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Issues with Transferwise

def1412
#1
I initiated a transfer from my US bank to Vietcombank using transferwise.  After issues with the swift code (bank provided it with a space) and getting that resolved, it took several days and nothing happened.  I called transferwise in US and was told that the transaction was being "examined".  And that they do this at random to check various transfers.  And that if more info was needed, I would be contacted.  So a day and a half later I get a notice they need a copy of my passport photo page and after three or four attempts at shooting it using their form and the camera in my laptop success.  They also had a couple of questions about what the funds were for.  Two days later I get another email saying that they needed to know what the transfer was for and what the recepient was going to do with the email.  Now this is getting a little annoying so I answer the questions and also give them a call in the US.  Seems it's up to some "examining committee" to decide and there is nothing that can be done.  In short, has anyone else had issues like this or is this just my bad luck?
See also
G
#2
Ive transferred money here no problems. I dont use a government owned bank in Vietnam, that may make a difference.
def1412
#3
Well like I said in the original post, they are painful.  Thought everything was ironed out and then late last night got an email saying they liked my answers (oh boy) so the money was going through, but they would have  more questions for me before they changed it into dong.  I mean really?  Geez!

I had planned to use citibank here, but haven't been able to open an account due to my visa being a day or two shy of one year when I went to open the account.  I've thought about an account in another bank, but if I can get this transfer thing sorted out, I wonder if I really need one?  My US debit card works everywhere.

I have a TIMO card, but haven't funded it yet.

Is there an advantage to having a VNese bank??
def1412
#4
PS thanks for all your help with answers, both for me and for the other posts you've replied to....this site has been really helpful.  I'm on one on facebook, and it's mostly young jerks cracking wise....bunch of fools and a few helpful women.  This site is a blessing.
M
#5
Moderated by Bhavna 7 years ago
Reason : Foul language
We invite you to read the forum code of conduct
def1412
#6
busting my chops about a transfer to Vietcombank.
G
#7
Is it not possible in America to send money directly from a US bank to a Vietnamese bank?

I transfer money without problems from my home bank to my Vietnamese bank. The money is automatically exchanged from CHF to VND on the way.
This is an international standard procedure (I'm not sure for the USA :lol: ).
Each transfer costs about $25 and in my case usually takes 24 hours.
If you transfer a few thousand dollars, $25 isn't much.
def1412
#8
Of course, it is possible.  The rate is around $35.00 vs transferwise which is around $8.35.  For the most part, I have decided to not have a VNese bank.  I don't see the need for one.
THIGV
#9
You chose not to reveal the amount of the transfer.   It is pretty commonly known that there is a $5000 limit before certain information reporting kicks in.  Usually that can be satisfied by answering a few questions about who you are and where the money is coming from and going to.   This is the same as when traveling.

Maybe you went over a different higher threshold.   These may not be VN rules but the international anti-money laundering laws.  If you are moving over $100k it may raise red flags.
1312j
#10

def1412 wrote:

Well like I said in the original post, they are painful.  Thought everything was ironed out and then late last night got an email saying they liked my answers (oh boy) so the money was going through, but they would have  more questions for me before they changed it into dong.  I mean really?  Geez!

I had planned to use citibank here, but haven't been able to open an account due to my visa being a day or two shy of one year when I went to open the account.  I've thought about an account in another bank, but if I can get this transfer thing sorted out, I wonder if I really need one?  My US debit card works everywhere.

I have a TIMO card, but haven't funded it yet.

Is there an advantage to having a VNese bank??


Transfer to that, you'll have no drama whatsoever.

def1412
#11
Yes there are limits you are right.  This transfer was below $500.00USD.  Well below the limit you mentioned. Even now after seven days of waiting for the transfer to happen, answering all their ridiculous questions, they say that "my money is taking longer to pay out"  Like someone else posted these guys are incompetant.
G
#12
I agree with THIGV's post #9.

Your problem will be a combination with the laws in your home country and Transferwise.
I have read that each transaction > USD 10,000 must be reported from the bank to the IRS, but institutions like Transferwise can request information even at low amounts.

I have transferred without any problems CHF 50'000 (CHF currently similar to USD) from my home bank account to my Vietnamese bank account.

In Vietnam, there are only problems transferring money abroad, transferring money from a Vietnamese private bank account of a Vietnamese citizen to a Vietnamese private bank account of a foreigner (unless you have a job and a payroll account) and depositing large amounts of cash into a Vietnamese bank account.
def1412
#13
After reading your post and considering what you had to say I'm convinced you neither understand the timeline. Nor really are familiar with the banking laws in the US. This is clearly a transferwise issue of which there supports that do not understand the problems.
def1412
#14
I was holding Al or rather off on that because I thought the direct transfer would just be smoother. And I had heard transferwise was pretty good. Now I'm seriously reconsidering Timo. Or just going to Citibank here and getting the money and paying the rent. It's just I don't know
SteinNebraska
#15
I just transferred $50,000 (1,133,000,000 VND) with Transferwise to my girlfriend's Sacombank account last week.  Went flawlessly.  Sent Monday, it arrived in her account Thursday.  Extra day as it was my first transfer to her account but no issues and no questions even for the higher amount other than online they asked what it is for and where are the funds coming from but no proof required - just a click box statement.
def1412
#16
transferwise customer support told me after the second or third day that this is one of those charges that they had decided to take a look at. And that they do it from time to time I guess I just ran into an incredible amount of bad luck all for the measly transfer $400. Trust me I'm really jealous that you were painless with your transfer! I wish!
G
#17
May I ask why someone uses companies like TransferWise for large amount of money instead of using money transfer directly from bank to bank?

If I look at the TransferWise website I would pay about USD 500 fee for a transfer of USD 50'000.
With the TransferWise exchange rate of 22'955 (date today), VND 1'136'293'200 would arrive in Vietnam.

If I took today's interbanking rate of 22'820, VND 1'141'003'520 would arrive in Vietnam if I would use the direct money transfer of my homebank. I would pay about USD 25 (about VND 570'000) by using SWIFT Code OUR (sender pays costs).
So I would get VND 1'140'433'520. This is VND 4,140,320 (approx. USD 180) more.

And with TransferWise I would have more work as I first would have to transfer the money from my home bank to TranferWise and afterwards transfer the money to Vietnam via TransferWise.

I just want to know the reason so I can understand.
SteinNebraska
#18

Andy Passenger wrote:

I just want to know the reason so I can understand.


For me I had never done it before and wanted to be sure there would be no problem.  Yes, the total fee was just under $500.  My small bank here in US would do the wire transfer but I was more concerned about their exchange rate for USD to VND so I just did it.  Maybe I could have saved a couple hundred but on $50,000 it wasn't worth much more effort as it was a very small percentage.

T
#19
azimo a better irish company
def1412
#20
No  you are making work for yourself in your methodology.
def1412
#21
Well I would like an Irish company better, wouldn't I?
T
#22
i wud, being irish

but i have no relation with them
def1412
#23
As well  Ancestry on both sides of the family.
AR0x7E7
#24
Hi there, found this thread via google looking for other people with experience using Transferwise to send money to Vietnam / VND and decided to share my currently developing story.

Short background notice: I sent EUR from my German bank account to my Vietnamese account at Vietcombank (therefore both accounts have my name on them), live since 2016 in Hanoi as an expat and need quite some amount of VND to pay my PIT, rent, living, etc as I continue to receive my salary in EUR.

Until now I successfully completed 8 transactions using Transferwise with various amounts since the beginning of 2017 (when I discovered Transferwise), ranges between 1-2 kEUR, but also one 12kEUR in March 2017 -> absolutely no problem and the payout date was predicted perfectly<<<.

Right now (since 04.08.2018, was estimated payout day) I am stuck with 2 pending  transactions: 5kEUR and 6kEUR.
Calling the Transferwise support last Friday (07.08.2018) I was told as well that the Vietnamese partner bank randomly choose to inspect my transactions: what are they intended for and can I provide some proof of income source.
I provided them some documents via website upload right away (contract to send me abroad with my company, also mentioning my income starting from 2016. PIT declaration and overview of income for the year 2017. Payments of my company for the year 2018)
Transferwise informed me by email on Saturday (08.08.2018) that they forwarded the information to the Vietnamese partner bank.
Since nothing further happened until Wednesday (12.08.2018) I replied to Transferwise email and asked for a status update.
As 24h later again no further notice was sent to me I called the support again (13.08.2018) and I was told, by a support member that seemed quite unknowing, that the money was sent back to Transferwise 6h ago and their "financial experts" are looking into the case to decide whether it it worth/possible to retry to payout the money or if they abort the transaction and payout my EUR back to me.

Let's see how this turns out in the end, however I want to finally add that I don't fully blame Transferwise for this to happen, because obviously it is the Vietnamese bank that started to ask questions. However I think Transferwise should inform and warn their customers about the possibility of such an inquiry and recommend to provide proof documents in advance in case they were required just to speed things up a little bit.

Cheers!
def1412
#25
Sounds a lot like what I went through with the questions about intent, etc.  It took over a week sort out and eventually went through.  Since then, I have used transferwise two or three times successfully.  However, in my case I was told it was the 'transferwise people' that decided to do extended research on my transfer and yes, it was a random  thing.  I have learned there is another company (Ireland) that works maybe better and more reliably than transferwise.  Here's the link: https://azimo.com/en

I have not tried them as yet since all things seem to be going well just now.  Good luck to you...
Ken
PS
I made two calls to transferwise support in US.  Very expensive, and very much a waste of money, they completely don't know what they are doing in customer support and perpetually maintain there is nothing they can do....it's another department..........
K
Laurent futur Nha Trang
#26

Andy Passenger wrote:

May I ask why someone uses companies like TransferWise for large amount of money instead of using money transfer directly from bank to bank?

If I look at the TransferWise website I would pay about USD 500 fee for a transfer of USD 50'000.
With the TransferWise exchange rate of 22'955 (date today), VND 1'136'293'200 would arrive in Vietnam.

If I took today's interbanking rate of 22'820, VND 1'141'003'520 would arrive in Vietnam if I would use the direct money transfer of my homebank. I would pay about USD 25 (about VND 570'000) by using SWIFT Code OUR (sender pays costs).
So I would get VND 1'140'433'520. This is VND 4,140,320 (approx. USD 180) more.

And with TransferWise I would have more work as I first would have to transfer the money from my home bank to TranferWise and afterwards transfer the money to Vietnam via TransferWise.

I just want to know the reason so I can understand.


With some bank, it's not possible to transfer directly to any bank in the world. For example, last year I opened an account in a german eBank (N26) and it wasn't possible to transfer directly to my vietnamese account. So I used Transferwise  (advice of N26...). Result : it has never been possible to succeed the transfer..  Then, I continue making the transfers from my "old" french account (I am french).
Laurent

AR0x7E7
#27
small update on my issue: today 14.09.2018 I recieved the payout for both transaction (with a total delay of 10 days as before it was scheduled for 04.09.2018), however there was no further message from Transferwise (until now).
G
#28
I have transferred money (between CHF 2000 and 5000 each) from TransferWise to my Sacombank account several times and have never had any problems.
But I noticed that when I transfer money in VND from TransferWise account to Sacombank account, it is declared as "salary".
Maybe this could be a reason why some people have problems and are asked for details about the money transferred.
Sometime I will ask Sacombank why this is declared as "salary".
Not that I suddenly have to pay taxes for my already in my home country taxed money.

@Laurent futur Nha Trang
Meanwhile I use TransferWise also more.
Since TransferWise allows you to open foreign currency accounts without any fees, I change CHF to VND if the exchange rate is very good and leave the VND on the TransferWise account. When I need money, I transfer easily from the TransferWise VND account to my Vietnamese VND account.
The advantage of Transferwise is that the exchange rate is already known before the money exchange or money transfer and is usually better than that of my bank. So you can calculate the TransferWise exchange or transfer fees better than at the bank where the exchange rate is not known before.
vndreamer
#29
We use it monthly, never had a problem.
M
#30
Various banks charge different minimums for wire transfers and $25 to $50 is the norm.  For a $50,000 transfer there is no doubt that the best bet is to just do a wire transfer.  However, if you are transferring, say $500 at a time, the transferwise rate of about $7.50 can't be beat.  There is no best way for everyone.
G
#31

MichaelWFerguson wrote:

Various banks charge different minimums for wire transfers and $25 to $50 is the norm.  For a $50,000 transfer there is no doubt that the best bet is to just do a wire transfer.  However, if you are transferring, say $500 at a time, the transferwise rate of about $7.50 can't be beat.  There is no best way for everyone.


As you said, TransferWise is unbeatable for smaller amounts. For larger amounts, a bank transfer is unbeatable. Independent of the amount, it is $25.

I use TransferWise mainly to get money fast.
I always have about 100 million Dong in my TransferWise VND account (exchanged when the exchange rate is good).
When I transfer the VND from TransferWise to my bank account in Vietnam it is very fast (during bank opening hours).

Before the holidays I transferred about 30 million Dong from TransferWise to each of my 3 bank accounts in Vietnam.
Timo received the money even before I received the message from TransferWise (within minutes). At Sacombank a few minutes later.

OceanBeach92107
#32

AkaMaverick wrote:
MichaelWFerguson wrote:

Various banks charge different minimums for wire transfers and $25 to $50 is the norm.  For a $50,000 transfer there is no doubt that the best bet is to just do a wire transfer.  However, if you are transferring, say $500 at a time, the transferwise rate of about $7.50 can't be beat.  There is no best way for everyone.


As you said, TransferWise is unbeatable for smaller amounts. For larger amounts, a bank transfer is unbeatable. Independent of the amount, it is $25.

I use TransferWise mainly to get money fast.
I always have about 100 million Dong in my TransferWise VND account (exchanged when the exchange rate is good).
When I transfer the VND from TransferWise to my bank account in Vietnam it is very fast (during bank opening hours).

Before the holidays I transferred about 30 million Dong from TransferWise to each of my 3 bank accounts in Vietnam.
Timo received the money even before I received the message from TransferWise (within minutes). At Sacombank a few minutes later.


It sounds as if you are talking about holding money in the transferwise account, similar to the way someone would hold money in their PayPal account.

Correct?

G
#33

OceanBeach92107 wrote:
AkaMaverick wrote:
MichaelWFerguson wrote:

Various banks charge different minimums for wire transfers and $25 to $50 is the norm.  For a $50,000 transfer there is no doubt that the best bet is to just do a wire transfer.  However, if you are transferring, say $500 at a time, the transferwise rate of about $7.50 can't be beat.  There is no best way for everyone.


As you said, TransferWise is unbeatable for smaller amounts. For larger amounts, a bank transfer is unbeatable. Independent of the amount, it is $25.

I use TransferWise mainly to get money fast.
I always have about 100 million Dong in my TransferWise VND account (exchanged when the exchange rate is good).
When I transfer the VND from TransferWise to my bank account in Vietnam it is very fast (during bank opening hours).

Before the holidays I transferred about 30 million Dong from TransferWise to each of my 3 bank accounts in Vietnam.
Timo received the money even before I received the message from TransferWise (within minutes). At Sacombank a few minutes later.


It sounds as if you are talking about holding money in the transferwise account, similar to the way someone would hold money in their PayPal account.

Correct?


Correct!

G
#34

def1412 wrote:

Thought everything was ironed out and then late last night got an email saying they liked my answers (oh boy) so the money was going through


They sound funny. Money going through should come from if your answers are correct or prove that your transfer is legit, rather than their liking.


GuestPoster0147 wrote:

But I noticed that when I transfer money in VND from TransferWise account to Sacombank account, it is declared as "salary".


I have same 'problems', I often receive payment from Clients abroad via transferwise to my Timo account and every time, the amount would be stated as "Source of fund Salary" from Timo's email letting me know there is change in my account.

However, I don't earn that whole amount, part of it is mine, but I also help Clients to make payment to other services: such as car service, permits ...
So I've been wondering if it would be a problem one day.
However, I assume that this statement is from transferwise when they make the transfer, not from my bank.

(I'm a Vietnamese)

OceanBeach92107
#35

KhuyenT wrote:
def1412 wrote:

Thought everything was ironed out and then late last night got an email saying they liked my answers (oh boy) so the money was going through


They sound funny. Money going through should come from if your answers are correct or prove that your transfer is legit, rather than their liking.


GuestPoster0147 wrote:

But I noticed that when I transfer money in VND from TransferWise account to Sacombank account, it is declared as "salary".


I have same 'problems', I often receive payment from Clients abroad via transferwise to my Timo account and every time, the amount would be stated as "Source of fund Salary" from Timo's email letting me know there is change in my account.

However, I don't earn that whole amount, part of it is mine, but I also help Clients to make payment to other services: such as car service, permits ...
So I've been wondering if it would be a problem one day.
However, I assume that this statement is from transferwise when they make the transfer, not from my bank.

(I'm a Vietnamese)


That's a very legitimate concern.

Hopefully there is a way to differentiate funds for your compensation VS funds that you are using on behalf of client

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