Wise Gets It Wrong Again!

[JustAnotherHun]

7 minutes ago, Stocky said:

Clearly your marvellous German banking system has blinded you..

It's not that marvellous. Until 2019 or so interbank transfers inside Germany coud take up to three working days. Good money for them until the government prohibited this ripoff.

Funnily enough, the 1-day-transfer to Thailand worked already then.

Edited November 25, 2021 by JustAnotherHun

[Moonlover]

6 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

All I can contribute:

all transfers done to Bangkok Bank account, specified at WISE as expense for long term stay.

Always shown as international transfer at Bangkok Bank (FTT).

 

A separate topic is whether immigration will accept the transfer statements (downloadable PDF) from WISE as proof of international transfer.

 

There have been many posters who confirm that their IOs have accepted the Wise transfer statement as proof, including my own. In fact I and many others have no choice on this because we do not bank with one Wise's partner banks.

 

And I do wonder if push came to shove, whether an IO would turn down an application if, through no fault of their own the applicant failed to score a 'perfect 12' regarding these FTT codes. It would be a pretty harsh ruling if they were to do so.

[A1Str8]

3 hours ago, JustAnotherHun said:

I always wonder why people use Wise. Is it for saving a few THB?

Otherwise just transfer from the bank of your home country directly and never have a problem.

It's a bit more than a few thb????????

[Havenstreet1940]

I received this from Wise today:

 

Hello xxxxxxx Thanks for calling us earlier. I have made some changes to your account and now I added the tag on your profile. I cannot guarantee 100% guarantee the route from Bangkok Bank, but the tag was added. But I can say that most likely this will be the route chosen to send THB to you from now on.  I hope this is fixed, and if you do run into the issue again in the future, then the solution would be taking the path you took today, and request for the FET form from Kasikorn Bank which local Thai police will use this form to recognize the transfer as a foreign transfer. I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions. All the best,  Clara     So here's hoping!

[Bangkok Barry]

21 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

All I can contribute:

all transfers done to Bangkok Bank account, specified at WISE as expense for long term stay.

Always shown as international transfer at Bangkok Bank (FTT).

 

A separate topic is whether immigration will accept the transfer statements (downloadable PDF) from WISE as proof of international transfer.

 

That was my experience a year ago when I transferred 400,000 for a marriage extension. Specified long term stay in the Wise drop down menu and it showed up in my Bangkok Bank account as an international transfer.

Although I didn't need to for a marriage extension, I also downloaded the Wise receipt showing the amount that had been transferred and gave that with my application. I don't remember if they kept that or not but, since then, I've learned that for a marriage extension the money doesn't have to come from overseas anyway. My point though is that yes, choose the right reason for transfer on the Wise menu and it will show as an international transfer with Bangkok Bank. Other banks, I have no idea.

[lopburi3]

2 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

My point though is that yes, choose the right reason for transfer on the Wise menu and it will show as an international transfer with Bangkok Bank.

But the point is this stopped working several months ago - now the actual account must be tagged by Wise in advance (by a request to Wise to do so) to be reasonable sure of it being recorded as FTT by Bangkok Bank.  It seems they are not using reason for transfer to do this anymore if account has not been tagged.

[eyup]

On 11/25/2021 at 3:14 PM, JustAnotherHun said:

I always wonder why people use Wise. Is it for saving a few THB?

Otherwise just transfer from the bank of your home country directly and never have a problem.

It's not just saving a "few baht"!  If one does regular transfers (In my case about £2k per month) the savings are considerable! Just transferred £2k today took 16 seconds to reach my Thai bank account. I have gone thru life saving a "few baht/pounds/dollars/rupees etc".  here and there. Also certainly wasted money along the way on various things. But on the whole I was always told a Baht or whatever is better in your pocket than someone elses!

[OJAS]

On 11/25/2021 at 3:14 PM, JustAnotherHun said:

I always wonder why people use Wise. Is it for saving a few THB?

Otherwise just transfer from the bank of your home country directly and never have a problem.

Easier said than done, though, if your home country bank doesn't allow SWIFT transfers to be initiated online, as mine doesn't. Not only will you have to expend a "few more" THB on the transfer itself but a lot more THB in calling your home country bank at an international call rate, only to be put on hold for ages on end and "serenaded" with irritating muzak until some real live human being can be bothered to pick up and deal with your call!

Edited November 28, 2021 by OJAS

[JimmyJ]

On 11/25/2021 at 3:19 PM, GrandPapillon said:

it's usually very fast, sometimes a few seconds, and the exchange rate is known before the transfer, and it's also cheap

 

I usually use my credit card,

 

WISE is a smart business, they have identified 3 problems that "expats" were facing and provided the answer to them,

 

even though it wasn't probably not easy as a business to put in place with all the compliance burden

Your credit card calls it a Cash Advance, or they accept it as a regular charge paid for with the cc?

[GrandPapillon]

3 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

Your credit card calls it a Cash Advance, or they accept it as a regular charge paid for with the cc?

it's a regular charge, not a cash advance

[JimmyJ]

23 hours ago, GrandPapillon said:

it's a regular charge, not a cash advance

That's a great situation.

 

If you don't mind - 

Is that a USA card?

Which bank?

[GrandPapillon]

1 hour ago, JimmyJ said:

That's a great situation.

 

If you don't mind - 

Is that a USA card?

Which bank?

works with any Credit card, US or European

 

just try it, start low with $500

[scubascuba3]

On 11/28/2021 at 3:13 PM, GrandPapillon said:

it's a regular charge, not a cash advance

It's likely you're charged interest on it, check the statement, often hidden

[GrandPapillon]

1 minute ago, scubascuba3 said:

It's likely you're charged interest on it, check the statement, often hidden

not on mine, but possible on others. You do pay a transaction fee to WISE, so maybe that includes the credit card charge back to the cc company

[robblok]

On 11/25/2021 at 3:37 PM, JustAnotherHun said:

Might be different in your country.

My German bank takes 0.23 percent, no further fees from BKK Bank and the exchange rate is the noon fixing of the same day. Transfer takes one day to be booked in may Thai account.

Dutch do something similar i know the rate i get from Kasikorn by looking at their webiste. Kasikorn takes a small bit and my bank a fee of 18 euros or so.

 

I guess the UK is an outdated country banking wise, cant explain it any other way. It takes me less then a minute to make a payment and usually receive it the same or next day. 

[scubascuba3]

10 hours ago, robblok said:

Dutch do something similar i know the rate i get from Kasikorn by looking at their webiste. Kasikorn takes a small bit and my bank a fee of 18 euros or so.

 

I guess the UK is an outdated country banking wise, cant explain it any other way. It takes me less then a minute to make a payment and usually receive it the same or next day. 

Wise, Revolut and others originated in UK, don't worry about UK banks they are so big they are slow to change

Edited November 29, 2021 by scubascuba3

[mosan]

On 11/25/2021 at 11:23 AM, KhunBENQ said:

All I can contribute:

all transfers done to Bangkok Bank account, specified at WISE as expense for long term stay.

Always shown as international transfer at Bangkok Bank (FTT).

 

A separate topic is whether immigration will accept the transfer statements (downloadable PDF) from WISE as proof of international transfer.

 

That is not correct, I've been using this process for 4 years and two since the "Long Stay" tagging has been available. Recently in November 2021 my deposit showed up marked as "SMT". My solution was a checklist for the customer service representative at Kasikorn Bank.  The checklist/samples show how to obtain a Foreign Exchange Transaction document, and confirmation letter from a Kasikorn Bank business center to use at Immigrations to identify said transaction as "FTT" (Foreign Teletype Transaction) according to Bangkok Bank. I will dig up the checklist and sample form for anyone who would like them via private message (PM). I will not post it here as I may occasionally adjust minor things to suit different Immigration offices...  

[robblok]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Wise, Revolut and others originated in UK, don't worry about UK banks they are so big they are slow to change

In other words old fashioned. Thanks for clearing up why Brits need to use these kinds of ways to send their money. I am not worrying about banks at all, just consumers. Takes me a few clicks and i get the rate displayed on the Kasikorn site minius a couple of 100bt for them. A fixed fee at the end of my bank. Plus it satisfies the Thai government. Easy.

 

[mosan]

On 11/25/2021 at 3:14 PM, JustAnotherHun said:

I always wonder why people use Wise. Is it for saving a few THB?

Otherwise just transfer from the bank of your home country directly and never have a problem.

Just transferring from one's home country is not always an option. In particular, my home bank requires one to physically walk into a branch to initiate an international transfer. Others don't have the means as some financial institutions have exorbitant fees for an international wire transfer. Still, others do not or cannot put the required funds in a Thai account letting it sit there unused for months on end. You may not have any of these problems, but not everyone is in your financial situation. Personally, I have not have problems, but I have 2 friends living in Thailand that do!

[sandyf]

On 11/25/2021 at 9:24 AM, Havenstreet1940 said:

Any suggestions how I might resolve the October issues.

It is not really a problem, just provide immigration with the remittance advice, I do that as a matter of course.

[mosan]

15 hours ago, GrandPapillon said:

not on mine, but possible on others. You do pay a transaction fee to WISE, so maybe that includes the credit card charge back to the cc company

My guess is you don't really know or are not actually telling the whole story. Give us which bank cc you use and which version of said card will reveal the real story. Otherwise (pun intended) it's a moot point...

[mosan]

22 minutes ago, sandyf said:

It is not really a problem, just provide immigration with the remittance advice, I do that as a matter of course.

That's a pretty generic answer. Some people, including immigration officers, do not even know what a remittance advice is. In fact, said document(s) can come in many forms. I'm just saying...

[GrandPapillon]

6 hours ago, mosan said:

My guess is you don't really know or are not actually telling the whole story. Give us which bank cc you use and which version of said card will reveal the real story. Otherwise (pun intended) it's a moot point...

My statement doesn't show any fees, I suspect that WISE get charged the fees by the cc and WISE charged you a global fee. Transfer with WISE using cc is slightly more expensive by 1 EUR or 1 USD than using a bank transfer

[JimmyJ]

22 hours ago, GrandPapillon said:

not on mine, but possible on others. You do pay a transaction fee to WISE, so maybe that includes the credit card charge back to the cc company

What % is Wise charging you for your transactions?

 

22 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

It's likely you're charged interest on it, check the statement, often hidden

Cash advances charge a big fee plus interest.

 

Grand Papillon isn't seeing those charges.

 

It's not just the cc company which is a surprise.

 

Wise is known to charge low fees, but is going to be paying the cc company 2 - 3% on the transaction.

 

So I wish this was accurate but it seems an unworkable situation for Wise, let alone the cc company giving in effect a free loan for ~ 45 days average.

[JimmyJ]

PS - GrandPapillon - Thank you for the info.

 

 

[GrandPapillon]

for a 500 EUR transfer, I pay 5.5 EUR in WISE fees, using SEPA, that same transfer would be 4.5 EUR, so I suspect 1 EUR is for CC processing that WISE is charging you

 

on my bank statement, I only pay 500 EUR, since WISE will deduct 5.5 from the 500 EUR to be in THB

 

same with my USD cc, but I don't have the SEPA option there

 

for 1,000 EUR, fee is about 6.5 for cc and about 5.5 for SEPA, I only do small transfer with WISE, but I did a simulation for bigger transfer, and fees were getting close to 25 EUR, about the same as a SWIFT transfer

[Pib]

On 11/25/2021 at 5:10 PM, JustAnotherHun said:

Might be. I checked the booked amount a couple of times with the fixing rate of the day and it was ok. But that was many years ago. If they charged now, I wouldn't notice, I guess.

For me SWIFT is comfortable. I can order the transfer by a phone call. But Wise - if it works -  may be an option for those in other countries (GB?) having problems with SWIFT.

The Bangkok Bank receiving fee for a SWIFT/international transfer is 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max).  This fee is applied "before" the transfer is posted to your account and the fee is not reflected on your account....this fools many into thinking no receiving fee was applied but indeed it was.  All Thai banks charge an international receiving although it varies a little between banks...been in effect for decades.  

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by Pib

[KannikaP]

On 11/29/2021 at 6:37 PM, robblok said:

I guess the UK is an outdated country banking wise, cant explain it any other way. It takes me less then a minute to make a payment and usually receive it the same or next day.

What are you on about. Transfers between UK banks is instant, including to Wise. Wise to Bkk Bank is instant if you do not need FTT. 

[sandyf]

On 11/30/2021 at 8:15 AM, mosan said:

Some people, including immigration officers, do not even know what a remittance advice is.

And you know that how exactly? Never been a problem, you do not need to know what they are called, the piece of paper is self explanatory.

In the years that I have done marriage extensions, at no time have I ever been asked to show a bankbook. Would have been a waste of time anyway, I have consolidated entries, been using online banking since 2009. On my statements from the bank the deposit description is "Transfer in via EXIM", never been questioned.

[KannikaP]

On 11/25/2021 at 3:36 PM, 86Tiger said:

 

 

Wise transfers are great but another option they provide is a Master Card debit card.  I can load my account with USD and their card will make transaction in any local currency while never charge fees, and no ATM fees (though the ATM owner will always take a nip).  It is so cool to make airport purchases for example and not be left with pocket full of local currency in change I will never use.  The card will operate as debit card or credit card so no pin required and can be used for internet purchases.

 

I like the transfers but I have really been impressed with the debit card.

 

YMMV

Another similar card is REVOLUT.