[quote=“MPenguin”]
Sounds good in theory, but I’m pretty sure whoever is withdrawing from the account in America (the country) will have to pay some sort of international fee for withdrawing from the ATM, correct? What’s the standard ATM for a withdrawal like that? Been years since I did that in Germany and can’t remember how much I was charged then.[/quote]
So far I’ve only been charged the standard ATM fee, nothing extra for it being an international card. ATM fees in the US are usually $1-2, and my bank here in Taiwan charges something like NT$70 for each international transaction. So you end up paying about US$3-4 to transfer up to $1,000 to the US. Not bad, really.
What about the exchange rate?
Is there a way to know what it is before you make the transfer?
If you’re making a large transfer, you obviously want to know exactly what the rate is.
[quote=“Josefus”]What about the exchange rate?
Is there a way to know what it is before you make the transfer?
If you’re making a large transfer, you obviously want to know exactly what the rate is.[/quote]
Banks usually give you the official exchange rate, so I guess you could just check the newspaper that day and see what the rate is. I’ve always received a good rate.
[quote=“barfomcgee”][quote=“MPenguin”]
Sounds good in theory, but I’m pretty sure whoever is withdrawing from the account in America (the country) will have to pay some sort of international fee for withdrawing from the ATM, correct? What’s the standard ATM for a withdrawal like that? Been years since I did that in Germany and can’t remember how much I was charged then.[/quote]
So far I’ve only been charged the standard ATM fee, nothing extra for it being an international card. ATM fees in the US are usually $1-2, and my bank here in Taiwan charges something like NT$70 for each international transaction. So you end up paying about US$3-4 to transfer up to $1,000 to the US. Not bad, really.[/quote]
Sounds good, but the gf and I are are usually sending back 1500-2000 total (split it up later because we can transfer from one Wells Fargo account to another). I wonder if the fees would be higher.
Which bank to you use in Taiwan to get 2 cards? We only have access to Chinatrust and Bank of Taiwan, so I wonder if it would work.
[quote=“MPenguin”]My girlfriend and I wire money back to America every month. We’ve used both Chinatrust and Bank of Taiwan to do this and I must recommend Bank of Taiwan.
At Chinatrust, you are required to fill out the paperwork, getting all of the little boxes right (hopefully you can read and write Chinese or bring along someone who can). ?[/quote]
They do have forms in English you know. The staff also speak English. No need for Chinese forms.
[quote=“Satellite TV”][quote=“MPenguin”]My girlfriend and I wire money back to America every month. We’ve used both Chinatrust and Bank of Taiwan to do this and I must recommend Bank of Taiwan.
At Chinatrust, you are required to fill out the paperwork, getting all of the little boxes right (hopefully you can read and write Chinese or bring along someone who can). ?[/quote]
They do have forms in English you know. The staff also speak English. No need for Chinese forms.[/quote]
In Taipei, perhaps. Move to a smaller city in Central Taiwan (Yunlin County) and try again.
In Taipei, perhaps. Move to a smaller city in Central Taiwan (Yunlin County) and try again.[/quote][/quote]
All the “outward remittance” forms I’ve seen have English on it.
Banking in Taiwan is centrally controlled in Taiwan by the Central Bank thing.
Thats why all the banks are so 80’s-style here and suck in service. Its totally uncompetitive.
You can’t make automatic transfers, you can’t get a second card for the same account (but you can get a credit card if someone guarantee’s for you that will point to this account…).
I always check here for the rates (it stops at 15:30 cause then they close to public (every bank here, every day): ebank.megabank.com.tw/iiop/CPM1? … t&PERIOD=S
Other banks probably have similar sites.
You see there’s a spot (即期) and cash (現金) rate.
For example the USD has today:
Spot: 31.8800
Cash: 32.0300
It means if you have 10000 NT to transfer and you give them cash, you’ll get 312.21 USD for it.
If you have a USD account with them and give them 10000 NT to transfer to that account, you get
313.68 USD for it. There’s no additional fee to put it on that account.
Its FREE to open a wai bi hu (foreign account).
Then on the form, when you transfer, make sure you say you want SHA (shared cost), you’ll end up paying 500 NT local fee’s (I think thats regulated as fixed somewhere).
You have the choice to say “Pay by NTD” or “Account NR.” where you can put your wai bi hu account number.
It saves a few bucks to have a wai bi hu, especially if you make larger transfers. Don’t even think about selecting costs are beared by receiver or all costs are beared by sender. Depending on the intermediate bank (the bank that acts between Taishin/Megabank/others) you might get something charged ANYWAYS, or even more. Trying to get that back is very very hard (I’ve managed it once in France and only cause I didn’t stop crying to them).
The wai bi hu thing also gives you interest if you are over a specific amount of money on that account (currently 1000 USD for USD and 1000 EURO for EURO).
For MEGA!! bank (used to be ICBC) 
thats here: megabank.com.tw/bulletin02_04.asp
PS. I agree Taiwan Bank is nice. They are actually the only one who can give you clean 2000 NT notes.
I think they print it too.
HTH
[quote=“barfomcgee”][quote=“MPenguin”]
Sounds good in theory, but I’m pretty sure whoever is withdrawing from the account in America (the country) will have to pay some sort of international fee for withdrawing from the ATM, correct? What’s the standard ATM for a withdrawal like that? Been years since I did that in Germany and can’t remember how much I was charged then.[/quote]
So far I’ve only been charged the standard ATM fee, nothing extra for it being an international card. ATM fees in the US are usually $1-2, and my bank here in Taiwan charges something like NT$70 for each international transaction. So you end up paying about US$3-4 to transfer up to $1,000 to the US. Not bad, really.[/quote]
I agree this does work for ATM cards, and its the cheapest and savest way. But it will be very expensive for credit cards so make sure your card really is a ATM card and that the ATM in the foreign country see’s it as such. Credit cards have a much higher fee for withdrawing cash + percentage (usually around 1% or more when used in a foreign place). So if your “friend” withdraws money for you he must make sure to select the right options on the ATM interface.
Here is one example (this is the other way around) I got with withdrawing in Taiwan with a German Sparkassen (standard bank) ATM card:
Fee: 3,50 Euro
TWD 10000
Exchange rate: 47,819550
Rate of: 01.08.08
Date: 31.07.08 18.30
Bank: Shanghai Commerical Bank, Taiwan
This was very close to whats they charged at ICBC on that day (spot price) for EUR to TWD:
Opening: 47,52
Closing: 47,76
Day high: 47,83
Day low: 47,50
Again, this is the other way around, but its the same story I guess.
There are some other hidden fees. Some banks (at least in Europe) will charge annual fees for transfering, withdrawing etc, but it will usually not be over a 5 euros no matter how much you transferred.
Using the banking cards for overseas transactions is possible, but I have been fucked twice by China Trust trying to do this even though on both occasions I went to the bank a few days earlier and “made sure” the cards would work. Do your best to make sure with authority and verify that yearly. No joke. their computers will flag your account yearly and you’ll need to show your ARC again.
If you are going to be going to America, I think the best way is to buy 1,000 dollar denomination US traveler’s checks. It costs about 40 NT, but you need to be the one on the other side to sign for it. The higher the denomination the better the rate. Don’t just exchange the money at the first bank either. Check a few because their exchange rates might be a little different.
[quote=“barfomcgee”][quote=“Josefus”]What about the exchange rate?
Is there a way to know what it is before you make the transfer?
If you’re making a large transfer, you obviously want to know exactly what the rate is.[/quote]
Banks usually give you the official exchange rate, so I guess you could just check the newspaper that day and see what the rate is. I’ve always received a good rate.[/quote]
All banks that wire money overseas have the exchange rates posted on a wall in the wire transfer department. If you want to verify what the exchange rate is, just ask the clerk who wires the money. Plus, the exchange rate you got is on the receipt the bank gives you upon completion of the transaction.
[quote=“MPenguin”][quote=“Lil’ Slugger”]If it were just NT$300 that would be fine with me. I’m also fine with the US$3 that my US bank tacks on, on its end.
What I would like to avoid is the US$15-20 charge collected along the way by some third-party bank that I never see. AFAIK every wire transfer I’ve ever made has been subject to this. Any ideas how to get around it?[/quote]
We’ve never been charged by a 3rd party bank. The bank we send money to, Wells Fargo, takes a fee out, but never a 3rd party. Can’t help you, sorry.[/quote]
You might double-check the amount that was actually deposited into your US account. I sent very many wires to the States when I was living in Taiwan, and there was always US$15-20 deducted along the way.
The only way to realize that this has been deducted is to compare the actual amount that you sent to what was actually deposited.
[quote=“Lil’ Slugger”]If it were just NT$300 that would be fine with me. I’m also fine with the US$3 that my US bank tacks on, on its end.
What I would like to avoid is the US$15-20 charge collected along the way by some third-party bank that I never see. AFAIK every wire transfer I’ve ever made has been subject to this. Any ideas how to get around it?[/quote]
The way I got around this fee is to buy an international draft at the bank. Your NT$ are converted into US$ (or the Taiwanese bank may have other currencies available), and the check is drawn on a US (or other) bank.
You write the words “For Deposit Only” and your US bank account number in the endorsement area on the back of the check, take that draft to the post office, and then mail it to your bank.
I often did this when there was no rush to get the money to the US (the mail took about 10 days), and wired money when I was in a hurry (the wire took 1 day).
I hope this helps.
[quote=“davidintaipei”]
You might double-check the amount that was actually deposited into your US account. I sent very many wires to the States when I was living in Taiwan, and there was always US$15-20 deducted along the way.
The only way to realize that this has been deducted is to compare the actual amount that you sent to what was actually deposited.[/quote]
We have double-checked. Both Bank of Taiwan and Chinatrust always told us how much in US$ we would be getting according to the conversion rate. Then Wells Fargo on our online account also listed how much they took out for a transfer fee. It all added up; so… no, we’ve never had a 3rd party take money out.
I guess I’m not sure how a 3rd party would even do it. An EFT is just from one bank to another. Where does the 3rd party even come in?
ive found it takes about 8 days through regular mail to send letters from the island to the states. ive been sending money orders and avoiding all the bullxit charges.
Thanks for the tips.
I just opened an account at Bank of Taiwan.
The fee is 400NT. I argued, talked to the manager etc…the fee is 400NT. period. This fee goes up if you are sending more than $200,00NT. They told me, that 300NT price is only for the summer. They also said, there is a two day wait. You put the money in your account on monday, and you can send it overseas on wednesday.
No english, no help filling out forms, just good ol fashioned taiwanese style “customer service” but I’m sure this is different in Taipei where they might actually see a foreigner once in a while. I would have never been able to even simply open an account if I didn’t have a TW friend with me, and even then, it was a pain in the behind.
I am dreading going back and trying to get them to send the money, but I feel a little better not having the cash in my apartment.
[quote=“Homey”]Thanks for the tips.
I just opened an account at Bank of Taiwan.
The fee is 400NT. I argued, talked to the manager etc…the fee is 400NT. period. This fee goes up if you are sending more than $200,00NT. They told me, that 300NT price is only for the summer. They also said, there is a two day wait. You put the money in your account on monday, and you can send it overseas on wednesday.
No english, no help filling out forms, just good ol fashioned Taiwanese style “customer service” but I’m sure this is different in Taipei where they might actually see a foreigner once in a while. I would have never been able to even simply open an account if I didn’t have a TW friend with me, and even then, it was a pain in the behind.
I am dreading going back and trying to get them to send the money, but I feel a little better not having the cash in my apartment.[/quote]
400 NT is still better than Chinatrust’s 900 NT Fee. As for the two-day wait… I’m not sure about that. Usually what my girlfriend and I do is have them withdraw it from her account, then I’ll go to the ATM, get my money, and give the cash to them. Seems to work fine, and we often do this on Payday, so I know it hasn’t been in there 2 days.
As for English and help… I’m afraid you got a bad bank. I don’t live in Taipei. I live in a relatively small podunk city in central Yunlin county, and they fill out all the forms for us. Even though my girlfriend is Taiwanese, she never had to fill out the forms at BOT.
Yeah, I can live with 400NT, the other bank that charges 900 probably has the same brand of ‘customer service’ but just charges more. I don’t believe anything a Taiwanese person tells me anymore. Truth, is not absolute here, theres different shades and hues depending on who happens to be working the counter that day. I will be a happy camper paying 400 as long as my account and $ doesn’t dissappear mysteriously one day and the money actually arrives at the destination. I am hoping these expectations are not too high. I would feel much better if I could also just give them the cash on payday and have it wired, its silly to deposit it, wait two days, then wire it. Hopefully I was being lied to, and this can done.
This is my understanding:
The international banking network is not just a bunch of numbers and addresses. It’s not like the internet and email. Banks are a lot more like people. Not every bank knows every other bank. You don’t just give cash to someone you don’t know or trust. If you do, there’s a risk, and thus a cost.
Exchanges between them, just like cash exchanges between people, involve costs, and risks. It takes expensive staff, salary, benefits, bonuses, expensive rented real estate, amazingly expensive computer systems, and very, very expensive encrypted software solutions to transfer money. Banks go belly up. Customers who receive erroneous money transfers disappear with the cash. Money transfers are sometimes illegal (money laundering, and so on), which creates legal and financial risks for the banks. And banks are also supposed to turn a profit on the services they provide, which includes money transfers.
If you want money to get to cousin Joe, you give it to him. If you’re not going to see him this week, you give it to cousin Sal, who hands it to Joe. You trust Sal. You know she’s not financially insolvent, so you know the money won’t disappear.
Banks are like people. When a friend asks you to give money to Bob, and you don’t even know Bob, but you know Chris, and you know that Chris knows Bob, what do you do? You give the bucks to Chris to give to Bob. But Chris is spending time and effort to do this, and he doesn’t perform services for free, after all. He runs a business. It takes money to pay for the computers, the utilities, the rent, and the manpower to transfer the money. The last time he was asked to send money to someone he didn’t know, there was a mistake, and he spend two days and two nights on the phone trying to get the money back so it could be routed to the right person. Why would he do that for free? :loco: Plus, occasionally, the tens or hundreds of thou get paid by a third bank to the wrong person, who might then disappear. As insurance, you have to divide that loss by all the wire transfers made, and charge that as a fee. Otherwise, the business is too risky to bother doing.
So, if a bank doesn’t have a ‘correspondent bank’ in a particular location, or a ‘correspondent relationship’ with the recipient bank, it has to go through an ‘intermediary bank’, which requires a fee to cover its costs, its risks, and its profit.
Without knowing that, it certainly seems like an unfair deduction, but once you start to see how the system operates, it’s not so bad. Until you discover that the ‘correspondent bank’ is in fact a subsidiary or affiliate of the bank you’re sending the wire from (or to), in which case it’s really double-dipping at the customer’s expense. :s
[quote=“MPenguin”][quote=“davidintaipei”]
You might double-check the amount that was actually deposited into your US account. I sent very many wires to the States when I was living in Taiwan, and there was always US$15-20 deducted along the way.
The only way to realize that this has been deducted is to compare the actual amount that you sent to what was actually deposited.[/quote]
We have double-checked. Both Bank of Taiwan and Chinatrust always told us how much in US$ we would be getting according to the conversion rate. Then Wells Fargo on our online account also listed how much they took out for a transfer fee. It all added up; so… no, we’ve never had a 3rd party take money out.
I guess I’m not sure how a 3rd party would even do it. An EFT is just from one bank to another. Where does the 3rd party even come in?[/quote]
Dragonbones (see above) explained the 3rd party pretty well. I will just quickly add another example. Let’s say I had an account at Chinatrust and I wired funds to Pacific State Bank in Stockton, CA. Chinatrust could send it to Wells Fargo, its corresponding bank, and Wells Fargo would forward it to Pacific State Bank. Since Wells Fargo is providing a service, it would take its US$15-20 fee from my wire transfer before forwarding it. This US$15-20 fee is the 3rd party fee.
Wells Fargo sounds like it does the same thing that Citibank, NA (New York) does, as Dragonbones also mentioned: even if the funds are to be deposited in their own banks or subsidiaries, the b*stards still take their standard fee.
[quote=“davidintaipei”]
Dragonbones (see above) explained the 3rd party pretty well. I will just quickly add another example. Let’s say I had an account at Chinatrust and I wired funds to Pacific State Bank in Stockton, CA. Chinatrust could send it to Wells Fargo, its corresponding bank, and Wells Fargo would forward it to Pacific State Bank. Since Wells Fargo is providing a service, it would take its US$15-20 fee from my wire transfer before forwarding it. This US$15-20 fee is the 3rd party fee.
Wells Fargo sounds like it does the same thing that Citibank, NA (New York) does, as Dragonbones also mentioned: even if the funds are to be deposited in their own banks or subsidiaries, the b*stards still take their standard fee.[/quote]
Well, that’s understandable, at least. I’m glad Wells Fargo is big enough that there is no need for a 3rd party/intermediary bank.