Using currency dealers to sell £ or $ and buy Baht

[setaputra]

Dealers are almost always better than banks for exchange rates and charges. But has anyone experience of Worldfirst. They quote the best rates I can find of all dealers and build bank charges into their quoted rate so that you effectively get 'free' bank charges. In other words you agree a rate of say 49 baht on £ 10000 and you receive 490000 baht. It works the first time then they start taking out small fees which suggests they are not paying the intermediary banks. The difference is just over £10 on each individual of £10000 deal. As we are only expat punters they seem to take the view that we will not challenge it even though they have reneged on the contracted exchange rate.

On their published turnover of £9.8 billion, that's some 'extra' they are generating.

[9999]

Thai banks have tight, competitive exchange rate spreads for the major currencies against the BHT. You'd be hard pressed to find a dealer that will give you a better rate than BKK bank unless you're talking 6 figure $'s / EURos or whatever.

[leemo]

Forget the banks, it's easy to beat any of their rates at the yellow exchange that seems to be sprouting up in the mainstream farang areas. I think it's called TT Exchange or something similar, their basic rates are generally about 1% better than the banks, and if you ask nicely they will also pay over their advertised rate on amounts in the E/£/$000.

[baldrick]

I use OzForex to transfer between SGD and THB - over about 5-7k SGD there are no fees - 15 SGD fees for less

they have both DBS and HSBC accounts to transfer to

I send from HSBC to my SCB account

[VocalNeal]

The difference is just over £10 on each individual of £10000 deal.

So if you were to transfer say 100,000 pounds a year that would be 100 pounds difference? That's 0.01% you are worried about.

[setaputra]

The difference is just over £10 on each individual of £10000 deal.

So if you were to transfer say 100,000 pounds a year that would be 100 pounds difference? That's 0.01% you are worried about.

Read the rest of my post and work out how much the dealer is making over one year by not keeping to their side of the contract. Siam commercial will no longer deal with worldfirst unless they pay the gross agreed transfer amount. they've sussed it.

[setaputra]

Thai banks have tight, competitive exchange rate spreads for the major currencies against the BHT. You'd be hard pressed to find a dealer that will give you a better rate than BKK bank unless you're talking 6 figure $'s / EURos or whatever.

BKK Bank are certainly the best of the banks for exchange but they can't compete with the dealers

[nostromo]

Thai banks have tight, competitive exchange rate spreads for the major currencies against the BHT. You'd be hard pressed to find a dealer that will give you a better rate than BKK bank unless you're talking 6 figure $'s / EURos or whatever.

Second that.

[setaputra]

Thai banks have tight, competitive exchange rate spreads for the major currencies against the BHT. You'd be hard pressed to find a dealer that will give you a better rate than BKK bank unless you're talking 6 figure $'s / EURos or whatever.

Second that.

1. best dealer rate on sterling for 10k as of now is 48.72; bkk is 48.44

dealers will always out beat banks

2. following comments by scb and krungsri on their charging structure; worldfirst in oz is being made to look at its compliance procedures. be careful, guys

[nostromo]

Thai banks have tight, competitive exchange rate spreads for the major currencies against the BHT. You'd be hard pressed to find a dealer that will give you a better rate than BKK bank unless you're talking 6 figure $'s / EURos or whatever.

Second that.

1. best dealer rate on sterling for 10k as of now is 48.72; bkk is 48.44

dealers will always out beat banks

2. following comments by scb and krungsri on their charging structure; worldfirst in oz is being made to look at its compliance procedures. be careful, guys

Have you considered using forex brokers - reliable ones that is. Open an account if you are legit, see the real hardcore, and deposit and withdraw to your Thai account as you like.

[nostromo]

I mean if there are larger amounts of money involved. EURGBP 0.7944 EURAUD 1.17306 this second. Eurozone saved 37th time now, only some "clueless idiots" as the italians and french put it, who pay for it all are against the new dawn of european dream. How much I am happy City is outside eurozone.

[nostromo]

Europe... unelected bastards blaming the US for their foked up economies and problems.

[nostromo]

From US "Are we really the ones to blame for europes problems"

Euro Titanic mentioned?

[setaputra]

Thai banks have tight, competitive exchange rate spreads for the major currencies against the BHT. You'd be hard pressed to find a dealer that will give you a better rate than BKK bank unless you're talking 6 figure $'s / EURos or whatever.

Second that.

1. best dealer rate on sterling for 10k as of now is 48.72; bkk is 48.44

dealers will always out beat banks

2. following comments by scb and krungsri on their charging structure; worldfirst in oz is being made to look at its compliance procedures. be careful, guys

Worldfirst has today been escalated to the Financial Ombudsman in Sydney. Caveat emptor. I have been asked to send him copies of the documentation I have received from them which is at variance with the transfer detail their own banks have!

A scandal in the offing. The outfit is run I believe by an Irishman who started in a basement office but the operation which affects a lot of expats is now very large. They use multiple correspondent banks in Thailand

[setaputra]

Thai banks have tight, competitive exchange rate spreads for the major currencies against the BHT. You'd be hard pressed to find a dealer that will give you a better rate than BKK bank unless you're talking 6 figure $'s / EURos or whatever.

Second that.

1. best dealer rate on sterling for 10k as of now is 48.72; bkk is 48.44

dealers will always out beat banks

2. following comments by scb and krungsri on their charging structure; worldfirst in oz is being made to look at its compliance procedures. be careful, guys

Have you considered using forex brokers - reliable ones that is. Open an account if you are legit, see the real hardcore, and deposit and withdraw to your Thai account as you like.

Can you recommend?

[nostromo]

Sorry mate - too much information.

To know is to die

[draco888]

^^ you are asking for a recommendation for a FX brokerage?

[setaputra]

Sorry mate - too much information.

To know is to die

No reason then for your making the point about using a forex broker in reply to my post. I was looking for a recommendation

[draco888]

Be very careful when choosing a fx broker, they can operate under less strict regulations than equities for instance. I can see why someone wouldn't want to publicly recommend a particular broker.

[setaputra]

Be very careful when choosing a fx broker, they can operate under less strict regulations than equities for instance. I can see why someone wouldn't want to publicly recommend a particular broker.

Understood Draco888. Thanks

Let's hope the Ombudsman sorts out Worldfirst

Though given the HSBC RBS Barclays and now Standard Chartered illegal scandals perhaps he needs to look at other fx traders also.

[9999]

I think it's called TT Exchange or something similar, their basic rates are generally about 1% better than the banks,

errr - the bank spreads are less than 1%. So the yellow TT van is giving away arbitrage? BKK has a better rate right now than the yellow TT van for the AUD, USD, EURO and GBP. Why spread disinformation?

[9999]

1. best dealer rate on sterling for 10k as of now is 48.72; bkk is 48.44

dealers will always out beat banks

2. following comments by scb and krungsri on their charging structure; worldfirst in oz is being made to look at its compliance procedures. be careful, guys

Have you used these dealers? How much do you need to transact to get a better rate than the banks?

[setaputra]

Hi 9999

Some are as low as £3000

As I showed above comparing dealers with Bangkok Bank - 48.72 dealer ; bkk 48.44
so there can be savings.

Their web sites quote even bigger savings on the rate in their advertising blurb. They also charge lower fees than the banks and sometimes the transaction is fee free

After the first transaction they seem to hold on to your money for a few days on new deals so they make interest that way. They may slip in a £15 fee and say it's an 'error' when you point it out but they will usually then refund. They gain when punters don't spot it. They will use more than one Thai correspondent bank on occasion which will increase your fees and the Thai banks are sometimes but not always paid the correspondent and receiving bank charges although that is in your contract for them to pay

You need to watch them carefully. One Thai bank has got agitated by being blamed for charging when in fact they had not been paid by Worldfirst. Thai banks are not the easiest to deal with but on this issue they are perfectly entitled to complain. This is what the Ombudsman is looking at
( and they give the best rate of any bank) the fx rate can differ -

[setaputra]

Persevere with these rogue dealers, guys. I've received compensation from Worldfirst into my bank account today. And the Ombudsman is still looking at it as he is aware that this is probably not an isolated case. The amount cheated may not be high for each customer, though it can be significant. But for the dealer it is the difference between having a Porsche and a hefty bonus and not having one. The regulatory authorities are right to go for these guys.

[9999]

Cheers for the info set.

I send $AUD from Australia pretty much monthly, it costs a $20 flat fee on the Aussie end and no hidden fees on the Thai end. They just convert what they receive in AUD at the current reasonable rate. I've dealt with BKK and Kasikorn. They both have your money available same day. I suppose I'm just giving a plug for Thai banks here making it easy to transfer from abroad for no fees other than a relatively reasonable xe rate spread.