Transfering millions of dollars

[yuehan123]

We also bought and paid for a house in China by using US Dollars from US to China. Back in 2007.

 

We did this two ways:

 

1. East-West Bank out there in California. We authorized wire transfer by mail. That is, we made the first transfer in the Bank's office and signed the appropriate paperwork to authorize all future wire transfers be by mail. We sent the money to the father-in-law's account on several different occassions. Never heard from any gov't agent then, or since then, about how much or why.

 

2. We were physically in China during the house construction and decoration stages. We took advantage of our 3 Bank accounts and 5 ATM Debit cards to withdraw the max (in RMB) from each card on most days. Frequently, I had to call the Bank to re-authorize the now frozen cards in spite of having pre-approved the cards for use prior to travel. I don't blame them (much) for freezing the accounts- we took out the max day after day.

 

At that time, an earlier post in this thread already advised caution, time and rules and people have all changed, B of A and China Construction Bank (CCB) had a no fee ATM use agreement.

 

p.s. CCB told my wife last fall that effective Jan 2013 an account holder must appear in person with the ID used to open the account to get money out or receive a wire transfer. Don't laugh. The family used to be able to get money, or move money out for us. No more.

[canrun]

Wow, Yuehan: You bring up two good points.

 

 

At that time, an earlier post in this thread already advised caution,
time and rules and people have all changed, B of A and China
Construction Bank (CCB) had a no fee ATM use agreement.

Does anyone know if they still have the no-fee arrangement? I know they mostly ended their relationship, but since I use BofA and CCB, it was always a convenient method of saving money.

 

p.s. CCB told my wife last fall that effective Jan 2013 an account
holder must appear in person with the ID used to open the account to get
money out or receive a wire transfer. Don't laugh. The family used to
be able to get money, or move money out for us. No more.

This is a big one. Can anyone shed some light on this? Obviously, my wife is in America and cannot go to China to receive her own money transfer. Should we just sent it to her sister's account? I like her sister and all, but prefer to keep all funds in our own account. (I know-stupid question, but anything dealing with China and finances makes me cringe.) Thanks all!

[Randy W]

 

Wow, Yuehan: You bring up two good points.

 

 

At that time, an earlier post in this thread already advised caution,

time and rules and people have all changed, B of A and China

Construction Bank (CCB) had a no fee ATM use agreement.

Does anyone know if they still have the no-fee arrangement? I know they mostly ended their relationship, but since I use BofA and CCB, it was always a convenient method of saving money.

>

p.s. CCB told my wife last fall that effective Jan 2013 an account

holder must appear in person with the ID used to open the account to get

money out or receive a wire transfer. Don't laugh. The family used to

be able to get money, or move money out for us. No more.

This is a big one. Can anyone shed some light on this? Obviously, my wife is in America and cannot go to China to receive her own money transfer. Should we just sent it to her sister's account? I like her sister and all, but prefer to keep all funds in our own account. (I know-stupid question, but anything dealing with China and finances makes me cringe.) Thanks all!

 

Yes, it is still in effect. I maintain a bank account in the U.S. and withdraw money from it every month, using my BofA ATM card. I use my own and my wife's in order to get up to 8000RMB in one visit. If you go inside the CCB bank, the tellers cannot assist you.

 

As far as shuffling money in China, make your own arrangements. Whatever works best. I can wire money to myself from my TDAmeritrade account, through the BofA account, to either my account or my wife's account at the CCB. We then go in person to convert to RMB. Someone skims a $10.00 fee from each transfer, but I'm not sure who (one of our members confessed to that - he owes me a few beers - lol). Just keep it in your USA account until you have someone in China to receive the funds. But we have always had to wire to a specific recipient, who would appear in person to convert the money.

[tsap seui]

My wife and son are headin' back to the motherland in late May, for 3 months. I'll be sending her $25,000 by Western Union once again. We love our family dearly, but they don't need to know anything at all about our money. W/U is old school, and dealing with pulling cash out of banks is too, but it's what we trust. I am not recommending it for anyone else.

 

My wife can work the deal with the W/U teller at her China Post and the teller walks it a few steps down to her bank account lady who puts it all into her account. 25K is only a phone call...make that 5 phone calls away....lol

 

tsap seui

[canrun]

Thanks. Good to know on both accounts. The second issue will, like most things in life, work itself out.

[canrun]

Hi all,

 

About to transfer a pretty significant chunk of change before heading to China, so just wondered what I should say when Bank of America asks me "do you want to send that in dollars or Renminbi?" Currency stuff confuses me, so any advice is appreciated!

 

Cheers.

[credzba]

Hi all,

 

About to transfer a pretty significant chunk of change before heading to China, so just wondered what I should say when Bank of America asks me "do you want to send that in dollars or Renminbi?" Currency stuff confuses me, so any advice is appreciated!

 

Cheers.

The financial answer is simple.

What is the exchange rate in America, what is the exchange rate in China.

In my experience the exchange rate in China was usually better.

The only catch to doing the exchange in China is each person can only exchange 50,000 (USD) per year, so depending on HOW big that chunk is you may need aunts, uncles etc. to show their ID card to get it all exchanged.

[Randy W]

Hi all,

 

About to transfer a pretty significant chunk of change before heading to China, so just wondered what I should say when Bank of America asks me "do you want to send that in dollars or Renminbi?" Currency stuff confuses me, so any advice is appreciated!

 

Cheers.

 

 

I've always sent dollars - that way, it's received in dollars (no confusion about the amount), and then converted to renminbi at the other (Chinese end) AFTER it's been accepted into your account.

 

I think you're less likely to run into any legal problems with this approach - they'll either convert it to renminbi or they won't. Transferring renminbi, f the transfer is rejected, you might run into problems.

[tsap seui]

Tell them local currency...rmb. Otherwise the bank would have to make special arrangements to have the USD on hold for you...and you'll just have to exchange it anyway, probably for another fee.

 

tsap seui

[canrun]

I appreciate the replies very much, and am not being a smart ass here at all, but I guess I'm thick as a brick. Am I right that two of you are saying "send it in RMB" while Randy is saying "send it in dollars."

 

Again, I am not being a smart aleck...currency discussions make my eyes glaze over...I'm just not sure what the answer should be when the person at B of A asks "do you want it sent in dollars or RMB?"

 

I have answered "dollars" in the past, but have no idea if that's the best way to go in terms of getting the best deal.

 

If someone could help my thick brain, I'd really appreciate it. I'm about to send a lot of money (though less than 50K), so I want to make sure I get the best deal.

 

Thanks again!

[Randy W]

There's probably not a whole lot of difference - I've NEVER sent RMB, always sent dollars - but tsap's done it the other way. No special arrangements are needed anywhere. I would always send dollars myself, but am not sure about what makes that preferred, as long as your bank doesn't have any problem bringing in RMB for you.

 

I think tsap's the only one who prefers RMB - credzba says to go with whatever way gives the best exchange rate (usually dollars)

[tsap seui]

As long as a person gets RMB to spend in China...who cares if someone needs to look at, hold in his hand, and then count a stack of Benjamin's before they convert it to rmb? . My old school Western Union operator always asks me if I want the usd I am sending to be converted into rmb at the receiving end. I say yes, they tell me how many rmb they are gonna give the receiver and then I tell them that's okay, or not before the transaction is made. In China my wife fills out the W/U form, the W/U teller checks it, writes the figure down on a piece of paper, walks a few windows down in the China Post, and hands the papers to Wenyan's bank teller who hands Wenyan over some rmb and then puts the rest into her account.

 

I reckon the thing is....it don't matter how ya do it. As long as you wind up with rmb in yore hand or bank account in China, who cares how ya did it. Ya do what makes ya happy, and ya don't worry about how the other guy does it. I realize I ain't sophisticated enough to understand international banking, sending wires between banks and such, so, I use my dumb hillbilly logic and walk into my local Piggly Wiggly, pick up the W/U phone (gonna do that very thing in a coupla hours and send over another $7,000), and I tell them how many usd I am sending....and to make the transaction in local currency. The operator tells me the W/U exchange rate, how many Chairman Moe's they will deliver to the receiver, and I say okay...or not.

 

I ain't arguing with Randy. HIs way is much more sophisticated and worldly than mine. Heck, I'd still be using a Winders 95 computer if the dern thang had't died on me. There is more than one way to skin this here cat.. As long as you wind up with spendable rmb in China do what makes you happy fellers, cause if'n you ain't happy, yore sad, and sad ain't the way one oughta be walkin' around.

 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way to the local yokel Piggly Wiggly, for I have an important international banking matter to attend to. :rotfl:and I need me some more pinto beans and vidalia onions.

 

tsap seui

 

Life...funny beyond belief

[tsap seui]

I appreciate the replies very much, and am not being a smart ass here at all, but I guess I'm thick as a brick. Am I right that two of you are saying "send it in RMB" while Randy is saying "send it in dollars."

 

Again, I am not being a smart aleck...currency discussions make my eyes glaze over...I'm just not sure what the answer should be when the person at B of A asks "do you want it sent in dollars or RMB?"

 

I have answered "dollars" in the past, but have no idea if that's the best way to go in terms of getting the best deal.

 

If someone could help my thick brain, I'd really appreciate it. I'm about to send a lot of money (though less than 50K), so I want to make sure I get the best deal.

 

Thanks again!

Oh my Gawd. Too funny, buddy. You and I may well be brothers.

I take US dollars to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store and use their Western Union phone to make my transaction.

 

The Wester Union operator has a written out list of questions sitting in front of them and they ask me, how much I am sending, and to where?...I tell them how many US dollars I am sending to China.

 

Their next question is "Do you want the receiver to receive that in local currency instead of US dollars?" I say yes.

 

See, they could receive the money in US dollars instead of rmb. My father in law asked me once to send him the money I was sending "to be received" in US dollars, I guess so he could look at Chairman Ben Franklins instead of the usual Chairman Mao's.

 

Western Union makes the conversion from USD to RMB. Somebody is gonna make the conversion from US dollars to RMB. I let Western Union do that. When my father in law took his money in US dollars he caused the local China Post some stress to come up with thousands of US dollars to hand to him. He couldn't spend the Ben Franklin's anywhere, all he could do is look at it...and, it cost him much more for a China bank to convert it to rmb than if he had let me tell Western Union to make the conversion.

 

I am sorry if anyone thought I was actually going to an American bank and asking them to give me thousands of rmb so I could take it to my Piggly Wiggly to send it over to China. I would have had to pay for the currency conversion TWICE and the ladies in the Piggly WIggly would have looked at me like I was crazier than a shit house rat....which, I must admit, I sometimes am.

 

Now that I have picked myself up off the floor and gotten myself safely ensconced back into my computer chair (I swear I need a safety belt on this chair) it is becoming.clear to me that I may be the only SOB that has used Western Union to send money to China.

 

However you wind up sending the money, good luck with your time in China.

 

tsap seui

[dnoblett]

Always amazes me the confusion about sending it as RMB or Dollars and where to do the exchange, currency is all digital during the transfer no actual paper is being sent from country to country.

The transferring agent simply applies the current exchange rate to the transfer, in goes dollars at one end out comes RMB at the other end.

[Randy W]

Yes - my understanding is that the conversion WILL be cheaper (a better exchange rate) if you let it occur in China. It has ALWAYS been for us, including Western Union transfers.

 

If you want to watch the conversion take place, simply ask the clerk to enter the figures on the desk calculator. Dollars go in, RMB comes out. Nobody has any dollars around here, except for a couple that Jiaying's held on to.

 

The China Postal Savings (a bank) is actually separate from the China Post. If you send in dollars, the receiving bank will hold it in a dollar-denominated account until you get them to whip out the calculator and convert it to RMB - no problem.

 

If you send in RMB, that calculator is whipped out right there in front of you at the sending end. Not a huge difference, by any means.

 

Your choice.