Thank you to everyone for the answers to my post about whether or not to move to Taiwan. We’re still not 100% set, but we are leaning in that direction. My current concern is banking, since I know Taiwan is a bit behind the times there. We have a number of credit cards in the USA we need to pay off, and I simply do so from my main checking account. In Taiwan, however, I will be paid to a Taiwanese bank. I was wondering if anyone knows of a bank in Taiwan that you can directly transfer funds to a US bank without major fees or delays. I remember when I lived in Taiwan a decade ago and someone did a bank to bank transfer from the USA, and it took like three weeks for the funds to show up and they had been eaten away by fees. I must avoid that since these will be regular monthly payments.
In general if you are transferring massive amount of money at once, then bank transfer is the way to go, but like you said there’s always the risk that it goes through a bunch of intermediate banks and have it eaten up by fees… probably better to open accounts at banks that’s more “international” to avoid this.
Or you can use PayPal, but you MUST open an account at E Sun bank if you wish to do it this way. HOWEVER that’s only to receive money. So what happens is you can keep a paypal account for your checking account in the US, then when you open your account in Taiwan make sure to get a visa debit card. Then you can use that debit card to pay into your paypal account, then go ahead and unload the paypal account into your checking account. Just be careful and don’t get into a buyer dispute where your fund gets frozen…
Fee is around 3% if you do it this way. Supposed to be no fee if you use the “Send to friends and family” option but that option won’t be there if you are sending from an international paypal account.
But there’s one thing you can try (I’m not guaranteeing that this will work): Have your friend/family in the states send money to your paypal account (and of course use the “send to friends or family” option) using YOUR Visa debit card as source of fund. This way there will be no fee apart from currency conversion rate differences. But this will require a second person that you must trust explicitly.
Heck you can even just create your own paypal donate button to make this easy… you don’t need a paypal account to send/pay money, you only need it to receive it.
Fun-fact: Taiwan banks manage entirely without paper-based cheques and transfers within Taiwan are almost instant! I would argue that the banking system in Taiwan is in some parts more modern than the one in the US.
You can easily open a USD account in Taiwan and then send and receive USD.
Most banks in Taiwan can do SWIFT transfers which usually take between 1-3 business days. Fees should be between US$10-30 per transfer (!) - so if you send US$100, the fees will be crazy. If you transfer US$5000-10000 every couple of months, though, they will be more than manageable.
Some people will recommend opening an account with HSBC (or maybe Citibank if I remember it right) in both countries. They apparently allow free instant transfers between accounts.
My SWIFTs from local Taiwan bank to major US bank is done overnight.
Meaning if I wire something on May 1 Taiwan time before 3:30pm thereabouts, by May 1 U.S. east coast time about 9am it shows up into my account as “pending”.
Might be helpful to say which bank it is, as every bank has their own transfer pathways and therefore fees and time…
I’ve done it with 5-6 local banks (government ones included) and even post office. All get into account in that time span. Any big U.S. bank will do. Don’t do credit unions or some regional bank.
that’s very true, and the fees for domestic transfers are negligible (15NT tops, unless you transfer very large amounts). I reckon sooner than later free instant transfers will be reality in TW across the board.
Banks here need just to get the apps/website and policies right, the infrastructure is good tbh, even domestic clearing for foreign currencies which is not a common feature.
Yea, in the US ATM fees can be several dollars. The US still uses paper checks and ACH transfers.
They even still buy groceries using paper checks but as cashiers we just take a blank check from the customer, ring up the amount, put the check in some machine, and the machine automatically debits the account for the amount rung up. We basically give the check back to the customer once done, unless instructed not to. You might as well use a visa debit card because it serves the exact same purpose as a check, except you don’t waste any paper.
Another thing the US is behind is that they still use magnetic strips on credit cards, which means they’re subject to skimming and other insecure things. Taiwan’s done away with them and basically only uses chips. But magnetic strips are still there in case you have to travel with the debit card.
Richart charges $5
I’m sorry but the US is the reason why banking is such a mess! You and you’re never ending civil war deserters punishment of taxing citizens no matter where they are!
This makes the US passport the worst when it comes to taxation with the incredibly successful expats dropping the US passport as soon as the get the chance with the remainder seriously contemplating renunciation.
I think the focus for US citizens should be on petitioning their own government to end the taxation of it’s citizens not residing in the US. FATCA can stay but make reforms so it is similar to the much friendlier CRS.
The problems in Taiwan are directly related to the current US taxation regime.
Only way is lobbying and billions of dollars. US is not a democracy, it is an oligarchy.
At work we transfer into Taiwan regularly, takes up to 2 working days (depends on time difference) .
Last time we transferred ~20,000 usd and fee was around 60USD (total of both sides).
I get my salary from HK in USD, paid to my HSBC TW account from DBS HK. Paid on the morning the day before, received mostly at evening the day after, just need to call them to credit, otherwise they do that the day after receiving, so within t+1/2 days.
When I transfer AUD from Australia to Taiwan I usually get charged $30AUD from Australia for sending and usually nothing in Taiwan to receive I’ve only been charged once and I think it was $200NT equivalent or something.
When I send AUD from Taiwan to Australia I get charged $300NTD to send from TW and $0-$30AUD to receive
In both directions the funds are available the next business day
Which bank are you with? HSBC charges nothing…
Not HSBC 
I use Cathay in TW and either NAB or ING in Au - they charge similar fees. (ING gets routed through commbank so commbank takes a fee and ING doesn’t charge anything)
I recently opened a commbank joint account and their fee is only $11aud to receive but I just can’t be bothered going to Cathay to add another account
HSBC doesn’t charge fees on incoming transactions and neither did Citibank (until they became a part of NAB)
NO wonder. Nobody sends a bank draft they do a telegraphic transfer. That’s what I did back in the 1980’s. Pretty standard. Just send funds to your own bank account in the USA and use online banking to pay off you credit cards.
If I send funds in morning to USA the recipient receives it same day as they are behind us on time. From Taiwan Co-operative bank anyways.
Banks here charge a flat fee for the transfer the amount sent is irrelevant unless you send large amounts where the fee and exchange rates can be negotiated. Normally NT$400 flat fee. Now some receiving banks also charge fees