Western Union vs Wise. WU now better?

[DFPhuket]

I’ve been looking into transferring $5,000 from my US bank to my SCB account, and after comparing options over the last 5 days, I’ve noticed that Western Union (WU) is actually beating Wise. Traditionally, WU had a reputation for poor rates and high fees, but it seems competition from other platforms might be changing that.

 

As of today if I send $5,000:

    •    WU is offering 168,720.50 THB, with funds arriving in my SCB account in 0-4 business days.
    •    Wise is offering 167,039.35 THB, with funds arriving in just 18 minutes.

 

In my experience, WU delivers funds relatively quickly during business days. For an extra 1,681 baht, I can wait a couple of days for the funds. Is this a one-off, or has WU genuinely improved its service?

[ElwoodP]

Wise give a worse exchange rate on weekends (-0.5bht/$) you need to try again on a weekday.

[Tim K]

Wise can send in THB but imho for amounts more than 3000$ using Wise's SWIFT option is better, because the fee is fixed at about 30-40$.
Have you looked at that?  Sending in USD and look at the TT-rate on SCB website.

I have accounts at bkb and kasi, both have no incoming fees for swift.

Edited September 8 by Tim K

[DFPhuket]

On 9/8/2024 at 10:39 AM, ElwoodP said:

Wise give a worse exchange rate on weekends (-0.5bht/$) you need to try again on a weekday.

 

I just checked today (a Tuesday morning) and a $5,000 transfer via Wise gets 168,095.52 THB and on WU 169,367.50 THB - a difference of 1,271 THB in favor of WU. I remain surprised at Western Union, which historically had been one of the poorer transfer options, is now the best option.