What are the best and cheapest options to transfer money from the UK to Thailand?

@Chris ***************

What commission?

it's P2P bro... peer to peer based on the rates the seller / buyer offer

@Chris ***************

then I'll usdt to thb 👀

Clean and easy p2p

@Chris ***************

not applicable. I just sent 25k to my kasikorn bank. Don't need to be 50k and above

@Chris ***************

I signed up for a language school and got documents from them and went to Kbank in Siam paragon and they opened the account with iBanking app immediately. There's a fee I think 300B

I don't know about the 50k baht limit, it is something new for me

For Kbank I don't think there's a limit in receiving any amount from wise. I have personally sent 25k baht to 30k baht from wise to Kbank many times, just gotta pay wise fee.

For bank to bank transfers no issues, did many times p2p crypto and accepted 100k onwards baht to my Kbank

@Chris ***************

pro tip if you haven't got a Thai bank account yet....

Before I had a Thai bank account I send thb to my friend's Thai bank account and had him / her to withdraw cash for me.

Usually fee is like 50baht max when sending let's say 1K usd equivalent. I ain't paying for 200-250baht ATM fees when trying to use a wise card to withdraw from local ATMs

Or simply when I needed cash I pay for meals or drinks in places that accept cards and then get my Thai friends to give me back in cash, in that way I'll never have to withdraw

But do check if they have enough cash on hand to return you first 🤣🤣

@Chris ***************

it's very transparent. There's no charge for Kbank when receiving a transfer

Typically you pay a charge for exchanging let's say euros (in your context) to thb

For illustration purposes:

Step 1: topping up thb in your native currency

E.g. they will show

800 euro -> 35,090 thb

Our fee: 30.53thb

Then the exchange rate is given (usually quite good, as good as Google's rate)

You will receive: 35,059.47 thb

Step 2: Sending the thb to your Kbank

Once you set up the transfer by profiling it as your own bank, account, you can select "Your Accounts"

Then the same thing:

You're sending 35,059.47 thb

Our fee: 30.XX thb

You will receive 35,0XX.XX thb.

Based on my experience, topping up usually instant (sometimes takes 30mins max), transferring to your own bank account is instant (at least for all the transfers I did)

My wise card is issued in Singapore, so maximum amount I can hold in my wise is 121K thb aka 5000 sgd. I'm not sure of the limits for UK wise account, but you can just go press Thai baht and enter a huge number and they will show you your limit.

All in all, I think wise is easy to use and transparent when converting local currency to thb. I've been using it before I gotten my Kbank account and using the wise card for payments in restaurants.

Of course now that I've got my Kbank, I just QR code payment everywhere 🤣🤣🤣🤣

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

oook is good to known because it seems less of then swift transfer would be the best option then...

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

around 50k bat or more?

@Ch***

it's not going to be competitive even with that, plus Visa/MC margin over 1%. Zero fee cards from the US, like Schwab, cover the 220 THB ATM fee and then the Visa/MC margin is usually under 1%, like today it's only 0.27% although that's very low, but 0.3-0.6% is pretty normal. So that is typically in the ballpark of Wise or even a little less.

@Ch***

these are the Bangkok Bank FCD fees for GBP. The 0.25% min 200 max 500 is the same on a FCD as it is on THB account.

@Ch***

it doesn't matter if you transfer into a FCD or just direct to a THB account. It works out exactly the same cost. The only difference with the FCD is you can delay the conversion, so you can hold the money in Thailand but in the foreign currency, and wait and convert it later.

@Da**

was confusing the sending OUT fee with the in fee, the in fee is 0.25% min 200 max 500. It's exactly the same whether you receive it into a FCD or THB account. Only difference is you can delay the conversion, if you do it straight through it will be exactly the same.

For sending back out without converting the fees are higher for GBP, it's 0.5% rather than 0.25% (plus the SWIFT fee).

There isn't really an advantage to a FCD unless you want to keep money in Thailand but without converting it to THB. When you didn't need to keep a large minimum in account year round for visa reasons this could make sense as you could send it back after you got your renewal, this makes less sense now though.

My experience with the card, the forex fees aren't quite that bad, they are typically under 1%, sometimes well under, but I'm not using GBP. Checking MC and Visa right now, this seems to be a GBP thing rather than a MC/Visa thing, they are similar but GBP is a bad rate. I see it's 1.44% on GBP while it's only 0.27% on USD. Crazy.

@Chris ***************

that's a really tiny transfer though. There is a fixed and percentage component to the fee, Wise unlike others doesn't bake the margin into the exchange rate, they put it in their fee instead. I can't imagine you'd get cheaper sending any other way, a regular SWIFT transfer you'd pay 200THB incoming fee, ATM withdrawal 220THB, both of which are larger than £1.20. And then you still have the exchange rate margin on top, which you don't with Wise. Particularly for tiny amounts like this, Wise is going to be cheapest.

@Ch***

if you have a truly zero fee card that can be cheaper than a Wise transfer to bank. It's impossible for a 1.75% fee card to be cheaper though as Wise's total fee for a bank transfer is well under 1%. The fee of 1.45% though, you are talking about using the card, right? Their fee to transfer GBP is £0.75+0.55% / £0.72+0.57% (with/without an account).

It's theoretically possible that the rate will swing during the day, Wise always gives you the midmarket rate at the time you start the transfer, while a Thai bank, you get the rate when it hits your Thai account, so this can be different if the rate moves, like you get the Wise rate today but if you start a bank transfer you'll get the Thai bank rate at best tomorrow or in a few days. This is unpredictable, and it's possible the rate moves in your favour while the money is transferring. But I have never seen a Thai bank rate to be better, if you are comparing the rate at the same time. They simply add more of a margin to GBP than the 0..57% that Wise does.

@Ch***

these comparisons are for a Wise bank transfer, from GBP in Wise account to a Thai bank. Not using the Wise debit card in an ATM, that will cost much more as they have a 1.75% fee on that, besides anything else. This is not bad for a card, it's less than the average UK card, but it's still a lot more than a bank transfer.

If you have a Thai bank account, transfer to that, don't use the Wise card in ATMs.

If you want to use a UK bank card in ATMs, there are better options than Wise, that have 0% fee vs Wise's 1.75%. Like Starling Bank, or Halifax Clarity (credit card- keep positive balance if you want to avoid interest).

@Ch***

the example I calculated here is GBP, and for GBP Wise is better irrespective of the amount because their rate is better.

Thai banks tend to give a better rate for USD as it's a larger currency and so you can sometimes get a slightly better % rate for that from a Thai bank vs Wise. But Wise has low fixed fees while US+Thai bank typically you are looking at $35-50 US side plus 200-500B Thai side for a transfer. So you need to overcome that large fixed fee for the bank transfer to be cheaper, it does get cheaper then with larger amounts as the fixed fee is a smaller % of the overall amount. This is a recent change actually as Wise increased their rates recently, there was a period for about 2 years before this that they were also cheaper for USD for any amount.

There are some Asian currencies SWIFT transfer may also still be cheaper, like I think transfers from Malaysia are cheaper done through a bank as it's a neighboring country with a lot of trade and Thai banks have good rates.

MOST currencies, Wise is better than a bank transfer. But there are a few exceptions, usually depending on the amount, even the ones bank is cheaper for a large amount Wise is usually still cheaper for smaller amounts. You need to check for the specific currency and amount.

@Ch***

the calculation is only for Bangkok Bank, using that 42.225 rate. The Wise amounts I took straight off their calculator, I didn't calculate them myself. Wise will give you the exact number they say they will, so it's not necessary to calculate. This changes through the day though, they basically give whatever the exact current midmarket rate is when you start the transfer process. Same as you can find on Google. That seems to have gone up a bit in the last few hours, so Wise should be even better now.

@Mark *****

Did you do it by talking to someone at the bank or just use their app. I have Schwab primarily for the ATM but used BoA for the transfer. Does Schwab show you what will happen before you commit like Wise does? Thanks

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

it’s possible they waived the fee for me since they told me over the phone it wasn’t a charge. But even though Schwab only charges $25 for international wires ($15 if online) and free if u have a certain minimal balances on some larger accounts.

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

I just did the transaction a few weeks ago. My bank never charged me a fee since it was domestic. Not sure how the actual coding was done but I wasn’t charged a wire fee. Schwab said it was considered Domestic wire. Either way I wasn’t charged a fee.

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

ok fair enough but who sends less than 10k?

There is no way to beat swift transfer when sending in the origin country currency

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

unfortunately you are mistaken column 3 here is the telex transfer rate between banks and that cannot be beaten unless a loss is taken. The example here is UK Vs baht right now

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

I don't believe there is a better rate than the interbank telex transfer rate, but if so happy to learn about it.

@Andre ********

that's German banks for you!

@Todd ********

that is what i use!!

@Paulus ********

you can if you wish. But it’s an unnecessary step.

It can be done very simply as a one step transaction Jamie

@Todd ********

Go to 3. Fees ( including hidden fees)

%20Take,customer%20service%20and%20competitive%20rates.

You are of course right, nothing is free but not everyone wants to see and understand the hidden fees !

@Todd ********

😀 I don’t mind how they stay in business as long as I can send my money free of charge. They are using normal exchange rates (Same rates like big Banks in GER and THA). I use them now since more then one year and transferred many times amounts between 1000-3000 €. Always fast and without any complaints.

@Gareth *******

Open a Thai bank account for your Wise transfers, and use the bank's ATM card to withdraw funds for free in province or 15thb charge out of province. If you have the K plus app. with Kasikorn bank ATM withdrawals everywhere are free. You can also make purchases and pay bills from your Thai bank account with it, even when abroad.

@Chris ***************

within 130 baht on £10k spot rate

@Chris ***************

555. Hope you get it sorted.

@Chris ***************

sorry I misunderstood initially then. You mean that you have a WISE bank card which you use ?

@Chris ***************

visa....yes but do bank or other fee free transfers. Oh if you use wise bedit card yes thats a normal fee but you get 200 quid fee free. But if you are coming here why don't you get a bank account? It's easy.

@Dimitri *******

do you? Ive never seen that but convert to THB in app before withdrawing if I ever do. Still 1% prob cheaper than what OP paying isnt it?