My bank in the U.S. won't let me wire money to Taiwan!

Business Money
1

Last night, I sent a fax to my bank in the U.S. (BB&T Bank in Maryland) and told them I wanted them to wire a certain amount of money to my bank account here in Taiwan. I wrote down the name of my bank, the SWIFT code of my bank, the branch name, and my account number, and I expected that this morning I could just go into my bank here in Taiwan and the money would be there in my account.

I was just getting ready to drive to the bank this morning when I checked my e-mail, and I was shocked to get a message from my bank in the U.S. that says that they have a policy that they can not wire money unless the account holder signs a form in person! They also said that they would not let anyone else (e.g., my mother or father) sign the form in place of me.

So now how am I supposed to get my money over here? I’m certainly not going to take off work for a week and pay NT$50,000 for a round-trip plane ticket to the U.S. just for the sake of signing a form! That would be ridiculous!

Any ideas?

2

I know the bank said that it would not allow anyone else to sign for you… but, many banks have very specific form Powers of Attorney that can be used for such cases. You should ask your bank if it has such a POA.

Actually, you should write to your bank and explain your situation and tell them to offer a solution.

3

This restriction is in place to protect your interests – otherwise anyone could send a fax to your bank asking that your money be wired to an account somewhere else; such fraud would be especially problematic across international borders, as it would become nearly impossible for the remitting bank to recall the funds.

Even domestically, from what I’ve seen, banks won’t take faxed instructions unless you authorize this in advance (that is, authorize them to accept faxed instructions from you), typically with certain restrictions (such as only to a particular account, or with particular $ limits) and they will likely ask you to indemnify them as well.

If this is a checking account you may have to write a check to your parents, then have them wire the money to you.

Or you may be able to negotiate with your bank about the procedure, as Tigerman suggests, asking them to suggest a solution (putting the onus on them). Perhaps they’ll take digital video evidence of the signing? Who knows.

4

My bank is Australia said a similar thing to me about my credit card. In order for them to send it to Taiwan, they need me to sign a form in person at the bank authorising it.

So I’ve been without a usable credit card for the past few years. I hate banks.

5

Transfer your money to a family members account. Have them wire it.

Then look for a bank that doesn’t have such restrictions and allow for online management for wiring money.

I think Citibank and Chase have those functions.

6

The only way you are going to get it wired out of your account is either in person or a notarized POA delivered to them, no copies or faxes are acceptable sine they want to see the physical seal. It really is for your protection.

Many of my clients were international and everytime they wanted to get cash out we had to go through that tedious process

7

do you have a checkcard?

8

I had to give my UK bank a waiver/disclaimer for sending instructions by fax. I can instruct my bank to make any transaction that would otherwise have to be made in person, but I have to accept liability for any fraud. They have my contact numbers on file and whenever an instruction is faxed they call me to verify a set of passwords. It sucks if you find out about this after you already left the country but I’m glad it works this way.

9

Actually, on the fax that I sent to my bank, I specifically told them as much personal information as I could about myself in order to prove who I am. I told them:

  1. My name
  2. My bank account number
  3. My social security number
  4. My date of birth
  5. My address (in Taiwan)
  6. My telephone number
  7. My e-mail address
  8. My mother’s maiden name

That should be enough information to prove that I really am Mark Nagel. In the U.S., to make a bank transaction over the phone, they only require that you give them 4 pieces of identifying information (e.g., name, bank account number, social security number, and date of birth). So I gave them 8 pieces of identifying information, just so they could be sure that I really am Mark Nagel.

By the way, I wrote an e-mail to my bank last night, asking if I could wire the money to a domestic bank instead of an international bank. I got their reply this morning. They said “Definitely not, unless it is another branch of BB&T Bank”.

I haven’t yet asked the bank about getting a power of attorney (POA), but I would rather not do that because I don’t want my parents to try to control my finances. And other than my parents, I don’t trust anyone else enough except my brother and sister, but they don’t live near my bank.

10

[quote=“Mark Nagel”]

By the way, I wrote an e-mail to my bank last night, asking if I could wire the money to a domestic bank instead of an international bank. I got their reply this morning. They said “Definitely not, unless it is another branch of BB&T Bank”. [/quote]

Whoa, talk about being behind the times… :unamused:

My mother is my POA and it has worked well. But I don’t think you would be able to get that arranged anyway from Taiwan. When I did it, my mother and I both had to go in person to a lawyer and sign a bunch of documents together.

Does your bank happen to have any online banking services that they maybe neglected to tell you about? That’s how I take care of all of my financial matters nowadays, with my US bank (HSBC) and my bank in the UAE. I can wire money internationally or domestically with the click of a button.

11

POA’s require both parties to be present and sign in person. That has been my experience, as well.

Sorry, Mark. :frowning:

12

Banks are by nature conservative, except when they are lending money like crazy to every Tom, Dick and Harry…

Thus, they often say that they can’t do this and can’t do that… its a bit of covering their own asses and a bit of laziness on the part of the particular service rep…

I have granted my father Power of Attorney to perform certain acts in connection with one of my accounts, and I did so by signing the bank’s POA in front of a notary at AIT. Originally I had prepared a POA that was specific for this purpose, and had my signature notarized. But, the bank insisted on using its own POA with lots of legal disclaimer language and stuff. OK. Fine. But I signed it here in Taipei.

You need to get on the phone and speak with someone at your bank who has the authority to make a decision… tell them that you will close out your account first chance you have if they cannot help you in this matter.

13

Wow, really…what a pain!

I signed a general POA (I think???) with my Mom back in 1996 when I was leaving for the Peace Corps. She has used it for all of these years on occasion when I needed it, primarily for banking matters (buying bonds, cashing some once, wiring money from my account…). She has used it for both HSBC and M&T Banks in the States without any issues.

Did you have to pay for the POA through your bank, or was it a freebie?

14

It was free… except in the cost of wasted time and effort. There was nothing wrong with the POA that I had drafted.

15

I just finished talking on the phone to the manager of my American bank (BB&T Bank). I asked him these questions about how I could get access to the money that I want to wire to Taiwan:

  1. How about if you faxed the “Wire Transfer Form” to me and I signed it in front of a lawyer or a notary public, who would also sign the form. That way it would be a “guaranteed signature”. Also, my wife could videotape me signing the form. Then I could fax the form back to you and I could send the DVD (of the video) to you by Express Mail.

  2. Could I set up my father or mother to be my Power of Attorney (POA) so that they could sign the form instead of me?

  3. Is the reason why BB&T Bank refuses to wire my money to me because the amount of money is over $10,000? What about if I broke it up into lots of little pieces and wired each piece separately? What is the maximum amount of money that I can wire to Taiwan without having to be physically present?

  4. What about if I opened up an account at Citibank in Taiwan (the “real” branches of Citibank, not the ones called “Citibank Taiwan”). Could I wire the money to a Citibank account, since it is an American bank?

Here are the bank manager’s answers

  1. The person who wants to wire money out of his/her account must be physically present inside the branch of BB&T Bank where his/her account is. Since your account is in the Middletown, Maryland branch of BB&T Bank, you must be physically present inside the Middletown, Maryland branch of BB&T Bank to sign the “Wire Transfer Form”. There are no exceptions. So if you signed the form in Taiwan, even if you signed the form in front of a dozen lawyers and a dozen notary publics, and they also signed the form, it would be totally useless. And it doesn’t matter whether or not the signing is videotaped either.

  2. If I want a person to be my Power of Attorney (POA), then I must be physically present to do that, too. So since I am in Taiwan, it is impossible for me to arrange for anyone to be my Power of Attorney.

  3. The rules about wiring money are exactly the same no matter how much money is wired. So even if I wanted to wire just $1, I would still have to be physically present in Middletown, Maryland even to wire $1.

  4. The rules about wiring money are exactly the same no matter if the money is wired to a domestic bank (within the U.S.) or if the money is wired to any bank in any other country. The only exception is that if the money is wired to an account which is in another branch of BB&T Bank, then the rules do not apply. In other words, I do not need to be physically present to wire the money to any account which is in any branch of BB&T Bank, but I must be physically present to wire the money to any other account, even to an account which is at another bank which is also in Middletown, Maryland.

Then I asked the bank manager what he suggests in order for me to get my money to Taiwan. He said that these are the only alternatives:

  1. Order a book of checks, which takes two weeks. Then when the checks come (two weeks later), the bank can mail them to my address in Taiwan (which takes another two weeks). Then I can write a personal check to the bank in Taiwan in which I want to deposit my money in. But it will take about one month for the check to clear. So this would take a total of two months from the time when I order the book of checks until I finally get the money into my bank account in Taiwan. (My account is a checking account, but when I opened up my account, I never ordered any checks because I didn’t think I would need checks, since I live in Taiwan.)

  2. The bank can mail me a cashier’s check. It would be much easier to deposit a cashier’s check rather than a personal check, but it would still take about one month for the check to clear and an additional two weeks until I receive the check by “snail mail” because the bank is not willing to send the cashier’s check by Federal Express, DHL, EMS, UPS, or any other method of Express Mail. But it would be sent as Registered Mail. So that means it would take about 6 weeks from the time I tell the bank to send me a cashier’s check until the time I get the money into my bank account in Taiwan.

Actually, I thought of another idea, but I didn’t tell the bank manager. Maybe I could set up an “e-gold” account (http://www.e-gold.com) in which I virtually buy a certain number of ounces of gold. Then I could transfer my money from my BB&T account to my e-gold account, and then transfer the money from my e-gold account to my bank account in Taiwan. I’m going to try this this weekend, and I’ll let everyone know if it works.

16

[quote=“Mark Nagel”]1. Order a book of checks, which takes two weeks. Then when the checks come (two weeks later), the bank can mail them to my address in Taiwan (which takes another two weeks). Then I can write a personal check to the bank in Taiwan in which I want to deposit my money in. But it will take about one month for the check to clear. So this would take a total of two months from the time when I order the book of checks until I finally get the money into my bank account in Taiwan. (My account is a checking account, but when I opened up my account, I never ordered any checks because I didn’t think I would need checks, since I live in Taiwan.)

  1. The bank can mail me a cashier’s check. It would be much easier to deposit a cashier’s check rather than a personal check, but it would still take about one month for the check to clear and an additional two weeks until I receive the check by “snail mail” because the bank is not willing to send the cashier’s check by Federal Express, DHL, EMS, UPS, or any other method of Express Mail. But it would be sent as Registered Mail. So that means it would take about 6 weeks from the time I tell the bank to send me a cashier’s check until the time I get the money into my bank account in Taiwan.

Actually, I thought of another idea, but I didn’t tell the bank manager. Maybe I could set up an “e-gold” account (http://www.e-gold.com) in which I virtually buy a certain number of ounces of gold. Then I could transfer my money from my BB&T account to my e-gold account, and then transfer the money from my e-gold account to my bank account in Taiwan. I’m going to try this this weekend, and I’ll let everyone know if it works.[/quote]

Your e-gold idea isn’t going to work. If they won’t allow you to wire money to any account, foreign or domestic, how are you going to wire the money to a lunatic-fringe gold trust?

That said, Uncle Squiddie has a solution for you.

1. Order checks printed.

You don’t have to do this through the bank; they are legally required to accept any reasonable check form (**), whether printed by a third party or by the bank itself. (This assumes that the account isn’t some special supersecretsquirrel sort of account that requires you to sign forms to get check-writing privileges to begin with.) You should be able to get the checks sent to your father’s (*) address within three business days.

2. Get your father (*) to FedEx a deck of blank checks to you.

3. Write a check to your father.(*)

3a. Remember to sign and date the damn thing.

4. FedEx the check back to your father(*).

5. Have your father(*) deposit the check into his account.

6. Have your father(*) wire-transfer the money to your account in Taiwan.

7. Call the bank manager at BB&T, tell him/her/it to go get sodomized by a gorilla, and go have a Hoegaarden (***) and a calzone at Alleycat’s.

Expected total time: about one week. Sorry, man.

() or other responsible party of your choice, if your father isn’t one.
() For that matter, they at least used to be required to accept any form at all, which resulted in people writing checks on the back of a shirt and mailing the shirt to the IRS. Legal, marginally amusing, and the banks were obligated to honor the shirts as valid checks.
() serving suggestion only

17

I am really so shocked that in this day and age when everything is done electronically, this bank is still operating as if it were living in pre-internet days. It must be so infuriating for you! They really need to get with the times, or they will lose customers who can’t be bothered with their antiquated ways.

18

[quote=“Indiana”][quote=“Mark Nagel”]

By the way, I wrote an e-mail to my bank last night, asking if I could wire the money to a domestic bank instead of an international bank. I got their reply this morning. They said “Definitely not, unless it is another branch of BB&T Bank”. [/quote]

Whoa, talk about being behind the times… :unamused:

My mother is my POA and it has worked well. But I don’t think you would be able to get that arranged anyway from Taiwan. When I did it, my mother and I both had to go in person to a lawyer and sign a bunch of documents together.

Does your bank happen to have any online banking services that they maybe neglected to tell you about? That’s how I take care of all of my financial matters nowadays, with my US bank (HSBC) and my bank in the UAE. I can wire money internationally or domestically with the click of a button.[/quote]

seems like you should at least be able to close your account and get then to Mail a cashier’s check to your US address. Someone else should be able to send it to you, or maybe use it to open a different account at home. Or you could use it to open another account via internet. There should be some way of getting your funds outta that bank.

19

Don’t USA have internet banking?
-Checks went out of style back in the 80s back in Europe.

Change bank right away, and find one where you can do your transactions on internet, and not by fax!!!???

Damned, our company threw out our faxmachine 2 year ago (in Taiwan), and where I am working now, we never had a fax - they are as obsolete as telex - teleprinters.

The whole process sounds like Taiwan 10 years ago (checks, faxes, stamp, personal appearance…). US banking better speed up, or they will be buried in the dust.

20

I bet that bank is already burried in the dust and that’s why they won’t deal with him unless he’s there in person–they know he’s not and they don’t want to lose his funds.

You absolutly need a new bank. I’m telling ya, I think you should shop for a bank online, then call your bank and get them to send that cashier’s check to your new bank, or to your dad so he can take it there and deposit it into your new account.