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Post by con's fly is open on Oct 17, 2004 23:48:41 GMT 7
We've ll got stuff back in the old country. You big sity folk talk about private money changers, but really, what's the best way to take money home? Specifically:
1. Is Western Union better than bank exchanges? Is taking cash through customs better?
2. How much cash and goods can you get through customs into Canada before you get into trouble, and what's the gouge beyond that?
3. How much cash and goods can you get through customs into America before you get into trouble, and what's the gouge beyond that?
4. How much cash and goods can you get through customs into Australia before you get into trouble, and what's the gouge beyond that?
5. How much cash and goods can you get through customs intothe U.K. before you get into trouble, and what's the gouge beyond that?
6. How much cash and goods can you get through customs into Ireland before you get into trouble, and what's the gouge beyond that?
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Post by Raoul Duke on Oct 18, 2004 1:01:45 GMT 7
Western Union is a transfer- sending money out of China- not a currency exchange. In my experience Western Union is vastly superior to bank transfers- easier, faster, cheaper, and safer. However, I'm not sure if it works to every country now or not. It originally applied only to the USA. Bank transfers, and currency exchanges, depend upon the intelligence, training, and service orientation of the teller helping you- a pretty frightening statement in this country. Good experiences have been reported but my go-rounds with them have been more the 2-days-of-screaming variety. Myself, I use Western Union exclusively for transfers and the black market exclusively for exchanges. Western Union transfers can be done in the larger (usually provincial-level) branches of the Agricultural Bank of China. These banks will have a bright yellow-and-black Western Union sign somewhere on the exterior of the bank building. I think post offices do them in some areas, too...again, look for the sign. To use Western Union, you'll have to exchange your RMB for Western money in a separate transaction. You'll need to bring your passport with you...some of the tellers have balked at just a Residence Permit. The cost is US$15 to send up to US$500; up to $1000 is $20. I've never tried to send more. Western Union makes money available to be picked up in the destination country, it doesn't deposit the money in a bank account for you. When the teller completes the transfer, you'll be given a code. Send that code to your receiver in your home country; they can then go to the local Western Union office and pick the money up using that code. The money is usually available for pickup within a few hours. I've never had trouble with a Western Union transfer other than just a few stupid and/or unmotivated tellers. For the rest of Con's questions, I don't know the answers. But I have noted that Con gets really anal-retentive when he drinks.
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Post by burlives on Oct 18, 2004 17:37:37 GMT 7
My currency exchanging incidents are several but not necessarily financially sophisticated. I judge my experiences according to my happiness. Happiness, as we all know, is a feeling not always nor automatically linked to economic success. I've been happiest when I've felt not immediately cheated in exchange. In this I have relied on www.xe.com . I don't know if their figures contain any bias. I have never tried to change money outside of "China". I am under the sincere impression that RMB are not openly tradeable and this leads to significant exchange losses if one has to use the specialised outside services, such as travel agents or the, as far as I know, few banks who will help you out. They mark up like SOBs. Now, according to my sense of success I rank thusly: 1. Western Union. Through the Agricultural Bank or through China Post, US dollars can be sent out of China, certainly to the US and Aus and probably, but not to my certain knowledge, to other big five spots, the UK and the CAN. As Raoul pointed out, the US dollars must be in your possession before you can engage in the service. One way to get them is through the black market. Sending 1,800 US I was charged 25 US. One needs one's passport. The money is "sent" to be picked up by someone else. In my case, US dollars went in and AUS dollars came out. I am under the impression that this happens at "the market rate", which is to say, seemingly, that WU changes the money and makes some kind of market standard profit but does not charge a fee of their own. (1a. The black market. My one experience suited me. I had help from the FAO. We changed 15,120 RMB into 1,800 US, which according to www.xe.com is not too bad.) 2. Hong Kong banks. Several times I have hauled brown envelopes of RMB down to HK in my shorts and stashed in my bags and walked them across the Lo Wu border at Shenzhen and then on to Kowloon to shop around for an exchange rate. One can find banks with relatively competitive rates and flat fees. I asked for, received, and stashed in my shorts, AUS dollars for air travel home and standard deposit once I was settled in. No banks otherwise involved. The RMB sums were in the 20-30 thou range and therefore illegallly transported across the border, but easily transported nonetheless. Inspection is highly perfunctory and pays no attention to bag or short contents. Note, of course, that if the money is found, it is forfeit. One vital caveat: any exchange of funds is indirect. Because RMB is not openly tradeable yet can be exchanged for a small range of other currencies, notably HK dollars, it can be traded in HK, and, I suppose, Macau, but it is always a two-step exchange and this attracts two (if you found them) flat fees for the exchange rather than just one: usually one changes RMB into HK dollars -- legal under the One Country, Two Systems rule -- and then changes HK dollars into whatever, as HK dollars are openly tradeable. This process is clear in HK and let me be happy enough. I guess the same must happen at all other centres but instead of clearly being a two-step process, it is just the one high-priced one. 3. BoC. Legal exchange of earned funds into foreign currency and thence into a bank transfer system to my foreign bank of choice. It requires your foreign bank account details, your contract, your Z visa in your passport, possibly your residence permit, your tax certificates if you earn over 4,000 a month, and maybe some letters from the FAO. Easy enough but subject to fees and bad exchange rates and for me it took several days for the actual exchange to complete. 4. Thomas Cook, HK. One time I flew out of Changsha direct to HK and had a pants full of money and no time. I changed it at a TC counter in the HK airport. I have no happy impression of the generosity of the local staff nor the generosity of the exchange rate. I think it was Thomas Cook. In any case, it was whoever has the franchise for money exchange in the new HK airport. I was expecting a figure starting with 4 and got a figure starting with 2. I think, without having checked, that they charge a per dollar-exchanged fee. Maybe it was just the crap exchange rate at the time forced by the rising AUS dollar and the at that time lower US doll.
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Post by con's fly is open on Oct 21, 2004 21:49:55 GMT 7
Well, my dough's off to my account. I'll have to wait for my brother to confirm that it made it into my account, but I figure it's settled. So here's the particulars: - I did it through Bank of China. To send it across, they charged a flat fee of 200 yuan. My bank charges $10CDN on the other end. - They don't do Canuck- I could only convert to Yankee greenbacks. My bank will ding me for this, too, but I don't know how much. - Raoul was right: you get a better rate through a private changer. That friend of the school (she does the books) swapped it at 8.17:1 while the BofC would have gone 8.189:1- boy, relationships are a big deal in this country! So the only possible wrinkle is my creditors back home. I'll drop in , give them a little money, inform them that I honestly have no fixed address, arrange a way to funnel the bloodsuckers some hard-earned income from China. Better yet, given that big flat fee, I'll just drop by with a big was of dough the next time I'm home. ;D
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