Plan B to get and/or prove Int'l Transfer coding.  Preaching to the choir I know.

[scubascuba3]

3 minutes ago, Pib said:

Wouldn't surprise me if Wise removed the programming that triggered use of Bangkok Bank as the partner bank by selecting Long Stay Thailand in order to improve transfer times from a day or so to only seconds.  Maybe it was unintentional...but it could have been intentional to see if any customers noticed or really cared.  Or maybe it was removed because new people/programmers at Wise didn't understand why the special coding existed to route the transfer only thru Bangkok Bank and just removed it.

 

I agree i think they mistakenly removed it following a system update. Unlikely they just removed it to speed up transfers without telling anyone, that would be very poor

[norbra]

We do use partner banks to send money, and the payment can move through several intermediary banks before reaching the recipient. As this system is automatic, we don't have much control over how the payment travels from us to the recipient. The issue is the payment arrives too early ? Can you DM us your transfer number or membership number, so we can understand the issue more clearly? Todays reply from Wise. It doesn't seem to get through their standard responses no matter how much information you provide

Edited October 19, 2021 by norbra

[racyrick]

I was just thinking. Since we are just getting standard answers to our questions from Wise, why don't we reverse engineer the question and simply ask via phone and/or email the following-

What is the purpose of using the "Funds For Long Term Stay" as a reason for our transfer?

This way, they will have to actually ask a supervisor or someone higher up for the answer and we may finally get this issue looked at and resolved. Agree?

[Pib]

5 minutes ago, racyrick said:

I was just thinking. Since we are just getting standard answers to our questions from Wise, why don't we reverse engineer the question and simply ask via phone and/or email the following-

What is the purpose of using the "Funds For Long Term Stay" as a reason for our transfer?

This way, they will have to actually ask a supervisor or someone higher up for the answer and we may finally get this issue looked at and resolved. Agree?

If I was a Wise rep I would just answer "self-explanatory" like how the other reasons for transfer are self-explanatory. 

 

Then you would have to respond by once again explaining how that reason use to trigger a transfer thru BBK as the partner bank which gave FTT coding but now it don't and it has this impact on me which is probably what people have already been asking.  So, a person would be back to asking what they already asked.

[scubascuba3]

Over the next few days the decent Wise responses will start coming

[racyrick]

2 minutes ago, Pib said:

If I was a Wise rep I would just answer "self-explanatory" like how the other reasons for transfer are self-explanatory. 

 

Then you would have to respond by once again explaining how that reason use to trigger a transfer thru BBK as the partner bank which gave FTT coding but now it don't and it has this impact on me which is probably what people have already been asking.  So, a person would be back to asking what they already asked.

Maybe, but do we have anything to lose at this point?? By the way, if YOU were a WISE rep, this issue would have already been fixed!!

 

[pontious]

12 minutes ago, racyrick said:

Maybe, but do we have anything to lose at this point?? By the way, if YOU were a WISE rep, this issue would have already been fixed!!

 

1 agree.! Come on PIB -join Wise and sort it out. We will expect a result by Friday. Oh that is a holiday. Again - so Monday no later.????????

[scubascuba3]

i replied to Wise yesterday with this, if it goes to someone with knowledge i should get a decent answer, anyway keep escalating

[racyrick]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

i replied to Wise yesterday with this, if it goes to someone with knowledge i should get a decent answer, anyway keep escalating

Looking forward to the reply they give you.

[thefactoryoutlet]

On 10/9/2021 at 3:20 PM, thefactoryoutlet said:

 

Thank you, but where FTT appears written ?!

 

possible at ATM ? at the desk ?

 

 

 

any confirmation please ?

 

[skatewash]

2 hours ago, thefactoryoutlet said:

 

any confirmation please ?

 

FTT foreign telegraphic transfer appears as the  passbook entry for your Bangkok Bank account, internation transfer will appear as the transaction in online banking for Bangkok Bank.

 

[JohnOFphon]

16 hours ago, Pib said:

 

Update on my request for Wise to tag another one of my Bangkok Bank accts.  As talked in an earlier post I requested the tagging on 14 Oct/Thursday....on 15 Oct/Friday I got an interim Wise human response basically saying they will forward my request to the their payments section to see if it's possible (of course its possible as I already have one tagged acct from over two years ago)....I sent a follow-up request on 17 Oct/Sunday asking for a tagging status update....today/19 Oct/Tuesday I got a Wise response saying the tagging was done.  So, it took 5 days to get the tagging done.  A few years ago when I asked to tag an acct it only took 2 days....but maybe this time the intervening weekend and COVID impacts slowed them down.  Anyway, tagging done.

 

This morning as a test I initiated two transfers. A transfer to one of my "untagged" Bangkok Bank accts and another transfer to my newly tagged Bangkok Bank acct.   I funded the transfers from my multicurrency acct and selected Long Stay Thailand reason for both transfers.   

 

The transfer to the "untagged" acct posted within seconds.  No int'l transfer coding and per Wise PDF Receipt K-bank used as the partner bank.   The choosing of the Long Stay Thailand reason for stay once again did not result in Int'l Transfer/FTT coding since Bangkok Bank was not used as the partner bank.  Up until a few weeks ago on an untagged acct by using the Long Stay Thailand reason it would  trigger use of Bangkok Bank as the partner bank and get you Int'l Transfer/FTT coding...but hey, that's not working right now...we know that already based on this and other threads.

 

Now the other transfer done a minute later to the newly "tagged" acct said it would post in 7 hours (i..e, which would be around 2pm Thailand time).  I knew  this meant  Bangkok Bank was being used as the partner bank and will result in Int'l Transfer/FTT coding...and sure enough at 2:02pm it posted as an Int'l Transfer/FTT....the Wise PDF Receipt shows Bangkok Bank used as the partner bank.

 

The results of the two transfers today mirror what happened last week when I did the same test to my other Bangkok Bank tagged acct which was tagged over 2 years ago and to an untagged Bangkok Bank acct. 

 

So, now if I want the funds within seconds and don't care about international transfer/FTT coding I will just send to one of my untagged accts and if I need FTT coding I will send to one of my tagged Bangkok Bank accts.

 

 

Already answered

Edited October 20, 2021 by JohnOFphon
already answered

[thonglorjimmy]

14 hours ago, norbra said:

We do use partner banks to send money, and the payment can move through several intermediary banks before reaching the recipient. As this system is automatic, we don't have much control over how the payment travels from us to the recipient. The issue is the payment arrives too early ? Can you DM us your transfer number or membership number, so we can understand the issue more clearly? Todays reply from Wise. It doesn't seem to get through their standard responses no matter how much information you provide

Thanks, do you work for Wise or maybe a Thai bank?

[lopburi3]

1 minute ago, thonglorjimmy said:

Thanks, do you work for Wise or maybe a Thai bank?

Poster appears to be providing a quote (forgot the quote marks so not clear until end).

[theoldgit]

2 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Poster appears to be providing a quote (forgot the quote marks so not clear until end).

 

6 minutes ago, thonglorjimmy said:

Thanks, do you work for Wise or maybe a Thai bank?

 

Thanks loburi3, I have to confess that nobras post confused me as well.

[mojaco]

After having my Bangkok Bank account "tagged", I sent from my Borderless account $50 with "for long stay in thailand" and another $50 for "personal expenses".  Both indicated they would arrive today, showed up today a little after 2:00 PM, and both did show up as international transfers.  So seems like tagging the account is most important, as some others have noted.  Good *indicator* for my November 65,000 Baht transfer.

[scubascuba3]

Interesting that the Wise share price is down 30% the last month

[mr336]

Use Unwise every month to transfer the 65,000 from my US to my BB account and always select Long term stay. Have had good luck for the last year. Initiated 2 transfers this month. Sent Oct 2nd, arrived Oct 4th direct to BB with proper FTT code. Transfer was 83,000 Baht.

 

Second transfer sent Oct 15, arrived Oct 19 but sent to Kbank then to BB with the code ?????smart. Cant remember the exact code but not FTT. Transfer was 428,000 to top off my 800K requirement. I always select Long term stay in Thailand. Sounds like they are chasing the money with the best rate from the partner banks? FYI.

[KannikaP]

18 minutes ago, mr336 said:

Use Unwise every month to transfer the 65,000 from my US to my BB account and always select Long term stay. Have had good luck for the last year. Initiated 2 transfers this month. Sent Oct 2nd, arrived Oct 4th direct to BB with proper FTT code. Transfer was 83,000 Baht.

 

Second transfer sent Oct 15, arrived Oct 19 but sent to Kbank then to BB with the code ?????smart. Cant remember the exact code but not FTT. Transfer was 428,000 to top off my 800K requirement. I always select Long term stay in Thailand. Sounds like they are chasing the money with the best rate from the partner banks? FYI.

Why do you need 800k in the bank if you are doing 65k per month?

[lopburi3]

1 hour ago, mr336 said:

Sounds like they are chasing the money with the best rate from the partner banks? FYI.

The money is already in baht.

[skatewash]

I'm not sanguine that this FTT labeling kerfuffle is going to have a satisfying conclusion to Thai immigration customers using the Wise service.  Here's why:

This is my understanding of Wise's business model.  They have bank balances at their partner banks in the countries they serve.  Let's say I send a request to wise to transfer $100 from my US bank account to my Bangkok Bank account.  Wise accepts my $100 which they may put in their account at a US partner bank's account, or if it makes sense to them anywhere in the world Wise thinks best.  In return, Wise transfers baht equivalent of $100 (3,337 baht) from one of their Thai partner banks to my Bangkok Bank account.  Suppose Wise uses Bangkok Bank to do this.  For some reason I don't entirely understand Bangkok Bank is comfortable in labeling that transfer as FTT (international).  I'm happy.

But suppose Wise uses Kasikorn Bank (another of its Thai partner banks) to send the 3,337 baht to my Bangkok Bank account.  Then because it is a domestic transfer from another Thai bank, Bangkok Bank labels that as something other than an FTT (international) transaction.  I'm not happy.

So a couple years ago, Wise comes up with this scheme whereby I "tag" Bangkok Bank as my Bank.  I'm also told to select the purpose of "long term stay in Thailand" as reason for making the transaction.  When Wise (at the time TransferWise) sees my request they alter their normal algorithm to transfer the money from their Bangkok Bank account to my bank account.  It's labeled FTT by Bangkok Bank.  I'm happy.

But what if Wise's Bangkok Bank account is running low on funds and they have plenty of funds in their Kasikorn Account.  Well, normally their algorithm would merely transfer the money from their Kasikorn Account to my Bangkok Bank account.  Bangkok bank would label that as not an FTT because it's coming from a domestic Thai bank.  I'm not happy.  But, if Wise checks to see that I've "tagged" Bangkok Bank as my bank, then they know I won't be happy if they use Kasikorn Bank (because it will not be labeled FTT) so they get the money from somewhere else. 

Maybe they get the money from their US bank account, maybe they get the money from anywhere in the world (I don't know), but they SWIFT the money from their account to my Bangkok Bank account.  It's an actual international transfer so it gets labeled FTT by Bangkok Bank.  I'm happy.  BUT, and this is the crux of the point I'm trying to make, Wise is NOT happy.  They wanted to transfer the money from Kasikorn bank where they had an adequate supply of Thai baht.  But instead because of my bank account being "tagged" as Bangkok Bank, they had to alter their normal business process and pay for a SWIFT transfer from the US or somewhere outside of Thailand.  I assume their algorithm is fine-tuned so that it always makes the optimal business decision for Wise as to which bank account to use.  In this case for the Wise perspective clearly the best bank to use would have been Kasikorn (money is already in baht, transfer will be quick as it's domestic to Thailand), but they had to do something different, something with a higher cost, because of my darned "tagged" bank.

So compared to their normal customer (who accepts the wisdom of the Wise algorithm) I'm a pain in the butt because I cost them extra money when my transfer request can't be satisfied by my "tagged" bank transfer request, namely when there doesn't happen to be adequate reserves in their Bangkok Bank account.  They charge nothing extra for my special service.  But servicing my request costs them additional money (for the SWIFT transfer, instead of merely doing the transfer from Kasikorn) and they don't charge me any extra for this.  My special request is costing them money as it's an exception to their carefully tuned algorithm.  Also, I'm actually driving down their time for transfer to complete numbers.  I don't know if that's important to them or not, but my special request lowers the time for transfer to complete number (a SWIFT transfer was necessary rather than a Kasikorn domestic transfer).

Also, we get very upset with Wise when somehow they slip-up and the transfer arrives at our Bangkok Bank account without FTT.  We call, we use the help desk's time.

If I worked for Wise and wanted to minimize costs I would get rid of these kind of customers.  Or charge more for the special "tagged" handling.  Because frankly we are demanding service that other regular customers don't care about.  Other customers are OK with the Wise algorithm.  Doesn't matter to them.  They care about how cheaply and quickly they get their transfer done.  They don't care how it's labeled at the destination.

Given the above hypothesis it becomes very understandable why we FTT-obsessed customers haven't been taken care of immediately.  We cost more, we use more of their time, we complain more (about things other customers don't care about).

So the road ahead doesn't look good to me.  I think we will continue to be ignored, or best case, charged extra for our extra service.

[norbra]

8 hours ago, skatewash said:

I'm not sanguine that this FTT labeling kerfuffle is going to have a satisfying conclusion to Thai immigration customers using the Wise service.  Here's why:

This is my understanding of Wise's business model.  They have bank balances at their partner banks in the countries they serve.  Let's say I send a request to wise to transfer $100 from my US bank account to my Bangkok Bank account.  Wise accepts my $100 which they may put in their account at a US partner bank's account, or if it makes sense to them anywhere in the world Wise thinks best.  In return, Wise transfers baht equivalent of $100 (3,337 baht) from one of their Thai partner banks to my Bangkok Bank account.  Suppose Wise uses Bangkok Bank to do this.  For some reason I don't entirely understand Bangkok Bank is comfortable in labeling that transfer as FTT (international).  I'm happy.

But suppose Wise uses Kasikorn Bank (another of its Thai partner banks) to send the 3,337 baht to my Bangkok Bank account.  Then because it is a domestic transfer from another Thai bank, Bangkok Bank labels that as something other than an FTT (international) transaction.  I'm not happy.

So a couple years ago, Wise comes up with this scheme whereby I "tag" Bangkok Bank as my Bank.  I'm also told to select the purpose of "long term stay in Thailand" as reason for making the transaction.  When Wise (at the time TransferWise) sees my request they alter their normal algorithm to transfer the money from their Bangkok Bank account to my bank account.  It's labeled FTT by Bangkok Bank.  I'm happy.

But what if Wise's Bangkok Bank account is running low on funds and they have plenty of funds in their Kasikorn Account.  Well, normally their algorithm would merely transfer the money from their Kasikorn Account to my Bangkok Bank account.  Bangkok bank would label that as not an FTT because it's coming from a domestic Thai bank.  I'm not happy.  But, if Wise checks to see that I've "tagged" Bangkok Bank as my bank, then they know I won't be happy if they use Kasikorn Bank (because it will not be labeled FTT) so they get the money from somewhere else. 

Maybe they get the money from their US bank account, maybe they get the money from anywhere in the world (I don't know), but they SWIFT the money from their account to my Bangkok Bank account.  It's an actual international transfer so it gets labeled FTT by Bangkok Bank.  I'm happy.  BUT, and this is the crux of the point I'm trying to make, Wise is NOT happy.  They wanted to transfer the money from Kasikorn bank where they had an adequate supply of Thai baht.  But instead because of my bank account being "tagged" as Bangkok Bank, they had to alter their normal business process and pay for a SWIFT transfer from the US or somewhere outside of Thailand.  I assume their algorithm is fine-tuned so that it always makes the optimal business decision for Wise as to which bank account to use.  In this case for the Wise perspective clearly the best bank to use would have been Kasikorn (money is already in baht, transfer will be quick as it's domestic to Thailand), but they had to do something different, something with a higher cost, because of my darned "tagged" bank.

So compared to their normal customer (who accepts the wisdom of the Wise algorithm) I'm a pain in the butt because I cost them extra money when my transfer request can't be satisfied by my "tagged" bank transfer request, namely when there doesn't happen to be adequate reserves in their Bangkok Bank account.  They charge nothing extra for my special service.  But servicing my request costs them additional money (for the SWIFT transfer, instead of merely doing the transfer from Kasikorn) and they don't charge me any extra for this.  My special request is costing them money as it's an exception to their carefully tuned algorithm.  Also, I'm actually driving down their time for transfer to complete numbers.  I don't know if that's important to them or not, but my special request lowers the time for transfer to complete number (a SWIFT transfer was necessary rather than a Kasikorn domestic transfer).

Also, we get very upset with Wise when somehow they slip-up and the transfer arrives at our Bangkok Bank account without FTT.  We call, we use the help desk's time.

If I worked for Wise and wanted to minimize costs I would get rid of these kind of customers.  Or charge more for the special "tagged" handling.  Because frankly we are demanding service that other regular customers don't care about.  Other customers are OK with the Wise algorithm.  Doesn't matter to them.  They care about how cheaply and quickly they get their transfer done.  They don't care how it's labeled at the destination.

Given the above hypothesis it becomes very understandable why we FTT-obsessed customers haven't been taken care of immediately.  We cost more, we use more of their time, we complain more (about things other customers don't care about).

So the road ahead doesn't look good to me.  I think we will continue to be ignored, or best case, charged extra for our extra service.

On 10/15/2021 at 3:45 PM, Excel said:

Well after the various posts I thought I would ask Wise if there policy has changed specifically regarding their "tagging" to ensure money goes to Bangkok Bank and denoted as FTT, irrespective of the transfer I did Tuesday was shown as FTT.

The reply was;

We have checked your account with our relevant team and it's still tagged.
Our policy has not been changed.
You can ask for a FET form from the partner bank that we paid your money out from.
You can check which bank this is on your transfer receipt. To find it:

1.    Go to the transfer in the Activity section of your Wise account

2.    Click View transfer details.

3.    Click Download PDF receipt.

4.    Go to the second page to find banking partner details.

On checking the transfer details their partner bank was indeed Bangkok Bank so in my case nothing has changed and still receiving credits as FTT.  You will note that Wise confirmed that their policy has not changed.

Todays response from Wise.

 

Thank you for clarifying ???? We can indeed understand the issue of needing to travel to the physical bank, and the inconvenience it can cause. Due to that, we've done our best to match these partner banks to the accounts they are sent to, but this has never been a full guarantee - There are a lot of factors that determine which partner is selected to deliver the payments, and if those factors might cause a payment to fail through one partner, then we would have to use another to complete it.

 

So it's not necessarily due to the speed of the payment, but also the ability to complete it. If any THB recipient has noticed an increase in recent payments being routed through a different partner, please have them get in touch with us directly, and we'll take a look, see if there's something we can do. But keep in mind we can't promise all payments will be always routed the same way ???? So the recipients might still need to apply for FET forms every now and then

 

[scubascuba3]

19 minutes ago, norbra said:

Todays response from Wise.

 

Thank you for clarifying ???? We can indeed understand the issue of needing to travel to the physical bank, and the inconvenience it can cause. Due to that, we've done our best to match these partner banks to the accounts they are sent to, but this has never been a full guarantee - There are a lot of factors that determine which partner is selected to deliver the payments, and if those factors might cause a payment to fail through one partner, then we would have to use another to complete it.

 

So it's not necessarily due to the speed of the payment, but also the ability to complete it. If any THB recipient has noticed an increase in recent payments being routed through a different partner, please have them get in touch with us directly, and we'll take a look, see if there's something we can do. But keep in mind we can't promise all payments will be always routed the same way ???? So the recipients might still need to apply for FET forms every now and then

 

so why has the "long term" reason for transfer process stopped working? presumably you've asked

[Dante99]

Why use Wise when there are other ways to transfer giving comparable results and no issues about foreign transfers or not?

 

Wise is not the least expensive just because they advertise themselves to be.

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, Dante99 said:

Why use Wise when there are other ways to transfer giving comparable results and no issues about foreign transfers or not?

 

Wise is not the least expensive just because they advertise themselves to be.

Suggestions please.

[KannikaP]

10 hours ago, skatewash said:

I'm not sanguine that this FTT labeling kerfuffle is going to have a satisfying conclusion to Thai immigration customers using the Wise service.  Here's why:

This is my understanding of Wise's business model.  They have bank balances at their partner banks in the countries they serve.  Let's say I send a request to wise to transfer $100 from my US bank account to my Bangkok Bank account.  Wise accepts my $100 which they may put in their account at a US partner bank's account, or if it makes sense to them anywhere in the world Wise thinks best.  In return, Wise transfers baht equivalent of $100 (3,337 baht) from one of their Thai partner banks to my Bangkok Bank account.  Suppose Wise uses Bangkok Bank to do this.  For some reason I don't entirely understand Bangkok Bank is comfortable in labeling that transfer as FTT (international).  I'm happy.

But suppose Wise uses Kasikorn Bank (another of its Thai partner banks) to send the 3,337 baht to my Bangkok Bank account.  Then because it is a domestic transfer from another Thai bank, Bangkok Bank labels that as something other than an FTT (international) transaction.  I'm not happy.

So a couple years ago, Wise comes up with this scheme whereby I "tag" Bangkok Bank as my Bank.  I'm also told to select the purpose of "long term stay in Thailand" as reason for making the transaction.  When Wise (at the time TransferWise) sees my request they alter their normal algorithm to transfer the money from their Bangkok Bank account to my bank account.  It's labeled FTT by Bangkok Bank.  I'm happy.

But what if Wise's Bangkok Bank account is running low on funds and they have plenty of funds in their Kasikorn Account.  Well, normally their algorithm would merely transfer the money from their Kasikorn Account to my Bangkok Bank account.  Bangkok bank would label that as not an FTT because it's coming from a domestic Thai bank.  I'm not happy.  But, if Wise checks to see that I've "tagged" Bangkok Bank as my bank, then they know I won't be happy if they use Kasikorn Bank (because it will not be labeled FTT) so they get the money from somewhere else. 

Maybe they get the money from their US bank account, maybe they get the money from anywhere in the world (I don't know), but they SWIFT the money from their account to my Bangkok Bank account.  It's an actual international transfer so it gets labeled FTT by Bangkok Bank.  I'm happy.  BUT, and this is the crux of the point I'm trying to make, Wise is NOT happy.  They wanted to transfer the money from Kasikorn bank where they had an adequate supply of Thai baht.  But instead because of my bank account being "tagged" as Bangkok Bank, they had to alter their normal business process and pay for a SWIFT transfer from the US or somewhere outside of Thailand.  I assume their algorithm is fine-tuned so that it always makes the optimal business decision for Wise as to which bank account to use.  In this case for the Wise perspective clearly the best bank to use would have been Kasikorn (money is already in baht, transfer will be quick as it's domestic to Thailand), but they had to do something different, something with a higher cost, because of my darned "tagged" bank.

So compared to their normal customer (who accepts the wisdom of the Wise algorithm) I'm a pain in the butt because I cost them extra money when my transfer request can't be satisfied by my "tagged" bank transfer request, namely when there doesn't happen to be adequate reserves in their Bangkok Bank account.  They charge nothing extra for my special service.  But servicing my request costs them additional money (for the SWIFT transfer, instead of merely doing the transfer from Kasikorn) and they don't charge me any extra for this.  My special request is costing them money as it's an exception to their carefully tuned algorithm.  Also, I'm actually driving down their time for transfer to complete numbers.  I don't know if that's important to them or not, but my special request lowers the time for transfer to complete number (a SWIFT transfer was necessary rather than a Kasikorn domestic transfer).

Also, we get very upset with Wise when somehow they slip-up and the transfer arrives at our Bangkok Bank account without FTT.  We call, we use the help desk's time.

If I worked for Wise and wanted to minimize costs I would get rid of these kind of customers.  Or charge more for the special "tagged" handling.  Because frankly we are demanding service that other regular customers don't care about.  Other customers are OK with the Wise algorithm.  Doesn't matter to them.  They care about how cheaply and quickly they get their transfer done.  They don't care how it's labeled at the destination.

Given the above hypothesis it becomes very understandable why we FTT-obsessed customers haven't been taken care of immediately.  We cost more, we use more of their time, we complain more (about things other customers don't care about).

So the road ahead doesn't look good to me.  I think we will continue to be ignored, or best case, charged extra for our extra service.

I guess another alternative would be if, for example, Wise has plenty of THB in Kasikorn, but not in Bkk, why not do a domestic transfer Kkn to Bkk BEFORE the foreign transfer is done so that it WILL show as an FTT at Bkk Bank?

[norbra]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

so why has the "long term" reason for transfer process stopped working? presumably you've asked

REad my previous post re this issue

[Dante99]

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

Suggestions please.

Find a financial institution that offers free or low cost, 5-10 dollar SWIFT fees.  With these you will get almost the same Baht as WISE from the US to many Thai Banks.  Some possibilities:

 

Vanguard doesn’t charge a wire transfer fee if the amount of the wire is over $5,000; the fee is only $5 if the amount is between $1,000 and $5,000.

 

Fidelity doesn’t charge a wire transfer fee if your total household balance at Fidelity is above a certain amount ($15 otherwise).

 

Business checking accounts sometimes get free wire transfers. For example you get 10 free wire transfers every month (5 incoming, 5 outgoing) with HSBC’s free no-minimum-balance Business Direct checking account.

 

Some premium level personal checking accounts also give free wire transfers. For example if you have Premier Checking at Northwest Federal Credit Union ($50,000 minimum balance or $10 monthly fee), you get free outgoing domestic wire transfers.

 

Online wires sent to a bank outside the U.S. in foreign currency (FX) have no Chase wire fee for amounts equal to $5,000 USD or more or only a $5 Chase wire fee when less than $5,000 USD 

 

And more if you search.

 

 

 

[OJAS]

11 hours ago, skatewash said:

So the road ahead doesn't look good to me.  I think we will continue to be ignored, or best case, charged extra for our extra service.

Or even worse Wise will, in a huff, decide arbitrarily to close the accounts of each and every person who, in their eyes, has the temerity to lodge a complaint with them about their practices. In this connection, I distinctly recall reports on here of quite a few people (mainly Americans, I think) suddenly discovering that their TransferWise/Wise accounts had been closed with no advance warning or explanation.

 

And since, as @Pib has been at pains to point out, SWIFT transfers provide no cast-iron guarantee of the coveted FTT/International Transfer coding either, the prospects for us American, Australian and British retirees in particular relying on the 65k monthly income method look extremely bleak, given that, in the absence of income confirmation services from our "beloved" embassies, the "combo" method of proving finances for retirement extensions is to, all intents and purposes, ruled out in our case in practice.