What is the cheapest way to transfer funds to a Thai bank account?

@Jeff ******

@Krystian *****

so no context then?

@Jeff ******

u find ur content in groups related to wise

@Krystian *****

To do that I have to join a group full of whinging expats when I and millions of others have never hit a problem. I'll pass thanks

@Jack ******

how many people in this thread have recommended Wise compared to the alternatives? There's your answer

@Jeff ******

they probably work for Wise… who knows. Not sure why you’re getting so uptight about it all.

Like I said, I will use the company that gives me the most money ( seems logical ) exchanges jump around constantly, I was directly answering the question, gave examples. If one company offers you more than the other use that one. For most of my transactions in the end I mostly get more money using WU, sometimes not but rarely do I use wise, their rate may seem better but the fees cancel that out.

Transferring 6000 dollars using WU gives you about 800 baht more, takes a few minutes to transfer compared to 72 hours waiting.

Wise maybe good as a travel card, sure but that wasn’t the question asked. It was about “ the best value for money transfer to an account “

Hence my answer…. U can use whoever you want. So will I …. Take the best and fastest, more money simple.

@Jack ******

Yep thats it they all work for Wise - sorry I didn't read past that bit!

@Jeff ******

well there is your problem, you mustn’t have read the actual question or other comments either.

Not a great deal of difference in the end….. but enough….. personally I’ve found this to be consistent.

@Jeff ******

after you pay the fees, in the end you receive more money from WU…. Check the example I posted. I’m only trying to help people, answer the question correctly.

@Brian ******

yes, you can send both ways (baht or dollars) via the

app. As an example, today’s exchange rate is 34.21, and BofA shows at 33.32 ( which the app will show). If you send $500 via baht, BofA will deliver baht. If you send via dollar, Thai bank will receive baht. So your exchange cost via sending Thai baht is about $14.76. If you send $5000 via baht, then your exchange cost is about $130. Wire transfer of any amount (sending via dollar) is $45

@Richard **********

well its cheaper than the atm fees :) but im going with chuck schwab this time and zelle to chuck from boa..

@Brian ******

it is 100% correct. All ATMs here charge 220 baht. That's the fee the Thai bank charges and Schwab reimburses that every time. Been using my Schwab card for close to 5 years now in many countries.

@Wylie ******

How does the conversion rate for Schwab compare with Wise?

@Joseph ***

Schwab doesn't do the conversion. If you do a wire it's the Thai bank doing the conversion, you can look at their rates online (look at TT sell rate). It's usually pretty good for USD. If you are using the debit card at an ATM, it's Visa doing the conversion. Those rates are under 1% off the midmarket rate, so if no other charge is applied it works out about the same or even a little better than Wise. Same ballpark really, just whether you want the money in your Thai account (maybe needed for immigration) or cash from the ATM. Visa have an exact rate calculator here, set the bank fee to 0% to see what you get from Schwab:

@Ivan ***********

@Wylie ******

Thank you very much Gentleman. 🫡

@Joseph ***

my last withdrawal on Aug. 27th was at 38.84. Google for that day says 33.91. I also just happened to transfer money with Wise on the same day and the rate was 34.05. They weren't at the exact same time though and there has been some decent fluctuations throughout the day. Even if that was the true difference in the rate, I paid double that in the Wise fee.

In the past I believe it ended up being close to a wash between wise with their fees and Schwabs slightly lower rate for that 10-20k baht range. Much more convenient and quicker than wise though, especially lately when it can take days no matter what reason I select.

@Wylie ******

sweetness.. glad i opened an account before i left america.. chuck is a great man lol

@Todd ********

yes

@Ivan ***********

Same for Netherlands using Ideal (our name for ACH).

@Ivan ***********

thanks. I'll try a different method next time and see what the difference is. Currently I use wise to transfer from bank to bank and it takes about a week.

@Eric *********

it's not going to be significant if you have free wires which I believe Fidelity does. You save if your US bank charges you $40-50 to do it. Thai banks also give particularly good rates on USD, Wise is better with EUR/GBP and *really* better for smaller currencies where the Thai rates are terrible.

@Ivan ***********

Agree. You are correct Fidelity has no fee.

@Stuart ********

I do the same. When I let Wise take it from my bank there’s an Ideal fee. When I initiate out of my bank to the Wise account it’s free and it’s an instant transfer, provided I stay below €5000.

@Stuart ********

actually you can transfer to Thai account directly from Wise from a linked local bank account instead of topping the wise wallet. There is no difference for the above in the duration for the other party to received from my own experience.

However how long the money is dependent on other factors like are you sending it during office hour or over the weekend etc and also the total amount. Higher value seem to take longer than less than 500 USD