Currency Transfer Using Wise.com

[aublumberg]

HKD100,000 to Kasikorn and zero such encounters. Just FYI. So may be location / user specific?

[RocketDog]

On 6/21/2023 at 3:24 PM, fceligoj said:

See, some people come to the conclusion that I am just a newbie to Wise!

 

I have had an account with them for over two years.  This new security process was a surprise, so I was just trying to inform all of this significant change in the process.

 

I'll have to see what happens on my next request which will happen in July.

 

 

Agreed. I have been doing transfer from USA to Los, same account, for about 5 years. No browser changes, large amount, new account, etc that others here have hypothesizied.

 

I have no other ideas why, but I went thru the same drill a few days ago before a transfer. I also had to repeat the picture  process several times before it was accepted. I soon got a confirmation email and the transfer was uneventful.

The email suggested that I would not have to do it again, at least anytime soon. I sure hope not.

I strongly suspect every customer will be completing this process themselves soon. It's a sign of the times.

 

The emergence of the internet in the 1990's promised so many wondrous things, and has in fact delivered many.

 

But as with all things humans do, the bad players soon came in. Social media grew into the cesspool it is today, new jobs emerged for the so called 'influencers' that post garbage to draw more advertising dollars, security has turned so intense that it can bring one to tears, data breaches and identity theft so common, that it is now just a dangerous chore to do much on the internet of any consequence. There is no true security available short of simply unplugging totally. It's a risk to even have a computer connected to the web. 

 

The workforce assembled over the last decade to confront the security challenge is now quitting their jobs as too stressful and never-ending.

The internet is now nothing but a tool for state actors to peddle harmful influence to their enemy societies and the rest of it nothing but a huge marketing tool that inundates us from every direction with pleas to buy their product. One cannot scroll three inches of text before some advertising pops up.

 

Why is it that everything humans touch ends up as a dumpster fire?

Watch the documentary "The Social Dilemma" to understand the self-inflicted threat we all now face.

 

The truism "can't live with it and can't live without it" now has nothing to do with women. We have truly painted ourselves into a corner this time. As with climate change, this cannot end well, even as we renew our pledges daily to ignore it all and bury our heads even deeper in the sand.

[JimGant]

On 6/21/2023 at 11:04 AM, fceligoj said:

(taking a complete picture of the ID page of the Passport

Yep, I too was hit with this last week, for no apparent reason: Nothing had changed -- same desktop computer, same internet connection, same receiving account. Must be a large scale "random" check, driven by the "KYC" police. Annoying that I had to go find my cell phone. Then my passport. Then scotch tape, so that I could get my passport to lie flat for a picture. Anyway, after several photo failures, it finally took.

 

Wondering if this was the future, I sent another amount the next day -- and no more asking for security photos. Maybe again in a couple of years..... At least I'm still allowed to use my desktop for transfers, as I like the large screen and keyboard that fits my fingers. But, maybe someday soon, Wise will switch entirely to mobile apps.... Sigh.

[BenStark]

If you registered an account years ago you could do without the selfie, and if you used it infrequently or for small amounts, you would get away with it.

 

But at one point it will catch up with you. Now new accounts need the selfie to register

[vtotheyouknow]

Has anybody noticed some unfavorable changes with Wise.com's pricing and transfer times lately?

 

A few months ago I was able to transfer up to 1000 USD via the ACH method from a US bank with reasonable fees and it would arrive almost instantly to my Bangkok bank account. 

 

Now, that same 1k takes almost a week if I select the ACH method. 

 

However, Wise gives you the option to select the Debit card payment method, where the fees are higher, but the payment arrives in < 30 minutes.

 

BUT—you can only use this method for amounts under 2k USD...

 

So if you want to send more then 2000 USD at a time you're forced to use the ACH method (or wire transfer), and then you're waiting for almost a week. 

 

Is this an attempt by wise to collect more fees by artificially introducing a wait time to the ACH method thus forcing us to use the Debit Card method, or is this the result of some changes in policy on the Thai side, or perhaps even some other factor?

 

Has anybody else seen these changes or is it just me?

[JimGant]

Nope. This morning, if I had done a $23000 ACH "pull" from my US bank, it would have taken "7 hours," according to Wise. $24000 would have taken until Tuesday of next week (a four day gap, but it is a weekend and Thai holiday....). $1000? Instantly.

 

I have found, over the last year, that these projected transfer times are pretty accurate -- for US dollars from US.

 

For these discussions, make sure you delineate the country your sending from -- a lot of difference between source country of your funds and time of delivery.

[RanongCat]

3 minutes ago, JimGant said:

Nope. This morning, if I had done a $23000 ACH "pull" from my US bank, it would have taken "7 hours," according to Wise. $24000 would have taken until Tuesday of next week (a four day gap, but it is a weekend and Thai holiday....). $1000? Instantly.

 

I have found, over the last year, that these projected transfer times are pretty accurate -- for US dollars from US.

 

For these discussions, make sure you delineate the country your sending from -- a lot of difference between source country of your funds and time of delivery.

no fee Bank to Bank account transfer to Wise for forwarding to Thailand account never more than time stated of hours. Nver had instant but never next day ! So true country of origin funds is important fact of banking system there.

[glegolo18]

21 hours ago, RanongCat said:

no fee Bank to Bank account transfer to Wise for forwarding to Thailand account never more than time stated of hours. Nver had instant but never next day ! So true country of origin funds is important fact of banking system there.

Maybe Sweden is much more modern when it comes to banks and transfers. It ALWAYS takes 5-7 seconds to transfer my monthly pension from Sweden to Thailand...

[scottiejohn]

49 minutes ago, glegolo18 said:

Maybe Sweden is much more modern when it comes to banks and transfers. It ALWAYS takes 5-7 seconds to transfer my monthly pension from Sweden to Thailand...

Same for me from Scotland to Thailand!

In fact on many occasions the BKK app notifies me of the credit to my BKK account before wise say it has completed.

I am of course using the "expenses for living in country" reason!

 

[Soondae]

23 hours ago, JimGant said:

Nope. This morning, if I had done a $23000 ACH "pull" from my US bank, it would have taken "7 hours," according to Wise. $24000 would have taken until Tuesday of next week (a four day gap, but it is a weekend and Thai holiday....). $1000? Instantly.

 

I have found, over the last year, that these projected transfer times are pretty accurate -- for US dollars from US.

 

For these discussions, make sure you delineate the country your sending from -- a lot of difference between source country of your funds and time of delivery.

Mr. JG, That large a sum in US dollars via Wise is the maximum amount they allow per transfer and they are very expensive at those sums. I believe a transfer at that rate would have been much larger fee by Wise than a basic Swift transfer from a US Bank. My case in point... I needed $100,000 for home purchase, Wise would require me to perform 4-5 transfers to make that sum. And the rates were very high. However a simple Swift transfer from Bank of America cost me $45 flat fee one time transfer at that amount. You must also make sure you don't allow BOA or any US bank to make the conversion, you will loose your arse. Let the Thai bank receive dollars sum and do the conversion, you will be much better off.

 

Don't get me wrong, I use WISE regularly for my monthly transfers and they are great and rates low. But when transfers need to be a large sum, WISE is not a very good choice.

[JimGant]

56 minutes ago, Soondae said:

I needed $100,000 for home purchase, Wise would require me to perform 4-5 transfers to make that sum

Interesting. I could go online right now and transfer maximum $50000 per day (ACH pull from my US bank) to Thailand. Why you're restricted to a lower maximum is curious. But, you're right -- SWIFT is cheaper over Wise, at about the $20000 level.

[srowndedbyh2o]

On 8/11/2023 at 10:55 AM, vtotheyouknow said:

Has anybody else seen these changes or is it just me?

I did a transfer from my U.S. bank this morning and it only took a few seconds to complete.

56 minutes ago, JimGant said:

Why you're restricted to a lower maximum is curious.

My U.S. bank is based in Hawaii. For years ACH transfers were limited to $10,000 per transfer, however that limit was increased to $15,000 a while ago. According to Wise, the limitations are restrictions set by the State of Hawaii, not Wise.  Hawaii is an “unlicensed state”, so If I want to transfer more than $15,000, I have to send the funds to Wise via domestic wire transfer, and even wire transfers are limited to $50,000.