Experiences with Transferwise?

[JTXR]

Given that many of us may soon be looking at the need to make monthly transfers into Thai accounts (for which normal wire transfer fees can add up quickly).....

Can folks that have used Transferwise please share their experiences (both pros and cons)?

 

Thanks.

[Maestro]

Removed an off-topic post. This topic is specifically about TransferWise , so let us please not post about any of the myriad of other ways of transferring money to Thailand. 

 

Thank you.

[johnjohn2]

Ive only done a couple transfers through Transferwise. I usually do my transfers from bank to BKK Bank. With Transferwise I come out a little ahead vice bank to bank. And the Transferwise transfers cleared faster. Its nice seeing exactly what you will get when you use Transferwise. The SWIFT transfer to BKK Bank your usually waiting to see what rate you ended up getting when the transaction goes through. Bangkok Bank is doing the format change in April which my bank doesnt do so I checked out Transferwise. Pretty simple. Easy.

I dont know of any cons at the moment. Ive only done 2 transfers so far though so...

[trd]

Only had good experiences with TransferWise. It's quicker and cheaper than SWIFT.

[Carib]

Happy with them, reasonably fast and transparent. What they promise is what you get. No extra costs added afterwards or bank costs at the receiving end.  Informed by mail about the status of the transaction, and when the transaction is finished. 

[Mai Mee Tang]

I've done around 30 transfers with TransferWise during the last year and I strongly recommend them. The money always arrives the next business day, only once was delayed an extra day and they compensated me with a free transfer. The cost is around 1% of the amount transferred, it depends on how much you send. You can see the change rate instantly.

 

Maybe the only con, not for me, is that the money gets transferred from a local Thai bank account owned by Transferwise, so I don't know if you could prove the money is coming from abroad. I've read from other posters that you can request a document to Transferwise via email to prove the international transfer, I never did it.

 

 

[Maestro]

40 minutes ago, Mai Mee Tang said:

Maybe the only con, not for me, is that the money gets transferred from a local Thai bank account owned by Transferwise, so I don't know if you could prove the money is coming from abroad. I've read from other posters that you can request a document to Transferwise via email to prove the international transfer, I never did it.

That's a good point. At the moment, immigration has published no information about any possible future policy of required evidence of income in cases where the applicant is unable to obtain a so-called "embassy letter" from his country's embassy. 

 

I have seen a couple of posts that TransferWise transfers to an account of Bangkok Bank in Thailand are shown with the code for an incoming foreign remittance, and other posts saying that transfers to banks other than Bangkok bank show these transfers as a domestic transfer within Thailand. Whether this matters at all will obviously depend on the details of any new immigration policy that may or may not be announced and implemented. (For those affected, the suspense must be hard to bear)

[Bang Bang]

Couple of transfers from my US credit union to Kasikorn Bank here went flawlessly. They are good.

[Chelseafan]

Use TW to transfer money from my UK account to my Thai account. Can't fault them.

I get the mid-day exchange rate and the charges are significantly cheaper than what my bank would charge.

If I transfer Mon-Thurs then fund are available in my Thai account next day. Friday for Monday.

 

[a977]

Been using TransferWise for a year, if I hit the go button here before 8am my money from Australia is here by 2pm. Doesn't matter if you do on a Friday as the rate you get is already set. They send you text messages to inform you of the status of the transfer and they give you a guaranteed rate before you hit the go button

[MARK74]

3 hours ago, Chelseafan said:

Use TW to transfer money from my UK account to my Thai account. Can't fault them.

I get the mid-day exchange rate and the charges are significantly cheaper than what my bank would charge.

If I transfer Mon-Thurs then fund are available in my Thai account next day. Friday for Monday.

 

Whenever i have transferred on a friday from the UK (a couple of different banks) it has cleared into thai account saturday afternoon

[Puchaiyank]

Reliable and less expensive than bank transfers and better exchange rates... 

 

They maintain a history of transfers so one can simply repeat a previous transfer for quick transaction.

[newatthis]

2 hours ago, a977 said:

Been using TransferWise for a year, if I hit the go button here before 8am my money from Australia is here by 2pm. Doesn't matter if you do on a Friday as the rate you get is already set. They send you text messages to inform you of the status of the transfer and they give you a guaranteed rate before you hit the go button

Like above, I've been using TW for over a year for transfers from Oz. I can't fault them. It's usually next day arrival in my bank here. The slowest part of the transfer is from my Aussie bank to TW's Aussie bank.

You can get a PDF receipt from TW showing the money transfer.

[Thaifish]

I can't fault TransferWise. I had one transfer which arrived a day late as it was a public holiday in Thailand. Without me even prompting TransferWise contacted me by e-mail with an apologetic letter and gave me my next transfer free of charges. 

[JTXR]

6 hours ago, Mai Mee Tang said:

Maybe the only con, not for me, is that the money gets transferred from a local Thai bank account owned by Transferwise, so I don't know if you could prove the money is coming from abroad. I've read from other posters that you can request a document to Transferwise via email to prove the international transfer, I never did it.

 

 

Thanks for that info.  I hadn't considered that, but I'll look into it.  I guess a lot will depend on whatever official guidance (if any) Thai immigration eventually gives about "evidence of income."

[mikebell]

All positive comments.  They keep you informed every step of the way. 

 

Would a Transferwise paper showing a year's worth of transfers cut any ice with Immigration? 

 

Would a BKK bank list of transfers do the same?

[RegularGuy77]

Couple of transfers from my US credit union to Kasikorn Bank here went flawlessly. They are good.

I also use TransferWise from my US credit union using debit card transfer. The only negative was that I wanted to setup to do a wire transfer to save a few $. However, my credit union wanted to do two test micro deposits and TransferWise is unable to provide the verification info to me to complete the setup.


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[Wilson Smith]

can trasferwise be used to send money out of Thailand?

[luckyluke]

Used them 5 times ( 5 months ) as per now.

Very satisfied.

There is a history available, showing ;

 

name

date

initial currency ( Euro for me )

Costs

Amount in ThB received.

 

This may, eventually, be helpful to show T.I., that the funds come from abroad.

 

[Carib]

6 minutes ago, Wilson Smith said:

can trasferwise be used to send money out of Thailand?

Nope..

[Thai Chi]

2 minutes ago, Carib said:

9 minutes ago, Wilson Smith said:

can trasferwise be used to send money out of Thailand?

Nope..

Not yet, they do add currencies occasionally. You can sign up for new currencies notification. No need to register for that service.

[ubonjoe]

No directly visa related. Moved to this forum where there are other topics on the same subject.

[Thai Chi]

6 hours ago, Mai Mee Tang said:

Maybe the only con, not for me, is that the money gets transferred from a local Thai bank account owned by Transferwise, so I don't know if you could prove the money is coming from abroad.

I use transfer wise.

This is a transfer wise transaction into my Bangkok bank as shown on my statement -

"09 Nov 2018 14:02 International Transfer"

 

The entry in my passbook uses the code FTT

 

I also get an SMS from Bangkok bank which says -

Mr Thai Chi has transferred XXXXX Baht from abroad to acc XXXXXXXX

 

I am pretty confident that would cover it.

 

[seajae]

been using them for a few years now and very happy, my transfers are listed as international transfers(Bangkok Bank) on my statements and I have had no problems when producing my account when applying for my extension, they accept it without any hassles.

[wgdanson]

7 hours ago, Mai Mee Tang said:

I've done around 30 transfers with TransferWise during the last year and I strongly recommend them. The money always arrives the next business day, only once was delayed an extra day and they compensated me with a free transfer. The cost is around 1% of the amount transferred, it depends on how much you send. You can see the change rate instantly.

 

Maybe the only con, not for me, is that the money gets transferred from a local Thai bank account owned by Transferwise, so I don't know if you could prove the money is coming from abroad. I've read from other posters that you can request a document to Transferwise via email to prove the international transfer, I never did it.

 

 

My Bangkok Bank shows FTT (Foreign Transfer) when a deposit comes via Transferwise, which proves the money is coming from abroad, whoever you may need to prove it to.

You could also show the corresponding debit from your foreign account one day earlier. No problems with Transferwise in two years.

 

 

Sorry Thai Chi, you already said that.

[wgdanson]

10 minutes ago, seajae said:

been using them for a few years now and very happy, my transfers are listed as international transfers(Bangkok Bank) on my statements and I have had no problems when producing my account when applying for my extension, they accept it without any hassles.

Who may I ask 'accept it'? Immigration?

[JTXR]

Could the moderator please move this back to the Thai visa forum?  I specifically posted it there rather than here because I thought it is of interest to those grappling with the new information about embassy income letters.  (Please see the first paragraph of the post).

[mngmn]

If you want to transfer GBP, USD, EUR or AUD to Thailand consider a Transferwise Borderless Account.  It comes with a "real" bank account (sort code, account number etc) in all those currencies.  I have my UK pension paid directly into a GBP account with no conversion from GBP.  I then have complete control over when and how much I want to convert to THB and I can even hold THB in the Transferwise account if I want (not sure if this would satisfy Thai Immigration).

 

When I transfer the THB into to my Bangkok Bank account, the bank doesn't charge any fees as it is a THB transfer.  Previously using HiFx they always used to grab THB 500 as a tip.

 

Anyone could use exactly the same service for USD, EUR or AUD or even a mix of those currencies.

 

Simply can't recommend it enough.

[yokat]

I use it for all my transfers to thailand. I usually send between 1000 and 1500€ at a time, the fee are lower than 1% and the conversion rate beats my bank rate by far every time.

My longest transfer with them took only 4 days. I would totally recommend.

[LomSak27]

I just completed my first transfer with them today. Satisfied, although it took longer than they stated. I consider that a non issue, however a down side to their frequent updates is when they tell you it will be there and it ends up 24 to 48 hours late ... you notice. Heh. 

 

I like the convenience of online.  I will use them again. However as I make at least one trip back home each year I will likely bring 10K, then use Transferwise to top accounts up. As for retirement extensions, like everyone else I will wait to see how the Thai Government wants to do this and go from there.