transferring money from Bank of America to Bank of China?

[babygodzilla]

is it a hassle to transfer money from Bank of America to Bank of China? anyone know of any hidden fees or anything else i should watch out for? thanks!

[laohu489]

Where are you located in the US or Shanghai? Of course there are fees, but they are established by the sending bank and it is a flat fee, not percentage.

Also, what Americans call ABA number or a routing number, other countries call it a SWIFT number and maybe others.

[wtanaka]

my blog has a few writeups (back in april) about my experiences transferring money to the Agricultural Bank.

[kudra]

For Americans traveling in Europe, supposedly, using an ATM is cheaper than going to a bank or other brick and mortar establishment to exchange money. I have no idea if that is the case in China, or if it is practical in your situation. I realize you are asking about transfering money, not exchanging money so this may be off topic.

[hakkaboy]

Maestro cards are international debit cards and can be used in China. On the Maestro website you can download a list of the appropriate ATM locations in China.

[prolyfik]

I just received a bank wire transfer from Canada to my Bank of China account. Everything went smoothly. I opened up my acct at the BoC at CWTC because I figured their service would be among the best in the city. That said, when I told them I needed information for a bank transfer, they pointed me to one of the desks with brochures on it and there was a pre-printed name card with all the information needed for the transfer (i.e. SWIFT code, bank address, phone number). They were all set up. The transfer was initiated last Friday and I checked the second Monday after and the money was there. There was a $15 charge somewhere along the way, but my guess is that it was taken by the originating bank and not the BoC.

The only other thing to be aware of is if you have a multi-currency account at BoC - for example if your account has both RMB and USD cash deposits and keeps account in both currencies. The money that comes in via a wire transfer is put into a third sub-account in your account. Let's say you are transferring USD$ 100 into your account that has RMB 50 and USD$ 50 in it already. The new USD$ 100 will not just be added to the existing USD account, it is set in a sub-account for wire transferred funds. This cash is also dealt with a little differently. If you exchange the wire transferred USD to RMB you will get a better rate, something like 8.07 instead of 8.00 - after exchanging the money you can then deposit it directly into the RMB side of your account. Moreover, if you try to withdraw the wire transferred USD in USD than you are charged a fee of three dollars for every thousand dollars you withdraw. At least, this is what I was told and understood...

I hope that's clear enough...

[elina]

The new USD$ 100 will not just be added to the existing USD account, it is set in a sub-account for wire transferred funds. This cash is also dealt with a little differently. If you exchange the wire transferred USD to RMB you will get a better rate, something like 8.07 instead of 8.00

Yes, we call the wire transferred new USD 100 as 美元现汇，and the original cash deposits USD 50 as 美元现钞，现汇兑换人民币的比率要比现钞稍高一些。

[gunsella]

what about going the other way?

is it easy to transfer money from BoC to an australian bank? i want to know if i will be able to take money out assuming that i am able to save some money in china.

[snarfer]

I have been looking into this and I suspect that the best solution is actually a multi-currency savings account with HSBC. Only problem is that, although HSBC has two branches in Beijing, you can't actually open an account there while you're in the PRC. You might be able to do it over the phone though, and whenever I get around to it I will call them and find out.

The BoC hides fees in their exchange rates, which are generally worse than competing banks.

Because my bank in the US did not charge for foreign ATM withdrawals I found that I got the best rates by withdrawing cash from ATMs. The ATMs from different banks had different rates. The worst were at BoC, and the best were at HSBC and BCIC. I found I was only paying 0.5% in exchange fees when withdrawing money from an HSBC ATM, including everything. This was several times cheaper than wiring money, even very large quantities, into a BoC account.

If you are working in the PRC, the HSBC account seems like it is really the way to go, as it offers the ability to convert RMB into the currency of your choice.

[woliveri]

I just talked to an HSBC representative who told me (once I got past the sales pitches) that I could open a free checking account which would have debit card ability and use that debit card while in China to withdraw money from the account in the states.

The only thing I would need to pay is a 1% conversion fee (changing dollars to rmb).

[snarfer]

The US account offers no benefits over a standard checking account. You need to open an HSBC Hong Kong account. HSBC Hong Kong and HSBC USA are not, for any practical purposes, at least for individuals, the same bank.

I was talking about these accounts, which cannot, as far as I know, be opened at a US branch:

http://www.hsbc.com.hk/hk/personal/rmb/feature.htm#deposit

http://www.hsbc.com.hk/hk/personal/invest/deposit/combi.htm

Notice that they offer an "RMB switching service"