ACH transfers from USA to Bangkok Bank -Alert!

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gera

Re: ACH transfers from USA to Bangkok Bank -Alert!

Post by gera »

Jun wrote:
gera wrote:DBS Singapore has now free same day transfers to any bank in Thailand. Exchange rates are OK but not great.
The only rational & complete way to compare forex transactions is to consider the TOTAL costs for any transaction, including ALL fees and ALL costs due to poor exchange rates.
The total cost of transaction is approximately 1.5% of original sum due to two exchanges: US Dollar-Singapore Dollar and Singapore Dollar to Thai baht.
No other charges from any of the banks involved (including Kasikorn Bank as a final destination). By the way, I never claimed that overall transaction is free. I said in original post that the cost of overall transaction is en par with the standard transaction through BKK bank.
Jun

Re: ACH transfers from USA to Bangkok Bank -Alert!

Post by Jun »

gera wrote:The total cost of transaction is approximately 1.5% of original sum due to two exchanges: US Dollar-Singapore Dollar and Singapore Dollar to Thai baht. No other charges from any of the banks involved (including Kasikorn Bank as a final destination). By the way, I never claimed that overall transaction is free. I said in original post that the cost of overall transaction is en par with the standard transaction through BKK bank.
Thanks.

I am just trying to persuade people to declare the full costs of a transaction, so we can have a meaningful data driven conversation.
You are one of the few who has stepped up to the plate on that.

You might find it worth your while to check Transferwise costs, since I can get money from the UK to Singapore with a total cost of just under 0.5%. And it's done within <30 min. From one bank account to Transferwise and on to the other. Although, the range of source countries for this service is much less than the range of destination currencies. For example, I can send money from the UK to Malaysia, but it is not available in reverse.
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mahjongguy
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Re: ACH transfers from USA to Bangkok Bank -Alert!

Post by mahjongguy »

Well, here's a real life example.

Yesterday I instructed my U.S. brokerage to send $30,000 via SWIFT transfer directly to my local branch of Bangkok bank. The money arrived half a day later.

The brokerage charged me $35. Bangkok Bank gave me the exact TT rate of that hour and waived the 500 baht incoming fee.

Per my calculator, total cost was 0.11 per cent.
gera

Re: ACH transfers from USA to Bangkok Bank -Alert!

Post by gera »

mahjongguy wrote:Well, here's a real life example.

Yesterday I instructed my U.S. brokerage to send $30,000 via SWIFT transfer directly to my local branch of Bangkok bank. The money arrived half a day later.

The brokerage charged me $35. Bangkok Bank gave me the exact TT rate of that hour and waived the 500 baht incoming fee.

Per my calculator, total cost was 0.11 per cent.
The calculation will be totally different if you send 2000 rather 30000. By the way, what maximal amount can be sent to Thai bank without providing documentation explaining transfer? I am asking, because when I was buying condo, I sent around 90000 USD from HK to Kasikornbank. The transaction did not come through till I submitted detailed documentation from company to which condo belonged. Another point is that ,generally speaking, I much prefer to keep my money in Singapore with their safe and secure banking ( and no capital control) rather than in Thailand , where moving money in (and especially out)is nontrivial.
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Re: ACH transfers from USA to Bangkok Bank -Alert!

Post by mahjongguy »

gera wrote:The calculation will be totally different if you send 2000 rather 30000.
Certainly it costs more to transfer money a bit at a time. Those who bring in money monthly pay more in fees, although in the long run they may benefit from the averaging of exchange rates over time. Just wanted to point out that less frequent transfer of larger amounts via SWIFT can be fast, easy, and quite cheap. Just have to be a bit lucky with the timing. I'm happy with the 32.86 I got yesterday. So far. :)

"...what maximal amount can be sent to Thai bank without providing documentation explaining transfer?"

Sorry, I don't know. My SWIFT application just had "living expenses" in the application notes. If I had to guess, I'd say US$50k.
Jun

Re: ACH transfers from USA to Bangkok Bank -Alert!

Post by Jun »

mahjongguy wrote:The brokerage charged me $35. Bangkok Bank gave me the exact TT rate of that hour and waived the 500 baht incoming fee.

Per my calculator, total cost was 0.11 per cent.
According to my understanding a TT rate is not mid market as it includes a mark up (the buy & sell rates are different).

If correct, the total cost according to my calculator would be more than 0.11 per cent, as you need to compare the cost against a lossless mid-market transaction.

To be sure of 0.11 percent, you could compare your TT exchange rate with the mid-market XE rate at that time.
If it's a relatively recent transaction, you can look at the XE graphs for the last few days to within a few minutes of the transaction time.

Also, yes costs vary according to transaction size. My Transferwise transactions were about £4500 each time. The cost is slightly higher for smaller transactions, but way better than using a UK bank. Also much faster.
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Re: ACH transfers from USA to Bangkok Bank -Alert!

Post by mahjongguy »

Sometimes I get overwhelmed by math so maybe it's my fault I can't quite grasp how TransferWise can claim that mid-market rates are the "real rate".

The mid-market rate, as quoted by XE et al, is the average of the buy and sell rates, so there's nothing real about it. You are buying baht so you should expect to get the buy rate, not a rate that is halfway to the sell rate.

So I think it's just marketing. They've got excellent mathematicians who have figured out a way of making an overall sum total profit using mid-market rates and variable fees. That's fine for them and fine for those who make smaller transfers, but for my US$30,000 transfer their website quotes a fee of US$254.83. That would net me 973,559.41 Thai baht. My SWIFT transfer, not including an originating fee of roughly 1,100 baht, yielded 985,800 baht.
Jun

Re: ACH transfers from USA to Bangkok Bank -Alert!

Post by Jun »

EDIT: THIS IS EVEN EASIER THAN i THOUGHT. The XE app has a Compare function. Enter what you started with in the originating bank account, what you got in your receiving bank account, and the time of the transaction. Then it compares with mid market at that time.

Here is a comparison for another hypothetical Transferwise transaction:
Image
gera

Re: ACH transfers from USA to Bangkok Bank -Alert!

Post by gera »

Since BKK bank has excellent TT (telegraphic transfer) rate, the simple method of mahjongguy for the amount he is using is difficult to beat.
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Re: ACH transfers from USA to Bangkok Bank -Alert!

Post by mahjongguy »

Jun, thx for mentioning the XE comparison feature. It really is a nifty tool.

I think it's fine to use the mid-market rate as a benchmark. Just need to accept that it's always going to be just out of reach.
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