Cheapest Way to Transfer 1 million bahts to SCB account?

[Barley]

Hello,

next week I have to transfer 1 million bahts to an SCB account of a Thai national. The money is now in Euro.

 

I hold standard free accounts with Wise, Revolut, and various European banks or brokers.

 

Is there any one way that lets me save a significant amount of money?

 

Thanks for our help.

[blaze master]

My online banking allows me to do international transfers for free. See ifq same applies to you. 

[ukrules]

Just do a SWIFT transfer

[scubascuba3]

No there isn't one way to save a significant amount, Wise better rate but higher fees than a thai bank. For larger amounts like 1m baht most people just use swift, make sure you send Euro, not baht, better rate from thai bank

[proton]

I would still use wise even with higher charge. Used them last night, money was in my Thai bank in 10 seconds

[offset]

13 hours ago, proton said:

I would still use wise even with higher charge. Used them last night, money was in my Thai bank in 10 seconds

But i guess that was for a small amount 

[proton]

1 hour ago, offset said:

But i guess that was for a small amount 

 

400k baht

[Barley]

I just looked at the fee from Wise for sending 1000000 THB: 190 Euro - wow! 

 

How can I get an indication for the rate that SCB gives when doing a SWIFT transfer in Euro? 

[Middle Aged Grouch]

If not in a hurry, depending in which country, the regular SWIFT is far better option. What one may gain in the exchange, one looses on the side with the fees...and so on. No matter which, Wise, Revolut or Wester Union...at the end of the day, it's like at the Casino...they will always win.

[offset]

On 3/15/2025 at 12:55 AM, Barley said:

Hello,

next week I have to transfer 1 million bahts to an SCB account of a Thai national. The money is now in Euro.

 

I hold standard free accounts with Wise, Revolut, and various European banks or brokers.

 

Is there any one way that lets me save a significant amount of money?

 

Thanks for our help.

When I send money via K bank I get about 0.40baht less per pound than I get from WISE but my UK bank has a fixed charge of £20 pounds for any amount soi have to do the maths for the best way to send

[Sigmund]

Bring it in cash if you can but of course declare it on departure and arrival as usually most countries require this if it's above 10 or 25k. 

 

Have all the necessary bank slips or statements to prove origin of funds and it's withdrawl.

 

Check before with local customs and homeland customs and have email print outs of their response.

 

And all should be fine and you'll get a far better mileage on your bucks in converting it yourself at any exchange booth in Thailand.

[topt]

1 hour ago, Barley said:

I just looked at the fee from Wise for sending 1000000 THB: 190 Euro - wow! 

 

How can I get an indication for the rate that SCB gives when doing a SWIFT transfer in Euro? 

You can do a comparison if you check both at similar times. 

You should know what your bank will charge to send - make sure it is in Euros. SCB will charge you 500 baht plus 20 baht if your branch is outside Bangkok . Look at the rate online https://www.scb.co.th/en/personal-banking/foreign-exchange-rates.html but not at the weekend when it generally is lower.......Calculate what you end up with doing it either way.

 

I found that with my bank it was better to accept all charges which meant I avoided any intermediary/correspondent bank fees (which could easily be $50 or more) and I no longer seem to pay the 500 plus 20 which I did in the past. I know roughly what my bank will charge me within a few $.

[DrJack54]

WISE

[Barley]

9 hours ago, topt said:

You can do a comparison if you check both at similar times. 

You should know what your bank will charge to send - make sure it is in Euros. SCB will charge you 500 baht plus 20 baht if your branch is outside Bangkok . Look at the rate online 

https://www.scb.co.th/en/personal-banking/foreign-exchange-rates.html 

but not at the weekend when it generally is lower.......Calculate what you end up with doing it either way.

 

Is it the Bank Sells > D/D & T/T Rate > Euros that would be applicable?

[topt]

2 hours ago, Barley said:

 

Is it the Bank Sells > D/D & T/T Rate > Euros that would be applicable?

No, unfortunately the lower rate.

Bank buys Euros TT rate.

[gamb00ler]

At this moment, one of the best rates available from a currency exchanger is 36.33 (Superrich in BKK) and SCB will pay 36.08.  The difference in rates is about .688% or about 688 ฿ on the 1M ฿ sent.  Don't forget that SCB will also charge you 500 ฿ to receive the SWIFT transfer.

 

TIT.... it's up to you to choose.

[KhunBENQ]

EUR example

TT rate at SCB 36.26 (8:30 AM)

WISE rate 36.63

 

27000 EUR

Theoretical 0 fee transaction would result in:

979020 SCB

989010 WISE

 

WISE transaction incl fee:

-> 982716

 

You see the point?

Now who tells me what the overall fees and resulting amount for a SWIFT transfer will be?

 

The "lower/zero fee at my bank" arguments are worthless without knowing what the end result is.

 

https://www.scb.co.th/en/personal-banking/foreign-exchange-rates

 

(rate slightly higher, update every two minutes, fee discountid for larger amount )

 

[KhunBENQ]

Ages ago I fell into the trap.

Deutsche Postbank had a 1.50 EUR fee for the transfer.

Sounds nice until I learned that 1.50 is just for handing it over to Deutsche Bank for the real deal🤣

(that was before both banks merged)

[KhunBENQ]

Found some numbers for Deutsche Bank SWIFT.

0.15% min. 10 EUR

1.55 EUR for SWIFT

25 EUR external costs flat rate

 

For 27000 EUR:

40.50

  1.55

25.00

---------

67.05 EUR

 

So ~26933 would come in at SCB.

Makes 976590 Baht.

SCB fee is 500 Baht 

> 976090

about 6600 Baht less than WISE transfer.

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

At this moment, one of the best rates available from a currency exchanger is 36.33 (Superrich in BKK) and SCB will pay 36.08.  The difference in rates is about .688% or about 688 ฿ on the 1M ฿ sent.  Don't forget that SCB will also charge you 500 ฿ to receive the SWIFT transfer.

 

TIT.... it's up to you to choose.

Even for large movements of money Wise is likely best. I priced wise when I brought in £17,000 in cash, I exchanged it at the HQ of green superrich, the cost to get there, transport on the water bus etc, made the advantage about ฿1,000 in favour of superrich.
The disadvantages were numerous, appointment at the bank (they don’t carry that much cash in virtually new notes), currency interview outbound mandatory, currency declaration in the transit airport mandatory, nothing at Thai customs as it was under the limit, having to carry 350 bank notes on the flight and 750 notes from superrich 

 

So if you live near Pratunam, frequently fly to your home country, live near the bank overseas, then it is possible you may choose the difficult option,

 

 

Vs Wise: go online initiate the transfer, get swapped to my bank to authenticate the transaction, wait and get the transfer time to complete between a minute or to for moderate transfers (£5,000) to a couple of days for larger ones

cost savings enough to justify the ฿2,000 difference ten times over between them and cash
 

[Barley]

Thank you for all your insightful comments and advice!

 

Now comes a little surprise:

 

I also have an account with Western Union.

 

So just for interest I checked their rates. Slight problem: Transferlimit of €16000 per transaction (Bank to Bank option).

 

So I tried for 500.000 Baht.

 

Here is the result:

 

 

I assume I will receive the €3.99 fee rebate only once, so in the middle you see my calculation for 2 transfers one rebated the other including €3.99 fee > total cost €27338.65 for 1 Million, or 13667.33 for 500K.

 

Now I check with wise:

€27493.95 (including fee 189.23€) for 1 Million, 

€13751.32  (including fee 97.24€) for 500K

 

Which makes WU save me €155.30 or 5680 THB.

 

I am quite surprised that WU beats Wise!

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours ago, Barley said:

Thank you for all your insightful comments and advice!

 

Now comes a little surprise:

 

I also have an account with Western Union.

 

So just for interest I checked their rates. Slight problem: Transferlimit of €16000 per transaction (Bank to Bank option).

 

So I tried for 500.000 Baht.

 

Here is the result:

 

 

I assume I will receive the €3.99 fee rebate only once, so in the middle you see my calculation for 2 transfers one rebated the other including €3.99 fee > total cost €27338.65 for 1 Million, or 13667.33 for 500K.

 

Now I check with wise:

€27493.95 (including fee 189.23€) for 1 Million, 

€13751.32  (including fee 97.24€) for 500K

 

Which makes WU save me €155.30 or 5680 THB.

 

I am quite surprised that WU beats Wise!

If you have actually made 2 transfers at close to the same time (it is not clear that that is what you have done) you can know exactly the advantage of one over the other.

it is usual that the actual costs are not apparent until receipt of the money.

Usually Wise comes out as better due to the exchange rates and lack of hidden costs.

 

i would be interested if you do 2 actual transactions of something like ฿100,000