Free International Wire Transfers?

[migrant]

Was at my local Washington Mutual yesterday (aggresively growing bank here in California and much of the west coast).

The teller asked if she could put me into their new program, I said sure. I don't carry large balances so this must be available to all. She gave me a brochure, I stuck it in my pocket and read it later.

If it comes through clean you can see where it says free outgoing international wire transfers.

I know many posts have discussed the various fees that are charged so thought I would toss this in.

They allow full internet banking, transfers between accounts, savings etc.

[sfokevin]

Their website has it listed as free:

http://www.wamu.com/personal/accountchoice...ing/default.htm

Wonder what their exchange rate is?

[Guest endure]

Their website has it listed as free:

http://www.wamu.com/personal/accountchoice...ing/default.htm

Wonder what their exchange rate is?

Sufficient to pay the 'free' transfers that they offer.

[Thaiquila]

Wamu is indeed offering free international wire transfers.

But ONLY if you can walk into one of their branches in the US.

They offer NO WAY to wire remotely from abroad.

Not by mail.

Not by fax.

Not by phone.

Not by bird flu carrier pidgeon.

Nada.

I confirmed this with two branches and with customer service. So, thanks for nothing!

Edited August 25, 2006 by Thaiquila

[Jeff1]

For those of us in the U.S. that is a good deal . I do wonder about the exchange rate and for how long this will last .

Fifth Third bank raised their fee to $40.00 a wire transaction this year and also charged a percentage of ATM withdrawls . I closed my account . Chase bank was only charging $20.00 a wire transaction and $1.50 for each ATM transaction . I have not wired money this year with them so that may have gone up in price but the ATM fee is as current as today .

[h90]

no carrier pidgeon

I usually do all my money transfers with carrier pidgeons

but there is still the fee from the receiving bank, or?

Wamu is indeed offering free international wire transfers.

But ONLY if you can walk into one of their branches in the US.

They offer NO WAY to wire remotely from abroad.

Not by mail.

Not by fax.

Not by phone.

Not by bird flu carrier pidgeon.

Nada.

I confirmed this with two branches and with customer service. So, thanks for nothing!

[Maestro]

Wonder what their exchange rate is?

I do wonder about the exchange rate and for how long this will last .

You remit US dollars to Thailand and your Thai bank does the conversion to Baht. Your US bank earns nothing on the exchange rate.

I cannot understand why they offer this service only at the bank counter. The opposite would make sense: free for online transfer order, a fee for any other order. After all, with an online order, your data input can be automatically processed by the bank’s computer, no manual, expensive labour involved.

With my Swiss bank the fee used to be CHF 20.00 for a mailed order – probably more today – but for an online order it is only CHF 6.00

--------------

Maestro

[Thaiquila]

For those of us in the U.S. that is a good deal . I do wonder about the exchange rate and for how long this will last .

Fifth Third bank raised their fee to $40.00 a wire transaction this year and also charged a percentage of ATM withdrawls . I closed my account . Chase bank was only charging $20.00 a wire transaction and $1.50 for each ATM transaction . I have not wired money this year with them so that may have gone up in price but the ATM fee is as current as today .

Do you know if Chase Bank offers ONLINE SWIFT wire transfers? Any experience reports on using Chase for SWIFT transfers?

[Jeff1]

For those of us in the U.S. that is a good deal . I do wonder about the exchange rate and for how long this will last .

Fifth Third bank raised their fee to $40.00 a wire transaction this year and also charged a percentage of ATM withdrawls . I closed my account . Chase bank was only charging $20.00 a wire transaction and $1.50 for each ATM transaction . I have not wired money this year with them so that may have gone up in price but the ATM fee is as current as today .

Do you know if Chase Bank offers ONLINE SWIFT wire transfers? Any experience reports on using Chase for SWIFT transfers?

I don't know, I will go into my branch on monday and ask for you .

Myself, I am not to the point of internet banking .

[AmeriThai]

We had been using Bank of America. Initally, international wire transfer fee was $25.00, but it kept rising up to $45.00 which is pretty steep. We now have an account with Washington Mutual. Ordinarily, the transfer fee is $40.00, but we took advantage of their free checking accounts which also allows free wire transfers.

From what I understand, it's a promotion gimmick to attract new customers. Works for me. What they do is pull $40.00 out of your checking account for the transfer fee, then put it back into your account. I'm not sure what the point of that is, but the bottom line is that it ends up costing us nothing to wire money. I'm not sure when the promo ends, but when it does, we'll still be able to wire for free.