Banking abroad

I'm going to be moving to Shanghai from the US in August. I'll be teaching and probably making more money than I'll spend. I would like to somehow get the money put into an American bank account, so I can pay loans, etc. out of that account. Does anyone know how to do this? I don't think that having my paycheck deposited into an American account is going to work, since I do need to have easy access to some of it in Shanghai. I've checked with my bank, and they say that it can't be done online, but that I could wire the money to an account, which comes with significant surcharges. Does anyone have any advice? What do those of you who live abroad do?

Thanks so much.

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.

See if you can open an HSBC account in Shanghai and have your money deposited in there. Open an HSBC account in the USA before you leave and transfer between (if you can't just make it one account). I pay no fees transfering money from my USA account (where my pay is deposited) and the HSBC account I created online.

Thanks everyone. I've been checking with banks here in the US, including HSBC. It looks like the only way to do this is to wire money. The bank in my small hometown says this will cost me about $120 each time, but I'm looking into larger banks. I feel like this should be easier than it appears to be, but I don't think it is!

Yes, I was planning on transfering money monthly, but may end up doing it less, since it looks like it might be a hassle.

Oh, well. Thanks again for the input.

OP

That is an INSANE amount of money. There is no way you should be paying $120...is that a typo?

See #10 for advice on how to go about doing it. Note the cost of 200rmb which is around $25 US.

Here in France I get my paychecks deposited directly into my French bank account, then transfer my money back to canada once or twice a year in lumps of ~3000eur a shot, it cost me about 30eur each time. My french bank is a tiny one, but i made sure it had international transfer capability and internet banking before i signed up - i chose it purely on convenience (small friendly office nearby and she spoke english...ha). At my canadian account I have it set up to automatically pay my loans each month, so local monthly payments, and only a couple international transfers a year. I do all my banking online, check that your local log in and online account function before you leave or its a pain to organize from abroad.

$120 sounds too high, but what exactly is a wire transfer when a click of a button puts some exra numbers in an account ...banks are the devil...

I also had student loans at home and took the step of borrowing money from where I now live and paying off my loans at home. Now my payments come directly out of my account here. Although I pay slightly higher interest, I don't have to worry about paying a fee to wire money each month or fluxuating exchange rates. I'm a Canadian, so now that the dollar is high I've actually saved money on the exchange. I imagine this would only practical if you are going to be staying in China for a while.

G'luck.

$120 certainly seems crazy and I'd suggest your local people aren't quite up to it in terms of knowledge.
Advice on using ANZ or other international banks like HSBC, even perhaps Bank of HK if they have a presence in Shanghai is way to go.
I would contact those banks before you go and you should be able to get advice on setting up appropriate accounts before you go and have accounts already opened.
Even if you still need to go through your local bank to pay bills etc., no reason why you could not have the money transferred into another bank back home and then do your transfers locally online

A few years ago (2002 - 2005), I worked in Shanghai as an English teacher and then for a year at an international school (not a very good one, mind you).

While I was teaching English at a Chinese University, I had a little book that declared I was an expert working for the Chinese government (being a teacher at a public university), which allowed me to transfer a certain percentage of my pay to hard currency through the Bank of China. I think the percentage was 75 - 80%. I never got anywhere close to that percentage because I spent my money on travel and having a good time (eating, drinking, bowling, darts, karoke, dancing, etc.). Let me assure you that it's pretty easy to spend money in Shanghai.

When I taught at the international school, half my pay was in RMB (yuan) and the other half was in a Hong Kong bank account in US dollars. It was actually a pain in the rear to deal with the Hong Kong bank, but I was able to transfer money to US accounts. However, I wasn't able to convert the RMB because I didn't have the expert card any longer. The international school was a private school, so I wasn't able to convert the money to hard currency.

Two other things about converting money, there are always people looking to convert money on the black market, but you risk getting conterfeit money and other problems. It was also possible to convert RMB at international airports in Asia. I think I did it in Bangkok, Manilia, Hong Kong and Singapore. As I recall, the rates were pretty bad, but it was in small amounts.

In general Shanghai was starting to get more places to use Chinese debit cards and atms for withdrawing RMB. A lot of Chinese were not used to the machines and it could take forever if there was a line of people. It is still primarily a cash-based country. I always felt rich (and a slight bit nervous) carrying around a fat wad of pink 100 yuan notes to pay my three months of rent at a time.

Have fun in Shanghai. Be prepared for some stinking hot weather in August.