Sending US dollars to China electronically - best way?

[KevinNelson]

I need to know the best, most efficient way to send dollars to China. We specifically want to send several thousand dollars. A lag of a few days is no problem. We want the money to remain denominated in US dollars. (Any cons to that? Exorbitant exchange fees later?)

 

I had one set of idea, she has another, and we're both at odds about those, since it seems difficult to get direct answers from the services and nobody in our rural area in the States has experience sending money anywhere other than to Mexico.

 

My wife was told by Bank of China to use an app.. which doesn't work.

 

TIA

Edited January 11, 2020 by KevinNelson (see edit history)

[Martin B]

We use Transferwise

[DocMartin817]

We send money every year -- but we only send once a year and pay one fee -- We just use our local bank that does a wire to wire transfer and pay a fee of $45. You need the information of who you are sending to and bank numbers too.

[KevinNelson]

Anyone try using Xoom? It seems as if the dollar to RMB is competitive and the cost per transaction is quite low... but really not sure.

[amberjack1234]

I was just talking to Randy about this. The wife was talking about using Pay Pal or Zoom or something. These Chinese women are always to try and beat the system. So far she has not sent anything. I was going to do a wire transfer using BOA. She says the rates are to high right now for her because of the holidays.

[Greg.D.]

It's been about 4 years since I used Western Union to do this. Set up an account online and did it from my computer. Really it only worked if I sent it in dollars, too, because one of the security answers the receiver had to give was the exact amount sent ... and it was changing all the time (if I sent rmb) because the exchange rate was changing.

 

Rural? Your Spanish speaking rural neighbors are using it all the time - probably from your nearest grocery store

Edited January 12, 2020 by Greg.D. (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Anyone try using Xoom? It seems as if the dollar to RMB is competitive and the cost per transaction is quite low... but really not sure.

 

 

The fee for the conversion is high, which blows them out of the water for me. They will not send dollars, as I remember.

 

I use BofA to CCB, which charges $45 for dollar-to-dollar transfers. There is no fee at CCB, including for a competitive conversion. You need a bank which will do an international wire transfer. You will need the account information to send to, along with the SAFE code, For us, the CCB SAFE code is in Nanning, but it still shows up in Yulin, since that's where the account is.

 

Or, like Greg suggests, go to your grocery store and send via Western Union.

[Allon]

I use Western Union all the time but I don't send real large amounts, if that makes a difference. It's easy online. But be sure and tell your receiver to make sure they get the name right, of you that is. Believe it or not, my wife, married for years, one time could not spell my name. (Chinese women are like that.) She was denied. WU stations (such as banks) are not supposed to do that with WU if the receiver has that tran ID and a government ID. I use a personal code that you can send with the transmission, and have had no problems since. Tellers, and such, seem to trust more if that code is there.

[Randy W]

We just got another shipment ($14,000) of beer money - BofA to CCB - it arrives overnight, sent at 3AM our time, it was available for pick-up at 11AM the same day.

[Randy W]

A new record - 4 hours from initiating the transfer to being notified that the funds are available at the CCB.

 

But that depends on initiating the transfer overnight China time.

 

We were also notified by CCB that it is best for now to keep transfers under $5000USD, even though in the past, we've sent as much as $30,000.

[Bert]

I've looked at Western Union before. It is not good for large sums. I don't think you can do it. It is quick, safe, and secure for small sums.

 

Today, I always wire it from my brokerage account. Real easy. Used to cost $15 but now there is no charge. I always send in USD because the conversion in China is always better. I wire it to my FIL to pay HOA and taxes. He likes to keep the USD anyway as a hedge.

 

The time before last, it didn't show up for a week. It caused a lot of concern and I advised my FIL to start a trace on his end. That's when the bank told him that they had it all along. The last time, just a couple of weeks ago, they notified him immediately and demanded to know who the money was from and for what purpose. My broker just says it can take a week.

[Randy W]

Yes - I've heard that they are scrutinizing these transfers much more closely these days. Our bank suggested we stay below $5,000USD.

[Bert]

I was surprised. It was only $3,000. The one they held up was about $1,000.

[KevinNelson]

I ended up using Xoom for a transfer of $1500. My wife's phone (using a phone number in China) gave a text message the money was in her Bank of China account only about 30 seconds later. Ironically, it took my bank two days to acknowledge the withdrawal.

Edited March 15, 2020 by KevinNelson (see edit history)

[homerjay1011]

Hi everyone,

I'm a complete novice when it come to money transfer stuff. I plan to wire money using BoA to CCB. What's all this about sending USD as opposed to RMB? How does that work when the person in China receives USD in their band account with RMB in it?

 

Thanks for the help!