My first experience using WISE - seriously impressed

[timendres]

I have been in Thailand for 14 years. I had a Thai job with a salary paid in baht for the past 9 years.

So I had no need for money transfers. Until now. I have retired, and now money flows into Thailand.

Many AN members use WISE and laud it, so I decided to give it a try.

I am signing up as a US citizen.

Setting up the account was simple. Took no more than 20 minutes.

WISE used an uploaded photo of my passport and some sort of face ID to verify my identity.

The face ID opened up on my mobile in Safari and worked very well.

I connected my Capital One 360 Savings account to WISE in just a few minutes.

I then made the mistake of trying to send money, but only seeing the SWIFT option.

Of course, this was outrageously expensive and the wrong choice.

Eventually I found the correct answer, which was to "send money to myself".

I set up a simple $20 transfer to test it.

The fee was $1, or 5%, but a larger transfer would have a much smaller percentage fee, of course.

The transfer happened within 5 seconds!!!!

I have never seen that sort of delivery anywhere.

However, that is not the most amazing thing.

What blew my mind was the exchange rate.

I was looking at live USDTHB on OANDA.

The live rate on OANDA was showing 35.992.

The rate I got on the transfer was 35.9905.

I have never seen an exchange rate that good. Ever.

Needless to say, I am more than impressed.

[Dolf]

They have cards too if needed. It normally works well.

[CanadaSam]

Cards are not yet issued to accounts opened from Thailand.

 

I too, was shocked upon opening an account with Wise a few days ago, and also transferred money to myself and received it within seconds!

 

But what blew my mind was that the money was transferred and put into my Bangkok Bank account in the middle of the night!!!!

 

Previously, all monies I received via bank transfers was at the mercy of exactly when the staff at head office felt like depositing it, morning or late afternoon, and then after closing, it was game over for that day, and we'll try again tomorrow!!!!

 

Having money transferred from both Canada and the States to my Bangkok Bank account at all hours, 24/7 is a game changer!

 

Go Wise!!!!

 

 

[chickenslegs]

11 hours ago, CanadaSam said:

Cards are not yet issued to accounts in Thailand.

True, and desperately needed for those of us expats who have had our UK bank accounts closed.

 

E.g. - Barclays closed my UK account after 40+ years of never being in the red, just because I was honest about my new address in Thailand.

 

If I need to book a flight home to the UK I now need to transfer my GBP pensions to my Thai bank account , (via Wise) then pay for the flight in Baht from my Bangkok bank account- that's two international transfers and about 5-10% extra on top of the current inflated flight prices.

[timendres]

10 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

True, and desperately needed for those of us expats who have had our UK bank accounts closed.

 

E.g. - Barclays closed my UK account after 40+ years of never being in the red, just because I was honest about my new address in Thailand.

 

If I need to book a flight home to the UK I now need to transfer my GBP pensions to my Thai bank account , (via Wise) then pay for the flight in Baht from my Bangkok bank account- that's two international transfers and about 5-10% extra on top of the current inflated flight prices.

 

WISE gave me a "Digital card". I have not tested it yet.

But this is not helpful with airline reservations, since they can require the physical card at check-in.

[ABCDBKK]

8 hours ago, timendres said:

 

WISE gave me a "Digital card". I have not tested it yet.

But this is not helpful with airline reservations, since they can require the physical card at check-in.

If they issue a digital card to you, then you should be able to order a physical card too through the app. I assume you get access to digital cards because you're using a US address on your Wise account. People with a Thai address on the account will not have access to cards, neither digital or physical.  However, I think the first physical card your order will need to be mailed to your US address on the account. But you can then order a second one and/or have the first one replaced and I believe (after the first card is delivered and activated) all future cards can be mailed to any address of your choice, including to an address at Thailand. 

[george]

Wise is good. You can apply for Wise here.

[george]

Here you can compare WISE with Revolut:

 

[degodasilva]

13 hours ago, CanadaSam said:

Cards are not yet issued to accounts opened from Thailand.

 

I too, was shocked upon opening an account with Wise a few days ago, and also transferred money to myself and received it within seconds!

 

But what blew my mind was that the money was transferred and put into my Bangkok Bank account in the middle of the night!!!!

 

Previously, all monies I received via bank transfers was at the mercy of exactly when the staff at head office felt like depositing it, morning or late afternoon, and then after closing, it was game over for that day, and we'll try again tomorrow!!!!

 

Having money transferred from both Canada and the States to my Bangkok Bank account at all hours, 24/7 is a game changer!

 

Go Wise!!!!

 

 

 

Regarding the speed issue, my understanding is that when you make a transfer from, say, America to Thailand, your money is actually only going into Wise's American account. There's then a second transaction from Wise's Thai account to the senders Thai account, so no international transfer has even taken place (at that time).

 

Of course, the main reason why banking's now so much quicker is due to greater digital automation, with much less reliance on physical human intervention.

 

Like you, I'm certainly not complaining.

 

Edited February 29 by degodasilva

[Ms Tigger]

I'd be grateful if someone could clarify this for me please. Is Wise just a method of transferring money from one account to another, or can you set up an account into which, for example, pension is paid and direct debits etc can be paid from. And then draw upon those funds in the normal way?

I'm just thinking what if my UK bank account were to be closed, as seem's to be happening more frequently, what would my alternative be?

Many thanks for any clarification!

[roquefort]

High street banks are dead in the water. Closing branches everywhere, online apps nowhere near as good as Wise. The future is Wise!

[ABCDBKK]

30 minutes ago, Ms Tigger said:

I'd be grateful if someone could clarify this for me please. Is Wise just a method of transferring money from one account to another, or can you set up an account into which, for example, pension is paid and direct debits etc can be paid from. And then draw upon those funds in the normal way?

I'm just thinking what if my UK bank account were to be closed, as seem's to be happening more frequently, what would my alternative be?

Many thanks for any clarification!

Yes and no. Wise is a fintech company, not a bank. Your pension can be paid directly into Wise if the organization that pays you your pension agrees to it. You can then send payments out from Wise to whatever bank account you like (in very many different countries) for a very small fee. Wise makes the transfers using agents and instant bank transfers in various different countries, so most transfers occur with seconds since the money usually only moves between local banks. They also provide debit cards, they pay interest on USD, GBP, and EUR balances, but it is not a bank, so there are no government guarantees on Wise account balances as you would have with a real bank.
 

Note though that they can only send payments to a country within the local currency of that country. For example, you can't send GBP to your Thai Baht account in Thailand. You must first convert the GBP within your Wise account to Thai Baht and then transfer it to your Thai Baht account in Thailand.
 

The exchange rates provided by Wise are better than the exchange rates that any bank would give you, so there is no downside to having to convert the funds from one currency to another within your Wise account first, but I'm just explaining how this works.
 

However, if you have GBP come into your Wise account, and then you want to send out a payment to an account in the UK (also in GBP) then of course there would be no need for a currency conversion. 
 

Wise outgoing transfers to Euro accounts, USD, and GBP accounts are free, as long as you choose the electronic transfer option and not opt for a bank wire.
 

Transferring money from your Wise account to a Thai Baht account carries a charge of about 32 Baht per transfer. 
 

I hope that helps. 

Edited February 29 by ABCDBKK

[herfiehandbag]

Can you have your UK state pension paid into a Wise account?

[Stocky]

1 hour ago, ABCDBKK said:

Yes and no. Wise is a fintech company, not a bank.

As an alternative you can use Monzo, which is a licenced bank in the UK, who partner with Wise for International transfers. You can integrate your Wise account into your Monzo app so International transfers via Wise work seamlessly. 

 

.

Edited February 29 by Stocky

[chickenslegs]

1 hour ago, herfiehandbag said:

Can you have your UK state pension paid into a Wise account?

Yes. Mine has been paid into Wise since 2022.

[ABCDBKK]

9 minutes ago, Stocky said:

As an alternative you can use Monzo, which is a licenced bank in the UK, who partner with Wise for International transfers. You can integrate your Wise account into your Monzo app so International transfers via Wise work seamlessly. 

 

.

You can also use N26, which is another licensed online bank based in Germany with no fees (for a basic account) and no minimum balance requirements and offers both Sterling and Euro accounts. They are also linked to work with Wise seamlessly. 

[Bangkok Barry]

16 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

E.g. - Barclays closed my UK account after 40+ years of never being in the red, just because I was honest about my new address in Thailand.

 

I've had my HSBC account for about the same period, and they let me retain it. It does seem to be hit and miss. A couple of years ago they sent me some forms to fill in which needed to be verified by a lawyer here - I forget the details - and I did need to call the UK because what I received from them was a second mailing. (I later discovered that our local postie was burning the mail as he was probably confused and didn't know he was supposed to deliver it). I was therefore up against their deadline, but the person I spoke with could not have been easier to deal with and all ended well.

[Dexxter]

I have been using Wise for 5-6 years to pay my Bangkok condo rent from an Australian bank account. They have always had the best rates available and the transfers were almost instant (within a minute) up about 5 months ago. Then they changed the local Australian agent and their new account does not seem to work with the OSKO payment system which is instant. Instead the payment goes via PAY ANYONE which takes between 4 hours and 2 business days. I contact the Wise call centre and they said that OSKO still works in Australia for them. So I contacted my Australian bank (Westpac) and they said that Wise does not accept OSKO payments through their current local account. Fingers pointing in both directions. I gave up trying to resolve the delay issue and just send payments a day early but it does feel like a backward step from instant transfers. I just hope enough Australian people complain and the problem gets sorted one day. In the meantime.... best rates and lowest fees available anywhere. I save about AU$40 each transfer compared to banks. Recommended.

[JRG23]

So I use Wise from a Thai address - and no card. But if I change to my legitimit UK address I can get card. Sounds good.

 

What do I need to show to change to my UK address?

Anyone know?

[herfiehandbag]

1 hour ago, chickenslegs said:

Yes. Mine has been paid into Wise since 2022.

Good. When they finally start paying mine ( only three months late - was due December last year) I shall think about changing to that.

[Jaxxper]

I think Wise is great. I opened the account to pay someone in Sweden a small amount of Krona, and my UK bank charge would have been more than the debt. Sent it with Wise with a small fee, and have never looked back. Great service, exchange rates and fees. Use it regularly now to transfer money to Thailand.

[ABCDBKK]

2 hours ago, JRG23 said:

So I use Wise from a Thai address - and no card. But if I change to my legitimit UK address I can get card. Sounds good.

 

What do I need to show to change to my UK address?

Anyone know?

If you are a UK citizen they may not ask you to show anything because they might assume that is your permanent home address anyway. Or they could ask to see a bank statement or electricity bill as proof of UK residence. If you have a UK driving license with your UK address on it that would be good too. 

[ABCDBKK]

2 hours ago, Dexxter said:

I have been using Wise for 5-6 years to pay my Bangkok condo rent from an Australian bank account. They have always had the best rates available and the transfers were almost instant (within a minute) up about 5 months ago. Then they changed the local Australian agent and their new account does not seem to work with the OSKO payment system which is instant. Instead the payment goes via PAY ANYONE which takes between 4 hours and 2 business days. I contact the Wise call centre and they said that OSKO still works in Australia for them. So I contacted my Australian bank (Westpac) and they said that Wise does not accept OSKO payments through their current local account. Fingers pointing in both directions. I gave up trying to resolve the delay issue and just send payments a day early but it does feel like a backward step from instant transfers. I just hope enough Australian people complain and the problem gets sorted one day. In the meantime.... best rates and lowest fees available anywhere. I save about AU$40 each transfer compared to banks. Recommended.

Since you are paying money for rent in Thailand, aren't you paying the rent in Thai Baht? If so, then if you convert the money within your Wise account first from AUS$ to Baht and then transfer it in Baht then it should only cost 32 Baht for the transfer to Thailand and arrive in seconds if the transfer amount is under 50,000 Baht. If the amount you need to transfer is above 50,000 Baht, then just break it into two separate transfers of under 50,000 each and pay the 32 Baht transfer fee twice and both transfers will still get there within seconds.

[Paiman]

Try the " auto convert " option. I have mainly 3 currencies in my account. USD, EUR and THB. Auto Convert set up for conversion from EUR to THB when the exchange rate hits 39.02. Executed a few days ago. Of course you need to have the required funds in your account. 

[Lancelot01]

On 2/28/2024 at 10:39 PM, timendres said:

I have been in Thailand for 14 years. I had a Thai job with a salary paid in baht for the past 9 years.

So I had no need for money transfers. Until now. I have retired, and now money flows into Thailand.

Many AN members use WISE and laud it, so I decided to give it a try.

I am signing up as a US citizen.

Setting up the account was simple. Took no more than 20 minutes.

WISE used an uploaded photo of my passport and some sort of face ID to verify my identity.

The face ID opened up on my mobile in Safari and worked very well.

I connected my Capital One 360 Savings account to WISE in just a few minutes.

I then made the mistake of trying to send money, but only seeing the SWIFT option.

Of course, this was outrageously expensive and the wrong choice.

Eventually I found the correct answer, which was to "send money to myself".

I set up a simple $20 transfer to test it.

The fee was $1, or 5%, but a larger transfer would have a much smaller percentage fee, of course.

The transfer happened within 5 seconds!!!!

I have never seen that sort of delivery anywhere.

However, that is not the most amazing thing.

What blew my mind was the exchange rate.

I was looking at live USDTHB on OANDA.

The live rate on OANDA was showing 35.992.

The rate I got on the transfer was 35.9905.

I have never seen an exchange rate that good. Ever.

Needless to say, I am more than impressed.

I have used Wise for several years for different types of transactions in the Caribbean, Australasia, SE Asia US and Europe and never had a problem. It's always quick and efficient.