Wiring money to the homeland

A dry but essential detail. Have not yet opened a bank account. Wondering what is the simplest way of getting earnings to my US side bank account. Should I be concerned about the fact that I have no ARC. I know I can get an account without one, but sending money back every month – a problem?

Also tips on the least hassle method of wiring would be greatly appreciated.

If there is a thread on this already, please refer me.

many thanks

Why don’t you just keep your money in a Taiwan bank account. With cirrus etc, you can access to back home throught ATM’s anyway. Just like a swiss bank account :smiley:

so atm transfers from taiwan to my home account are not a problem you are saying? i want to get the money to my old account b/c my credit cards and school loan creditors are already set up to take payments from that account. trying to keep my bills paid remotely.

thanks.

Shindo, I was talking about opening a seperate account in Taiwan for your Taiwan earnings. Then rather than waste money wiring money back every month, when you eventually head back just use you Taiwanese card to withdraw US cash from US ATM’s. Paying off loans etc is a different story though, and to tell you the truth, I wouldn’t have a clue. I can’t even pay off my visa card from this end without getting my sister to do it, then re-paying her a year or two later.

[color=blue]If you do a search you will probably find the answer to your question.[/color]

But in brief all you do is go to a bank you trust and tell them you want to wire money home. It would be better if you use your bank in Taiwan to do this. You fill out a form, you’ll need your passport number, the address and full bank numbers of your account in your home country, address in Taiwan, etc. I don’t think you need an ARC to do this. It’s pretty easy actually. They charge you around 500NT, and then you get wacked again when it hits your country, and possibly again when it hits your account.

I transferred money with ICBC to Europe at Christmas, NT$300 fee and no hit at the other end. Did fill out my ARC number on the form, don’t know if it’s compulsory or not., pretty painless procedure all in all.

Depends on the bank, some banks charge less, and you got lucky not being hit with a service fee once it entered your home country. I have always been hit with fees.

You might want to consider using traveller’s cheques…

I have bought them through various banks in Taipei, and there has been no fee charged - although I probably payed a different rate than for buying cash.

Because I sent the cheques to my personal account back home, the recieving bank didn’t charge a fee for processing them.

The only hassle is the time and effort it takes to send them (registered post) and to then wait for them to clear.

Once however, the recieving bank lost my cheques and about 3 months later I got a phone call from Thomas Cook in the UK, demanding $30,000 payment within a week. I had to prove to them that I’d sent the cheques to the bank and sign a declaration that I no longer possessed them. Talk about “mafan”. The onus was completely on me, which after 3 months, made it a little tricky to work out in detail. So, definitely keep all record of your transactions and postage…

The Big Babou

[quote=“The Big Babou”]Once however, the recieving bank lost my cheques and about 3 months later I got a phone call from Thomas Cook in the UK, demanding $30,000 payment within a week. I had to prove to them that I’d sent the cheques to the bank and sign a declaration that I no longer possessed them. Talk about “mafan”. The onus was completely on me, which after 3 months, made it a little tricky to work out in detail. So, definitely keep all record of your transactions and postage…

The Big Babou[/quote]

I don’t understand how Thomas Cook could demand payment - you already paid for the cheques right? Can you explain what the problem was, I am really interested and slightly confused :shock:

Thanks for the replies. So I’m closer but still not yet completely clear about getting cash home for regular payments. Next step - checking out my bank’s branch office in Taiwan. But I’ve heard that using your home bank in Taiwan (Bank of America in this case :smiling_imp: ) doesn’t necessarily mean that you will have an easy time connecting with your home account. Two separate beasts wearing the same logo…

This is all hearsay.

Shindo-

BOA here is just commercial. We looked into that when we first moved here… Sorry :frowning:

We have the same issue (ask your roomie I am having lunch with her today or tomorrow and can give her more details) but every month we wire $ from our Taiwan account back to the states. Gets there in 24-48 hours. Costs like NT350 on this end and we get dinged 15 bucks back in Portland at PTCU… we closed the BOA account so I am not sure if they will hit you or not.

you can email me or call me and we can talk more about this if you want…

Kristy

I have never had any problems sending money back to my account in Australia. I have just gone into the bank, given the account number and my passport, waited ten minutes for all the forms to be filled in and it’s done. The fee has been about NT$300. My bank in Australia has never charged a fee for receiving the money.

[quote=“The Big Babou”]You might want to consider using traveller’s cheques…

I have bought them through various banks in Taipei, and there has been no fee charged - although I probably payed a different rate than for buying cash.

Because I sent the cheques to my personal account back home, the recieving bank didn’t charge a fee for processing them.

[/quote]

A small caution. If somehow they are lost in the mail, it is very very very possible the travelers check company WILL NOT REIMBURSE YOU. If you send them to your bank signed, which they may require you are basically screwed. And if you send them blank then you run the same risk. It is possible to do this but it’s risky.

This is something I’ve been thinking about too.
It seems there is currently no good method to transfer money except through the banks (probably because of laundering rules).
You only need a passport to wire transfer money home.
I pay 350NT every time and more when it gets changed into Euro doing wire transfers. Is it true that if you want to change to euro it has to change through USD first.
Well I get whacked at the home end for another charge too I think.

Has anyone used this service
escapeartist.com/Digital_Cur … cies2.html

or one like it???
It looks pretty shady to me.

The registered post option and bank drafts/travellers cheques seem to work out to the same amount and are slower and more unreliable.

How do the Mexicans repatriate their money back home…I bet they don’t spend 20-70 USD everytime sending money.

Wouldn’t it be great if they had alliances of banks just like they have alliances of airlines where you get discounts from doing business with them.

This is something I’ve been thinking about too.
It seems there is currently no good method to transfer money except through the banks (probably because of laundering rules).
You only need a passport to wire transfer money home.
I pay 350NT every time and more when it gets changed into Euro doing wire transfers. Is it true that if you want to change to euro it has to change through USD first.
Well I get whacked at the home end for another charge too I think.

Has anyone used this service
escapeartist.com/Digital_Cur … cies2.html

or one like it???
It looks pretty shady to me.

The registered post option and bank drafts/travellers cheques seem to work out to the same amount and are slower and more unreliable.

How do the Mexicans repatriate their money back home…I bet they don’t spend 20-70 USD everytime sending money.

Wouldn’t it be great if they had alliances of banks just like they have alliances of airlines where you get discounts from doing business with them.

Just wire the money over.
You can do that at any bank, not just your own bank.
You don’t need an account cuz you just give them cash.
There’s a fee of 300 NT.
It’s fast (2 business days max) and all you do is fill out a form.
The form has a space for an ID/passport/ARC number, so you can use your passport number if you don’t have an ARC.

Yeah forget about going to Bank of America or any other foreign branch in Taiwan, they are completely independent and have nothing to do with eachother. They basically work as separate banks, just with the same name.

Hi Wix,

I am Aussie soon to come to Taiwan…

do you use net banking to control your Aussie account from Taiwan and is there any English language net banking for Taiwanese banks?

I love doing all my banking on the net in Australia and can’t remember the last time I set foot in a bank in Australia what with EFTPOS and ATM’s. I’d say 90% of the time I use EFTPOS.

Is EFTPOS widely available in Taiwan and can you get cash out at the same time?