Transferwise and ABA Customers

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orichá
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Re: Transferwise and ABA Customers

Post by orichá »

Freightdog wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:19 pm
orichá wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:39 pm ...am I missing something? I can't believe all this obtuse pablum-blather. About transferring money?

To transfer money internationally, all you need is a bank account in your original home country, and another bank account at a regular bank, like ABA or Canadia, here in Cambodia, or at any normal bank wherever you happen to be living as an expat... Then, you just get on the phone or email and instruct your home bank to do a TT to your Cambo bank via SWIFT. ...Simple, cheap, fast -- especially for larger amounts...

Are you speaking as resident and citizen in the UK, with a bank account in Cambodia? Or as a resident and citizen in canada, with a bank account in Cambodia? Because it’s not the same. So, I think maybe you are missing something.

For instance, when I receive other currencies direct to my UK Serling account, the exchange rate losses are huge. In the past, if I transferred funds from the UK to Cambodia direct, there were all sorts of requirements in the UK process which could trip things up, and the exchange rate losses were huge.
I use/used foreign exchange companies to get the best exchange rates.
It’s a little better now, procedurally, but I’d hate to go through the process of setting things up all over again if I changed banks. Exchange rate losses are still unacceptable unless using companies that specialize.

Not all countries have the same rules, procedures, etc. so, while you don’t need all these other intermediate steps, it’s not the same for everyone.
How absolutely bizarre. I am a resident of Cambodia with bank acc's in Canada and Cambodia. One's residential status does not affect transfers, maybe only setting up bank accounts. As a Canadian, I can transfer money no matter where I am, whether physically in Canada or Cambodia, and whichever direction I am transferring to is irrelevant...

So, I am shocked to hear it is a losing proposition to transfer funds from or to the UK from or into Sterling. In the past, I simply asked my bank in Canada to convert my funds to U.S. dollars before sending the TT. This obviated the need to use the corrupt intermediary banks in NYC, or rather, prevents them from exerting onerous fees/exchange rates during the transfer process... (See more on this below).

Hmmm, I thought that the UK was one of the world's "top financial centers". So, why in the world should it be difficult to do TTs, procedurally? If there are so many big banks and that great international banking system based in London, then one would think it should be super easy to do something so simple and basic as a bank to bank transfer? If you have suffered unfair exchange rates, using SWIFT, it will be due to some intermediary bank in the U.S., or a similarly corrupt, greedy bank in the UK. One time, I did make the mistake of transferring a smaller sum in Canadian dollars to my U.S. dollars account in Cambodia, and somehow an intermediary bank charged an exorbitant fee to exchange the Canadian into U.S. dollars. But the next time, I simply instructed my Canadian bank to do the conversion to U.S. funds internally, before sending the TT. We can "do" this from Canada because many Canadian banks are set up with U.S. funded accounts since there is so much cross-border trade, etc... Also, notably, before making a larger transfer to Cambodia, I researched all the questions that the money-laundering police in Ottawa ask the banks to verify about individual non-corporate international transfers, and included both questions and answers in my email instructions. So, the bank didn't delay or "investigate" my TT...

The city of London UK seems to be only for the really rich? ...I'll bet Richard Branson and Rupert Murdoch don't get dinged when they want to do a big Sterling/dollar TT. Or, maybe they just carry their cash on their private jets?

I can't imagine the hassles you face. For something so simple as a TT !!! My sympathies to you Brits...
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Kenr
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Re: Transferwise and ABA Customers

Post by Kenr »

International transfers from a US bank will cost you $35-$50 if sent in US dollar. If sending in a foreign currency they have a mark-up of 3% to 10% of the exchange rate. There are much better and cheaper options than wire transfers (Swift) from the United States.
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Re: Transferwise and ABA Customers

Post by Freightdog »

If you go to any currency exchange, there will be Buy and Sell values, and there’s a reference rate. I’m sure that’s the same worldwide. What isn’t consistent is the margins between them.

The bank’s own buy and sell rates on the day are unlikely to be favourable. I can fairly easily transfer money to and from the bank, but the bank exchange rate tends to be much worse than can achieved with a little extra work. Some folk spend lots of time fine tuning their trades, frequently. I have just 2 that I use, now. Both are convenient, one can be much faster than the other.

And then, you have intermediary fees. Like standard chartered (IIRC) were a requirement of all incoming funds, and then the receiving bank fees. It all adds up, and it’s money better off in my bank than someone else’s. So a little ground work is needed.
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orichá
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Re: Transferwise and ABA Customers

Post by orichá »

When I instructed my Canadian bank, which was a local credit union, not a "big" Canadian bank, to exchange my Canadian funds internally before sending the transfer, their rate was just a few hundredths off the median, so the credit union charged me a miniscule margin on the conversion. Then, because the money was already in U.S. dollars, and going into a U.S. dollars account overseas, I was charged ZERO intermediary fee, and in fact, only the 35 dollar SWIFT fee. . (Note: I should add that the Cambodian bank did charge it's usual tiny percentage for receiving the transfer, but that is charged to all transfers received from any overseas / external source, all the same...)

I think, however, that my bank gave me almost exactly the median rate between bid and ask price because the sum was moderately substantial... If you transfer smaller sums, the spread on the exchange is generally far less favorable to the customer, since the bank has to pay itself a profit on each transaction....

Big banks in the UK have high overheads and their bosses will insist on profiteering at the expense of ordinary customers, but not zillionaires or corporate money movements. That's the way it is, unfortunately...

As the saying goes, "It is expensive being poor."
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Re: Transferwise and ABA Customers

Post by pissontheroof »

(Note: I should add that the Cambodian bank did charge it's usual tiny percentage for receiving the transfer, but that is charged to all transfers received from any overseas / external source, all the same...)


Tiny ? Not in my book ! I been living here over 10 years , I read ( red , past tense , before ) that sending money here is so easy ,
I checked every possible option , every option added up to so much more than I was paying by getting/ taking out $1000 at a pop
( in sihanoukville ) The bank atm charged me $4 , UCB bank )..
.. and my bank charges me a flat $5 every time . So tho my limit was $1500 i could only get $1000 out of an ATM there

Now I got a machine with a $2000 limit but i only get 3’000 a month so on the 1st and second i take out 2 x 1500
= 2x 4 and 2x5. So for $18 i get $3000 a month . No reason to leave it there , No intrest I could let it build there and take out once a year
if it was cheaper than $18 per $3000 .. ( like i would wait if i could get $10,000 cheaper than $45 , ay ?
. But … that’s the best deal for me ….
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pissontheroof
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Re: Transferwise and ABA Customers

Post by pissontheroof »

The icing on the cake now is using. visa credit card here. Could use it once in the past to buy a honda dream
They said they had to pay a commission to ViSA if i used that card so they ‘ tacked on ‘ extra what they would be charged .
🙄🤬🤬🤦🏽‍♀️ 🤷🏼🤷🏾‍♂️🤷🏼🤷🏾‍♂️

I still can not use it to pay rent here for the same reason , but they accept it at Burger King , habit burgers 🍔, and the supermarket amoung others ( restaurants ) and no mention of any extra charges , or hesitation to use it at business as usual
it’s just straight going witch saves money on ATM charges for those things - but still not use it for rent , why ?,
Also tried to use the cambodian Visa card ( which is a credit card you use as debit because you need money in the bank to back it up but nobody will accept the cambodian card to pay anything (example Apple Pay or sending money back had to use western union ), except here in country .. kingdom of wonder ..
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