CurrencyFair have told me THB will be available by the end of the month.

[Mr Happynesss]

Will this be the cheapest option for doing international transfers for a few thousand £'s? (UK to Thai). What does everyone else think?

[SheungWan]

Potentially excellent news if it kicks off.

[Sydneycraig]

Hsbc only charge 4 pounds for international transfers .. It's a promotion so will go up at some point

[Sydneycraig]

And yes, you can send as pounds

[Jip99]

And yes, you can send as pounds

I can't. A friend can but I tried again today - no GBP option.

I am going to try with Google Chrome................

[Pib]

Here are their average fees in a table...there is also a 0.5% exchanage rate fee mentioned in the fine print below the table: Link

And remember, you'll also have the approx 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) currency receipt/conversion fee on the Thai bank end regardless of the funds arriving in a foreign currency or already in baht.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Pib

[SheungWan]

Hsbc only charge 4 pounds for international transfers .. It's a promotion so will go up at some point

The thing about Online Peer FX sites is that you get a better exchange rate.

[Sydneycraig]

http://www.bangkokbank.com/bangkokbank/webservices/rates/pages/fx_rates.aspx which of these rates would I get when sending pounds from uk and exchanged once arrived at my bkk account? the TT? if so, only .2 difference so 400 baht on £2000

http://www.ukforex.co.uk/personal/transfer-money

http://www.bangkokbank.com/bangkokbank/webservices/rates/pages/fx_rates.aspx

Edited May 19, 2014 by Sydneycraig

[Mr Happynesss]

Here are their average fees in a table...there is also a 0.5% exchanage rate fee mentioned in the fine print below the table: Link

And remember, you'll also have the approx 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) currency receipt/conversion fee on the Thai bank end regardless of the funds arriving in a foreign currency or already in baht.

Thanks Pib, it looks really good! Do you think this is the best option available?

[Mr Happynesss]

Hsbc only charge 4 pounds for international transfers .. It's a promotion so will go up at some point

Yes but the banks exchange rates are HORRIBLE don't you think? I'm with FirstDirect (HSBC).

[Pib]

http://www.bangkokbank.com/bangkokbank/webservices/rates/pages/fx_rates.aspx which of these rates would I get when sending pounds from uk and exchanged once arrived at my bkk account? the TT? if so, only .2 difference so 400 baht on £2000

http://www.ukforex.co.uk/personal/transfer-money

http://www.bangkokbank.com/bangkokbank/webservices/rates/pages/fx_rates.aspx

When sending foreign funds to Thai banks the Thai banks use their "TT Buying Rate" for the conversion.

[Pib]

Hsbc only charge 4 pounds for international transfers .. It's a promotion so will go up at some point

Yes but the banks exchange rates are HORRIBLE don't you think? I'm with FirstDirect (HSBC).

The rates are horrible if you allow you home country bank to convert to baht when/before Sending...you'll usually get 2 to 4% lower exchange range from your home country bank compared to the Thai bank TT Buying Rate used for incoming transfers.

[Sydneycraig]

so, make sure to specify that the funds are not to be converted by HSBC and its a good deal at £4 a pop. I think it was £17.50 before, so not so good. I just spoke to someone at hsbc and they said it is a promo but no date set for the £4 price to go up yet

[Mr Happynesss]

Hsbc only charge 4 pounds for international transfers .. It's a promotion so will go up at some point

Yes but the banks exchange rates are HORRIBLE don't you think? I'm with FirstDirect (HSBC).

The rates are horrible if you allow you home country bank to convert to baht when/before Sending...you'll usually get 2 to 4% lower exchange range from your home country bank compared to the Thai bank TT Buying Rate used for incoming transfers.

Thanks, yes I have read many times to never exchange in the UK before transfer. But still bank rates won't compare anywhere near CurrencyFair for fees&rate surely?

[Mr Happynesss]

http://www.ukforex.co.uk/personal/transfer-money

Thanks. Have you used ukforex.com ? Could you recommend them?

Edited May 19, 2014 by Mr Happynesss

[Sydneycraig]

Not used them ... Just a comparison example

[Mr Happynesss]

after quoting market rates, calculators, mid-point prices etc I finally found ukforex.com's 'custormer rate' hidden away http://www.ukforex.co.uk/customer-rates it looks really bad right? No wonder they advertise fee-free over £3000

[Mr Happynesss]

The only place I think that can beat CurrencyFair on 'lowest-cost' international transfers under about £10k will be TransferWise (when they eventually offer the THB).

[Pib]

after quoting market rates, calculators, mid-point prices etc I finally found ukforex.com's 'custormer rate' hidden away http://www.ukforex.co.uk/customer-rates it looks really bad right? No wonder they advertise fee-free over £3000

A lot of these currency exchange sites like you mention above hype the Forex midpoint rate like you see in news media, but when doing an actual exchange they have different (lower) common man customer buy/sell exchange rates....you get into spread rate issues which lower the exchange rate....etc. Their direct fees may be low but their actual exchange rate is where they make their money at your expense. And of course there is usually the longer wait time to get the funds transferred to the currrency exchanger to fund the exchange transaciton before the currency exchanger will transmit the funds to Thailand.

It really hard to beat the Thai bank TT Buying Rate used for incoming transfer "if", repeat if you can get the funds sent at a low fee from your home country bank...and of course never let your home country bank convert to baht when sending as you'll surely get a lower exchange rate because it makes the bank a nice little indirect fee at your expense.

[Mr Happynesss]

Agreed, thanks for advice. Although I think the two exceptions to this may be CurrencyFair and (even better) TransferWise, as they are the market leaders. Many reviews and comparisons I have read put them way ahead for cost savings. I just wonder exactly how they work, would the currency exchange take place in the UK before the transfer (meaning less favourable rate)... Will be interesting to see CurrencyFair's rate when they offer THB next week. So perhaps after all I may be best routing sterling through [bangkok Bank London] to [bangkok Bank (Thailand)] and then have them do the exchange at the TT buying rate. This seems to be what many recommend, but me being me, I want the cheapest option regardless of how long the transfer takes. I'm rarely in a rush.

[Pib]

Hopefully they are market leaders. If you can find someone who has done transfers "and who will tell you exactly what exchange rate they got on day-X and all associated direct fees" then you could simply pull up the Thai bank TT Buying Rate for that date and crank in your direct fees say if transferring from your bank....then you will have some good comparisons.

In the past I have responded to ThaiVisa posters who said they used service XYZ and asked them for an example of the exchange rate they got on day X and what their direct fees were?" Why ask them? Because I might be interested in using the service if its truly a good deal. Many times trying to get detailed cost info and exchange rate info from some forex type services is hard....it's almost like they are intentionally being vague about their costs/fees. What I got from the posters was silence like maybe they were not sure of the exact rates and total fees involved.

Some people will rave about a service but can't see to provide any numerical details to support why its so much better....or they do dig deeper into the total costs, finds out the total costs are higher than other services, and then just don't respond out of embarrassment. I wish we could get more details from some folks who say they use XYZ service. But it seems to be like pulling teeth many times.

Good luck in your search for the best exchange rates and lowest costs...glad to see other folks prefer to minimize the amount of their money they give to bankster.

[padeakin]

Hsbc only charge 4 pounds for international transfers .. It's a promotion so will go up at some point

I don't think it is a promotion, I have recently received a price list update from HSBC £4 is their new fee.

I think it is a response to the new P2P sites that are offering better rates. Last time I used the HSBC online system it did not allow me specify the payment to be sent in GBP, but I phoned the helpdesk and they done the transfer in GBP. They said they would update the system to allow GBP some time in the future.

I do foreign currency transfers regularly (GBP to Euro and USD).

I use Transferwise most of the time they always give the best deal, but they don't support Thai Baht yet.

For Thailand I use HSBC (cost £4) sending the money in GBP to let the Thai bank do the currency exchange, but am looking forward to the day when Transferwise and CurrencyFair offer Thai Baht, I expect a much better rate than the Banks.

[Mr Happynesss]

For Thailand I use HSBC (cost £4) sending the money in GBP to let the Thai bank do the currency exchange, but am looking forward to the day when Transferwise and CurrencyFair offer Thai Baht, I expect a much better rate than the Banks.

Good news... CurrencyFair will be offering THB next week! I think TransferWise is cheaper but CF should beat everything else for the time-being. Let's wait and see.

[Pib]

after quoting market rates, calculators, mid-point prices etc I finally found ukforex.com's 'custormer rate' hidden away http://www.ukforex.co.uk/customer-rates it looks really bad right? No wonder they advertise fee-free over £3000

From looking at their rate a few seconds ago it's 53.93 baht/GBP...the closing Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate for today was 54.32 baht/GBP, which means the UKForex rate was about 0.7% lower than the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate. Transfer over 3000 pounds and you have no Sending fee however, your Sending bank may/probably has a sending fee. In either case you'll still have the currency receipt conversion/receipt fee on the Thai bank end of 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) regardless of what currency the funds show up in.

Now another thing a person will need to watch-out for is, "Will your sending service, be it your bank or UkForex type service, need to use an intermediary/correspondent bank to complete the transfer to Thailand (a.k.a., a middleman). If they do a good chance exist that correspondent/intermediary bank will apply a fee/take a slice as the money flows through them. That is something else to scope-out in researching all the fees and sometimes trying to find out if there are any intermediary/correspondent banks involved in the transfer is like trying to raise the Titanic....sometimes you just have to do a test transfer and see if any other fees get injected on the trek. Good luck.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Pib

[alfieconn]

after quoting market rates, calculators, mid-point prices etc I finally found ukforex.com's 'custormer rate' hidden away http://www.ukforex.co.uk/customer-rates it looks really bad right? No wonder they advertise fee-free over £3000

A lot of these currency exchange sites like you mention above hype the Forex midpoint rate like you see in news media, but when doing an actual exchange they have different (lower) common man customer buy/sell exchange rates....you get into spread rate issues which lower the exchange rate....etc. Their direct fees may be low but their actual exchange rate is where they make their money at your expense. And of course there is usually the longer wait time to get the funds transferred to the currrency exchanger to fund the exchange transaciton before the currency exchanger will transmit the funds to Thailand.

It really hard to beat the Thai bank TT Buying Rate used for incoming transfer "if", repeat if you can get the funds sent at a low fee from your home country bank...and of course never let your home country bank convert to baht when sending as you'll surely get a lower exchange rate because it makes the bank a nice little indirect fee at your expense.

GBP/THB 54.4801 from uk forex

54.39000 Bank of Ayudhya TT Rate

54.42875 Siam comm bk TT Rate

That's of now for a comparison but obviously you would get the TT rate on the day the funds come into the country .

[Mr Happynesss]

Yes intermediary banks sound like a strange thing to me, I hear the sending or receiving companies don't even know whether they will be used or what charges they will apply. So we just have to do a small transfer and calculate it after, test the water kind of thing I suppose. I really don't get why these all these money systems are so non-transparent in 2014.

[Mr Happynesss]

GBP/THB 54.4801 from uk forex

54.39000 Bank of Ayudhya TT Rate

54.42875 Siam comm bk TT Rate

That's of now for a comparison but obviously you would get the TT rate on the day the funds come into the country .

I got UKFOREX @ 54.3230 right now

[alfieconn]

after quoting market rates, calculators, mid-point prices etc I finally found ukforex.com's 'custormer rate' hidden away http://www.ukforex.co.uk/customer-rates it looks really bad right? No wonder they advertise fee-free over £3000

From looking at their rate a few seconds ago it's 53.93 baht/GBP...the closing Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate for today was 54.32 baht/GBP, which means the UKForex rate was about 0.7% lower than the Bangkok Bank TT Buying Rate. Transfer over 3000 pounds and you have no Sending fee however, your Sending bank may/probably has a sending fee. In either case you'll still have the currency receipt conversion/receipt fee on the Thai bank end of 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) regardless of what currency the funds show up in.

Now another thing a person will need to watch-out for is, "Will your sending service, be it your bank or UkForex type service, need to use an intermediary/correspondent bank to complete the transfer to Thailand (a.k.a., a middleman). If they do a good chance exist that correspondent/intermediary bank will apply a fee/take a slice as the money flows through them. That is something else to scope-out in researching all the fees and sometimes trying to find out if there are any intermediary/correspondent banks involved in the transfer is like trying to raise the Titanic....sometimes you just have to do a test transfer and see if any other fees get injected on the trek. Good luck.

You obviously wasn't signed in to get that rate ! no other fees just the 7 pound for under 3,000 pounds sent and obviously a small fee by the Thai bank.

I'm not sure why your mentioning sending bank fees and intermediary bank fees if you don't know !!!

[Pib]

Financial companies have never been known for customer fees transparency unless forced into it by law....and political donations to politicians who make those laws helps to keep the transparency kinda blurry.

[alfieconn]

GBP/THB 54.4801 from uk forex

54.39000 Bank of Ayudhya TT Rate

54.42875 Siam comm bk TT Rate

That's of now for a comparison but obviously you would get the TT rate on the day the funds come into the country .

I got UKFOREX @ 54.3230 right now

I'm getting GBP/THB 54.4314 but I'm signed in, are you ?