Transferring Money from China back to the States while in the States

[computerguy]

hey guys, i was wondering if any of you have went through this... my wife wants to transfer a large amount of money back to the states to help pay of a car loan she just got to buy a car. At first she thought she could use her credit card but the company we got the loan from doesn't support that as a payment option. All her money is locked up overseas in ICBC. She has a VISA credit card. What can she do? ICBC won't let her transfer money overseas online to USA. Is there any way she can transfer money back to the US without having to go back to China? She could withdrawal her money from an ATM but she would be hit by 3% from ICBC and god only knows from the bank she gets the money from... I looked at Western Union but they dont support China and im not sure if she could use a Chinese visa card on their us site to transfer... anyways if any of you have been through this, I would love some advice!!!

thanks

[dnoblett]

Western Union is an option, however they do not provide a convenient on line system to handle this, they indicate have to pay in person at various banks or China Post. Only way I can see is if have someone over there that was trusted with access to account, they would withdraw money and then transfer.

 

If has an online banking account, perhaps set up a local transfer to a family member, and they then use western union to send to USA.

[chef4u]

does your wife have an ICBC cash card? This card is similiar to a USA bank debit card only;not supported by Visa Visa debit bank card. It would only be a debit card for withdrawl of any monies she may have in a savings or cash account; China does not have or supports checking accounts. I think she just needs to locate an US ATM machine that supports UnionPay, not PLUS, NYCE or INTERLINK. If she still has an ICBC Debit card only, it's worth a shot trying. Good luck! :-)

Edited February 20, 2012 by chef4u (see edit history)

[computerguy]

My wife says she has an "international visa card" she says she couldnt get a cash card in her town. But she does say the card number is her account number which has me to believe it may be similar to it. It has the visa logo and she has no problem purchasing with it as a credit card. They did tell us we can withdrawl with it but it will be a 3% fee. But, I'm afraid that what ever atm I go to would also add another fee on top of the 3% icbc will charge. ICBC doesnt have western union and on top of that her account is not linked with her mother so theres no way for her mother to access it as far as we know. We can't transfer it domestically because ICBC wont allow transfering of dollars (we already translated our money into dollars in her account before we left).