I have a bank account with the Post Office bank (Changhwa?) here in Taiwan. Today for the first time I decided to wire transfer some of NT dollars to my TD Canada Trust bank account. Everything seemed straight forward - including the $400 NT service charge.
But the only problem was that they only transfer in US dollars. I decided to do it anyway, but now I am concerned about what will happen at the other end…will the money arrive in US Dollars and sit in my Canadian currency account until I convert it? Do they do the conversion automatically, for a fee (on top of receiving the wire transfer)? Will they return it?
There must be a few Canadians here who have accounts with both the Post Office bank and TD Canada trust and have wired money before…what is your experience and what is the best way of doing it?
Thanks
It will arrive in Canadian dollars, though you will get hit with steep charges from TD and whatever intermediary bank the Post Office Bank uses to remit money to North America. An example: A transfer I did from ICBC, now Mega Bank to the Royal Bank in Canada got routed through Citi Bank in New York. Fees, to the tune of about CAD$75 applied…Something like USD$40 from Citi and then another CAD$25 from the Royal…That was quite a few years ago and the last time I did it. Thought the fees were way out of line.
I phoned TD bank in Canada to ask in what currency the money arrives in and it is Canadian dollars. However, they use their own exchange rate to do the conversion which is about 0.023 below the Bank of Canada (the market rate). This translates to about $23 profit per $1000 CAD for them.
The Canadian market rate is very close to the rate available in Taiwan. I sent $2000 CAD which means I lost $46 on conversion alone as well as another $10 they charge for receiving the money plus another $13 or so (400 NT) charged by the Post Office Bank. So far I am looking at close to $70 in fees and exchange rates penalties. God only knows if there are intermediate bank charges to follow. Altogether an expensive lesson.
Now all I need to know is if there is a bank in Taiwan which will simply accept your NT dollars in cash (so I wouldn’t need to open an account with them), convert them to Canadian dollars at the market rate and then just charge 400 NT or so service fee for wiring to my TD Canada account.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to do this cheaper for next time ? Thanks!
Maybe buy Travellers checks from AMEX ? And mail them to your bank and cash it? I believe AMEX sells canadian dollar denominated checks. Course you have to check with your bank about this and AMEX in Taiwan.
Or look into MONEYGRAM> They have a local agent in Taiwan COSMOS BANK>
Enquire with them, rates, etc.
moneygram.com/MGI/EN/TW/Mar … C=TW&LC=EN
In summary when you are sending money from one bank to another bank overseas (ignoring Taiwan for a minute) you can usually choose to send the money in the local banks currency or the receiving banks currency.
Meaning you either use the exchange rate of your local bank in Taiwan, or the exchange rate of the receiving bank in Canada. It is generally up to you to work out at which end will be cheaper to convert the money.
It seems that there are a bunch of overseas banks that don’t trust Taiwanese banks, and will not accept currency from a Taiwanese bank. The way taiwanese banks get around this problem is route your money through a more trusted bank which they have a relationship with. It appears this is what has happened here.
Hmm, don’t know about that. Opening a foreign currency account and making transfers from it is quite simple though. I deal with Mega and hold or have held USD, CDN, AUS and NZD at various times. You only get charged for the telegraphic transfer this way. Can you not open a bank account?
Btw, you may not get hit with intermediary charges; Canadian banks are quite big now and have significant market shares in the States. TD is one of the bigger ones.
I have a friend who uses paypal to send money home. He reckons it works out cheaper, but you’ll have to figure that out for yourself.