Banking abroad

Ultimately, you will have to wire funds home - but just do it a couple times a year so that the fees involved become minimal. Charges are not all that "significant" perhaps US$35 each time. So if you wait to wire when you have several thousand US$ it becomes a small percentage of the funds. It is just a cost of living overseas. I've been doing it since 1989.

In terms of bringing funds back to where you are - make sure you get a good international ATM card from your bank. It really is a small world these days - no problem doing this - even my credit union from Tucson Arizona works in the ATM machines everywhere in the world.

I keep an account here (Phuket, Thailand) and an account in the States. No problem - it all works fine.

Who are you working for?

When I worked for a Chinese school I was paid in cash. I simply spent the part I needed and then deposited the rest into a bank and every now and again transferred it out of the country.

Now I work in an International School. They pay a certain amount of my pay (decided by me) into my Bank of China account and the rest onto a bank account where it can be transfered out of the country.

As mentioned above you will be paying fees for these transferring services. I pay $20 US every time I do an international transfer. If I set up a regular standing order it would be $10 US each time.

To give useful advice for moving money in and out of China, it's critical to know what kind of employer you will have and what currency (or combination of currencies) you have the option of being paid in. Depending on this, there may be some bank setup you can do in the USA BEFORE you leave for China that will make your life easier and the transferring somewhat cheaper. I've lived in China for a number of years and international banking, while getting easier, is still a bit of pain in the ass compared to moving money in and out of countries that have more financial infrastructure and fewer restrictions.

Ask what other teachers in your school do. I'm sure that it has been done before. If you are transferring money every month or two, the fees aren't so bad.

I don't know the situation in China, but if you have a good credit rating and a steady job there you MIGHT - very "might" - be able to borrow money in China, send it all to the USA to pay off your loan, and then pay off the Chinese bank from your paycheque. It's unlikely this would work but if you can get some help from someone local who understands Chinese banking it's a possibility.

Whatever you do, make sure you look into the costs of sending from/to different banks. Some banks will slap you with charges for sending and receiving and the differences can be pretty extreme. A good bank will charge about 30 dollars to send, and a good bank will charge nothing to receive the money. If you don't like what your bank says, consider wiring the money to a friend or something - it can add up to pretty significant savings over a year.

Whatever you do, do NOT use western union.

Check out http://home.ingdirect.com/products/products.asp. They offer paperless online savings & checking accounts with higher interest rates than most other banks. I only have a savings account with them & I don't know if you can transfer from an international account to an ING account. However, I've had no problems doing online transfers from my ING savings account to my regular US bank account. It might be worth having a separate ING account so you can make more in interest. I also liked having a separate account without an ATM card where I could keep most of my money. That way, if my ATM card was lost or stolen, most of my funds couldn't be wiped out.

My student loan company only allows automatic payments to be made from a US bank account, & I think most companies have a similar policy. It may be easiest to set up your loan payments so they are automatically deducted from your US bank account each month & you won't have to scramble to figure out how you'll make the payment. Sallie Mae offers a 0.5% interest deduction if the payments are debited monthly, so ask your loan company if they can give you that discount.

Many people replying are not in China!! It is still difficult, but not impossible to transfer money out of China. It will take you an hour or more, plus travel time to get to a major bank to do it. I haven't attempted it yet but my colleagues who are leaving are busy trying to arrnage it now & it is a pain in the ......

Actually #8 it depends where in China you are. Things are slowly changing here. I am able to organise international transfers by sending a fax. Within 24 hours the money is in my Australian bank account. Of course a lot of it depends on who you work for...when I lived in Shanghai I actually had to physically visit the bank but it only took 5 minutes once I was there.

As I said, things are improving and I so look forward to the day that internet banking takes off here!

The ANZ (Australia New Zealand Bank) in the HSBC buliding in Lujiazui is where I send an international transfer from - they charge 200 rmb for a transfer and can send it anywhere in the world. You DO NEED TAX RECIEPTS WHICH YOU HAVE TO GET FROM YOUR EMPLOYER.
I send money to different bank in Australia and it is there the next day. Make sure you have your SWIFT CODE - get it from your US Bank.