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Should I convert US dollars to Baht before transferring to my Thai bank account or send USD directly?

Bank TransfersCurrency ExchangeWise BankingThai Bank AccountsWells FargoExpats in ThailandUSD to THB ConversionWestern UnionRemitly Alternatives
Jul 14, 2025
21 days ago
Robert ********
ORIGINAL POSTER
Ok- I have a question for all my Wise Banking American ex-Pats:

When I'm moving money from my Wells Fargo to wise and then Wise to a Thai bank account should I exchange the funds to Baht and then deposit them s Baht to the Thai bank account?

Does that make sense? Or just do a USD dorectly into my Thai bank account?

Which one will give me better rate?
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TLDR : Answer Summary
The post discusses the best method for transferring money from Wells Fargo to a Thai bank account using Wise. The main points include whether to convert funds to Baht before depositing into the Thai bank or to send USD directly. Several commenters suggest that sending USD directly to the Thai bank allows Wise to handle the exchange at a favorable rate. Other opinions mention various personal experiences with different transfer methods, and there's debate over the best exchange rates and transfer speeds between services.
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Jon ********
Wells Fargo can do SWIFT transfer. They are pretty poor in terms of customer service but you don’t need WISE.
20 days ago
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Mike ********
I keep US and Thai balances. Wait for good rates to convert, while earning 3.9% interest in the mean time. The rate is good enough to reduce the fees.
20 days ago
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Ralph *******
@Mike *******
 You get 3.9% interest on your Wise balance?
20 days ago
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Mike ********
@Ralph ******
 only on the usd balance
20 days ago
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Rick ************
@Ralph ******
 sure do
20 days ago
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Ralph *******
@Rick ***********
 Mine doesn’t offer that. Revolut does some scheme but Wise doesn’t.
20 days ago
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Rick ************
@Ralph ******
 it's not automatic. You have to set it up. Use the help function to find.

I get interest on AUD & THB.
20 days ago
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Rick ************
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Simon *******
Right now if I transfer from the UK to Bangkok bank transfers are taking about 6 hours if done Monday to Thursday, of done Friday to Sunday it takes until Monday to get to your account. Best to do transfers Mon to Thurs.
20 days ago
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Wannikea *********
It's a bit cheaper to send to your Wise acct and then manually choose to convert the funds at your preferred rate, then send to your Thai bank, also it tends to be a faster transfer. YMMV. Regardless, sending directly to your Thai bank is pretty seamless.
20 days ago
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Robert **************
Yes you can send it directly from one account to another
21 days ago
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Matthew *********
Don't use wise, use remitly. It's american company with lower fees than wise and the money is transfer in less than a minute. So many people have problems with wise. Some people have had their money frozen from wise and wise takes too long to transfer. I have an attorney friend in bangkok, he was so glad I told him about remitly
21 days ago
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Norbert **********
@Matthew ********
 revolut is also in minutes
20 days ago
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Todd *********
@Matthew ********
 use Remitly if you are angry at your own money. You always get a worse exchange rate. They charge ‘lower fees’ to prey on the financially uneducated. It’s a good strategy
20 days ago
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Robby ************
@Matthew ********
 but lower rate about 200 baht on 50.000 baht conversion
20 days ago
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Robby ************
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Robert ********
I have THB and USD account in wise. I seem to never use the USD one anymore. It is simpler to transfer it into the THB account where it is converted automatically and the exchange rate is good.
21 days ago
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Robert ********
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Robert *******
 and then move it to your bank?
21 days ago
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Robert ********
@Robert *******
 move it to Bangkok bank account
21 days ago
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Robert ********
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Jeremy ********
Always go with your banks exchange rate
21 days ago
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Todd *********
@Jeremy *******
 that…. Is hilarious. Ummm - no. Do NOT do this
20 days ago
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Jeremy ********
@Todd ********
 not sure what you’re saying

I get a better rate with my home bank than overseas banks

ATM’s other…only exception is super rich when I hand over $100 notes
20 days ago
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Jeremy ********
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Wannikea *********
@Jeremy *******
 certainly not the American banks rate. Just let Wise do the conversion.
20 days ago
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Jeremy ********
@Wannikea ********
 absolutisms never end well

99.9% of the time the USA/other countries bank uses a better exchange rate than the rate of the receiving bank

I’ve used this algorithm all over the world and it’s worked for me
20 days ago
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Wannikea *********
@Jeremy *******
 we are talking Thai bank rates vs the center of the capitalist universe banks. There isn't a hope in hell that those US banks are gonna give a better rate.
20 days ago
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Jeremy ********
@Wannikea ********
 I get better rates
20 days ago
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Jeremy ********
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Mark ********
I use wise and WF, I exchange to baht via wise. then to my thai acct. I leave money in my wise acct. I am not worried about losing it. I suppose it could happen but it is only a couple thousand dollars.
21 days ago
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Gabriel ********
I also use wf in the USA….for transfers under 10k usd I just do bank-to-bank transfers into my Thai accounts using SWIFT codes…some will say that the exchange rate loss is too great to do this…in my 20 years of living in bkk and after having tried every conceivable method this one works best for me….a Schwab account is another good way of chipping away at foreign bank fees
21 days ago
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Brandon ************
@Gabriel *******
 Schwabb is great for traveling. And if you pull out the maximum 30,000 baht from a Thai ATM occasionally, good for that too.
21 days ago
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Gabriel ********
@Brandon ***********
 exactly what I do although as cash becomes less and less convenient 30k can take an awful long time to spend lol
21 days ago
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Gabriel ********
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Lynnette *******
Send to wise and wise send to Thai account? Not heard of that. I just add recipient bank and amount in my home currency and it gets sent.
21 days ago
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Robert ********
ORIGINAL POSTER
no two answers are the same lol
19 days ago
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Lynnette *******
@Robert *******
 because there's more than one way to use wise.
19 days ago
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Robert ********
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Lynnette ******
 I'm learning.
19 days ago
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Robert ********
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Ken *******
@Lynnette ******
 I just sent a wire to wise then they convert to my Thai account. It's a better rate than transferring directly to Thai account. Also it's not an international transfer so all around cheaper.
19 days ago
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Lynnette *******
@Ken ******
 ah ok. I only do international transfers. 😊
19 days ago
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Ken *******
@Lynnette ******
 my bank charges me less. Because the bank wise uses is in the United States. They send it over to my Thai bank. I get the rate at the time. I do the transfer, and I pay a fee, which in the end.There's a couple hundred dollars cheaper on the money.I send over
19 days ago
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Ken *******
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Max *************
@Lynnette ******
 It means you're sending money to your Wise Balance. Then you can send money from the Balance to your Thai bank account when you feel like it.
20 days ago
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Lynnette *******
@Max ************
 that's 2 transactions for me so I'll stick to typing in amount and one click to send, unless it works out cheaper so I'll check that out.
20 days ago
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Max *************
@Lynnette ******
 Sending money to your Balance is totally free as long as you do manual transfers from your bank account back home to Wise's local bank account. The fee is a bit cheaper when sending money from the Balance to your Thai bank account. The idea is that you can keep money in the Balance and use it like a common bank account. For some currencies you can even earn some interest.
20 days ago
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Max *************
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Willy *******
@Lynnette ******
 I always use Wise like that. First I send SEPA payment from my bank account to Wise. And when it arrives I sen it to my Thailand bank. I choose this method because I can better identify where money is going if problems.
21 days ago
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Lynnette *******
@Willy ******
 never done that, my recipient is the bank in Thailand and that's where the money goes. Not sure how sending it to Wise and then they send it on afterwards makes sense.
20 days ago
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Willy *******
@Lynnette ******
 I think it's very convenient in SEPA area (free and instant) and I can better control if there is problems. And I don't need to link my bankaccount to Wise. Just my Bangkok Bank to my reciepent so not need to add account details again.
20 days ago
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Willy *******
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Brandon ************
Just directly send the USD to your Thai bank account and let Wise do the conversion. What some people do is transfer the USD to their Wise account, and then convert it to baht when they like the exchange rate, but I would never do this. Wise is not a real bank and your money is not FDIC insured while there. You should never leave money in Wise or in any technology financial company. Just use the service for transfers.
21 days ago
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Peter **********
@Brandon ***********
 I keep (some) money in Wise and use their card on Lazada, Shopee and such. That saves me the cost of transferring to Thailand.
21 days ago
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Brandon ************
@Peter *********
 I just use my foreign credit card
21 days ago
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Brandon ************
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Robert ********
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Brandon ***********
 I bank on both coasts. And my business banker has been good to me. It's a marriage of convenience but I also use credit unions for my local banking. I'm not excited about Thai banks... which one do you recommend using?
21 days ago
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Brandon ************
@Robert *******
 Which Thai bank? I would recommend Kasikorn. For the US you should get a Schwabb account, because they will refund your ATM fees worldwide. Great for pulling money out when you're traveling.
21 days ago
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Mike ***********
@Brandon ***********
 I need to get a different account for credit card. My last 4 month trip I racked up some fees.
20 days ago
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Chris *******
USAA also refunds foreign ATM fees. I also recommend KK bank in Thailand
21 days ago
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Chris *******
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Mike ***********
@Brandon ***********
 just transfer from bank to bank and skip wise
21 days ago
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Alan *****
@Mike **********
 the exchange rate is poor
20 days ago
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Mike ***********
@Alan ****
 any idea what it is? What percent do they keep?
20 days ago
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Alan *****
@Mike **********
 they charge about 10 US dollars to change about 1200 dollars.
20 days ago
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Mike ***********
@Alan ****
 I don’t want to direct deposit my check incase I decide to leave then have to get it stopped. Probably a fee of $40 at that end and $30 here plus what I loose in exchange rate. I guess chalk that up to moving abroad and expenses.
20 days ago
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Alan *****
@Mike **********
 it changes all the time. Your best opening a wise account or something like that, you don’t have to keep money in the account Just transfer money from your home bank via wise to your Thai account you will save a lot of money
20 days ago
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Alan *****
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Brandon ************
@Mike **********
 There's a breakeven point, especially when talking about large dollar amounts, where it makes sense to do a wire transfer. But for smaller amounts like under $5000 it's generally better to use Wise. Each bank will have different points where it does and does not make sense so it's an individual decision.
21 days ago
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Mike ***********
@Brandon ***********
 I’ve never looked into wise. I probably should b
21 days ago
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Brandon ************
@Mike **********
 the best part of Wise is that you'll know the exact dollar amount you're sending and the exact baht amount you'll receive, with the fees and exchange rate broken out separately for you to see.

The problem with wire transfers (and many other services) is that you won't know exactly how much baht you'll receive until they receive the money and do the conversation at whatever rate they decide on and then subtract any fees.
21 days ago
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Robert ********
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Brandon ***********
 and I know Wells Fargo is going to screw me on the conversion rate already.
21 days ago
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Tony **********
@Robert *******
 send in USD, Thai bank will give you better rate. I find the break even point for me it's about ฿150k. More than that, sending by wire is cheaper.
21 days ago
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Pe ****
@Tony *********
Eye?
20 days ago
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Tony **********
@Pe ***
 fat fingers. Wire
20 days ago
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Brandon ************
@Robert *******
 NEVER let your American bank do the exchange. They'll ask you if you want to send USD or Thai Baht. Always send USD and let the Thai bank do the exchange when they receive the USD.
21 days ago
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Mike ***********
@Robert *******
 left those guys years ago when they screwed every customer they had. Now just credit union
21 days ago
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Mike ***********
@Brandon ***********
 I will have to look into wise. Thanks. I know my bank charges $30 to wire transfer international.
21 days ago
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Robert ********
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Mike **********
 wise is the way to go I've heard from one intelligent. They give the best exchange rate apparently.
21 days ago
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Robert ********
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Robert ********
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Mike **********
 straight international wire?
21 days ago
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Robert ********
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Robert ********
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Brandon ***********
 that makes total sense. Thank you sir.
21 days ago
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Robert ********
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