Posted: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 1:41 am
I don't know who did you speak to in Citibank but as with every single branch of every bank you will get different response on non standard questions, at least IMEzzm9980 wrote:Slightly related -
I need to move a large amount of USD the Singapore. My assumption was to move the money from USD in the USD to a USD in Singapore would be the best (most cost effictive) way of doing it, short of carrying cash(*)in my carry-on on a flight. It's too much cash to fit in pocket(s), and just enough that it would probably show up during the x-ray of my carry-on.
So anyway, I asked some people candidly about the best way. Someone from OCBC confirmed this isn't a good idea for me, as their bank would charge a massive fee on the fx conversion later. I was told to go to a US bank like Citibank for it, because maybe they'd let me withdraw the money in USD while in SG. (OCBC wouldn't).
I went to Citibank, thinking I could use their Global transfer to a USD account here. Long story short, I wouldn't be able to get the money out in USD. I'd have to move it to an SGD account, and they'd charge a significantly higher FX rate on that than if I just used global transfer to move it from USD to SGD account here directly.
I'm open to suggestions if anyone has one, otherwise I'll just take the hit on the Citibank transfer from US to SG.
* Using this (I think from Naka) to judge the size:
http://demonocracy.info/infographics/eu ... piigs.html
You can do USD-USD CGT transfer, I am using CGT for EUR transfers with no issues and without any conversions to SGD first. You can also attach debit card to your USD account and use it to withdraw up to US$2300 / daily if this is something you would consider (and free of charge). You can also send FCY TT from Citi which will cost you S$30 equivalent.
As I understand you have USD in Citi or some other bank?