I do monthly transfers (same amount every month) from my Wise account (in Euro) to my SCB account. Up to (and including) this last October 2021, the transfers with reason "monthly living expenses" took minutes. Ende of November and now the December transfers took 4-6 days. The transfer I initiated this morning would have arrived in my bank on the 5th, exchange rate given to me was 37.6746

 

I cancelled the transfer and started to play around and I found out, that 50K and higher will take DAYS, below will take SECONDS with the chosen reason "monthly living expenses". I know it will be days, if you choose the "retirement purposes" option.

 

So here is what I transferred (SAMPLE amounts in THB) and the exchange rates. The fee is always a fixed fee of €0.81 plus 0.52% of the amount sent, see later:

1st transfer:      2K THB, rate 37.7869 just for test purposes

2nd transfer:  49K THB, rate 37,7705

3rd transfer:   49K THB, rate 37,7722

4th transfer:   22K THB, rate 37,7582

 

All transfers arrived WITHIN SECONDS! When I compare the single transfer (that I cancelled) to the transfers 2-4, I lost €1,62 in fixed transfer fees (3 transfers versus only 1), BUT I got the money immediately, AND the exchange rate was BETTER for ALL transfers versus the single transfer. OVERALL I saved more than 5 EUROS with the 3 transfers, which gives me quite a few beers at home.

 

MY CONCLUSION 1: What ever Wise does, it is NOT about money laundering, otherwise they would not allow me to make several transactions just below their limit, they would stop me on the second transaction...

 

MY CONCLUSION 2: In the future, I will always initiate (but not execute) smaller (49K) and larger (> 50K) transactions and compare the exchange rates and then choose the best transfer way for me, since I do not need the money immediately, it is all about optimizing rates and amounts received.

 

NOTE 1: This is for Euro only. For USD, it might just be the other way round, since the exchange rate for USD vs THB has been going up in the last year, but the EUR was going down, so you might get BETTER exchange rates for a larger transfer than smaller ones.

 

NOTE 2: I do NOT yet know, whether my Thai bank might contact me over the several smaller transactions or not, I will have to see that. 

So with all the testing, phaffing around and time you could have just transferred the monthly desired amount and waited a little bit for it to be in the account.

 

Most times with a few days advance planning the money can be transferred and deposited in Thailand when one needs it.

 

Or just do a swift transfer in the am and it will be deposited in Thailand the same day on work days.

Edited December 31, 20214 yr by userabcd

9 minutes ago, userabcd said:

So with all the testing, phaffing around and time you could have just transferred the monthly desired amount and waited a little bit for it to be in the account.

 

Most times with a few days advance planning the money can be transferred and deposited in Thailand when one needs it.

 

Or just do a swift transfer in the am and it will be deposited in Thailand the same day on work days.

If you would have read what I wrote instead of just blabbering useless things, you would have realized that

- it is about optimizing transfers (getting more THB for your EUR or USD)

- it is not about SWIFT, but WISE only, not to mention the less favorable exchange rates and bank fees in SWIFT

- I don't care about the delay, if I can get more THB for my transfers. 

 

Just one  advice: If you don't see value in a post for yourself, better not answer than make yourself look stupid.

 

Open a Wise FX account for your domestic currency and THB. Free.

 

Dump your domestic currency into the Wise account in bulk. I hold USD, AUD, NZD, GBP and just for fun, IRP.

 

Convert your Wise domestic currency into Wise THB when you consider the rate is appropriate.  Same rate/fee ratio if you convert 100THB or 1,000,000THB equivalent. Or even move the funds between currencies to make a few bucks.  I often buy AUD with NZD when the rate is good because historically the AUD holds value for longer, and then convert AUD to THB when the NZD inevitably falls too low.

 

Send from your Wise THB to your Thai bank account as/when you need it for a single charge of about 50THB - I could look up the actual fee but I'm too lazy.

 

Get a Wise Mastercard and spend your Wise THB at any retailer for no charge.  You can also withdraw cash at an ATM free but I never do, and there are monthly limits.

 

If you simply use Wise to buy FX and pay for each transaction from your domestic bank account each time, you're  not using all the bells and whistles that Wise offer.

To conclude: Always use the 'monthly living expenses ' option

and always send less than 50k baht to get faster  transfer.

Is that correct?

But for pension  requirements 65k needs to be sent in one lump  sum

 

Edited December 31, 20214 yr by The Hammer2021

Some interesting  additional features.

So far I use it for transfers from WISE account to Bangkok Bank only.

And as the title says:

transfer for long term stay (shown as international transfer) is usually next day.

Another transfer recently in a few seconds.

3 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

send less than 50k

Transferred Euro equiv of 71xxx Baht two days ago without problem (long stay expense)

Edited December 31, 20214 yr by KhunBENQ

There has been multiple threads about the 50k limit landing in Thai banks from whatever source this last couple months and delays/refusals

 

As for the "reasons" for transfer it makes not the slightest difference and is purely for Transferwise's audit trail should they be asked to provide details of a clients finances at a later date for investigation purposes

 

I do notice the whining about delays does come from USA nationals though more often then not

13 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

To conclude: Always use the 'monthly living expenses ' option

and always send less than 50k baht to get faster  transfer.

Is that correct?

Seems to be the case from all the reports.

Edited December 31, 20214 yr by userabcd

14 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

But for pension  requirements 65k needs to be sent in one lump  sum

No such requirement.  The 65k is a monthly amount - not transaction amount.  

10 minutes ago, Chivas said:

As for the "reasons" for transfer it makes not the slightest difference and is purely for Transferwise's audit trail should they be asked to provide details of a clients finances at a later date for investigation purposes

The reason for transfer is of utmost importance for people who need the transfers to be shown as "international transfer" for reason of extension renewal with Thai immigration. Wise just sent out a memo to people, informing them about which reason to choose, so that their transfers show up as "international" in Kasikorn and Bangkok Bank. I don't need it, as I use the "cash in bank" method, but for other people, it makes a HUGE difference, way outside the Wise audit trail.

Off topic posts and replies have all been given the rocket...

3 minutes ago, Rimmer said:

Off topic posts and replies have all been given the rocket...

The Red Dwarf?

37 minutes ago, Gsxrnz said:

The Red Dwarf?

Hopefully.

2 hours ago, Swiss1960 said:

MY CONCLUSION 2: In the future, I will always initiate (but not execute) smaller (49K) and larger (> 50K) transactions and compare the exchange rates

Most of what you've posted is IMO speculative without any real evidence to support it.

 

What I am sure about is that when you cancel one transaction and then initiate another, the reason why you are likely to see a different exchange rate is because it has changed. Exchange rates fluctuate from moment to moment (ask any FOREX trader) and all you're seeing is the difference between those two snapshots.

 

Wise will always give you the mid market rate prevailing at the moment you place your transfer request and the amount that you're transferring is immaterial.

 

But if you've got the time to faff around in order to safe 5 Euro then carry on and enjoy the beers. ????

 

1 hour ago, The Hammer2021 said:

But for pension  requirements 65k needs to be sent in one lump  sum

Why? There's nothing in Imms rules that says that. What about folks who have multiple pensions sent into their Thai accounts throughout the month?

 

Not everyone uses Wise or similar means.

My personal experience with wise is the amount seems to dictate the speed of the transfer, my reason for sending money is always the same.

2 hours ago, Swiss1960 said:

The reason for transfer is of utmost importance for people who need the transfers to be shown as "international transfer" for reason of extension renewal with Thai immigration. Wise just sent out a memo to people, informing them about which reason to choose, so that their transfers show up as "international" in Kasikorn and Bangkok Bank. I don't need it, as I use the "cash in bank" method, but for other people, it makes a HUGE difference, way outside the Wise audit trail.

lol why have you deliberately moved the goalposts.

 

I'll make it more clear for you. The "reason" for the transfer makes not one iota of difference as regards the amount of time it takes to land

51 minutes ago, Chivas said:

lol why have you deliberately moved the goalposts.

 

I'll make it more clear for you. The "reason" for the transfer makes not one iota of difference as regards the amount of time it takes to land

Thanks for the  clarification

1 hour ago, Moonlover said:

Why? There's nothing in Imms rules that says that. What about folks who have multiple pensions sent into their Thai accounts throughout the month?

 

Not everyone uses Wise or similar means.

I agree about multiple  pension/ income streams. I was just confirming. Thank you

2 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Most of what you've posted is IMO speculative without any real evidence to support it.

 

What I am sure about is that when you cancel one transaction and then initiate another, the reason why you are likely to see a different exchange rate is because it has changed. Exchange rates fluctuate from moment to moment (ask any FOREX trader) and all you're seeing is the difference between those two snapshots.

 

Wise will always give you the mid market rate prevailing at the moment you place your transfer request and the amount that you're transferring is immaterial.

 

But if you've got the time to faff around in order to safe 5 Euro then carry on and enjoy the beers. ????

 

My posts are based on REAL WORLD transactions, all listed in my post. If that is not evidence in your eyes, you must live in a different universe. My Note 1 is slightly speculative (and I admit to that in my post already), but it is based on the exchange rate development of EUR/THB and USD/THB which pretty much support my statement.

 

Of course, for the same-minute transactions, Wise will use the midmarket rates, I have listed them, and I said nothing else. BUT you also see in my mail that the exchange rate for the transaction which would have been executed in the 4th of January, was MUCH LOWER (37.6746) than the average of the transactions executed (37.7730).

 

That difference is not supported, when I look at the minutes chart in XE for the time I executed the transactions. Therefore it is pretty good evidence to assume that Wise does look at FUTURE trading exchange rates for such transactions that will be executed several days in the future and does NOT take the current mid-market rate. 

2 hours ago, Chivas said:

lol why have you deliberately moved the goalposts.

 

I'll make it more clear for you. The "reason" for the transfer makes not one iota of difference as regards the amount of time it takes to land

Very Trumpian of you, I have to give you that. First, you post deliberately wrong or misleading information, and then you twist and jerk words to try and make you look good and me wrong... 
 

But at least, I can see from your last sentence that you learn from your mistakes.

2 hours ago, Moonlover said:

 

But if you've got the time to faff around in order to safe 5 Euro then carry on and enjoy the beers. ????

 

People who make good money in trading know this: "Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves."

11 hours ago, Swiss1960 said:

you might get BETTER exchange rates for a larger transfer than smaller ones.

Whenever I use Wise I always compared their exchange rate with the latest rates on other sites real time (I use Investing.com but there are numerous to choose) and found the Wise rate to be exactly the same, fluctuating up and down every minute by the same amount. I soon got bored with that and now take the Wise rates as pretty much gospel and not worth worrying about.

13 hours ago, Gsxrnz said:

Get a Wise Mastercard and spend your Wise THB at any retailer for no charge. 

I have a Wise account in GBP and USD. The web site says 'We’re sorry, cards haven’t reached Thailand yet' and has been like that for years.

8 hours ago, Hamus Yaigh said:

I have a Wise account in GBP and USD. The web site says 'We’re sorry, cards haven’t reached Thailand yet' and has been like that for years.

I set up Wise while in NZ.  No problem getting a card.