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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2015 22:19:38 GMT 7
Any of you tried Transferwise yet? I tried it last week and got a rate of 51.50 baht/GBP and a transfer rate charge of £3.00.
The money was in my Thai bank account in three days. I'm impressed.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2015 15:42:55 GMT 7
I transfer money once every three or four months, if I can, so that I minimise bank charges....My UK bank charges £20 for me to make an online transfer in sterling to Bangkok Bank (London Branch), which annoys me somewhat. BBK then charge 500 baht as well, so that is about £30 shot each time. The alternative route is to transfer to my foreign currency account at SCB, which costs £25 (because the bank retains the capability to make that overseas transfer), plus SCB's 500 baht. This only really worked for me when the pound was rising against the baht last year. Now, with a weakening exchange rate, I just run it through BBK, having watched fluctuations on the likes of www.XE.com and to chose the moment. Have a look at Transferwise - transferwise.com/It was in my Bangkok Bank within four days - exchange rate of 51.5 last week.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2015 19:23:01 GMT 7
It looks interesting, so I did a quick scoot through a bit of their website to see what's what. Currently I transfer from my bank to the London branch of BBK once every two/three months - and get charged a £20 fee for an international banking transfer. BBK then move the money to my bank here, and nick a further 500 baht in fees, with money arriving in 2-3 days max. Today, BBK is offering 51.31 baht/£. So, transferring say £5,000 after fees I would receive 255,023.80 baht. Today, Transferwise offers 50.0007 b/£ which means (according to their site) I would receive 255,125.47 baht A net saving of approximately 100, assuming that Transferwise's charges are included in their quoted figures. On a relatively modest transfer of £5,000.00 that is not a significant saving, but I can see how it would be more attractive if one was to transfer smaller amounts more frequently. Still worth a thought, depending on circumstances, though.
That's a good rate from BBK - I'm a tad surprised at that Transferwise rate - I checked it this morning and it was 50.81
Just had a look, the rate seems to have gone way off in the last few hours -
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2015 20:29:40 GMT 7
You might still get a good deal if transferring small amounts frequently, but that's a PITA. For even modestly larger amounts it doesn't seem so attractive.... but never trust a retired teacher's maths (or sense of direction, for that matter!)
I'm toying with moving over £20,000 sometime soon - if the exchange goes north of 53/54 I'll probably send it. I won't be sending it at 50.0007 - I'm a tad surprise at the rate dropping so fast.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2015 20:50:20 GMT 7
You'd better do your sums, tb. I think you'll find that using the more normal inter-bank transfer would give you a better deal. From my quick back-of-the-fag-packet calculations, the two schemes break even at about £5,000 and thereafter inter-bank transfers would start to pay off.
Will do
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Post by Fletchsmile on Jun 9, 2015 20:57:23 GMT 7
As Rob8891 says, on these niche service providers what you usually find is that on large amounts they can't compete with the top rates you could get using a bank and sending by SWIFT. However, because the fees for the transaction are lower and often a % of amount with no minimum, if you are sending small amounts they can be more cost effective.
eg if there's a 15 pounds minimum on a SWIFT on say 500 quid that's 3% transaction costs. These niche players however, give say 1% worse rate, but charge a smaller % fee (say 1%) with no minimum for an all in cost of say 2%. Net net you're better off.
For Aussies, and AUD, Bahtsmart is a company that does this for converting into THB. I know the guy that set up the company. He used to be in banking but saw an opportunity for these small valuer transactions, but they're not in a position to compete with large high value players ho can get tighter rates. So you save on fees for a slightly worse rate. As Rob8891 says there's then a breakeven amount as to which is better.
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