I am a US citizen moving to Taiwan for a year. I will be doing my banking with a taiwanese bank, but I was to leave some money parked in the US that I can draw from if need be. Are any of the US banks particularly better to have on Taiwan? Do any of them have taiwanese branches or relationships with taiwanese banks? Do any of them have lower transaction fees for Taiwan, or work better with taiwanese atms?
Thanks for any advice.
It doesnt really matter which bank you have in the US; you can do ATM withdrawals and transfer money from bank to bank, and do online banking.
We are planning on moving back to Taiwan as soon as things open back up. I am a US citizen and wife is dual US-Taiwan. We are planning on living off of investments and eventually SS (in a few years time). I would like to keep most of my banking in the US and just do a few transfers a year into a Taiwan bank account. Can anyone recommend which banks in the US and Taiwan would be best for this type of scenario? I am currently at a credit union and they have outrageous international transfer fees.
Thanks.
8 years later in this thread, the answer is the same … no no particular advantage. The process will remain the same … you have to make wire transfers from US to Taiwan. Doesn’t matter which bank.
Citi is gone now. I don’t think there exist any US banks which provide consumer services anymore.
Citi is still open and provides free international transfers between accounts in the US and Taiwan.
They’ve decided to exit the market. The consumer business will be sold off to someone.
This does not mean they are “gone now”. They continue to provide services.
One option if you are receiving income/etc. in USD. “transfers” can sometimes cost more than just using an ATM as needed depending on how much you transfer. Transfers, wire transfers, etc. can unfortunately be a headache in Taiwan.
Exchange rates continue to trend infavorably for transferring/exchanging USD to TWD. Was ~33 few years back, now down below 28.
US “banks” in Taiwan tend to want larger deposits, investment, etc. to open account in Taiwan so check that if it fits for you.
You do realize they want to live here long term.
What’s the point of suggesting something which is sure to close in the near future. ?
They will not closed but be bought by a new bank. My past bank account was also bought out in Taiwan and the process was smooth with the new bank as most of the staff was the same and knew international services well (far different from some other banks here). It may not be a bad suggestion as it maybe same staff which is important as they help a lot.
Yes that’s what I said above. When another bank will buy the business, there obviously won’t be anymore citi 2 citi free transfers.
Hence citi is out.
or another option, use a Taiwan bank in the USA, they have branches in major cities where Taiwanese are and have offer normal accounts, and wire discounts to same bank in Taiwan,
example https://www.ctbcbankusa.com/Wire-Transfers-Services
Fidelity.com
No fee for ATM, wiring. 2% payback for credit card.
Great exchange rate at ATM withdraw.
Great service by phone.
well that stinks. Citi was gonna be my bank when we move to Taiwan. I’ll have to do some more research now. Will HSBC continue to operate in both countries? What about DBS? (In America they only have branches in LA)
https://www.about.us.hsbc.com/news-and-media/hsbc-exits-us-mass-market-retail-banking
Again, don’t bother trying to find a specific bank. The effort is the same with any bank here. Just choose a local bank and setup wire transfer to and fro. That’s what I do.
My mom doesn’t do any wire transfers from her US a account - just hit up the ATM on the regular. Schwab works well for this - no ATM fees, no foreign transaction fees, and any local ATM fees that are charged are refunded. 20k nt default limit iirc, which isn’t too onerous. Good customer service too.
what’s the exchange rate like in such a scenario?
I don’t know how they calculate the exact rate, but when I’ve spot checked a few withdraws, it’s always been within the daily range for whatever particular day the withdraw has been on.
Yeah, Schwab is great for transaction free ATM action. I use a US credit card from a different institution for transaction free credit charges. However not all stores take international credit cards. For example, Carrefour does not. But they take Taiwan cards.
I hate paying by cash. (I accumulate so much change, etc. ) Yeah, I know it’s unavoidable in Taiwan at many places. I’d love to have a cc of Taiwan origin, but I imagine online payment would be in Chinese. I suppose I could translate the pages using google translate, but it seems like more trouble than it’s worth.
You sure about that? I’d need to double check, but I’m pretty sure my mom had used her card (as an added user on my u.s. account) at carrefour.