When you first arrived in Taiwan, how did you bring your money?
Traveler’s checks?
Wire Transfer?
Withdrawel with debit visa/master card from within Taiwan?
Stuff your pockets and hope no one catches on?
0voters
I am trying to decide how I should bring in a large sum of money into Taiwan.
Wire transfer via bank transfer or western union will cost me $50 and it will end up sitting in some Taiwan bank for a few days until I arrive…not to keen on that.
Traveler’s checks are expensive. My bank charges 2% plus a $35 expediting fee.
Withdrawing money once in Taiwan via my Washington Mutual Master Card Debit Card seems like I will get ripped off with an unfair exchange rate at the ATM and charged for each transaction.
Stuffing my pockets seems to be the cheapest and most convenient way but a bad idea…it is a bit unsafe.
Mastercard, Visa, debit, just because they work outside of Taiwan doesn’t necessarily mean that they work inside of Taiwan. Tell you what, I’m about to take an extended vacation to an undisclosed location. Why don’t you wire the money to me, and I’ll hold it for you?
Do you already have a job and thus a guaranteed income here? Perhaps you can even get an advance. If so, you don’t need to bring that much.
‘Large sum’ is somewhat relative but I would take the safe way, even it comes at the expense of some fees.
Wow, your bank sucks. I remember getting AMEX traveller’s checks for free several years ago from my college’s credit union.
If that’s really the best rate, go with withdrawing with your American ATM card. If you withdraw the max at a time (most machines I think have a max of NT20,000), that’ll reduce the fees.
Bring a few hundred dollars in your pockets, and some travelers cheques, not too many.
When you get here open a bank account (you will need an ARC at most banks).
Transfer the money over the internet to your shiny new bank account and then use the bank exactly as you would in America.
Potential Issues
No ATMs down on the farm so you’ll have to queue up with a passbook at the village branch and the only within office hours
No ARC, you can still use some banks …Tealit has info on this
No Banks here operate exactly as they do in America (I imagine) you will probably find it all very frustrating and end up stuffing your pockets, mattress etc.
My bank gives traveler’s checks at face value. For $1000 in TC’s, they deduct $1000 from the account.
Your ATM card should work, since the exchange rates for ATMs are usually better than for TCs, cash or credit cards in my experience, plus there’s no commisions taken; only the ATM fee. The impact of the fee is minimized by withdrawing the maximum amount - ask your bank. Also, tell your bank that you’re going to Taiwan. On an Asian trip a few years ago, my bank detected that I was using my ATM in Bangkok and then Taipei, and cancelled the service because they thought someone stole my card.
I went to my local branch, spoke with a very nice account rep from the Ukraine. We chatted for a few minutes and she gave me FREE traveler’s checks…no % charge, no handeling fee, no delivery fee…just FREE!
Set up my master card debit card so I can use it overseas in any country without any troubles from the US side of my account. Gave me a list of numbers to call should I want to reach someone about my account while overseas, offered to put my remaining money in a high interest CD account 3.5% … pretty good. And then linked it all together to my online access so that working with my account will be a snap.
…Like I said, I love Washington Mutual. I used to bank with BofA about 8 years ago…hated them despised them, loathed them.
A smile and kindness go a long way…sometimes all the way to the bank.
Thanks everyone for your thoughtful and comical input.
And I will be watching for suspicious masked peoples at the airport :saywhat: … so dont even think about it :no-no:
If you are able to cash more than US$1000 in travelers’ checks for NT$ at one shot in Taipei, please do me a favor and let me know where.
This January, my Taiwanese girlfriend was not able to find a Taipei bank willing to exchange more than US$1000 of travelers’ checks at a time, which was a pain.
how much is a large sum of money?
I would bring a few hundred (up to 1000) with me and set up a bank account, then wire transfer the rest into your account. The fees are realtively minor, again depending on how much money you plan on bringing in.
Dear your highest Excellency,
I see no reason why you should send this money to Taiwan at all, as I have a much more lucrative opportunity to present to you. I am a civil servant in the Ministry of Finance in the Republic of Drambui. The Deputy Finance Minister, under whom I worked for many years, recently died and left a large amount of money (US $2.5 million) in a bank account here. All of this money was legitimately earned by him, but because of Drambuin anti-corruption laws, it cannot be dispersed directly to his family members. It can only be transfered to an account in a reliable bank in a stable country. We have been looking for an appropriate account holder for some time but have had no success until now. Your Washington Mutual account seems perfect. If you can provide your account number along with funds to cover the transaction fees (US $10,000), we can transfer the monies to your account without delay. For your services, you would be entitled to keep half of the deceased minister’s funds. This would enable you to enjoy life to the fullest in Taiwan; I imagine you could buy a bank there, thus allowing you to avoid any future transaction fees required for international money transfers. I also hear duck farming is lucrative in Taiwan.
Please give us your affirmative reply along with your account number and US $10,000 for transaction fees as soon as possible.
Yours faithfully,
Omida Adis Adubuababi
Secretary to the Deputy Minister of Finance
The Republic of Drambui
Funny. I actually responded to one of these emails just to see what would happen, obviously with no intent of going through with it. I told him I was greatly interested and if he was able to give me details, I would gladly give him my account number. He was “based” in Johannesburg, and as it turned out I was going there for vacation. So I told him this and explained I’d like to meet him to see documents and any more details. His reply was along the lines of, “This is very risky for me because I work in the bank where the money is held. If anyone were to see me in your presence, it would tip them off as to my plans.” Afterwards I stopped emailing him, but he persisted, even starting one email with “My Brother, I am still urgently waiting for your response so we can complete this transaction!”
I wonder if people are really that stupid or desperate to fall for one of these.
Wow you were brave I read about a string of these where Nigerians were actively encouraging people to go and visit and then basically adbducting them until they had taken all their cash. Some were even beaten and/or tortured.
