暗网禁区

You can make SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) transfers from any US bank to most any VN bank but they can be somewhat pricey.聽 Citibank has free online transfers between Citi accounts in the US and Citi Vietnam.聽 You will need to set up a Citibank account in the US first.聽 If you direct deposit your pension, it should be a free account.聽 If there is no Citibank presence in your city, you can do it online.聽 Opening your account in Hanoi may be a little trickier as, unlike some other banks, I don't think they will allow you to do so with only a tourist visa.聽 If you wish to make transfers before or soon after your marriage, you could have your wife open an account in her name only.聽 You can open a joint account later once you have a VEC or TRC.聽 Although there are no branches other than Hanoi and HCMC, Citi has agreements with a long list of Vietnamese banks for no fee ATM use.聽 There are several relevant posts on this site.聽 Just search for Citibank.

An alternative bank for free transfers is HSBC.聽 Things may have changed, but when I checked, the balance requirement for free checking on the US side was prohibitively high.

As far as investments, although Vietnamese cash deposit rates may seem high, the net gets chopped down quite a bit after inflation.聽 My own preference is broad based US ETF's which don't have to be watched daily.聽 聽Best to keep your investments in the US and transfer as needed for living.

Thank you for the information. I does help here with preplanning.

To the OP:

I think your Direct Deposit info is outdated, @schleger.

Here is a thread I started a while back regarding an update to U.S. Social Security policy:

/forum/viewtopic.p 鈥� 80#4166157

I can also refer you to a wealth management firm in Hanoi that might meet your needs.

Private message me if you want that info.

I will only address one question you had - Direct Deposit into a Vietnamese Bank is possible.聽 Via the Bangkok Bank Branch in either HCMC and Hanoi.聽 Here's how you do it:

Social Security checks and direct deposits are made to the Bangkok Bank's branch in New York City - then you draw against it in HCMC o Hanoi.聽 literally hundreds of US 暗网禁区s in Thailand do this because it is the only bank the SS Administration will send annuity checks to for them to draw against.聽 One good thing is there are no fees for withdrawal since it is its own branch of the Bangkok Bank.聽 聽This is only a suggestion, I'd check with the Bangkok branch in HCMC or Hanoi first.聽 You have to Open the acct in Vietnam forst, then have your checks sent directly to the Bangkok Banks branch in New York.聽 easy as pie.

It is seemless to wire transfer funds from your U.S. bank account to a bank account in Vietnam. You will need to proivide full information about the bank (name, SWIFT, etc.) as well as information regarding the recipient (name, address, phone number, account number, etc.). Transfers frequently show up the next day but occassionally may take a few days to post (banks are closed on Saturday so crossing the dateline may incur a delay). Your U.S. bank may request a reason for the transfer of funds, but investments, buying real estate or a car are legitmate and should not be a cause for concern nor should transfer of $20-30K be an issue. A word of caution. Once funds are in country, it is very difficult to wire transfer them back out.

The problem with SWIFT transfers is that they are billed at a fixed rate, usually about $30-45 per transaction.聽 If you are transferring $50,000 to buy an apartment that's fine.聽 If you are moving $1,000 to cover monthly family living expenses, the fee will be 3-4% of value.聽 Your money, your choice.

Perhaps we're going against the grain, but we still do thing the simplest-and-no-cost way: we no longer keep an account with a VN bank (after doing it with Citibank and Sacombank for a while).聽

Our SS and pension are DD to Charles Schwab and stay there, collecting a tiny bit of interest every day.聽 We withdraw local currency from any ATM in the world ($1000 daily limit) and Schwab reimburses all fees at the end of each month.聽 聽

Unlike the OP, we don't plan to buy a $10K - $20K car so that'll never be a problem for us.聽 Still, if we suddenly need $10K in VND, we can withdraw it over a period of 5 days (2 ATM cards) without paying a dime in fee.

No need to find a bank, no need to find the right ATM, no waiting for the money to go through, no maintenance fee in the States, no ATM fee anywhere in the world, no foreign transaction fee, and always with excellent exchange rate (a couple pennies lower than Bloomberg, a couple pennies higher than Oanda.)聽

No fuss, no muss.

Thank you for the information.

THIGV wrote:

The problem with SWIFT transfers is that they are billed at a fixed rate, usually about $30-45 per transaction.聽 If you are transferring $50,000 to buy an apartment that's fine.聽 If you are moving $1,000 to cover monthly family living expenses, the fee will be 3-4% of value.聽 Your money, your choice.

I bank with Charles Schwab for all of the reasons @Ciambella mentioned in her post subsequent to yours.

Schwab's flat fee is $25.00 for single wire transfers, any amount, so 2.5% for $1,000.00 USD.

But since (as @Ciambella has mentioned) $1,000.00 USD is the daily ATM withdrawal limit for Schwab, I would rarely need to make a wire transfer unless I needed $5,000.00 USD or more in a very short period of time.

[NOTE: the receiving bank in Vi峄噒 Nam is likely going to charge a fee for the transfer, unless it is waived because of an account relationship with them.]

The only caveat to my plan being: $1,000.00 USD currently = 鈧� 23,277,001.27 VND (08-12-2018) and from what I understand, this exceeds the daily withdrawal limit allowed by most banks in Vi峄噒 Nam...(I'm asking???)

I suppose the answer to that is using multiple banks, or (as @Ciambella has also mentioned) withdrawing the VND I need over multiple days in non-urgent situations.

Also (FWIW) Schwab doesn't charge anything for transfers between accounts I own at other U.S. financial institutions.

I have one pension direct deposited to Schwab, while my SSA money goes into another bank which is totally free of fees.

Something about a basket and eggs...

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

The only caveat to my plan being: $1,000.00 USD currently = 鈧� 23,277,001.27 VND (08-12-2018) and from what I understand, this exceeds the daily withdrawal limit allowed by most banks in Vi峄噒 Nam...(I'm asking???)

I suppose the answer to that is using multiple banks, or (as @Ciambella has also mentioned) withdrawing the VND I need over multiple days in non-urgent situations.

We regularly withdraw 12M ($513 as of today's exchange) from the same ATM over 4 transactions on the same day (end the first transaction, re-insert card for the 2nd transaction, lather, rinse, repeat.)聽

We've never needed $1000 on the same day, but if we do, we probably could continue the same process, or using my ATM card in addition to husband's.

The daily withdrawal limit set by VN bank is for a VN account.聽 VN banks do not have the authority to impose daily limit on a foreign account.聽 The more transactions you do, the more fee per transaction they charge so why should they care?聽

Of course you can also step over to the next ATM as they usually stand in a cluster.

Ciambella wrote:

[We regularly withdraw 12M ($513 as of today's exchange) from the same ATM over 4 transactions on the same day (end the first, insert card again for the 2nd, lather, rinse, repeat.)

As suggested (for Americans), simplify your life. Put everything in Schwab. Get familiar with their online banking. For normal expenses, use ATMs to pull out VND, and your credit card in big stores/restos. I also recommend bringing a backup credit card, and put a few thousand in a second checking account for an emergency ATM card, for when your cards expire or break.

Another reason to keep your money in a US bank: rule of law and consumer protections are weaker in small countries.

schleger wrote:

... I will most likely marry ...

Yet another reason to keep your money in a US bank: How well do you know your future wife and family?

I agree.聽 I have a Charles Schwab account and they reimburse me of all ATM fees worldwide at the end of the month.聽 Now with taking large money out, my recommendation is to have one bank in Vietnam that has branch in Hanoi, ie hsbc, Citi, etc.聽 Do an online bank to bank transfer and go to bank to pick up the cash.

Thank you for telling it like it is...聽 聽 聽

Tediuki wrote:

Wow! There's a lot of information in the answers so far to absorb!聽 I'll answer some of the peripheral stuff .
Teaching? There's no problem in Viet Nam teaching beyond 60 years old although you will need a CELTA certificate or something along those lines because 99.9% of foreign teachers teach English . Your birth year will also disappear into the agencies files . I keep myself looking trim and fit, I keep the grey hair in check and lie at the schools about my age. Try to work hand in hand with the local teachers and never complain.聽 聽
Money transfers? The best advice I had was to Find a bank in my own country who would transfer money in the original form i.e.. Dollars . Why? Because I could transfer Dollars to my account (opened with a tourist Visa) in Viet Nam and it would be converted to vnd at pretty much the exchange rate shown on Bloomberg or I would put it into my US$ account .聽 聽
I'll ask what the current situation is next time I go into one of my banks but a lot of laws have changed since 2015 and made it far more favourable for foreigners to invest .
Interest versus inflation? To get 8% interest you must have a term deposit for at least a year in vnd.
Interest is Tax free in Nam . Inflation is around 4% (I looked last year on some international sovereign Nation health check site).
Repatriating your money? As long as you don't move your money from the original bank account to which you transferred your money to, you can wire your money back to the original foreign sending account for up to 3 years.
Placing a bet:聽 From 2006 - 2016 the USA was sliding down the pan . With the current US fiscal policy the US Dollar is likely to strengthen so it may be prudent to delay any large transfers or try to get a US$ account in Nam. But interest on a US$ account is rubbish . You are basically betting that the exchange rate will go up in the next year by 8% as there has been a recent gain already .
A car! You may be better off using a Grab Motorbike to get from A to B in the big cities, or a Taxi in the rain . Both are relatively cheap . It's also best to live as close as possible to work rather than buying a car . I have bought a second hand Yamaha Nouvo but I've ridden bikes my whole life .

Interesting point about sending money home that you originally sent to VN. I wonder how that works if the bank you originally sent it to is not operating in VN, eg ANZ. I have the original deposit slips to the ANZ, so Im hoping that the bank I deal with now will be able to transfer the funds back.

Bazza139 wrote:

Thank you for telling it like it is...聽 聽 聽

I found what Tediuki wrote helpful.

If the same post had come from Cobot, Ciambella, Yogi or other serial 暗网禁区s, there would have been a "Like" from you.

Perhaps it would make sense to introduce a "Dislike" at 暗网禁区 in addition to the "Like".
Then Bazza can save himself the cryptic "dislike" comments in the future.

Andy Passenger wrote:

Bazza139 wrote:

Thank you for telling it like it is...聽 聽 聽

I found what Tediuki wrote helpful.

If the same post had come from Cobot, Ciambella, Yogi or other serial 暗网禁区s, there would have been a "Like" from you.

Perhaps it would make sense to introduce a "Dislike" at 暗网禁区 in addition to the "Like".
Then Bazza can save himself the cryptic "dislike" comments in the future.

I was fooled. I actually thought BAZZA was giving a sincere compliment.

Just what I needed. Another language to learn...聽

Just thought I'd add to this even though the thread has quietened down - Again, just to re-iterate, I don't work for Timo, however, I must be due to some royalties soon.

ANYWAY, with a Timo card, you can get 20,000,000 VND in ONE transaction at a VP Bank ATM; you can do this ten times a day, or so I'm led to believe. Which means you can withdraw 200,000,000 VND per day which is staggering, but that's what I've been told.

I don't have the need to withdraw that amount of money on a daily basis, so I can't confirm/deny if the 200,000,000 is true, but I can confirm you can get 20,000,000 out in one transaction.

I have several US pensions and have never had, nor would I ever have a VN bank account. I use, and would highly recommend Charles Schwab. They are great to do business with. They cover my my ATM fees and I can withdraw $2,000 at a time. I imagine once you get here you may reconsider getting a car. Might wait until you can get a VNese drivers License first. Car are expensive to operate here and there is very few places to park. A car here is worse than having a pet and wanting to take a vacation. All your decisions are made around having the car and if you can park it. I have a couple of friends who have cars. Most of the time they can not go with us because they have a car and can not park it. I have had the need to make wire xfers a few times and Schwab either waved the fee or in one case charged me $25. Accounts here around only insured for $3,300. Schwab has 24/7 access to customer service. They are on par, if not better than Apple computer when it comes to customer service. And no you can work until you die. The rule you speak of only applies to VN nationals.

You must ask Schwab for permission to withdraw a max of $2,000 a day. Anyone you talk to on the phone has the authority to set that up for you. If you will routinely withdraw more you must elevate the request. As someone else recommended I would certainly bring more than one debit card and at least on credit card. When I first came to VN most place did not take CC. But most do now. But I have lost 3 cards now. And it would have been difficult had I not had a backup. The downside of Schwab the only CC they offer is American Express, and they have high fees. Make a note on your calendar to re-certify your info with SSA once you get here. If not they will stop your check around January. Certifications are mailed out in October I believe. I never get mail here and have never received it.