Best Way (Cheapest and Most Convenient) to Transfer Money

Hi All,

I’m trying to work out the best way to transfer money (to Australia) that doesn’t involve being bitten really hard on fees (eg. Western Union) or doesn’t involve a lot of chasing my own tail (eg. dealing with my bank).

Preferably, I’d like to be able to transfer money from a Taiwanese bank to my Australian bank via online banking. Both my accounts here (Bank of Taiwan and Cathay United) told me I couldn’t do this. In the case of Bank of Taiwan, they told my colleague I could over the phone, and then told my girlfriend I couldn’t when we went into the bank. Ironically, I remember being asked if I wanted internet banking a long time ago when I came here, but I declined. What the hell is going on here? To compound it all, I wanted to close my account with them, but as is typical, there was a massive queue and I had to go…customer service is not their forte. Is it actually possible to do this in Taiwan, or am I really imagining that I’m living in the 21st century?

Failing that, what’s the cheapest over-the-counter method? Is it much cheaper to do it at my bank instead of Western Union, for example?

Or, another option might be to get an additional ATM card (is this possible?), send it to my parents, and get them to take money out with that and deposit that money into my account in Australia.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]Hi All,

I’m trying to work out the best way to transfer money (to Australia) that doesn’t involve being bitten really hard on fees (eg. Western Union) or doesn’t involve a lot of chasing my own tail (eg. dealing with my bank).

Preferably, I’d like to be able to transfer money from a Taiwanese bank to my Australian bank via online banking. Both my accounts here (Bank of Taiwan and Cathay United) told me I couldn’t do this. In the case of Bank of Taiwan, they told my colleague I could over the phone, and then told my girlfriend I couldn’t when we went into the bank. Ironically, I remember being asked if I wanted internet banking a long time ago when I came here, but I declined. What the hell is going on here? To compound it all, I wanted to close my account with them, but as is typical, there was a massive queue and I had to go…customer service is not their forte. Is it actually possible to do this in Taiwan, or am I really imagining that I’m living in the 21st century?

Failing that, what’s the cheapest over-the-counter method? Is it much cheaper to do it at my bank instead of Western Union, for example?

Or, another option might be to get an additional ATM card (is this possible?), send it to my parents, and get them to take money out with that and deposit that money into my account in Australia.

Thanks for any suggestions.[/quote]

It depends:
I use the extra ATM card option for small intermittent amounts. Some banks are pretty picky about giving you an extra card but if you explain you want to be able to have your family buy Christmas gifts, etc with the extra card, most will relent. This is by far the cheapest method but remember the limit for your parents to withdraw is a set amount - usually about 150 US per day. If your parents bank at a small home bank they can talk to the manager (after you email the manager describing the problem) you might be able to have the manager override the maximum per day limit. Such is the case at my bank in the U.S., but others here have reported much difficulty. Still if your folks are near a bank on a regular basis, this 150 adds up quickly. Don’t forget to tell your Taiwan bank that you want to withdraw abroad because, at least in the States, I need to have a 4 digit pin along with my 6 digit pin. My U.S. bank charges 1.50 U.S. per withdrawal and this also adds up quickly. Banks here will charge for each wire transfer and your folks bank will charge a fee for receivals. Thus each transfer will cost you about 1,000 NT (about 30 U.S.) Thus its easy to see that some small occasional transfers are cheapest by ATM however, large amounts are best wired.

I have also wondered about a Taiwan equivalent of a Cashiers Check and having it sent to the U.S. but I really doubt this would amount to less than 1,000 NT after I factor in the fee for the draft and expedited secure insured mailing.

EDIT: BTW, I think the que system here is just as convenient as in Australia. While living on the Gold Coast, if I wanted to talk to a manager or service person for other than deposit or withdrawal, I usually had to make an appointment or simply hope that someone had time to talk to me. Here, yes, I wait but nobody has ever asked to make an advance appointment as I was asked to do Down Under.
Also, keep in mind that some family member should be able to access your funds here in the event of some disaster. Tying up your funds here and getting access after an untimely demise is an absolute nightmare.

Enigma: Thanks for your reply.

Is the fee for wiring a flat ~1,000NT? It seemed to me that Western Union merely took a percentage of the money. I thought that it would be sensible to save up a large amount and send it all at once, but it basically worked out at about 5% of what I wanted to send. I almost coughed up a lung.

You’re only allowed to withdraw $150 per day in the U.S.? That’s not a lot. I think I could get $800 per day in Australia. Do you know what the limit generally is in Taiwan? I assume it’s at least 30,000NT since they have that option on the ATMS I’ve used. With that in mind, it might not actually cost a lot to go with the “second ATM card sent to my parents” option as it’s going to be less than 1% in all likelihood to take money out that way.

I’m sure it’s apples and oranges with queues. Personally, I’ve never really had much reason to talk to anyone at a bank. Basically, it’s just been about setting up accounts, plus depositing the occasional cheque or withdrawing more than the daily ATM limit. What frustrates the hell out of me is a combination of two things. The first is the even shorter bank hours here than back home, combined with this one really retarded thing about my job. My job is generally pretty cool, but for some stupid reason, even if we’re sitting around doing nothing (which is the case for about twenty hours per week – and has been for most of this week), we’re not allowed to leave the premises for more than one hour per month unless we take time off that’s going to cost us money. Strictly speaking, we’re not supposed to even go across the street to the shop. We can, and do, do anything else we like from surfing the internet/playing computer games to using the gym to playing tennis with the P.E. teachers or students to even sleeping for a couple of hours in plain view of our managers, but we can’t leave the premises. It’s annoying since we finish work after the banks close and it’s a bit of a stretch sometimes even to get in and out of one of my banks in that one hour because it’s right near the train station (so parking is a hassle) and half of northern Taiwan seems to be in the bank at any one time.

It’s not a flat fee but by the time you add the charges on both ends it adds up to about 1,000 NT per transfer, not a percentage - at least not at my bank. I don’t know about Australia receiving from here. However wiring from and to U.S. from AU was about the same as from here.
As for the withdrawal amounts in Australia, ask and do the math to decide how to get your money there.
Sorry about your fucked up job but that is 100% in your control and you can always get off the bus. (That sounds more harsh than I mean it but you get the point.) Lots of good jobs out there for somebody that wants to look around.

Enigma: Thanks for the information again.

I wasn’t saying my job was fucked up. It’s actually a pretty good job as they go, and it’s tax-free, which is my favourite tax rate. No one seems to be able to run a piss-up in a brewery, as we’d say, but that seems to be the way in this country. I was just saying there’s one really annoying (and bizarre, in light of what else I wrote, eg. sleeping, working out, playing computer games) condition of where I work.

The last time I transferred money overseas was about nine months ago. It only cost NT$300 at the Chang Hwa Bank. They have a separate counter for dealing with “international business” so there is no need to get a number for the queue. I have always found this very simple and easy and I think the fee is very reasonable. I expect other banks might charge different fees, but you certainly don’t need to pay NT$1,000 or get robbed by Western Union.

But I think you will find that the receiving bank also charges a fee. Mine in the U.S., as I recall, also charged me 18.00 U.S.

and if it’s an Australian account, you will get robbed coming into the bank, leaving the bank, and for every second you deign to keep any of your money with them. Oh, and they’ll even take money from you that doesn’t exist yet, just for the ‘privilege’ of keeping an account with them.

but then you know that.

Australian banks are the most profitable in the world, for their shareholders.

[quote=“urodacus”]and if it’s an Australian account, you will get robbed coming into the bank, leaving the bank, and for every second you deign to keep any of your money with them. Oh, and they’ll even take money from you that doesn’t exist yet, just for the ‘privilege’ of keeping an account with them.

but then you know that.

Australian banks are the most profitable in the world, for their shareholders.[/quote]

I own shares in the bank so they give me a special account exempt from many fees. It’s not so bad getting robbed by the bank when you own a little bit of it :slight_smile:

any updates to this poster’s question…?

I too would like to send some money home to Australia…

I have recently closed all my Australian bank accounts, although would like to send some money back to family members…(Commonwealth Bank accounts)…

I’ll be moving back to Australia later this year and want to transfer Taiwan dollars to Australia. Anyone have any experience with this? Anything changed in the 8 years since this thread was opened?

It’s fairly simple. Go to the bank, ask them to exchange your money to AUD, then transfer. Do not transfer TWD, because your bank in Australia will likely give you a much worse rate on that.

You will need the SWIFT code of the bank and they will likely charge you something like $500 or $600 NTD transfer fees. Thus, minimise the number of transactions.

I have sent money to Australia using my bank in the manner that randomphil described. I also asked for and got inmternet banking when i opened my account, I can use it for most things but overseas transfers are not enabled. When I asked at the bank they said I needed 12 months validity on my ARC to have that enabled - so I need to wait till I get that renewed, then I will try again.

Just wondering though there is a service associated with 7-11 in other countries called moneygram which isnt much good because they charge about the same as western union - however a while back I saw they were offering any first time users a $1 transfer of any amount, does anyone know anything about moneygram or any similar service.

Excerpted from a different thread:

I’ve never needed this service and can’t offer any advice - anybody with up-to-date info here? :slight_smile: