Western Union better than “Wise”

[Everyman]

“Wise” said it would take a week to deposit money in my account. Western Union was cheaper and faster. Fifteen minutes.

 

Years ago I hated them because they ripped me off so bad. But times have changed I guess. 

 

What do you all think about this? 

[KannikaP]

Just did Bht 10,000 from GBP to Bangkok bank.........seconds!

[Sid Bream]

An interesting discussion. Why would it take a week, did you only just open your account with Wise?
It appears that Western Union has improved their exchange rates and are not shaving the rates as much as they used to for their commission. The only thing with Wise is that they have an option of sending different currencies as opposed to Western Union which I do not believe have that option of a foreign currency account. 

[Everyman]

5 hours ago, Sid Bream said:

An interesting discussion. Why would it take a week, did you only just open your account with Wise?
It appears that Western Union has improved their exchange rates and are not shaving the rates as much as they used to for their commission. The only thing with Wise is that they have an option of sending different currencies as opposed to Western Union which I do not believe have that option of a foreign currency account. 

 

I’ve been using Wise to send money from that same account for at least five years. Yesterday the time required jumped from seconds to six days. 

[verylostdog]

I have been using Wise for the last few months, never tried Western Union although it maybe something I'll look into in the near future. 

 

Every time I send money through wise to my Kbank, it usually takes a few days or even up to a week. With Krungsi however, it arrives within a matter of minutes. The only issue with Krungsi is that there is a limit of 50K baht per transfer, according to Wise website at least. 

[Zack61]

My last Wise transfer about 3 weeks ago took about 10 minutes. From Australia to an account in Thailand I regularly use. 

[FarmerJoe]

12 hours ago, Everyman said:

“Wise” said it would take a week to deposit money in my account. Western Union was cheaper and faster. Fifteen minutes.

 

Years ago I hated them because they ripped me off so bad. But times have changed I guess. 

 

What do you all think about this? 

I posted last month with the same problem. Usually takes seconds and then last month it was 6 days. This month, back to seconds. Go figure. Western Union has made some changes and could be a good back up.

[Luuk Chaai]

24 minutes ago, FarmerJoe said:

I posted last month with the same problem. Usually takes seconds and then last month it was 6 days. This month, back to seconds. Go figure. Western Union has made some changes and could be a good back up.

i used Wise yesterday ,, as I always do ...  agreed it took longer than usual

 it was 8 seconds instead of the usual 6 seconds .....

[wxyz1]

8 hours ago, Everyman said:

 

I’ve been using Wise to send money from that same account for at least five years. Yesterday the time required jumped from seconds to six days. 

I stopped using wise for the same reason, and have been using moneygram without any issues.

[Denim]

When using Wise it is better to move the money via your debit card then bank account to bank account. The former takes a few seconds the latter days or more. I found that you have to check this on each transaction otherwise Wise will make bank to bank the default option.

[thecyclist]

5 hours ago, verylostdog said:

I have been using Wise for the last few months, never tried Western Union although it maybe something I'll look into in the near future. 

 

Every time I send money through wise to my Kbank, it usually takes a few days or even up to a week. With Krungsi however, it arrives within a matter of minutes. The only issue with Krungsi is that there is a limit of 50K baht per transfer, according to Wise website at least. 

I was told by Wise that the limit for a couple of Thai banks, my bank Krungthai included, is 2000 USD.

[gamb00ler]

5 minutes ago, Denim said:

When using Wise it is better to move the money via your debit card then bank account to bank account. 

Better is determined in the eye of the beholder.

 

Here are the fees for funding your WISE transfer per US$1,000

Connected back account (ACH)  fee  is 2.49

Wire transfer fee is   6.11 

Debit card fee is    12.93

Credit card fee is   61.65

[NorthernRyland]

14 hours ago, Everyman said:

“Wise” said it would take a week to deposit money in my account. Western Union was cheaper and faster. Fifteen minutes.

 

Years ago I hated them because they ripped me off so bad. But times have changed I guess. 

 

What do you all think about this? 

Same thing happened to me a few months ago. Something about my bank and micro transactions. Never had a problem before but now it's kind of a worthless service unless you plan far ahead .

[AAArdvark]

46 minutes ago, Denim said:

When using Wise it is better to move the money via your debit card then bank account to bank account. The former takes a few seconds the latter days or more. I found that you have to check this on each transaction otherwise Wise will make bank to bank the default option.

 

[AAArdvark]

When you use that method, is the transfer flagged as a foreign transfer?

[jippytum]

 The advantage of rise was the  exchange rate and 100% rapid transfer of funds.  Seems to be a bit 'hit and  miss' recently

[Gsxrnz]

A few questions to those experiencing delays beyond 24 hours, assuming no home country or Thailand bank holidays/weekends.

 

1. Do you have a Wise THB account and also a Wise account in your domestic Currency? Let's say USD.

2. Do you routinely hold a balance in your Wise USD account - say at least the amount you would want to convert to THB for a month or more?

3. Do you regularly convert from your Wise USD account to your Wise THB account as and when you desire, depending on exchange rate on the day, building up a balance that suits your requirements or risk profile?

4. Do you occasionally flip THB from your Wise account back into your Wise USD account because the THB/USD rate moved in your favor and you can make a few bucks?

5. Finally, when remitting THB to your Thai domestic bank account, do you remit THB from your Wise THB account? i.e. you are remitting THB you already have in your Wise THB account. 

 

This is my general practise, and I have no problems other than a few minor delays because of weekends, public holidays in either Thailand or the UK.

 

I think many users don't hold the Wise accounts I refer to, and pay Wise from their domestic bank for every remittance they do.  Holding the THB in a Wise THB account means the final leg to your Thai bank account is an in-country transaction, meaning Wise have already received payment and they are remitting cleared funds to you.

 

I suspect most delays are usually caused by your home country bank/clearing system, or Wise' requirement to meet your countries money laundering rules. 

 

 

 

[KhunBENQ]

I checked conditions on their website and if that is all incl then I would get about 500 Baht more on a 2000 EUR transfer.

(pay via online banking, transfer to bank account).

Time to give it a try ?

[KhunBENQ]

15 hours ago, Everyman said:

account. Western Union was cheaper and faster. Fifteen minutes.

What does the registration process at WU include?

It was always a bit of problem to provide an acceptable proof of my address in Thailand.

May use a letter from pension office from July.

[retarius]

I only used Western Union once.....about 15 years ago......actually my wife used it but I was standing next to her. She sent a small sum from Tokyo to Thailand. Total take from WU was 32% vs spot rate. I told her never to use the pos service again. 

[KhunBENQ]

6 minutes ago, retarius said:

I only used Western Union once.....about 15 years ago......actually my wife used it but I was standing next to her. She sent a small sum from Tokyo to Thailand. Total take from WU was 32% vs spot rate. I told her never to use the pos service again. 

That's the image that WU might suffer from.

But looks like they have developed.

And cash to cash is likely an expensive service.

Popular with African romance scammers 😁

[retarius]

Just now, KhunBENQ said:

That's the image that WU might suffer from.

But looks like they have developed.

And cash to cash is likely an expensive service.

Popular at African love scammers 😁

I wonder why should I give them as second chance to rob me. Screw 'em. 

[TucsonDavid]

10 hours ago, Everyman said:

I've been using Wise to send money from that same account for at least five years. Yesterday the time required jumped from seconds to six days.

This has happened to me for the past several months. No explanation from Wise Customer Support. There has been no change in the bank or my settings. Very disappointing to be sure. 

[Surasak]

Cannot say how long since I used WU but it is many years. I used to send £500 at least twice per month by a transfer from my UK bank to WU. Then WU to my Thai bank. Total cost was £2:90 and it only took about an hour. Cant speak for Wise as never used them, but now I use Revolut. I can transfer from my UK bank to Revolut. No cost. I then transfer to the Revolut Baht A/C up to £800 at no charge/month. I use the Revolut card for most purchases and always tell the clerk to take in Thai Baht, so no charges. Any remaining balance I transfer to my KrungThai A/C, direct from the Revolut Thai A/C and again usually, no charge. To be sure, I have just checked the Baht transfers and they show no charges over the past six month.

I expect to get a few flamed replies, but I can only say as I see.

[statman78]

10 minutes ago, TucsonDavid said:

This has happened to me for the past several months. No explanation from Wise Customer Support. There has been no change in the bank or my settings. Very disappointing to be sure. 

There was a discussion about this several months ago.  I have the same issue.  When I make m6 monthly transfer a notice pops up stating something about my bank account settings.  It recommends that i delete my account and link back to it again.  I have not tried this but another poster did and reported that it worked.

[seajae]

just checked, to transfer $1000 US to Thailand costs $6.83, sometimes it does take longer for them to transfer but I think it is a problem with the banks, I do not trust western union as thay have always ripped you off in the exchange same as paypal, Wise is a hell of a lot more trustworthy as far as I am concerned.

[Denim]

2 hours ago, AAArdvark said:

When you use that method, is the transfer flagged as a foreign transfer?

 

Given a TRD code in my Thai bank book  ( transfer from other account )

[RocketDog]

5 hours ago, AAArdvark said:

When you use that method, is the transfer flagged as a foreign transfer?

Yes at Bangkok Bank it is labeled as FTT.

Another advantage of Wise is converting dollars to thb when rates are good but transferring it to Wise 'jar' and later transfer to your Thai bank from the jar any time you want to.

[KannikaP]

6 hours ago, Denim said:

When using Wise it is better to move the money via your debit card then bank account to bank account. The former takes a few seconds the latter days or more. I found that you have to check this on each transaction otherwise Wise will make bank to bank the default option.

Are you meaning to fund the Wise account from which you will be sending? I have found bank transfer to Wise is quicker than using a Debit Card.

And as for Western Union, if you need it to arrive as an International Transfer for Immigration purposes, ......does it?  

Wise uses Bangkok Bank as one of its partners so it does show as an FTT, send via Kasikorn and it doesn't.

[Moti24]

I've used Wise for years.  If I send money from The UK to Thailand just to top-up my Thai bank account, it usually takes only a few seconds because Wise has an account in Thailand and it is a local transaction.  But, if I am sending money for my visa, and require it to show in my bank book as a foreign transaction, it can take a few days.  It all depends on which bank you use; BB, SCB and Kasikorn best if using wise.  I use kasikorn, and never have any hold-up.