Can TransferWise be used to send USD to Thai bank accounts and what are the associated costs?

Depending on their specific circumstances perhaps it could. But maybe they don't want to transfer their full pension in, maybe they just want to transfer 65k. Or maybe they have a fixed benefit or state pension that isn't enough and they want to combine it with income from a 401(k). Maybe all their money is in private investments and they handle the transfers themselves. Or maybe they have rental income, or any number of other possibilities. Maybe their pension will do it but will charge them $50 for an international wire.

Bottom line, there is no rule saying you have to move all your assets into Thailand and people are free to do what they like as long as they transfer 65,000 in each and every month. This is just possibly a cheaper option.

Retired people frequently have investments, pensions and other assets outside Thailand. One of the options to meet the requirements of a retirement extension is to transfer 65,000B/month into Thailand. There is no legal requirement if you are retired here that you have to move all your assets into Thailand or have all your income transferred into Thailand. Just that you need to transfer 65k in from abroad each month.

As US banks typically charge $35-50 for an international wire, this could cost in the region of $400-600 in wire fees per year to do this as a regular wire. TW offers a cheaper way to get your money in.

I checked, it's $4.33 total. $3.20+ the $1.13 USD to USD transfer fee. There are no exchange or % fees as you are not changing currency, it's a flat $4.33 for any amount.

There are fixed fees- 200-500B for an incoming transfer (which will be applied in USD equivalent). But that's the same standard fee for an incoming international transfer, it doesn't matter if it is USD or THB account.

There is definitely no converting into THB and back, unless you choose to.

And then if you want to send it back out without converting, Bangkok Bank do charge a 0.25% fee going back out. But I think in this case I'm more thinking of it for people who need to transfer IN their 65,000 monthly.

@Do***

not if you have a USD account, if you transfer USD to a USD FCD with Bangkok Bank it stays in USD.

I think all Thai banks offer FCD (Foreign Currency Deposit) accounts.

Have you tried it

@T**

? I haven't tried this new method specifically yet but I have sent USD to a Thai account in the past using TransferWise. You can check the Bangkok Bank TT rates online and compare them with other options, I think you'll find they are quite good.

Bangkok Bank at least actually has quite reasonable rates for USD forex. Actually slightly better than TransferWise.

If you need to show monthly 65,000 incoming transfers, I suspect this may in fact be the cheapest way to do it, unless you get totally free international wires (some brokers like Fidelity offer this).

Most US banks charge in the $35-50 range for international wires, so $3.20 is a good deal. You could be looking at a saving of ~$500 in wire fees over 12 months.