OFX.com Wire Transfer - Any Reviews?

[Pib]

And just for a 5 Apr at 10:39am comparison between Transferwise and OFX....they are very close in terms of total baht posting to your account at least cost to you. 

 

But for the OFX amount be sure to subtract the Thai bank 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max) receiving fee OR BAHTNET Bt100 receiving fee depending on how OFX handles the final leg of the transfer.

 

 

 

[Sheryl]

I didn't realize you had been registered with OFX for a long time and previously got lower rates.

 

I note you are also listed as no transfer fee whereas I have the $5 transfer fee. So it does look like you are now in some sort of "preferred customer" category.

 

The rate differences are surprisingly large though. And if different rates for different customers is their business model they would IMO do better to be more transparent about it.

 

And they could have offered to call me rather than insisting it be on my dime. They were certainly quick enough to call before they had my $$, LOL....

 

Anyhow...still awaiting arrival in my Thai bank acct for final figure but it is clearly not going to be a significant saving compared to ordinary SWIFT transfer.

 

Where OFX might have some advantage would be

 

1. For people whose banks do not let them do wire transfer to Thailand (or require them to show up on person to do so, same diff).

 

2. For people needing to transfer in exactly 65k and not wanting to go more than a few baht over that amount, it eliminates the uncertainty on exchange rate that one has with an ordinary SWIFT transfer. (You'll need to know the receiving end costs though and budget accordingly)

 

And unlike Transferwise the ACH debit option seems to work pretty well in the US.

 

 

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[Pib]

My second OFX transfer arrived this morning....took four business days.  Sent this transfer to one of my other Thai banks.  Imitated the transfer Monday morning and it posted to my bank account Friday morning. 

 

Coding on my ibanking showed it as any other transfer but did say BAHTNET....I expect if I got a Credit Advice it would show it originated from outside Thailand.  Expect OFX used the Bank of Thailand BAHTNET SWIFT code to route through like they did on my first transfer.

 

Once again the final leg was via BAHTNET with a fee of Bt100; no 0.25% (Bt200 min, Bt500 max).

 

No ACH bank debit glitch this time like described on the first transfer.  When subtracting out the glitch time on the first transfer it took four business days also.....just like this second transfer.  Also, no call from OFX on this second transfer like which is their policy on a person's first transfer.

 

If it was not for OFX having a three day ACH hold policy to ensure the pulled funds clear a person who could "push" money to OFX would probably get their funds in one business day....maybe same business day if hitting the timing gates right.

 

@ Sheryl,

Regarding Transferwise (TW), I never had a problem with ACH bank debit. Well, my first transfer with TW also had an "ACH funds pull" glitch which stalled the transfer.  TW recommended I cancel the transfer and do a new one which I did....the second transfer went fine.  That second transfer and all subsequent transfers went fine.  TW using ACH Bank Debit results in the funds being pulled funds within hours....never more than one business day...and TW don't have a three day ACH Bank Debit hold policy.  I think my first TW transfer got "glitched-up" because of doing that first transfer just minutes after completing their verification process and it confused the TW system to where they didn't really follow-thru with pulling the funding and the TW rep said he don't understand why...best to cancel and initiate a new transfer.

 

Later when the wife signed-up for a TW account she did "not" follow thru with launching a transfer immediately after setting-up logon credentials and doing the verification.  Instead she waited a few days to a week to let the new account/verification season....and probably some TW human eyeballs look at and bless the new account by clicking some account setting on their end.  Then when she did her first transfer pulling from the funds from same bank account as for my transfer her transfer and subsequent ones went fine....never had a glitch like I did.

 

Based on having first time transfer glitches with both TW and OFX I'm beginning to think I "glitch-prone."  We all have our crosses to bear I guess.

 

Anyway, I think (hope) I now have my OFX account past its testing phase and I'm declaring it fully operational.   But since TW gets transfers to me in one or two business days and usually with just a few more baht than OFX, I expect OFX will be my backup money transfer service.  But I would probably make them my primary funds transfer service for transferring big amounts due to their customer service availability and beating TW a little in most baht into my Thai bank account.  I like that OFX uses SWIFT which would be helpful if I ever switch to the monthly income method for annual extension of stays (I use the Bt800K deposit method) and I like being able to reach a human at customer service within minutes 24/7....but I don't like their ACH Bank Debit three day hold policy.  Yes, I could push the money to them via Wire to prevent that hold time and get my transfer posted in one business day, but Wires from US bank cost in the ballpark of $20 and sometimes require direct contact with our bank...can't be done online at all banks.   And of course having different rates for different common-man customers is a negative in my book...but fortunately for me I somehow got into one of their preferential groups (but initially I was not) so I'm thankful for that.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

[SooKee]

I'm not that keen on how OFX operates. Very little transparency to their rates and very evasive when questioned about it. I can understand any company where rates might fluctuate due to the amount you transfer. That's common. But OFX? I signed up and their app was giving me constantly poor rates, 1 baht less to the GBP less than TransferWise. After I complained to them they got back to me and said we've adjusted your accountb and now the rate is much better, closer to TransferWise but after you've taken into account all the fees TransferWise is still better by quite some margin.

After they adjusted my account I asked them twice whether the initial problem was due to a glitch or because they've now given me a better rates. They never answered. So OFX will be a last resort only for me. With TransferWise the rate is the rate and everyone gets the same. They don't try it on with crap rates first, until a customer complains (and I get the feeling that's what OFX are doing given their obvious reluctance to answer questions about it). I also dislike the way they manage their transfer fees, some folks seem to get them and some don't, again with no transparency over why that is. Nah, not for me!!

[Sheryl]

I'm not that keen on how OFX operates. Very little transparency to their rates and very evasive when questioned about it. I can understand any company where rates might fluctuate due to the amount you transfer. That's common. But OFX? I signed up and their app was giving me constantly poor rates, 1 baht less to the GBP less than TransferWise. After I complained to them they got back to me and said we've adjusted your accountb and now the rate is much better, closer to TransferWise but after you've taken into account all the fees TransferWise is still better by quite some margin.

 

After they adjusted my account I asked them twice whether the initial problem was due to a glitch or because they've now given me a better rates. They never answered. So OFX will be a last resort only for me. With TransferWise the rate is the rate and everyone gets the same. They don't try it on with crap rates first, until a customer complains (and I get the feeling that's what OFX are doing given their obvious reluctance to answer questions about it). I also dislike the way they manage their transfer fees, some folks seem to get them and some don't, again with no transparency over why that is. Nah, not for me!!

I agree but in my case TW is not an option.

And my complaint to OFX did not result in an account adjustment for better rate.

 

They offer a service that alerts you when a specific exchange rate is reached. I put in 31.8 and yesterday got a notification it had been reached...very misleading because when I then went to see what I'd get on an actual transfer with them it was still way below 31.0 and typing in larger amounts led to very luttle improvement. I tested it all the way to 100,000 USD and actual rate they would give was still below 31.0. Very misleading IMO and not at all a good deal. The advantage of being able to lock in an exchange rate is largely erased when you can't get a decent rate to lock into!

 

Money has not yet come into my account so I still don't have the final amount. Will update when I do.

 

 

 

 

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[steve73]

Before finding Transferwise, I used to use Xendpay, which is a similar model to TW.  They recently contacted me asking why I no longer used them and I replied that I'd found a better (cheaper and faster) service.

 

A few days ago they contacted me again saying they'd changed their fee structure, with much better rates and a lower fee.  I just tried a back to back comparison against TW but they still work out a little more expensive for a 1000 GBP transfer. (80bt less)

But XP also offers one "free" transfer per year (although the adjust their FX slightly to compensate), but it does looks as if it becomes more competitive with TW for larger amounts, and can sometimes even better it.

 

I'm quite happy to stick with TW, especially now that I can "tag" my transfers so they arrive via TW's local Kasikorn partner, and then end up in my account as International, but if others of you are having problems with TW, you may want to look at XP.  I've included a link which will also give you an extra £10/€10/$10 after your first transfer with them. 

 

https://secure.xendpay.com/signup/ur/N725511

 

 

 

[SooKee]

I've heard back from Transferwise who have now tagged my two payee accounts to be paid to only by their respective partners, Bangkok and Kasikorn.  I too will stick to TW and in the event of a clanger, Bangkok Bank's London transfer service.

 

So, hopefully all over thinking about this now, until the next bloody change!!!

 

 

[Pib]

Looks like XendPay is like InstraReM regarding which countries you could use to register as I don't see Thailand in XendPay pull down menu.    I see XendPay does not list Thailand as a registration country just like IntraReM didn't and confirmed via email from InstraRem that a Thailand address would not be accepted; only addresses from countries listed in their pull down menu for registration countries.  This is not an issue if not using a Thai address for registration, but if a person does need to use their Thai address and Thai bank account statement for proof of address then it's a showstopper.

 

Over the last 6 to 8 months of creating and using accounts with TW and OFX, researching the fine print of numerous money transfer services like which country addresses are acceptable, min and max limits on transfer methods, different funding methods allowed, "actual" customer exchange rates, how the service transfers the funds (local transfer or SWIFT), how coding ends-up on your Thai bank account and other issues, finding a money transfer service that fills a person's needs can be challenging.  And different currency pairs such as USD-THB, GBP-THB, EUR-THB, AUD-THB can make a significant difference in that the money transfers service might offer good rates for people doing USD-THB but poor rates for GBP-THB (or vice versa). 

 

And definitely don't solely rely on reviews like at monito.com, finder.com, etc., as these reviews/comparisons try to make every money transfer service look good probably due to advertising revenue purposes....and the exchange rates and fees these sites show in their comparison may not be accurate (ballpark or best case figures only) and/or for preferred customers.  And of course many reviews on sites like trustpilot.com should be taken with a big grain of salt.  A person needs to use all these various sites as a general guide only and then try to seek out detailed cross-feed like been happening in this thread.

 

I would have to say that so far I would have to rate Transferwise as the best....definitely in transparency,  

 

 

[steve73]

4 minutes ago, Pib said:

Looks like XendPay is like InstraReM regarding which countries you could use to register as I don't see Thailand in XendPay pull down menu.    I see XendPay does not list Thailand as a registration country just like IntraReM didn't and confirmed via email from InstraRem that a Thailand address would not be accepted; only addresses from countries listed in their pull down menu for registration countries.  This is not an issue if not using a Thai address for registration, but if a person does need to use their Thai address and Thai bank account statement for proof of address then it's a showstopper.

 

...snip...

 

I would have to say that so far I would have to rate Transferwise as the best....definitely in transparency,  

FWIW, I'm registered with them using my Thai address... but I did set it up 3 years ago so things may have changed since.

 

And re. your last point I agree that TW is currently the best overall service (that I've come across).

[Sheryl]

It is now the 6th business day since I initiated my OFX transfer,. Funds still not here.  The funds left my US account on April 4 US time. 

 

If not here by tomorrow I will have to call them.

 

I'm not in urgent need of the baht, just a little worried as to where the money is.

[SooKee]

47 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

It is now the 6th business day since I initiated my OFX transfer,. Funds still not here.  The funds left my US account on April 4 US time. 

 

If not here by tomorrow I will have to call them.

 

I'm not in urgent need of the baht, just a little worried as to where the money is.

 

Not very impressive.  Guess you can discount today though seeing as it's a holiday in lieu of 6th, banks not open AFAIK so nothing will get processed today.  Still, 5 days is starting to get up there.

 

[Sheryl]

53 minutes ago, SooKee said:

 

Not very impressive.  Guess you can discount today though seeing as it's a holiday in lieu of 6th, banks not open AFAIK so nothing will get processed today.  Still, 5 days is starting to get up there.

 

Thanks, did not realize today was a holiday. In that case would expect to see it by close of business tomorrow.

[Pib]

The 4th may not count against the 3 business day ACH holding period...so actually the holding period may run for the 5th (a Friday), the 8th (a Monday) and the 9th (a Tuesday).  Then you would get the funds on the 9th or 10th.    That 3 business day ACH holding period really puts a drag on the transfer especially since our brains like to operate on a calendar day basis and count weekend and holidays like any other day....but those days are not business days.

 

And then we got the receiving bank issue of this being a three day weekend since Mon/today is a holiday here in Thailand.  Although some banks are open on Sat and Sun and maybe even today/Mon, I doubt international funds transfers are processed since that is handled by the head office which is a Mon-Fri operation.  And if OFX is routing the funds thru the Bank of Thailand like they did my two transfers then I'm sure those boys and girls didn't work on Sat, Sun, or Mon/today which is a holiday.

 

 

 

[Sheryl]

The 4th may not count against the 3 business day ACH holding period...so actually the holding period may run for the 5th (a Friday), the 8th (a Monday) and the 9th (a Tuesday).  Then you would get the funds on the 9th or 10th.    That 3 business day ACH holding period really puts a drag on the transfer especially since our brains like to operate on a calendar day basis and count weekend and holidays like any other day....but those days are not business days.
 
And then we got the receiving bank issue of this being a three day weekend since Mon/today is a holiday here in Thailand.  Although some banks are open on Sat and Sun and maybe even today/Mon, I doubt international funds transfers are processed since that is handled by the head office which is a Mon-Fri operation.  And if OFX is routing the funds thru the Bank of Thailand like they did my two transfers then I'm sure those boys and girls didn't work on Sat, Sun, or Mon/today which is a holiday.
 
 
 

But isn't the holding period the interval between when you authorize the transfer and when they receive it? I initiated the transfet on the 1st. 4th is when the funds actually moved out of my account.

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[Pib]

The way it was explained to me twice by OFX on the phone was 1 business day to pull the funds plus a 3 business day holding/clearing period for a total of 4 business days.   Now they may receive the funds in less than one business day so then the 3 business day clock can start early.   They then add there is 1 to 3 days for the receiving bank to receiving/post the funds. 

 

But for both of my transfers total time from initiating the transfer to it posting in my account has been 4 business days. I'm subtracting out the glitch time on that first transfer.   If initiated on Monday morning Thailand time the funds posted to my Thai bank account Thursday morning.    

[sfokevin]

My OFX transfers took a total of 5 business days... OFX even sent me an email on the 4th day saying the funds were in my account and it still took more than another day late afternoon for Bangkok Bank to credit my account... This is the only drawback for OFX but they are a British based firm so for US transfers this is the best they can do...

[Pib]

3 minutes ago, sfokevin said:

This is the only drawback for OFX but they are a British based firm so for US transfers this is the best they can do...

Actually, they are an Australian firm (originally named OzForex) that expanded operations to the UK (UKForex), US (USForex), and other locations using the XXForex type name.  The OFX comes from rebranding OzForex to OFX and doing away with the OzForex, UKForex, USForex, etc.....it was getting too confusing....everyone probably thought these were completely different companies when in fact they were not....just had a different name depending on which country they were operating in.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OFX_(company)

[Pib]

In my case on the 4th business day when I got that OFX email that the funds had been sent to my Thai bank the email always had a time of a little after 2am (Thai time)...and then by around 11am (Thai time) in the morning I got the email from my Thai bank the funds had posted.

[Pib]

Sheryl,

   Take a look a the transfer progress status bar for your particular transfer.  If the status has reached the 4th dot where it says Sent To Recipient then that means they have transmitted the funds to your Thai bank....and then it takes x-amount of time for your Thai bank to process/post the funds. 

 

  Like where I said OFX notified me the funds had been sent at 2am Thai time, well, probably minutes later it was in the Thai bank inbox waiting for them to come to work in the morning and process/posted it which they did around 11am Thai time.

 

   But if the status is still at the 3rd dot where it says OFX Processing Transfer then they still haven't received and/or cleared your funds and have not sent the funds yet to the Thai bank.

 

[Sheryl]

It's on the 3rd dot.

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[Pib]

7 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

It's on the 3rd dot.

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Sounds like your funds are still in the 3 day hold/clearing stage.  

[Sheryl]

Yep. Today got the "we have received your funds" email. So hopefully Thursday or Friday.

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[SooKee]

2 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Yep. Today got the "we have received your funds" email. So hopefully Thursday or Friday.

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Maybe they should re-brand from OFX to OFZZZZzzzzzzz.  Given what the recent changes already entail WRT micro-management of income/transfer process the need to factor in up to a week for OFX to actually deliver a transfer is an additional factor I can do without.  From what I've seen, not impressed with this outfit at all.

[Sheryl]

More than a week in my case. It's going to be around 10 days.

But 3 days were for the initial linkage to my account so in future would be about a week.

That bothers me much less than the poor exchange rate does. Though it is a little hard to understand why they need to wait after they have already received the money.

My bank lets me do SWIFT transfers to Thailand with just an online form and then answering some security questions by email and I get the money in about 3 working days so my only reason to use a service like this would be to avoid the transfer fee or get a better X rate. While OFX does avoid most of the transfer fee, the low FX rate offsets the gain.

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[Pib]

When ACH is used there is a settlement/clearing process similar to how US banks may not make funds immediately available to you for a check you deposit that is written by a third party.   Some banks may make the funds available immediately while others don't want to take no chances and have a clearing time of X-days.

 

Or maybe a credit card purchase where the Pending transaction will hit your account immediately but not settle/post for another day or two.   

 

Plus, ACH is a batch process where the  banks/companies involved are using an ACH Clearing House and those batches only occur X-times per day....and the banks//companies involved may only use one batch time per day....or maybe two...or maybe three.    It's just a slower, but cheap/free process.  Same day ACH is now available with some banks....as to whether a bank offers it or wants to charge for it is up to them.

 

But when you Wire/SWIFT funds that an immediate/fast settlement type activity...and you usually pay for that speed of transfer.

 

Too bad the US does not have something like the Faster Payment System like the UK folks have which I guess is almost like wiring funds and its free/cheap/fast.   Kinda like me transferring funds between my Thai banks....it's immediate and cheap/free.   

 

But for us US toads, it pretty much ACH or Wire.....ACH is free/cheap but not that fast....Wire is fast but pricey.

[ThaiBunny]

For historical reasons - originally banks could only operate within the borders of a single State - the US banking system is highly fragmented and inefficient.  If you want certainty and speed then you pay for it by use the Wire Transfers system rather than the slower and more cumbersome ACH method

[Sheryl]

It arrived, coded Bahtnet. Fees at this end appear to have been around 200 baht.

Will get the credit advice from the bank tomorrow.

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[Sheryl]

OK here is the final breakdown. For comparison to SWIFT I did it two ways: what would have happened if I had initiated a SWIFT transfer on the same day and what would have happened if a SWIFT transfer had arrived in my bank at the same time. In both cases based on my past experience with speed of SWIFT transfers.

 

As can be seen, despite lower transfer fees and receiving fees  I ended up with a couple hundred baht less than I would have if I had done a SWIFT transfer.  This was in the context of a time period during which the exchange rate rose. If the exchange rate had gone down in the interval between when I initiated the transfer and when the money arrived the difference would have been less, since OFX locks in the rate and bank to bank SWIFT transfer  does not.

 

	OFX	SWIFT (forecasted)
Date Initiated Transfer	1-Apr	1-Apr	4-Apr
Date rec's	9-Apr	4-Apr	9-Apr
Amount	3305	3305	3305
Transfer Fee	5	40	40
Amount Transferred	3300	3265	3265
Exchange Rate	31.0349	31.51	31.55
Arrived in Baht	102,415.17	102,880.15	103,010.75
Receiving Fees	202.42	414.39	414.89
Net Received	102,212.75	102,465.76	102,595.86
		253.01	383.11

[Pib]

Sheryl,

   Great summary.    Since this was your first transfer it included X-amount of days completing the micro/trial deposit one time setup.  I expect that took 2-3 business days.   Your subsequent transfers would not include that time and will probably be 4 business like my experience or 5 business days like sfokevin's experience.

    And like we talked earlier in this thread if you can somehow get better rates from OFX by getting into a preferential group like they put me in for some unknown reason (but I'm happy they did, otherwise I wouldn't be using them) then OFX would have beat the other methods for most baht at least cost to you since your rate would have probably been around 0.5 baht higher. 

    I know you already pinged OFX about getting a higher/better rate and they gave a canned answer which basically said Sorry, Charlie....but maybe it's worth pinging them again but this time with a chart like above but recalculate as if you did an ACH transfer (instead of SWIFT) with "no bank sending fee" since it's common for US banks to not charge any sending fee for ACH transfers.   This will clearly show OFX your bank transfer is a better deal for you unless OFX bumps up the rates they give you/put you in a different group.  Might be worth a try....maybe they will be more receptive now that you have a transfer under your belt with them.

[sfokevin]

Yes ping them with your chart... And I would add a column that says TransferWise and mention that you are talking with a number of people thru social media forums... That my prompt them to put you in the preferred rate! ????