Wiring money from China to SA

[HaoRan]

My wife is trying to get the police clearance records from South Africa for her visa requirements and is trying to wire money. She tried to send the money via Bank of China yesterday and got fee on top of fee to try to send this.

 

She needs to send about 10.00 USD (equivilent) to SA and had fees of up to 75.00 to send it.

 

I literally can't stand BOC, they are the worst in my opinion. The people are rude and don't care if they help you or not.

 

But she needs to use a bank that is allowed by the government to wire money out of the country.

 

Can anyone recommend a bank in Shanghai that a local Chinese can use to wire money without such crazyness?

Edited March 19, 2009 by HaoRan (see edit history)

[HaoRan]

Let me also ask this. Can I wire the money for her Police Record Application or would the money need to come from my wife in Shanghai?

 

Thanks,

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

My wife is trying to get the police clearance records from South Africa for her visa requirements and is trying to wire money. She tried to send the money via Bank of China yesterday and got fee on top of fee to try to send this.

 

She needs to send about 10.00 USD (equivilent) to SA and had fees of up to 75.00 to send it.

 

I literally can't stand BOC, they are the worst in my opinion. The people are rude and don't care if they help you or not.

 

But she needs to use a bank that is allowed by the government to wire money out of the country.

 

Can anyone recommend a bank in Shanghai that a local Chinese can use to wire money without such crazyness?

 

The only problem I've ever had with the Bank of China, is that they will not let a foreigner complete a transfer of RMB to an American bank. I transfer funds from China every month, I just need to get a Chinese citizen to do the transfer for me. The fees are not really that bad, and are a percentage of the total amount. To transfer 1K US cash for example costs about 200RMB.

 

If your partner is having trouble at one bank, just try another one. I've had better experience at the main banks in the downtown areas than the outlying branch offices.

 

As far as sending money from China to South Africa, I couldn't say, though I'm quite sure it would be easier to complete the transfer from the US or via Western Union if sent from China; especially for such a small amount of cash.....even paypal or credit card

Edited March 19, 2009 by ShaQuaNew (see edit history)

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

Let me also ask this. Can I wire the money for her Police Record Application or would the money need to come from my wife in Shanghai?

 

Thanks,

 

I would think they really don't much care from where the money comes. Why not get a contact telephone number from your Chinese partner and complete the transaction using a credit or debit card?

[HaoRan]

ok, my bank (BOA) charges 45.00 to do a wire transfer regardless of the amount.

 

I need to send 10.00 so that's just retarded.

 

Western Union will only send to another Western Union so that's not an option either.

 

I need to send it to a specific bank, with a SWIFT Code and account number.

 

Uggh.. This is killing me.

[Sebastian]

any washington mutual in your area? for personal checking accounts - they have free wire transfers (no fee to anywhere).

 

maybe it's time to get a xoom account (see http://www.xoom.com )

Edited March 20, 2009 by Sebastian (see edit history)

[HaoRan]

Sebastian,

 

Have you used Xoom before? I have not heard of them.

 

We do have WM in our area. Just don't want to set up an account to wire 10.00 dollars.

 

Xoom sounds cool if they are trustworthy and it looks like I can send directly to a bank account in SA.

[Sebastian]

HaoRan -

 

I learned of xoom from CFL - some other members had posted about it within thte last 90 days, had positive experiences.

 

After I learned about it - I signed up for an account, then learned that initial transfer amounts are limited - 1000 to china for the first month, 2999 limitation per month (again, to China) - I had a huge chunk to wire over, and their limits forced me to do a regular wire transfer instead.

 

For your needs, I think 10 dollars falls way under their limitations of usage. As I recall, a transfer fee is less than 20 bucks, too.

 

Good Luck !

[HaoRan]

Cool,

 

 

Thanks for stepping in and replying.

[HaoRan]

Ok, here's a follow up for anyone needing to do the same thing.

 

I couldn't use Xoom as they had a minimum amount of 25.00 (IIRC) to use it plus the transfer fee which was then getting up to BOA charges.

 

 

What I did find out is WaMu offers free wire transfers (domestic or international) if you open a free checking account with them. The account asks for 100.00 to open and no minimum to maintain.

 

So, that's what I did and sent a wire yesterday with Wamu.

 

Now, Wamu just recently was bought out by another bank so I don't know how long this policy will continue.

 

HTH

[benc]

I sent money to my wife thru Bank of China and it usually cost only $20 USD. never more unless u need to make a correction.

 

i think u can also send monet thru Western Union.. to a china bank.. but double check to make sure.

[Sebastian]

benc - ya - but this is a different scenario.

 

HaoRan's wife has to pay a fee for the creation of a police record report in South Africa (SA), and the fee was to be paid via wire transfer or TT. Apparently there was no other accepted method o payment - so she started investigating 'how to pay the SA fee' in china, at her bank.

 

The fee to pay was only 10 USD - but with BoC Wire Transfer fees , to handle the TT from China TO South Africa - BOOM - it became 75 usd.

 

HaoRan's Bank charges a fee as well. Xoom won't work for him because of the small amount.

 

Finally, he created a WAMU personal checking account, which has free wire transfers for personal checking account holders - and was able to get this Ten Dollars into South Africa, and get the police report generation paid for.

 

Slan !

[HaoRan]

Sebatian is correct and Thank you Sebastian.

 

The reason she couldn't send it from China is the SA Police ppl required it to be an International Cashier's Check in SA money so that's not possible for my wife to get in China. Otherwise it would have been a more simple process.

[Robert S.]

HaoRan, is it going to be possible for you to check with the g-d SA po-lice and make sure they got the money? At that point are they supposed to mail the report to China?

[HaoRan]

Well, the process (we are doing) is:

 

Put money in Bank with identifying information (PCC, ID#, etc).

Send request with fingerprints and documentation ad nauseum.

 

Wait for return.

 

That's why I would rather send the request with a Cashier's check so it would be all contained together but, what the heck...