Nationwide Building Society. Swift

[phutoie2]

In a situation where I will need to bring some money into Thailand to boost up the Thai bank account for July's extension.

Has anyone done a SWIFT transfer with NW recently?, I understand the fee has risen to 25 GBP now.

Last timeI did one I had to use that card reader thingy and done online but still had to telephone NW HQ to chase it up.

They also charged me the usual 20 pound fee plus an extra 20 pounds which they said was the foreign bank account fee!!.

I complanied about that and to my surprise NW did refund it. I was under the impression that NW used HSBC for overseas transfers.

So how long does it take for a transfer now? and is there a better way of moving funds over, my mate in the next village uses a UK based Forex account.

I am a little hesitant with that!, though NW were painfully slow over the years the money did eventually get here!

[AyG]

Yes the fee's GBP 25 now.

Don't usually need to 'phone up and chase. Usually they make the transfer same day if you get the instruction to them in the morning. (Can't remember the exact cut-off time. It's on their website.) On the one occasion they did it next day they agreed to refund the fee. The money should turn up in Thailand within 2-3 working days.

The receiving bank will make a charge. You can opt to have it deducted from your funds after they've arrived in Thailand. That's usually cheaper than the overseas bank passing the charge back to Nationwide.

After the money is received you may get a 'phone call from the Thai bank asking whether you want to accept that day's exchange rate. Until you say "yes" the money will remain in limbo. In my experience, the Thai bank won't bother trying to call more than once, so if you miss the call you'll have to contact the bank head office. (Your local branch probably won't know anything about the transaction.)

[Lite Beer]

My last Swift transfer from Nationwide was last month.

£25 fee. Arrived the next working day. The Thai bank charged a fee, pretty sure that the maximum is 500 Baht.

[sootybrown]

In case this could help, have had NW account for 10 years, but now cannot use new card in ATM so had to find new cheap way of transferring money to Thailand. In UK I have a PayPal account tied to NW account, for a PayPal account you only need a email address and they tie it to your nominated bank account. You can move your money from your nominated UK bank account to your PayPal account, there is no charge for over 100 pounds. So create a second email address, log in to PayPal and tie the new email to your Thai bank account, once email and bank account are verified by PayPal you can move your money from the UK bank to the Thai bank. If you move a minimum of just over 100 pounds or 5000 baht there is no charge. Transfer takes 5 to 7 days depending on weekends.

It works for me, if you get stuck PM me.

[phutoie2]

Thanks chaps, next day service!, or 2 to 3 days at the most, Nationwide must have got their act together!.

Sooty thanks for that suggestion and will have a look. Though my UK pension is now paid directly to my Thai bank account so never have to worry too much about ATM withdrawals here.

I just use the odd swift for major top ups now and again!.