Western Union better than “Wise”

[Denim]

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

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.

 

Well....enter the Wise site.....( once a month ) type in amount to be sent and for what reason ( monthly expenses ) then I select debit card. 

Transfer normally goes through in a few seconds ( not weekends )

 

When I tried bank to bank transfer things got more complicated and it took a week.  It probably costs a few quid more but i can afford the 5 pound extra for the speed.

 

Each to his own.

[KannikaP]

12 minutes ago, Denim said:

When I tried bank to bank transfer things got more complicated and it took a week.

Is this a UK bank to Wise UK? If so, they use the Faster Payments system which is almost instantaneous. 

[Denim]

Just now, KannikaP said:

Is this a UK bank to Wise UK? If so, they use the Faster Payments system which is almost instantaneous. 

 

Yes ...wise takes the money from my UK bank then sends in to my Thai bank....almost instantaneous as you say.

[crazykopite]

My wise money hits my accounts in less than 5 minutes normally it’s quicker than that 

[crazykopite]

I always hold a £1,000 in my wise account just in case of an emergency 

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, Denim said:

Transfer normally goes through in a few seconds ( not weekends )

 

I cannot understand why it is slower at weekends. When a transfer is instant, obviously no humans are involved. So why longer at weekend. 

Just as a test, I transferred 150 quid from Barclays to Wise via online banking. Will take á few hours'. Why?

[NoDisplayName]

9 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

 

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

 

That's for WISE pulling from your bank, and will take additional time.

 

If you send from your bank to wise, it's immediate (*), and the ACH fee is $0.00

 

 

(*)  Unless you have a credit union that batch processes transfers at midnight.

[Scott Tracy]

I just used wise to tx £400. Done in seconds. I do know that some time ago transfers at weekends were problematic. Not now, it seems.

 

I have used WU to tx money from my Kbank to my UK bank before, but it only works when I'm in Thailand. I've also used international transfers from K bank to UK bank. All roughly the same speed from my experience.

[sometimewoodworker]

Just a FWIW 

amount transferred £3,200

route wise pulling from my U.K. account 

reason for transfer was not Funds for long term stay in Thailand

it was Sending money home to family

time taken seconds, sent to SCB

 

Edited September 14 by sometimewoodworker

[Korat Kiwi]

My pension goes into NZ account.  I transfer what I require into Wise account.  No fee and takes a maxm of 30 minutes. 

 

Then I convert to THB within Wise.  Minimal transaction fee and done instantly. 

 

If I need cash I transfer from Wise THB to my Bangkok Bank.  Takes seconds and minimal fee again.  Then use Bangkok Bank ATM which has 49 baht fee regardless of amount taken. 

 

Payment at places like supermarkets are done via Wise card. No fees

 

It works and works well. 

Edited September 14 by Korat Kiwi

[mushroomdave]

For years I have used Wise and never a problem......and I always check to see what it would cost me with W. Union and others......Never seen another cheaper.....and its there in seconds! 

[CanadaSam]

I can't imagine anybody choosing WU over Wise, WU uses the lousiest exchange rates, and then charges high fees on top!

[Jaggg88]

On 9/14/2024 at 7:34 AM, AAArdvark said:

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

It depends on what reason you choose on Wise for the transfer. If you select the last option 'long long-term living expenses in Thailand' it will take longer to transfer but is flagged as a foreign transfer. If you choose any other option it is flagged as an internal transfer. I transfer directly from my bank every time as the fee from Wise is smaller than using a debit card and the money arrives in seconds. I don't need it to be a foreign transfer. I did it two days ago. My bank forces me to authorise the transfer using an electronic PIN machine so perhaps other banks delay the funds transfer until it has been authorised.

[gamb00ler]

On 9/14/2024 at 4:12 PM, NoDisplayName said:

That's for WISE pulling from your bank, and will take additional time.

 

If you send from your bank to wise, it's immediate (*), and the ACH fee is $0.00

 

yes.... I did say the fee was for funding the transfer.  I should have made it more clear that there would be additional Wise fees for the actual transfer and that as you mention a free option for funding does exist.

Edited September 15 by gamb00ler

[NoDisplayName]

1 minute ago, gamb00ler said:

yes.... I did say the fee was for funding the transfer.  I should have made it more clear that there would be additional Wise fees for the actual transfer.

 

Understood.  I was pointing out that if you send from your bank to Wise, there is NO funding fee and no time delay.  ACH is free.

[treetops]

On 9/14/2024 at 1:35 AM, Gsxrnz said:

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 do pretty much the opposite from you and never hold money in Wise in any currency.  I always do my transfers funded from my UK bank account (online transfer) to be deposited straught into to BBL account and I have never experienced any delays of the magnitude noted by other posters.

 

My suspicion is the delays are mostly experienced when the source of funds is the USA and the accounts doing the sending either aren't verified or their link to Wise' transfer partner in the USA is suspect.

[SunsetT]

On 9/13/2024 at 10:30 AM, 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 have just started using WU because the exchange rate and charges are much better than Wise who I have used ever since they offered transfers. But WU's website and app. are chaotic and irrational in how they work giving  wrong info. and failing to tell me when funds should be sent to them. Last time I used their 'new' direct bank transfer as it offered a fractionally better exchange rate but never again as it ended up trying to send 4 payments of £1000 instead of one. But my bank were suspicious and stopped the payments until they checked with me. However the one that went through arrived the next day as did the previous 2 transfers with no receiving charges by Kasikorn bank (Same as with Wise). And the upside of their chaotic website and app. is that all 3 transfers were free of charge as 'first time transfers', but even if charged they would have only been 99p... 555. So as the £ exchange rate continues to fall and is abysmal once again I will persevere with the WU chaos...555.

[Skeptic7]

I've been using (Transfer)Wise for 5+ years. Money formerly arrived in my Bangkok Bank acct in 1-2 days from the USA. Fastest ever was 8 hours. Since the beginning of this year, transfers are taking 1 week for ACH transfer. 

[Korat Kiwi]

4 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

I've been using (Transfer)Wise for 5+ years. Money formerly arrived in my Bangkok Bank acct in 1-2 days from the USA. Fastest ever was 8 hours. Since the beginning of this year, transfers are taking 1 week for ACH transfer. 

WOW, that's a bit of a delay. 

 

What's causing such delay? I read using ACH are generally free but done in batches which can cause delays. 

 

Thankfully I haven't had that occur so far. The biggest delay is from NZ bank into Wise but only approx 10-20 mins tops. 

 

 

[Skeptic7]

7 hours ago, Korat Kiwi said:

WOW, that's a bit of a delay. 

 

What's causing such delay? I read using ACH are generally free but done in batches which can cause delays. 

 

Thankfully I haven't had that occur so far. The biggest delay is from NZ bank into Wise but only approx 10-20 mins tops. 

 

 

Yeah it's long, but fortunately I'm never in any rush for the money. And they give me the rate that I locked in at. This is good especially now with a weakening USD. I usually don't send less than THB100,000, so maybe that has something to do with it. Still think Wise is the best option. 

[Korat Kiwi]

4 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Yeah it's long, but fortunately I'm never in any rush for the money. And they give me the rate that I locked in at. This is good especially now with a weakening USD. I usually don't send less than THB100,000, so maybe that has something to do with it. Still think Wise is the best option. 

 

I tend to agree with your summation.  Large amounts of $$$ attract more attention by authorities. 

 

I can't remember the amounts but I recall in NZ, over a certain amount the tax men are advised as well.  Working in the Middle East I was always careful what I remitted 'home'. 

[ModdaPunk]

On 9/13/2024 at 9:30 AM, 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? 

 

Western Union being faster is something that I can easily imagine.

But cheaper ?!

Weird.

[Sid Bream]

On 9/14/2024 at 9:57 AM, thecyclist said:

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

Have you asked for an explanation on why there is a limit, and who is making that 'restriction'. Is that Wise or KTB?

[Sid Bream]

On 9/15/2024 at 7:05 PM, CanadaSam said:

I can't imagine anybody choosing WU over Wise, WU uses the lousiest exchange rates, and then charges high fees on top!

It's always best if you read the whole thread. WU have improved their exchange rates and fees.

[thecyclist]

2 hours ago, Sid Bream said:

Have you asked for an explanation on why there is a limit, and who is making that 'restriction'. Is that Wise or KTB?

Yes, I asked wise, and they said that only 2 Thai Banks(Bangkok bank was one of them if I remember it right) allow transfers in excess of 2000 $.

But that can't be the whole story. I was able to transfer more than that into my KTB account via payoneer. 

[Photoguy21]

I made a transfer from the UK to Thailand just a couple of days ago. It took less than 10 seconds. I would doubt it Western Union could match that.

[KannikaP]

On 9/14/2024 at 7:34 AM, AAArdvark said:

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

Does it matter how the money gets to your Wise GBP/USD/EUR account? 

After that it is simply a conversion to the currency in which you want to transfer and receive, THB or AED in my case. Usually instant unless I tick Long Stay (yes it is back! ) or Property. Then it takes a day longer.