transferring money to the PRC

[randall_flagg]

First of all: Sorry if this has been discussed before. I did a search but only came up with specifics I don’t need to know right now.

All I want to know is: If I transfer money from a foreign bank onto a Chinese bank account, how much will the Chinese bank charge me? I know that fees will be different from bank to bank, will change over time and depend on the kind of money I am wiring. I just need a rough estimate for $1,000 and perhaps $100. Thank you!

Randall

[randall_flagg]

Forgot:That bank account will be my own. I am planning on opening up a bank account in China. If you need any other info, just let me know. Thanks.

[mr.stinky]

Bank 'O China charges US$10 for incoming wire transfer.

This was for $2500 and $3000. I assume it will be the same regardless of

(reasonable) amount.

[雅各]

It's interesting that the currency changes when foreign aliens are being transacted with.

What about Western Union?

I guess facilities would vary from city to city.

雅各

[mr.stinky]

there is no currency change as far as i know. as a furriner, you open a combined account.

wire transfers in are in your home currency, and are held in a sub-account until converted

to RMB in a second sub-account.

so i have US$3000 wired in, BofC charges US$10, and deposits US$2900 into my

foreign currency sub-account. When my RMB account gets low, i have the teller convert

a specified amount into RMB which can then be accessed by ATM.

[miss_China_so_much]

Transfer money to Bank of China, you can keep your money as whatever the currency is.

If the amount is quite small, West Union is cheaper. Also you can pick having the local currency or the original currency

[elina]

If the amount is quite small, West Union is cheaper. Also you can pick having the local currency or the original currency

Here in Beijing, the remittance from abroad through Western Union can be only turned out in RMB or USD. The handling charge is very different from country to country, and also very various according to the transferred amount.

[amo]

Hi Randall.

If transferring is to expencive why not open a Neteller and/or a Uniclear account and then order a debit card for those accounts. You can then use the debit card in ATM's around China.

I can provide you with the URL's to open the account if you want.

[prolyfik]

I haven't been able to figure out exactly what the charge is for BoC when there is an incoming bank transfer - I was told there was none but haven't confirmed that yet - but I did find out that having foreign currency transferred in and depositing it in cash are supposedly different.

I was told if I deposited USD $1,000 cash into my account that I could keep it there and when I wanted to withdraw it or convert it to RMB for an exchange rate of about 8.00 RMB to a dollar.

If I had USD $1,000 transferred into my account, they would charge me USD $3 for every USD $1,000 that I withdrew, but if I wanted to convert it, I would get a better conversion rate, something like 8.01.

[HashiriKata]

I often travel abroad and rarely have problems with obtaining money in the local currency but the posts here seem to suggest that I may have done it wrongly (or all the people here have done it wrongly):

From the local ATM's, I just use my Visa debit card to withdraw money from my regular account at home. I don't have to pay any fees for this and there's no addditional fuss, so I wonder why others can't just do the same. Do I miss something here??

[skylee]

From the local ATM's, I just use my Visa debit card to withdraw money from my regular account at home. I don't have to pay any fees for this and there's no addditional fuss, so I wonder why others can't just do the same. Do I miss something here??

I can do the same anywhere at any ATMs with the "maestro" and "cirrus" logos. But the bank charges me about HKD 30 per transaction and the exchange rate is usually poor.

[HashiriKata]

Thanks skylee, I'll remember to check my statement next time.

(but it's also possible that there is no charge if you use a Debit Card (and not Credit Card))

[mr.stinky]

"I was told if I deposited USD $1,000 cash into my account that I could keep it there and when I wanted to withdraw it or convert it to RMB for an exchange rate of about 8.00 RMB to a dollar."

two exchange rates at BofC. Cash gets you about 8.01, whereas wired funds get you the

official 8.06 (or thereabouts). maybe a handling fee for banknotes?

"If I had USD $1,000 transferred into my account, they would charge me USD $3 for every USD $1,000 that I withdrew, but if I wanted to convert it, I would get a better conversion rate, something like 8.01."

fee to accept a wire transfer is US$10. there is no additional fee to convert to RMB. any

fee would be included in the conversion rate. don't know about withdrawing US$.