Transferwise international transfers heads up

[jacko45k]

11 hours ago, racyrick said:

Got it-thanks for everybody's help.

 

I was just wondering, maybe if we transferred a smaller amount and did multiple transfers, it would go thru directly to Bangkok Bank?

 

Just a thought. Maybe there is a threshold amount.

I made 3 transfers of similar amounts and resulted in going 2 different ways. Probably more about where TW have money sitting in Thailand at the time!

[Jack Mountain]

TW is not to blame, they always have said from the start that the last leg of the transfer is domestic. 

[oxmermaid]

3 minutes ago, Jack Mountain said:

TW is not to blame, they always have said from the start that the last leg of the transfer is domestic. 

This is not in dispute. However in the past, if their transfer was routed direct to your Thai bank account, it appeared as an International Transfer in your bank statement. It was because of this that many of us contacted TransferWise to ask that they intercept transaction to ensure it was routed directly to our Thai bank account. Until recently this was achieved, but sometime last month they withdrew this option, hence the fallout on here and other forms of social media. TransferWise have now stated they can no longer do this manual intervention they recommend using SWIFT, so goodbye TransferWise it was nice while it lasted.

[Dene16]

10 minutes ago, Jack Mountain said:

TW is not to blame, they always have said from the start that the last leg of the transfer is domestic. 

Not so sure that statement is correct 

Why were Bangkok banks statements always identified as  FTT, until now ?

Bangkok bank has declared that it not due to them

Transferwise has admitted they have changed the way they are doing things now (we have not been told what has changed)

I can only assume they did not have enough liquidity within Thailand until now

Now they state, as always, it is to save us money. This is not about saving us money but about them making more money

i transfer 1 million baht plus and i suspect most people do close to this, so the sums involved will equate to millions,  whether dollars, pounds or any other currency

[pontious]

1 hour ago, mosan said:

I sent TransferWise a link to this forum topic on Twitter and maybe just maybe got their attention. It would probably help if a few more people let them know how you "really" feel...

 

 

Thanks for that. Unfortunately you will see other emails saying they cannot guarantee anything even if you ask during the transfer process.

I think when they say use Swift they mean through there system. That obviously is less attractive, but will always arrive as international.

[geoffbezoz]

4 minutes ago, pontious said:

Thanks for that. Unfortunately you will see other emails saying they cannot guarantee anything even if you ask during the transfer process.

I think when they say use Swift they mean through there system. That obviously is less attractive, but will always arrive as international.

Has anyone used a SWIFT transfer via TW ? Why not just use SWIFT direct from your own bank account ?

[mosan]

1 minute ago, pontious said:

Thanks for that. Unfortunately you will see other emails saying they cannot guarantee anything even if you ask during the transfer process.

I think when they say use Swift they mean through there system. That obviously is less attractive, but will always arrive as international.

I hear what you're saying, and, I've read all of the posts. But I tried something a little different. Everybody else are trying to talk to Customer Service. I went on Twitter and sent Direct Message to the CEO and Chairman of the company:

 

@TransferWise @Taavet (TransferWise Co-founder & Chairman)
@kaarman (TransferWise Co-founder & CEO)

 

You'll also note that I got a little bit more comprehensive reply than the generic replies I got from my email to customer service.  Like I said earlier, maybe, just maybe, I got their attention.  And a little help for more of the masses out here can't hurt...

[jacko45k]

5 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

Has anyone used a SWIFT transfer via TW ? Why not just use SWIFT direct from your own bank account ?

You are subject to Swift charges usually higher than Transferwise. You are subject to the Thai end receiving bank exchange rates, again usually poorer than TW offer, and also a cost imposed by the Thai end receiving bank to receive and convert. There is even a possibility that your source end bank uses a clearing/ corresponding bank adding further costs.

 

Edited July 4, 2019 by jacko45k

[pontious]

1 minute ago, geoffbezoz said:

Has anyone used a SWIFT transfer via TW ? Why not just use SWIFT direct from your own bank account ?

Not me. I sent 100,000 baht 2 days ago that arrived domestic. Useless for immigration. Sent 70,000 yesterday by swift using my uk bank. I will stick to the uk bank until TW offer a solution. They have no obligation to do so but they will lose a lot of customers.

[mosan]

3 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

Has anyone used a SWIFT transfer via TW ? Why not just use SWIFT direct from your own bank account ?

As I mentioned earlier, many cannot initiate a SWIFT directly from their bank. It'll be interesting to see if initiating a SWIFT through TransferWise will have a positive effect (other than the SWIFT being just a way to move funds from your bank to Transferwise…)

[geoffbezoz]

Just now, pontious said:

Not me. I sent 100,000 baht 2 days ago that arrived domestic. Useless for immigration. Sent 70,000 yesterday by swift using my uk bank. I will stick to the uk bank until TW offer a solution. They have no obligation to do so but they will lose a lot of customers.

Same with me also. I did post earlier that I emailed TW for an explanation as to their system changes.  Still no reply.

[pontious]

2 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

Same with me also. I did post earlier that I emailed TW for an explanation as to their system changes.  Still no reply.

 Still no reply to my email either.

[SooKee]

Jeez. Always something isn't there!! My transfers to BKK Bank from the UK have always shown as FTT. I even managed to get them to do whatever they do to ensure that funds will always be sent via Bangkok Bank. No idea if that will still work or not.

My last transfer to Bangkok Bank was 27 June and that showed as FTT. I've just initiated another small transfer to see what happens. What I did notice is that unlike where it normally tells me it will pay out tomorrow the app now tells me they've paid out THB already and it will reach my account within 6 hours. Doubtless the new system.

If this payment doesn't show as FTT that'll be TW off the list of options. That'll leave just 2 for me. OFX, which I have yet to use but which I'm told always shows as international, and Bangkok Bank's own fund sending service which thankfully I took the time to register for when I opened the Bangkok Bank account here in January.

OFX used to be quite a bit more expensive than TW to send money here but having checked today (I haven't compared rates in a while) there's barely anything in it, maybe as a result of TW upping their fees (funny that didn't get quite the same fanfare as when they reduced them around 2 months earlier).

So at least there's two other options, the difference between each I'll work out later if I need to. Then it'll be a case of sit back and wait for the next spanner in the works. It's getting tiresome for sure.

Of course there is the SWIFT option too but that's a no no for me. I use HSBC in the UK and they used to be brilliant a couple of years ago with a flat £4 transfer fee for SWIFT. Then suddenly they changed their banking arrangements and started using an intermediary to transfer to Thailand so your transfers started getting mugged en route. This was made worse by the fact you never knew how much was going to get taken. Send £1,000, pay £4 tx fee, only to find that only £958 had hit your account and got converted. A test I did earlier this year also showed a £100 transfer costing the same £4 and then getting hit by intermediary charges of £12! So even SWIFT can be pricey.

[Dante99]

3 hours ago, mosan said:

I sent TransferWise a link to this forum topic on Twitter and maybe just maybe got their attention. It would probably help if a few more people let them know how you "really" feel...

 

 

Please provide the email address you used to contact them so we may do so also.  

 

Thanks.

[theoldgit]

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

There is even a possibility that your source end bank uses a clearing/ corresponding bank adding further costs.

My bank in the UK uses an intermediary bank, I'm assuming that bank is UK based and not one in Thailand, otherwise I fear there's a danger that it could still be logged as a domestic transfer.
The other problem I face is whilst my bank does allow international transfers online, it will only send funds in Euros, Dollers and a few other currencies, but not Sterling, to send Sterling you need to call them.

I'm looking at the BKK Bank option that OJAS provided the link for, I just wish I'd thought of it when I was in London last month.
This whole debacle is so unneccessary, and something I could do without at my age.

[mosan]

41 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

Please provide the email address you used to contact them so we may do so also.  

 

Thanks.

I contacted the company CEO and Chairman through Twitter's Direct Messaging facility: 

 

@TransferWise @Taavet (TransferWise Co-founder & Chairman)
@kaarman (TransferWise Co-founder & CEO)

 

I also addressed the coding of said transfers on this end referencing the FTT that Bangkok Bank used in their bank book and on their statements versus the "DUMMY", "SMART", and "DOMESTIC" wording that's been used frequently on posts throughout ThaiVISA here over the last week. 

[racyrick]

2 hours ago, SooKee said:

Jeez. Always something isn't there!! My transfers to BKK Bank from the UK have always shown as FTT. I even managed to get them to do whatever they do to ensure that funds will always be sent via Bangkok Bank. No idea if that will still work or not.

My last transfer to Bangkok Bank was 27 June and that showed as FTT. I've just initiated another small transfer to see what happens. What I did notice is that unlike where it normally tells me it will pay out tomorrow the app now tells me they've paid out THB already and it will reach my account within 6 hours. Doubtless the new system.

If this payment doesn't show as FTT that'll be TW off the list of options. That'll leave just 2 for me. OFX, which I have yet to use but which I'm told always shows as international, and Bangkok Bank's own fund sending service which thankfully I took the time to register for when I opened the Bangkok Bank account here in January.

OFX used to be quite a bit more expensive than TW to send money here but having checked today (I haven't compared rates in a while) there's barely anything in it, maybe as a result of TW upping their fees (funny that didn't get quite the same fanfare as when they reduced them around 2 months earlier).

So at least there's two other options, the difference between each I'll work out later if I need to. Then it'll be a case of sit back and wait for the next spanner in the works. It's getting tiresome for sure.

Of course there is the SWIFT option too but that's a no no for me. I use HSBC in the UK and they used to be brilliant a couple of years ago with a flat £4 transfer fee for SWIFT. Then suddenly they changed their banking arrangements and started using an intermediary to transfer to Thailand so your transfers started getting mugged en route. This was made worse by the fact you never knew how much was going to get taken. Send £1,000, pay £4 tx fee, only to find that only £958 had hit your account and got converted. A test I did earlier this year also showed a £100 transfer costing the same £4 and then getting hit by intermediary charges of £12! So even SWIFT can be pricey.

Did you always call TW when you made a transfer to ask them to send directly to Bangkok Bank including the transfer you just made today?

[SooKee]

Did you always call TW when you made a transfer to ask them to send directly to Bangkok Bank including the transfer you just made today?

No I had it set up so it was automatic. And it always worked. It wasn't easy to set up as with TW it seems sometimes the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. The initial contact to their CS people got the cannot response. Sorted it in the end by email. Somehow, in light of all the above, I think it's not going to work now, even if they do send it via BKK bank. Finally thought I'd got this issue put to bed and now it's back on the radar as something that needs to be sorted again. Damn annoying. I'll know for sure when the funds arrive today.

[cassde]

This is what I received from TW just a few minutes ago - Thank you for getting in touch with TransferWise.

What TransferWise does is, split one international transfer into two local transfers.

We receive your GBP into our account in the UK, we then convert the money for you and we send out the THB using our bank account in Thailand.

We have never sent the money internationally - rather, it is the bank in Thailand that marks the transfer as international or not. This largely depends on the bank that was used to send out the money and whether they can accommodate the request to have the transfer marked as International.

Since your account is located in Bangkok Bank, you can request for Confirmation Letter of International Funds Transfer. 

You will need to reach out to Bangkok Bank branch where the recipient account is maintained, request for the 
Confirmation Letter of International Funds Transfer and provide the following documents: 

1) Bangkok Bank Savings Passbook or Statement showing the specific transaction
2) Passport of Recipient

There is an administration fee of 100 THB to produce this official document which will be payable to Bangkok Bank from the recipient directly.

If I continue with TW, I get 3 transfers each month, i.e. 300 baht x 12 months = 3600 baht for the 12 months of letters. I am intending to do a swift transaction tomorrow from my HSBC acount in the UK and will see what the costs are there. HSBC state £4 for their charges, but for Bangkok Bank conversion charges from GBP to Baht, I await. I intend to follow there instructions and will update in due course.

 

Hope this helps members understand TW's way of working.

Edited July 4, 2019 by cassde
update

[SooKee]

This is what I received from TW just a few minutes ago - Thank you for getting in touch with TransferWise.

What TransferWise does is, split one international transfer into two local transfers.

We receive your GBP into our account in the UK, we then convert the money for you and we send out the THB using our bank account in Thailand.

We have never sent the money internationally - rather, it is the bank in Thailand that marks the transfer as international or not. This largely depends on the bank that was used to send out the money and whether they can accommodate the request to have the transfer marked as International.

Since your account is located in Bangkok Bank, you can request for Confirmation Letter of International Funds Transfer. 

You will need to reach out to Bangkok Bank branch where the recipient account is maintained, request for the 
Confirmation Letter of International Funds Transfer and provide the following documents: 

1) Bangkok Bank Savings Passbook or Statement showing the specific transaction
2) Passport of Recipient

There is an administration fee of 100 THB to produce this official document which will be payable to Bangkok Bank from the recipient directly.

If I continue with TW, I get 3 transfers each month, i.e. 300 baht x 12 months = 3600 baht for the 12 months of letters. I am intending to do a swift transaction tomorrow from my HSBC acount in the UK and will see what the costs are there. HSBC state £4 for their charges, but for Bangkok Bank conversion charges from GBP to Baht, I await. I intend to follow there instructions and will update in due course.
 
Hope this helps members understand TW's way of working.

Be careful with HSBC. Unless their arrangements have changed (they lost their arrangements with BKK Bank about 2 years ago) since January when I last tested it, they use an Intermediary bank when transferring to Thailand and there will likely be a hefty charge on top of that attractive £4 rate, as much as £30-50 that will get mugged from your transfer before it arrives. The trouble is you have no idea what that charge will be until your money lands (at which point you might wonder why the conversion rate is so low, it's not, it's because the charges reduce the GBP hitting your account). You might want to try a test transfer first. They took me for £13 on my last test transfer. So, £4 fee, £100 transfer, £87 arrived in Kasikorn bank.

[cassde]

Thank's for the tip about a test transfer, I will follow that advice. I have today sent all the documents to the Bangkok Bank's London office, to subsequently test that route. Tomorrow I intend to follow TW's advice and seek the Letter of International Funds transfer from my initiating Branch.

[racyrick]

I just received the following email from TW-

 

Thank you for your message.

For our transfers to Thailand, we have 3 banking partners which are sending the money to our recipients. 

There isn't a specific rule when the system chooses automatically between them for sending out a transfer, but if a sender wants to have his transfer sent by a specific banking partner (for example Bangkok Bank, which shows the transaction as a foreign transaction), after creating the transfer on our website, he will have to contact us and ask for it specifically. That way, we can let our payments team know about the request and they can process the transfer through that specific banking partner.

Please let those people know about this, so that they don't encounter the same issue again. If they don't let us know about the request, we can't guarantee that their future transfers will be sent through the right bank for them. Also, we would need the request for each transfer, because the system can't save this preference for future transfers.

 

Seems like every reply is different.

 

Did anybody who received a transfer to Bangkok Bank in the last week personally call TW after they made the transfer to make sure it goes directly to Bangkok Bank?

[Genericnic]

3 hours ago, SooKee said:

"... and Bangkok Bank's own fund sending service which thankfully I took the time to register for when I opened the Bangkok Bank account here in January."

Can you tell me a bit more about this? How does it work?

 

Thanks

 

David

[Genericnic]

3 minutes ago, racyrick said:

I just received the following email from TW-

 

Thank you for your message.

For our transfers to Thailand, we have 3 banking partners which are sending the money to our recipients. 

There isn't a specific rule when the system chooses automatically between them for sending out a transfer, but if a sender wants to have his transfer sent by a specific banking partner (for example Bangkok Bank, which shows the transaction as a foreign transaction), after creating the transfer on our website, he will have to contact us and ask for it specifically. That way, we can let our payments team know about the request and they can process the transfer through that specific banking partner.

Please let those people know about this, so that they don't encounter the same issue again. If they don't let us know about the request, we can't guarantee that their future transfers will be sent through the right bank for them. Also, we would need the request for each transfer, because the system can't save this preference for future transfers.

 

Seems like every reply is different.

 

Did anybody who received a transfer to Bangkok Bank in the last week personally call TW after they made the transfer to make sure it goes directly to Bangkok Bank?

An interesting response from TW. This was the case when I initially set up my account about 5 months ago. After I called the first time, they told me that they had contacted the payments team and that my account would be tagged to always go directly to Bangkok Bank with no need to call in the future. The subsequent 3 monthly payments, the last of which was about 8 days ago, went through correctly with no additional calls. All were done on the TW app. 

 

David

[racyrick]

32 minutes ago, Genericnic said:

An interesting response from TW. This was the case when I initially set up my account about 5 months ago. After I called the first time, they told me that they had contacted the payments team and that my account would be tagged to always go directly to Bangkok Bank with no need to call in the future. The subsequent 3 monthly payments, the last of which was about 8 days ago, went through correctly with no additional calls. All were done on the TW app. 

 

David

Nice to hear, but it seems that the problems have just started about 5 days ago with the transfers.

Hope you have no trouble with your next transfer.

[SooKee]

Just had the transfer I set up today come into BKK Bank. FTT - International.

[SooKee]

Can you tell me a bit more about this? How does it work?
 
Thanks
 
David

Normally happy to but will be out busy for a few days. If you do a search for Bangkok Bank London - transfers to Thailand it should come up. Or you will find it via their home page. You can set it up from Thailand. Just get a local Bangkok Bank to stamp up the docs you need. Use a Thai bill as proof of address. Mail it to them signed for. It will take about 3 weeks after you post it as they snail mail the response to your address.

[racyrick]

32 minutes ago, SooKee said:

Just had the transfer I set up today come into BKK Bank. FTT - International.

Great to hear!!

 

Can you please tell me what was the amount you had transferred? This will help a lot.

 

Thanks!

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, Genericnic said:

Can you tell me a bit more about this? How does it work?

There is info here on their website.

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/Transfers/Transferring-Into-Thailand/Transfer-money-from-UK-to-Thailand-via-London-Branch

And from that page this guide for identify verification. https://www.bangkokbank.com/-/media/files/personal/other-services/transferrring-intothailand/identityverification.pdf?la=en&hash=002ABE0C7A766A206BF6DD3C0B282C550A1DFEBD

[dabhand]

29 minutes ago, SooKee said:

Just had the transfer I set up today come into BKK Bank. FTT - International.

That's interesting.

I set up a small (about Stg200) TW transfer from UK to my BBL account last night. Normally it would arrive next day ( today, 4th) as even transfers arranged early morning Thai time (around 6am) arrive same day (2pm) in my recent experience.

However, this time, it is noted as 5th July (Friday) as date of receipt. That delay, even only 1 day, is unusual.

Will be interesting to see the coding when it hits my BBL account tomorrow. My most recent transfer of 26June came in as an FTT, but it seems that was before this current confusion started.