@Taidong I think I’ve developed a special relation with a human, because just before leaving Taiwan one month ago, I told the nice girl at the counter my Taiwan mobile number wouldn’t work after I had left the country, I offered to give her the mobile number I use in my country so they could call me there, but she just said, ok, no problem, we won’t call so far so good, money arrive on my account but they stay in usd, which is good to me.
Because no ARC I haven’t managed yet to get a card I can use outside Taiwan, so when I go travel I carry cash, taped to my body like in the movies… maybe in another year or two I can convince them I’m not a dangerous foreign criminal and I can get a normal debit card.
Also, because no ARC, they say, I can use my online banking just to check my funds.
@humantooth the person who calls you every time you receive a wire is someone from the branch where you have your account, first time they called me they tried in English, now they just speak Chinese, good practice if you are learning, or just say 好
2018 update? I’m in a similar situation. I’ve been told at a bank in Kaohsiung that the rules have changed. Anyone have any insight now about banking? Very similar to above. I’m in Taiwan most of the time (studying Mandarin), no ARC, and need to receive wires of USD that can be used here.
Currently, I access my HSBC (USA, not Premier) through the ridiculous, frequent trip to their ATM and its 10k TWD daily limit. sigh…
Well if you have no ARC than no bank account.
You are lucky that HSBC is here and you can withdraw from your abroad bank account. They have no commission.
I think this solution is even cheaper for you because your account can be funded at no cost back in your own country which is easier than wiring money here. Especially if the account that wires the money to you from abroad is not under your name. 10.000 a day are not enough for you?
thank you. I’m talking about personal bank account (HSBC). 10.000 is usually enough, but not always. Example: hiring an air conditioning contractor or carpenter. They don’t take credit cards and require more funds than my HSBC limit.
I’ve been using Citibank to transfer USD every month between the US and Taiwan for years. Just the basic savings account in both countries and you can link them online.
My goal is to be able to transfer USD (in Taiwan) to the US (my broker’s bank account, that use Citibank).
I went to Citibank:
1st they couldn’t open an account immediately, you have to take an appointment to do that, and it’s often 2 or 3 weeks later.
2nd, the fees to send USD to abroad is 600NTD + 20USD to 40 USD.
3rd, as a foreigner, you can’t use their “Citibank global transfer option”, allowing free worldwide transfer between Citibank account. Only taiwanese can have it!!!
4th, the alternative to waive the fees is to maintain a USD 100k balance (3M TWD). But that will only give you only 1 free USD transfer a month.
Definitely not ideal.
I’ve checked with Transferwise, but the broker do not do not accept payments from 3rd services like that.
What’s the situation nowadays? I want to send money to myself (USD from Canada) but I keep getting hit by intermediary and receiving fees. I think last time sent 7000$, in Canada it cost me 40$, then intermediary took about 30$, and here my bank took 200 TWD. What is the best bank to use to receive USD wire transfers? My goal is to have fewest fees possible.
Seems like HSBC global transfer is best but I’d need to open an account with them next time I go back. And in this climate, who knows when that will be.
I’m interested in this also. I have US PNC and local first bank. Are the forex systems worth it? I’d ideally like to also transfer around seven or eight thousand.
so far so good, money arrive on my account but they stay in usd, which is good to me.