Best way to transfer money from Germany to Thailand

[stat]

I am looking for the best way to transfer money from Europe (Germany in my case) to Thailand.

 

I will be transfering about 30-40.000 €.

 

I have a Mastercard, which offers OK rates and no out of country fee, but would like to compare to a swift transfer. To my knowledge best would be to transfer to a Thai Bank in Euros in a € account and then change to Thai Baht. Fee at Bangkok Bank would be 500 Baht.

 

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/View-Rates/Foreign-Exchange-Rates

 

Has someone compared on the same day Mastercard with a bank transfer/exchange.

 

 

Thanks!

[ourdon]

I do it out of Canada.  Don't use my bank exchange rates anymore.  Get a quote from OFX on a transfer to your Thai bank account..  OFX ships Baht to my account.  Bangkok bank charges me 200 THB for the international transaction.

 

I find the OFX rates to be a few points better than my banks.  Your experiences may differ

 

Good luck

[upu2]

43 minutes ago, stat said:

I am looking for the best way to transfer money from Europe (Germany in my case) to Thailand.

 

I will be transfering about 30-40.000 €.

 

I have a Mastercard, which offers OK rates and no out of country fee, but would like to compare to a swift transfer. To my knowledge best would be to transfer to a Thai Bank in Euros in a € account and then change to Thai Baht. Fee at Bangkok Bank would be 500 Baht.

 

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/View-Rates/Foreign-Exchange-Rates

 

Has someone compared on the same day Mastercard with a bank transfer/exchange.

 

 

Thanks!

Use Transferwise or Wise as it soon will be. Make the transfer direct to Thai Baht which I am assuming you would ultimately want.

[stat]

Guys thanks for your answers! Examples of actual transferal would help a lot ! Thanks!

 

Test 25 Feb         800 €                             Loss  in € 30000Baht               Markup over ECB rate ECB rate loss in percentage Fees €   800€       Bangkok Bank TT Morning 36,115000   2,0158% 13,84   2,282094   ECB RATE   Bangkok Bank TT Noon 36,220000   1,7310% 13,80   13,847740   36,858   Bangkok Bank TT Evening 36,115000   2,0158% 13,84   16,126757       Bangkok Bank Banknotes   35,820000   2,8162% 0,00   22,529709       Mastercard     36,425759   1,1727% 6,04   9,381760       Visa     36,321408 0,460000 1,4558% 6,06   11,646692   36,4884863   Superrich     36,600000   0,7000% 0,00   5,599870       US Mastercard     33,333330 0,130000 0,1300%     1,040000       Transferwise 0.0057% fee     36,560000   0,81% 4,56   6,468067
So theoretically Transferwise would be the cheapest in lack of a US based Mastercard. However  Pib came up with another result. Maybe transferwise lowered their fees.   So if possible I call on the community to post their real life exchange rates after conversion. I have no idea of bank account fees in Thailand that would need to be added. So my guess is Mastercard still takes the price if no account is needed within Thailand.   Thanks again!

 

 

[stat]

 

Corrected chart

 

Test 25 Feb					800 €
								Loss per x in € 30000Baht
				Markup over ECB rate	ECB rate loss in percentage	Fees €		800€
Bangkok Bank	TT	Morning	36,115000		2,0158%	13,84		29,971420		ECB RATE
Bangkok Bank	TT	Noon	36,220000		1,7310%	13,80		27,652268		36,858
Bangkok Bank	TT	Evening	36,115000		2,0158%	13,84		29,971420
Bangkok Bank	Banknotes		35,820000		2,8162%	0,00		22,529709
Mastercard			36,425759		1,1727%	6,04		15,421442
Visa			36,321408	0,460000	1,4558%	6,06		17,703726		36,4884863
Superrich			36,600000		0,7000%	0,00		5,599870
US Mastercard			33,333330	0,130000	0,1300%			1,040000
Transferwise 0.0057% fee			36,560000		0,81%	4,56		11,028067
Anesa Cashback 0.25%			36,425759		1,1727%	2,00		11,381760

[GrandPapillon]

22 hours ago, stat said:

I am looking for the best way to transfer money from Europe (Germany in my case) to Thailand.

 

I will be transfering about 30-40.000 €.

 

I have a Mastercard, which offers OK rates and no out of country fee, but would like to compare to a swift transfer. To my knowledge best would be to transfer to a Thai Bank in Euros in a € account and then change to Thai Baht. Fee at Bangkok Bank would be 500 Baht.

 

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/View-Rates/Foreign-Exchange-Rates

 

Has someone compared on the same day Mastercard with a bank transfer/exchange.

 

 

Thanks!

transferwise dude, it's cheap, and done in 30sec in weekdays, 48h over the week-end

 

might have to start with 1,000 EUR transfer first, big transfer might be blocked. Do 1,000 every days over 2 months.

[GrandPapillon]

also transfer over of 25,000 EUR will be blocked and seized by BoT by default unless your provide a valid reason for the transfer. Your own savings or retirement money should be considered a valid reason but they still might block the transfer if it's too big. Happened to me a few times, I had to send a fax and answer a few questions by the BoT.

 

I was doing 25,000 EUR transfer every 60 days, and I assume that raised a few red flags.

[stat]

Dude, cheap is an opinion not a fact ???? Its like changing money at the airport because the sign says no commision ????

 

Pls provide data how much Baht you got for x not an opinion, thanks!

[Peter Denis]

Use TransferWise (they recently changed their name to WISE) to transfer money from your German bank-account to Thai bank-account.

Do it in 2 or 3 transfers (when transferring 15.000 to 20.000 Euro, I never got any questions).  You might want to try it with a single transfer of 1.000 Euro first to check out how their system works (very easy, transparent, fast and cheap).  

Note: When transferring from Germany you can make use of the Easy Transfer option that WISE offers to holders of a German, Austrian and Belgian bank-account (by using SoFort).

As mentioned earlier by another poster, when transferring during week-days the money arrives within seconds, over the weekend it takes 48 hours.

Also, for a large amount like you will be transferring, it is useful to check the exchange-rate and do the transfer (just click GO) when the rate is favorable.  TransferWise uses the real mid-exchange rate, which changes every minute, so on a large amount that can make a nice difference for you.

When you need the money to meet the financial requirements of Immigration, and it requires 'proof of foreign origin' (e.g. the +800K funds-in-bank when applying for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa) be aware that the TransferWise transfer will show up as a domestic transfer to your local Thai bank branch (unless you have a Bangkok Bank account and ticked the 'money for long-term stay' reason when transferring).

>> I did PM you a Guideline document on TransferWise (now WISE) which also explains how to get hold of the evidence that the funds originated from abroad, when your Imm Office requires such evidence.  And this irrespective which method of transfer you are using (TW or another service) or which Thai bank branch you have the funds transferred to. 

[soisanuk]

I use TransferWise to send money from my US Bank to my Bangkok Bank Account. The money is converted and sent in baht by TW.  Since I use the income method for my retirement extensions, I select as my reason for long stay in Thailand (last item in their drop down menu of reasons) - it is coded as a foreign transfer in my account.

 

My confirmation email from TransferWise - 30.47 baht to 1 USD exchange rate:

 

Quote

TransferWise

 

Send money

To ###########

Sending

 

Today at 7:18 am  March 2nd   73,936.37 THB  -  2,450 USD

 

You set up your transfer

Your money's on its way to us

 

Your money might take up to 3 days to get to us. We'll let you know when it arrives.

 

 

March 2rd       We receive your USD

March 3rd       We pay out your THB

March 3rd       You receive your THB

 

[soisanuk]

As noted by Peter Denis, if sent on a week day (excluding holidays) it can be quicker than the example I used in my above post.  If I send on weekday before 9am (Thai time), it arrives at 2pm (Thai time) the following day.

[4evermaat]

18 hours ago, stat said:

Dude, cheap is an opinion not a fact ???? Its like changing money at the airport because the sign says no commision ????

 

Pls provide data how much Baht you got for x not an opinion, thanks!

 

TransferWise shows you exactly how much ฿฿ you will receive, including fees for your payment method.   And your payment method will be "local".   The speed is pretty fast also (could be instant, 1-2 hours, or next business day early morning, Thai time).    

 

So the on-site calculator is precise.

 

If you select "funds for long stay in Thailand" as reason for transfer [and use bangkok bank as recipient bank], you will get it around 14:00 Thai time next business day....but it shows up as an international transfer, which may be important when needing proof of funds for qualifying for an extension of stay.

 

If you want cash pickup fast, use WorldRemit.  But the exchange rate is a little bit worse than TW, as they get you twice (fee to send + poorer exchange rate).  But adding it all up, it is still good.  Especially if you need someone to pick it up fast.

 

Edit: another note about TW:  the speed depends on method of payment, sender country/currency, and recipient country/currency.   USD to THB is pretty quick with debit card payment (few minutes to few hours depending on time of day).  Using ACH is cheaper, but it might sometimes take extra time to complete transfer.

 

USD to INR (India) via debit card is Instant.  

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by 4evermaat

[Colabamumbai]

On 2/27/2021 at 2:39 AM, stat said:

I am looking for the best way to transfer money from Europe (Germany in my case) to Thailand.

 

I will be transfering about 30-40.000 €.

 

I have a Mastercard, which offers OK rates and no out of country fee, but would like to compare to a swift transfer. To my knowledge best would be to transfer to a Thai Bank in Euros in a € account and then change to Thai Baht. Fee at Bangkok Bank would be 500 Baht.

 

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/View-Rates/Foreign-Exchange-Rates

 

Has someone compared on the same day Mastercard with a bank transfer/exchange.

 

 

Thanks!

I just took out 30,000 Bhat on a Tangerine Mastercard, the bank did it, won't know the rate till they post it, Canadian Dollars. 

[soalbundy]

On 2/27/2021 at 2:39 AM, stat said:

I am looking for the best way to transfer money from Europe (Germany in my case) to Thailand.

 

I will be transfering about 30-40.000 €.

 

I have a Mastercard, which offers OK rates and no out of country fee, but would like to compare to a swift transfer. To my knowledge best would be to transfer to a Thai Bank in Euros in a € account and then change to Thai Baht. Fee at Bangkok Bank would be 500 Baht.

 

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/View-Rates/Foreign-Exchange-Rates

 

Has someone compared on the same day Mastercard with a bank transfer/exchange.

 

 

Thanks!

I transfer money from my German account every month to my Thai account using Transferwise, never takes longer than two days and is cheap.

[musicscene]

On 2/28/2021 at 1:18 AM, GrandPapillon said:

transferwise dude, it's cheap, and done in 30sec in weekdays, 48h over the week-end

 

might have to start with 1,000 EUR transfer first, big transfer might be blocked. Do 1,000 every days over 2 months.

I use Transfer Wise from England and regularly transfer £5000. I don’t know if they have a limit. First time of using I transferred £1000 to be sure it was safe. You will have to indicate what the money is for with general headings given to help you 

[GrandPapillon]

5000 transfer is still small, but 5000 every day for 30 days, and you might get blocked by the BoT

 

not sure if WISE is approved for currency exchange by the BoT, that would be an interesting question to ask

 

I have a feeling that the transfer are usually done with their local THB account, at least it does for me, so not sure if this is 100% compliant with BoT regulations for international transfer. I have a feeling they try to avoid the BoT in-shore exchange rates and all kind of fees charged by the BoT for international transfer.

Edited March 1, 2021 by GrandPapillon

[natway09]

Cheap is only cheap as long as you get a good conversion rate.

I have always found that Thai banks give a far better rate than overseas ones.

My suggestion send in the original currency & get the Thai bank to convert.

Certainly out of Australia or NZ their banks give a dismal Thai rate

[tgw]

On 2/27/2021 at 2:39 AM, stat said:

I am looking for the best way to transfer money from Europe (Germany in my case) to Thailand.

 

I will be transfering about 30-40.000 €.

 

I have a Mastercard, which offers OK rates and no out of country fee, but would like to compare to a swift transfer. To my knowledge best would be to transfer to a Thai Bank in Euros in a € account and then change to Thai Baht. Fee at Bangkok Bank would be 500 Baht.

 

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/View-Rates/Foreign-Exchange-Rates

 

Has someone compared on the same day Mastercard with a bank transfer/exchange.

 

 

Thanks!

 

the best will be to send a SWIFT transfer in EUR to your Thai bank

[GrandPapillon]

2 minutes ago, tgw said:

 

the best will be to send a SWIFT transfer in EUR to your Thai bank

but then you get hit with BoT transfer rates, not the better rates from WISE

[tgw]

Just now, GrandPapillon said:

but then you get hit with BoT transfer rates, not the better rates from WISE

 

you get the current interbank rate. I don't know about BoT rates.

I always got a good rate.

[treetops]

3 hours ago, 4evermaat said:

The speed is pretty fast also (could be instant, 1-2 hours, or next business day early morning, Thai time).

 

It can be more than pretty fast.  According to the time stamps on TW emails and the BBL transaction, I had a transfer arrive a minute before it was sent earlier this week. ????

 

[Peter Denis]

4 minutes ago, natway09 said:

Cheap is only cheap as long as you get a good conversion rate.

I have always found that Thai banks give a far better rate than overseas ones.

My suggestion send in the original currency & get the Thai bank to convert.

Certainly out of Australia or NZ their banks give a dismal Thai rate

TransferWise (now WISE) use the mid-exchange rate when you transfer money from your foreign bank-account to THB on your Thai bank-account.

It is simply not possible to have a better exchange rate than that mid-exchange rate. 

Transferwise also uses their Thai partner-banks (Bangkok Bank, Kasikorn Bank and TMB) to transfer the funds to your local Thai bank-branch where you have your bank-account.  Doing so there are also no fees charged by your receiving Thai bank, as it is a 'domestic transfer'.

So the ONLY thing you pay for when using TransferWise is their service-fee (typically approx 1,1 % of the amount transferred). 

As a result of the above they are almost always cheaper than using an international bank-transfer, where you are not sure of the exchange-rate that will be applied (in most cases the bank takes a cut on the mid-exchange rate).  And yes, there are some exceptions where under certain conditions an international bank-transfer can be cheaper than making use of the TransferWise (WISE) service.

But for relatively small transfers (under 3.000 Euro/US $) they are as good as always the cheapest, and surely the most transparent as you know exactly how much THB you will receive on your Thai bank-account the moment you click GO (as mentioned higher that mid-exchange rate changes every minute, but is 'frozen' for the time needed to handle your transaction (which can be up to 72 hours when just before a long weekend).

 

[4evermaat]

6 minutes ago, natway09 said:

Cheap is only cheap as long as you get a good conversion rate.

I have always found that Thai banks give a far better rate than overseas ones.

My suggestion send in the original currency & get the Thai bank to convert.

Certainly out of Australia or NZ their banks give a dismal Thai rate

 

Are you guys even reading the responses and checking the mentioned services?   Both TransferWise and WorldRemit show you the exchange rate and all fees prior to payment.  You can then compare that with stated fees from your bank's swift wire department or local electronic transfer to Bangkok Bank (if you are using that option).

 

You could even split up the money evenly across 3-4 different services and see which one delivered quickest and with best exchange rate (including all fees)

 

20 minutes ago, GrandPapillon said:

not sure if WISE is approved for currency exchange by the BoT, that would be an interesting question to ask

Wise doesn't send outward THB remittances. 

 

For an illegal operation, they sure do leave a lot of incriminating evidence, including a pdf receipt history of each transfer.

 

 

[stat]

Thanks for all the replies! It was stated that wise actually shows the "real" costs and conversion rates! So all we now need is someone who has done a swift or mastercard transaction and let us know beforehand so we can compare to wise.

 

Mastercard for example is a bit more obscure. You never know if the rate they display is the actual rate you are getting.

 

How much does Bangkok Bank (or other bank) charge for their accounts in total per year or month including usage of visa card to withdraw money? Again a real world info is needed as banks usually add more comissions and fees as one of us could dream up by just looking and their condition sheet. ????

 

Any recommendations for banks?

 

Cheers

[GrandPapillon]

3 hours ago, tgw said:

 

you get the current interbank rate. I don't know about BoT rates.

I always got a good rate.

ah, when I use "Monthly expenses" for the label, it's a local transfer and I get hit with a much better rate than the advertised interbank rates or BoT rates

[Peter Denis]

13 minutes ago, GrandPapillon said:

ah, when I use "Monthly expenses" for the label, it's a local transfer and I get hit with a much better rate than the advertised interbank rates or BoT rates

TransferWise (now WISE) 'secret' is that they make use of their Thai partner-banks (Bangkok Bank, Kasikorn Bank and TMB) to send the funds to your local Thai bank-branch where you have your bank-account.  So your foreign money is not actually sent to Thailand, but is sent to the TransferWise account, who then 'order' one of their partner-banks to transfer the equivalent in THB to your local Thai bank-account.

Doing so there are also no fees charged by your receiving Thai bank-branch, as every TransferWise transaction turns up as a 'domestic transfer'.

Note: The above has nothing to do with the reason you can fill in for doing the transfer on the TransferWise website.  When you choose as reason for 'Long-term stay in Thailand' that option will ensure that when the order is processed by Bangkok Bank Headquarters (in case you have a local Bangkok Bank branch account) that the code on your bank-book for that transfer will denote FTT (which stands for Bangkok Bank code for an international transfer).  That will be useful when you need to provide evidence to Immigration that the funds originated from abroad.

[EricTh]

On 2/27/2021 at 2:39 AM, stat said:

I am looking for the best way to transfer money from Europe (Germany in my case) to Thailand.

 

I will be transfering about 30-40.000 €.

 

I have a Mastercard, which offers OK rates and no out of country fee, but would like to compare to a swift transfer. To my knowledge best would be to transfer to a Thai Bank in Euros in a € account and then change to Thai Baht. Fee at Bangkok Bank would be 500 Baht.

 

https://www.bangkokbank.com/en/Personal/Other-Services/View-Rates/Foreign-Exchange-Rates

 

Has someone compared on the same day Mastercard with a bank transfer/exchange.

 

 

Thanks!

 

Don't use Mastercard or Visa, these have terrible exchange rates out to enrich the super rich.

 

Use Transferwise which is closer to market rate.

Edited March 1, 2021 by EricTh

[HighPriority]

3 hours ago, stat said:

Thanks for all the replies! It was stated that wise actually shows the "real" costs and conversion rates! So all we now need is someone who has done a swift or mastercard transaction and let us know beforehand so we can compare to wise.

 

Mastercard for example is a bit more obscure. You never know if the rate they display is the actual rate you are getting.

 

How much does Bangkok Bank (or other bank) charge for their accounts in total per year or month including usage of visa card to withdraw money? Again a real world info is needed as banks usually add more comissions and fees as one of us could dream up by just looking and their condition sheet. ????

 

Any recommendations for banks?

 

Cheers

Why don’t YOU do the transfer and get back to us ?

[GrandPapillon]

4 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

TransferWise (now WISE) 'secret' is that they make use of their Thai partner-banks (Bangkok Bank, Kasikorn Bank and TMB) to send the funds to your local Thai bank-branch where you have your bank-account.  So your foreign money is not actually sent to Thailand, but is sent to the TransferWise account, who then 'order' one of their partner-banks to transfer the equivalent in THB to your local Thai bank-account.

Doing so there are also no fees charged by your receiving Thai bank-branch, as every TransferWise transaction turns up as a 'domestic transfer'.

Note: The above has nothing to do with the reason you can fill in for doing the transfer on the TransferWise website.  When you choose as reason for 'Long-term stay in Thailand' that option will ensure that when the order is processed by Bangkok Bank Headquarters (in case you have a local Bangkok Bank branch account) that the code on your bank-book for that transfer will denote FTT (which stands for Bangkok Bank code for an international transfer).  That will be useful when you need to provide evidence to Immigration that the funds originated from abroad.

thanks for the nice explanation, got it

[4evermaat]

11 hours ago, EricTh said:

Don't use Mastercard or Visa, these have terrible exchange rates out to enrich the super rich.

 

14 hours ago, stat said:

Mastercard for example is a bit more obscure. You never know if the rate they display is the actual rate you are getting.

 

MC/Visa rates are actually great.  You can compare with this tool:  http://bankexchangerates.daytodaydata.net/   (open Visa/MC in separate window)   But the card's bank may charge foreign transaction fees that could be upwards of 3-5% of the transaction.   Or in the case of withdrawing cash from ATM, you could additionally be hit with atm-level conversion fee if you chose that option at atm.  [hint:  never let ATM convert; always "continue without conversion"]

 

You also have to deal with your card's the daily/monthly transaction limit.   Bank of Ayutthaya (KrungSee) and I think TMB lets you take ฿30k per pull.  Bangkok Bank ATM is ฿25k max per pull.  Flat ฿220 atm fee.

 

14 hours ago, stat said:

Thanks for all the replies! It was stated that wise actually shows the "real" costs and conversion rates! So all we now need is someone who has done a swift or mastercard transaction and let us know beforehand so we can compare to wise.

 

These type of things you have to ultimately test yourself in many cases.   You don't always know the hidden intermediary fees that are deducted when using SWIFT, depending on the sending banks.    It literally can vary from bank to bank.

 

I mentioned earlier to split up your send into 3-4 different sends with different providers.  Part of that doubles as an intelligence-gathering operation.   The TW fee is higher than most advertised SWIFT fees (as the sending amounts increase), but the net amount you receive to your Thai bank account might be more because of the better conversion rates, no hidden fees, etc. 

 

For 30k or 40k EUR per transfer, assuming you send it as EUR and do not convert it ahead of time, SWIFT might be a good deal (net receipt).  But only 1 way to know for sure.