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mdickun83
Joined: 07 Sep 2010
Posts: 41
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 Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 3:21 am Post subject: Transfering money |
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Hi. I am going to be in china in August. I am looking to send home a few thousand dollars per month. What is the easiest and cheapest way to do that? I have a friend who said wire transfers are capped at 500ish dollars.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks |
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ChrisHenry15
Joined: 03 Jan 2015
Posts: 99
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| Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 8:54 am Post subject: |
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Banks technically can do it. Not worth the Hassle.
You can exchange RMB up to 500 USD a day. Then send it altogether through Western Union.
I prefer to have my Chinese gf (find someone you trust) send it VIA Alipay.
50RMB flat rate + a 5$ charge from the Shanghai bank it uses to send abroad.
Ensure your bank accepts FREE international deposits and has a SWIFT code. |
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ChrisHenry15
Joined: 03 Jan 2015
Posts: 99
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| Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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Another way
Set up a Chinese PayPal account (English website available). Add your Chinese debit card, send $ to your home account. Exchange rate is a bit higher than quoted. Fees: 4.4% =30cent flat rate
If sending more than a few hundred USD, use Alipay. Anything less, Paypal. |
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tin man
Joined: 18 Jun 2010
Posts: 137
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| Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 3:08 pm Post subject: transfer |
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| I have a US Paypal account. How does Alipay work? I assume that you have to get money into either Paypal or Alipay from China and then send to your US Bank. How does it work? |
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ChrisHenry15
Joined: 03 Jan 2015
Posts: 99
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| Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 12:08 am Post subject: Re: transfer |
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| tin man wrote: |
| I have a US Paypal account. How does Alipay work? I assume that you have to get money into either Paypal or Alipay from China and then send to your US Bank. How does it work? |
Sign up for another one in China using another email. Linking your card is straight forward. Then just send an amount over. It won't tell you exactly how much your US account will receive though. I sent 145USD equivalent and received about 140.86 . |
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isitts
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Posts: 193
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 6:54 am Post subject: Re: Transfering money |
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| mdickun83 wrote: |
Hi. I am going to be in china in August. I am looking to send home a few thousand dollars per month. What is the easiest and cheapest way to do that? I have a friend who said wire transfers are capped at 500ish dollars.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks |
The amount banks limit you to depends on what your salary is. If you make more, you can send more. Banks are somewhat of a hassle given the documents you need to bring, but less of a hassle than PayPal.
With PayPal, you have to set it up so they don't know that you're sending money to yourself. Not always an easy hoop to jump through. You could (as I did) send the money to someone else's PayPal account (parent or friend back home) and then have them put it in your bank account. But that can get tedious and PayPal will ask for verification of sorts after you've sent a cumulative of about $1000.
By comparison, the bank was far less of a hassle. Showed my documents, filled out forms, and the money was received by my bank back home the next day.
What I've generally been told, though, is that having a Chinese friend send your money home is the easiest way to go. |
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nimadecaomei
Joined: 22 Sep 2016
Posts: 605
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| Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 7:51 am Post subject: |
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| Yeah, for my wife to send money to a US account she does not even need to enter the bank. |
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JeremyDay
Joined: 11 Apr 2016
Posts: 58
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| Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 1:39 pm Post subject: PayPal |
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PayPal is an interesting option. There are a few roadblocks to using it:
First, if you don't have the phone number that you used to sign up to your PayPal account, they will often require you to authenticate by text to prove it is actually you who is trying to access your account in China. If you have a family member who can access your account locally (or who you can send through PayPal) that is easy to get by. However, my thing is to be independent as possible always.
Second, if you open two accounts in China, they won't pull this nonsense with IP address verification. However, there is a limit on how much money you can send from your China bank account through PayPal. My Bank of Communication topped off at $3000. Then I opened a second bank account with Bank of Construction. It is an easier process than the first bank. However, I might hit the $3000 limit soon. When you hit the limit, your account no longer recognizes your UnionPay card.
I found the PayPal limit information somewhere on the internet (after a ton of research). I don't know if certain banks have this limit and some do not. I will soon find out when I hit the limit with my second bank.
I know this to be true, because a coworker also hit this limit and his UnionPay card stopped working as well. It was still connected to his account, but it just would keep asking you to enter a card.
I love having PayPal as a way to send money home. But there are issues... |
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ChrisHenry15
Joined: 03 Jan 2015
Posts: 99
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| Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 3:19 pm Post subject: Re: PayPal |
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| JeremyDay wrote: |
PayPal is an interesting option. There are a few roadblocks to using it:
First, if you don't have the phone number that you used to sign up to your PayPal account, they will often require you to authenticate by text to prove it is actually you who is trying to access your account in China. If you have a family member who can access your account locally (or who you can send through PayPal) that is easy to get by. However, my thing is to be independent as possible always.
Second, if you open two accounts in China, they won't pull this nonsense with IP address verification. However, there is a limit on how much money you can send from your China bank account through PayPal. My Bank of Communication topped off at $3000. Then I opened a second bank account with Bank of Construction. It is an easier process than the first bank. However, I might hit the $3000 limit soon. When you hit the limit, your account no longer recognizes your UnionPay card.
I found the PayPal limit information somewhere on the internet (after a ton of research). I don't know if certain banks have this limit and some do not. I will soon find out when I hit the limit with my second bank.
I know this to be true, because a coworker also hit this limit and his UnionPay card stopped working as well. It was still connected to his account, but it just would keep asking you to enter a card.
I love having PayPal as a way to send money home. But there are issues... |
Interesting. Did not know about a cap. Is it yearly? monthly?
Another option is to get a second bank card and send it back home. Family can withdraw from UnionPay accepted ATMs. Granted, it depends on where you live. |
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JeremyDay
Joined: 11 Apr 2016
Posts: 58
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| Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 5:10 pm Post subject: PayPal |
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| I believe that limit to be yearly. But I haven't tried with the original account since it happened. |
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rocket man
Joined: 19 Dec 2015
Posts: 110
Location: Raleigh NC USA
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| Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 2:05 am Post subject: |
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| I would get my Chinese HR person at my school to do it, I'd transfer the money from my account to her account then she sends it to my sister's account (my US credit union doesn't have a SWIFT code to take international transfers) and she transfers it to my account would only take 30 minutes or so at the bank, no documentation needed and Chinese nationals can send US$50k/year |
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twowheel
Joined: 03 Jul 2015
Posts: 753
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| Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 6:39 pm Post subject: |
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Related but slightly different question--how about going the other way: taking funds from my US-based bank account and electronically depositing them into my Bank of China account? I imagine this is easier to do than going from a China-based account to a US one, perhaps?
twowheel |
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rocket man
Joined: 19 Dec 2015
Posts: 110
Location: Raleigh NC USA
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| Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:12 am Post subject: |
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| twowheel wrote: |
Related but slightly different question--how about going the other way: taking funds from my US-based bank account and electronically depositing them into my Bank of China account? I imagine this is easier to do than going from a China-based account to a US one, perhaps?
twowheel |
not sure about electronically, easiest way to do it is just withdraw the money from your US account at an ATM machine and deposit it into your Bank of China account, I did it the other day at the same machine, got the cash from the machine switched to my Bank of China card and deposited it back into the machine. Only problem is max withdrawal per transaction is 3000 RMB but I think you can do it a couple of times |
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ebparsa
Joined: 06 Feb 2017
Posts: 35
Location: Calgary, Alberta
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| Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2017 9:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Has anyone tried converting his/her savings into Bitcoins in China? If yes, can you tell if it is easy? In Thailand it is pretty straightforward. You link your bank account with your Bitcoin wallet and transfer it online. |
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twowheel
Joined: 03 Jul 2015
Posts: 753
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| Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2017 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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| rocket man wrote: |
| twowheel wrote: |
Related but slightly different question--how about going the other way: taking funds from my US-based bank account and electronically depositing them into my Bank of China account? I imagine this is easier to do than going from a China-based account to a US one, perhaps?
twowheel |
not sure about electronically, easiest way to do it is just withdraw the money from your US account at an ATM machine and deposit it into your Bank of China account, I did it the other day at the same machine, got the cash from the machine switched to my Bank of China card and deposited it back into the machine. Only problem is max withdrawal per transaction is 3000 RMB but I think you can do it a couple of times |
I have thought about doing that but that will incur fees from my Citibank account and it'll take several visits. I was hoping to wire the money in one go into my BoC account while stateside this summer.
twowheel |
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