Is Western Union a good deal in Thailand?

[Pib]

1 minute ago, Hal65 said:

@Pib Maybe the best option is to let Western Union initiate the transfer?

 

Or pay by debit card?

 

Just throwing out ideas. I'll be testing this with a live transaction next month myself

I expect signing up "directly" with WU is better...cheaper.   When signing up via your Thai bank the bank obviously wants to get a fee also and they figure a person will pay extra for the convenience. 

[Cucuy]

I expect signing up "directly" with WU is better...cheaper.   When signing up via your Thai bank the bank obviously wants to get a fee also and they figure a person will pay extra for the convenience. 

I once wired some money to one of my former Soldiers who was medically discharged from the Army because he seriously injured his knee on a jump and he was just a PFC (E-3) at the time. He was one of my support people he was a mechanic. And he was having some financial problems after getting out of the Army because he got out young and he was having trouble transitioning into civilian life. So I lent him some money and I used Western Union at Bangkok Bank, Western Union is ok but their fees are a little high I remember but that was about 2 years ago now. Money Gram is cheaper to send money to someone. I always took care of my Soldiers whenever I did lead young Soldiers which I didn’t do very often throughout my 21 year career only a few because of the kind of job I had in the Army we didn’t have many young Soldiers where I mostly worked for most of my career. I still keep in touch with them on Facebook to make sure they are still doing ok. But WU is ok I’ve sent money here via WU a few times from here a few years ago.

[Hal65]

I initiated a test transfer today:

Quote

Transfer amount    1000.00    THB
WU Transfer fee    99.00    THB
Promotional discount    0.00    THB
Convenience fee (inclusive of VAT)    16.05    THB
Total    1115.05    THB
Exchange rate2    1.00 THB = 0.0323138    USD
Estimated total to receiver    32.31    USD

 

Had to verify passport at the Central Festival Pattaya location. Then at home I thought they marked my nationality wrong (Thai) and that was removing the bank account to bank account option. Found out that you have to enter an amount before that option appears on their site. 

 

Says 1-3 days delivery time so we'll see. I was in a bind after the Deemoney removal of service, $35 fee bank wires (500 + 800 for the middleman) seemed the only option. This will probably work and I'm grateful for it.

 

[Somewhere In Time]

It should work just fine, Hal65. 

 

I recently set up the same Western Union (w/initial 'Central' verification) online money transfer service as you mention above, and also sent a test amount back to the States.  While the 'WU Transfer fee' appears to be a fixed rate of 99.00 THB per transfer, the 'Convenience fee (inclusive of VAT)' appears to vary each transfer depending on the amount sent. 

 

It was a surprisingly quick transaction start-to-finish.  I'm pleased with the results, and would recommend this WU service to others who may be interested.

 

SIT

[Pib]

12 hours ago, Hal65 said:

I initiated a test transfer today:

 

Had to verify passport at the Central Festival Pattaya location. Then at home I thought they marked my nationality wrong (Thai) and that was removing the bank account to bank account option. Found out that you have to enter an amount before that option appears on their site. 

 

Says 1-3 days delivery time so we'll see. I was in a bind after the Deemoney removal of service, $35 fee bank wires (500 + 800 for the middleman) seemed the only option. This will probably work and I'm grateful for it.

 

Glad to hear it worked.  The WU Selling Exchange Rate of 30.95 is about 0.5% higher (worst) when compared to Bangkok Bank's Sunday TT Selling Rate of 30.80.  (Note: And just for others listening in, when sending money out of Thailand...like a THB to USD transfer the lower rate is the better rate....means you need to fork out fewer baht to buy each USD you are sending.)   

 

However, there is significantly less hassle in using WU over a Thai bank since some Thai bank branches make it hard to transfer funds out of Thailand and their fee is higher starting at around Bt400 and up.  Plus most Thai banks require a work permit to get online foreign transfer capability which has a healthy transfer fee starting at around Bt400 and up.

 

And your cost above was definitely a lot better than using WU in my Krungsri Bank ibanking which I priced out in an earlier post.

 

Before when DeeMoney was still sending USD their money transfer (selling) rate was always plus or minus just a hair the Thai bank TT Selling Rate.   So, it looks like the WU exchange rate is a little worst than DeeMoney's rate (when you could still use DeeMoney for USD transfers).   However, the WU sending fee is lower (better) than DeeMoney's sending fee. 

 

Speaking of DeeMoney I asked them in late August if there was any update on when they will offer transfer capability again to the US...below is a partial quote of their response.  I'm not holding my breath based on their response which was very similar to their early July response.

 

Quote

Right now, there is no news yet or any update that has been provided to us on the availability of our service to USA. Once our service to USA resumes, we will make an announcement through our communication channels and update our website.

 

[Pib]

I did my online registration yesterday and went to a Central WU location today to complete the verification process (i.e., show your ID and they keep a copy of the main page).  My WU online acct was now fully activated.  I now have another online money transfer tool in my "transfer money out of Thailand" toolbox.

 

Can now send and fund up to Bt250K per transfer....funded via Direct Debit or Debit/Credit Card.  And if setting-up the transfer online but going to a WU location to fund the transfer with cash I can send up to Bt800K per day.

 

So, I wanted to do a real world transfer....see how it goes.  Came back home and initiated an online transfer. I sent $50 to one of my US bank accts.....funded with my Thai bank debit card....estimated delivery 1 to 3 business days.  Below is a summary of costs. 

 

Transfer amount    1544.60    THB
WU Transfer fee    99.00    THB
Promotional discount    0.00    THB
Convenience fee (inclusive of VAT)    35.17    THB
Total    1678.77    THB
Exchange rate2    1.00 THB = 0.0323709    USD
Estimated total to receiver    50.00    USD

 

Notice the basic Transfer fee is Bt99 plus a Convenience fee of 35.17 which comes to Bt134.17 total.  The WU exchange rate was 30.89 compared to Bangkok Bank's 30.65 TT Selling Rate used for outgoing transfers....which means the WU rate was approx 0.8% worst.    Now their Convenience Fee started off at Bt16.05 in the early stages of the transfer but ended-up at Bt35.17. 

 

And I noticed when playing around with sending different amounts and funding by Direct Debit or Debit/Credit Card the Convenience Fee will vary...even go to zero in some cases.  However, without following thru with the transfer I can not say if the Convenience fee would have stayed the same as shown on the first stage of the transfer as compared to the final stage/confirmation stage of the transfer since like I mentioned the Convenience fee for my transfer climbed between the initial and final stages.  Yea, the Convenience fee varies and based on my 1st transfer it can change between the initial and final stages of the online transfer.

 

Anyway, assuming the money does show up in 1 to 3 business days it's definitely easy to send money back to the home country from the comfort of your keyboard at an exchange rate that is a little worst than a Thai bank or DeeMoney, but at a lower sending fee especially compared to a Thai bank sending fee that will be in the approx Bt400 to Bt1200 ballpark depending on the sending option you choose.   The approx Bt400 end is if you do not want the sending bank to cover any intermediary bank fee....the approx Bt1,200 end is if you do want the sending bank to cover any intermediary bank fee.

 

 

 

 

 

[Hal65]

Assuming their 0.8% worse rate than BKK stays stable, and the other banks have about the same forex rate, the breakeven against a 1,200 thb / $35 Thai bank wire should be about $4,000 or a less less ($8 per $1,000 sent)

 

Personally I prefer to make smaller transfers more often. So I guess Western Union is best for me. For guys wanting to transfer larger amounts I think the bank wire is still best.

[Vacuum]

On 8/20/2019 at 4:31 AM, WalkingOrders said:

Not a good deal anywhere.

...only for the lady receiving the money.

[Pib]

57 minutes ago, Hal65 said:

Assuming their 0.8% worse rate than BKK stays stable, and the other banks have about the same forex rate, the breakeven against a 1,200 thb / $35 Thai bank wire should be about $4,000 or a less less ($8 per $1,000 sent)

 

Personally I prefer to make smaller transfers more often. So I guess Western Union is best for me. For guys wanting to transfer larger amounts I think the bank wire is still best.

 

Yea, cost-wise right around $4000 (depending on exchange rate) is where you might be better off using a Thai bank if you could get the bank to send the money without a ton of paperwork.   

 

I did a quick spreadsheet comparing WU to a Thai bank if needing to send USD of different amounts back to the U.S. of A.   Assuming WU transfers actually do arrive your US bank acct within 1 to 3 business days like they say and the ease of doing the transfer from the comfort of our keyboard, I think most folks would go the WU route.   This is good.....and I'm surprised that WU is turning out to be a good deal and easy to use "for sending money out of Thailand."  And registration & verification were easy.

 

 

 

[Pib]

@Hal65

 

Did the money you sent to the US arrive yet? 

 

If so, how long did it take to arrive and were you sending it to a bank acct? 

 

Thanks.

[Somewhere In Time]

Pib, the recent WU online transfer I also did as a test to my US bank account using a bank debit card here, posted to my US bank the next day at COB USA time.  So, a very quick turn all things considered. 

 

As stated in a post above, I'm pleased with the results, and would recommend this WU service to others who may be interested.

 

SIT

[Hal65]

@Pib, yes I did a bank to bank (Thai to US account) transfer. I checked my Schwab account and it did post as ACH for $32.31, with a post date of 9/11 which was yesterday. So in my case it took the full 3 days to post. Good to see it has worked

[Pib]

Well, my Western Union transfer of $50 sent on 12 Sep also arrived my US bank account on 12 Sep.   Specifically, it took 9 hours and 38 minutes.  $50 sent; $50 arrived...no other fees than the sending fees posted early.