Transfer money from UK to Thailand and make big savings – by sending with the right service.
Before sending the money to Thailand, let’s provide an honest warning based on considerable experience of Thai money transfers.
- Do not use the big High Street banks
- Do not use Moneygram, Western Union, PayPal or any of the other big names
We can’t emphaise this enough – all the big regular companies for international transfers to Thailand are expensive. Hundreds of pounds will be lost for regular payments over the course of a year. Wire transfers will cost thousands if large amounts are done regularly.
The only service that gives fair, honest and transparent rates is Transferwise. The company was launched in 2014, received investment from Sir Richard Branson, won the Financial Times Boldness In Business 2014 award, and has thousands of five star positive reviews. In short, they have shaken up the international money transfer business simply by ending the great rip-off and giving the best exchange and transfer rates.
How do they give such good rates? The answer is because a) they are not greedy b) because they do not convert the currency using a third party – once they have your money, they use a local payment in the host country. For example, once they receive your USD or GBP, they keep it in their account. They then use one of their accounts in Thailand to send the payment directly to the recipient – so no money is ever actually converted.
Thailand was added to their list of destinations in 2015 and transfers to Thai banks are smooth and efficient. They take 3 – 5 working days. One of the best things is it can be done quickly and easily by online banking, or with the mobile app, which avoids having to visit Western Union points at newsagents. Transferwise also opened offices in the U.S., allowing quick and easy payments from America to Thailand.
Take a look at the two shots below of the difference in price for sending £100gbo to Thailand…
Look at the above shots and think about that £9.90 transfer fee charged by Western Union. Combine this with the lower exchange rate, and that most transfers to Thailand are done regularly every month to Thai family, and it’s easy to see how big savings can be made over several years. Even more money can be saved if large amounts need to be transferred for business.
In our experience of transferring cash, using Transferwise is the best value way to save when sending money to Thailand.
How we started using Transferwise
From a personal point, we have been using this service since it launched. We started by using Transferwise for our business of importing goods from China, paying suppliers large sums of money – up to £10,000 a time. This was always quick, safe and efficient.
When Thailand was added to the list of destination in which to send, I was overjoyed. I could send payments to Thailand for small business deals (shipping furniture back to the UK) and to send to my wife’s family every month. I cannot even begin to describe how much money this have saved over the course of two years – it must be hundreds if not thousands of pounds.
Tip: If you have a wife, girlfriend or friend in Thailand you can trust, you can also sendyour holiday spending money there before you travel. This will be cheaper than converting it in the UK at a holiday money exchange counter and you won’t need to carry large amounts of cash on the plane. Or, to make super savings on holiday money exchange, read our guide on how to exchange currency in Thailand to save money.
How to use Transferwise
- Visit Transferwise.com and create an account by clicking sign up
- Click ‘send money’ and choose your currency, and the currency of the person receiving the money, and type the amount you would like the person to receive
- Press continue, and add your details and the bank details of the recipient
- Check all the details are correct
- Transfer your money to Transferwise either by card payment or bank transfer
The whole process takes about 4 working days for the money to be received in Thailand. Yes, it’s a little longer than transferring using PayPal, or Western Union, but it is so much cheaper and pretty much the only way to save money.
Plus, one of the best things about Transferwise is their customer service. They have a London landline number as they are based in the City financial district (This is actually pretty amazing as every bank in the UK has those vastly expensive 0845 numbers) and there are no long answer machine options to have to wait though to get connected to a real person. They always have a lot of staff on the phones who actually know they are doing – they are all from backgrounds in financial trading and foreign currency exchange, and understand financial deals in the City – basically they are all smart and know what they’re doing. They’re also polite and friendly and will always help to get your situation sorted out quickly.
In conclusion, Transferwise is the best service for sending money to Thailand from the UK. We understand how cautious everyone is when using a new service. However, Transferwise is 100% safe for payments all over the world – it’s possibly the only way to avoid the currency exchange rip off and make big savings for money transfers.
