Singapore Expats

I'm moving back to Singapore for good after working in the US for close to 15yrs.
I'm cashing out my saving, 401K retirement plan, etc in the US and bringing it home.
It's not a good idea to bring all those money thru' the airport and fly together with you.
What are my options to transfer money back to Singapore (the lowest fees), other then wire money with hefty amount of bank fees?
I have Bank Of America account over here, which i believe Singapore have Bank of America' branch too.
I also have POSB account back in Singapore.
Traveller check?

Well there's another way. Using your Bank of America cheque, issue a cheque to yourself then cash that into your posb bank account. The cheque will take longer to clear (15 - 20 days) depending on the amount as well but you don't have to pay any wire fees etc. Hope this helps.

What Andy said.

If you don't want to do that, and go through the effort to open Citibank accounts, it is a flat $11 USD to move the money from US to Singapore, with decent exchange rates.

I think if you have a Citibank account in US and SG, it is free to transfer funds between the two accounts. You might want to double check.

Girl_Next_Door wrote:I think if you have a Citibank account in US and SG, it is free to transfer funds between the two accounts. You might want to double check.

SG to US is free. US to SG is a small fee (at least it was last time I did it, about six months ago). Fee or free is dependent on the market the bank is in; every one will have their own rules. If you have a Citibank US account you should understand this, since they're night and day from Citibank SG with the fees they charge for everything.

I just moved here and am having a good experience with Capital One. I have both a checking account and credit card through them. I can transfer funds from any bank to Capital One without fees and use their debit card to withdraw money in Singapore. They will reimburse ATM fees up to a certain level each month. The credit card I have through them also has zero foreign transaction fees.

Do they have local branches? I've never seen any. If not, how are you transferring money to them? DBS/POSB charges at least S$25 to transfer money to another bank outside of Singapore.

Hey guys,

Any idea which bank in China can transfer to SG (from SG to China too) without any charges or with the lowest possible charges ?

Thanks alot !

Godfather_Justin wrote:Hey guys,

Any idea which bank in China can transfer to SG (from SG to China too) without any charges or with the lowest possible charges ?

Thanks alot !

As mentioned in every other thread, look at the banks that have a presence here and there. Citibank, ANZ, HSBC, StanChart, BOC, etc.

Thanks for the reply zzm...

Godfather_Justin wrote:Hey guys,

Any idea which bank in China can transfer to SG (from SG to China too) without any charges or with the lowest possible charges ?

Thanks alot !

Depends on the amount you are sending - lower fee's usually mean less competitive rates. Higher amounts $SGD > 1k use a bank, lower amounts use someone like western union or moneygram.

ICBC, BOC, CCB will all transfer from SG to mainland accounts and vice versa. Just make sure you take the all the account and address details in both English and Chinese - as they usually request both.

Thanks so much Billy B for the detailed info provided...

Girl_Next_Door wrote:I think if you have a Citibank account in US and SG, it is free to transfer funds between the two accounts. You might want to double check.

Any feedback on the citibank account? I was thinking of opening up one in the UK as well as one in Singapore so that I can move my money about without the fees I have been paying up until now.

almightygoodgod wrote:

Girl_Next_Door wrote:I think if you have a Citibank account in US and SG, it is free to transfer funds between the two accounts. You might want to double check.

Any feedback on the citibank account? I was thinking of opening up one in the UK as well as one in Singapore so that I can move my money about without the fees I have been paying up until now.

In Singapore, they're no worse than any other bank, and better than most. (If that doesn't make sense, it will once you live here) They have ATMs at every MRT stop, but the branches are a bit limited. The MRT ATMs mostly don't accept deposits, so that would probably be my one complaint. Limited locations to make deposits.

zzm9980 wrote:

almightygoodgod wrote:

Girl_Next_Door wrote:I think if you have a Citibank account in US and SG, it is free to transfer funds between the two accounts. You might want to double check.

Any feedback on the citibank account? I was thinking of opening up one in the UK as well as one in Singapore so that I can move my money about without the fees I have been paying up until now.

In Singapore, they're no worse than any other bank, and better than most. (If that doesn't make sense, it will once you live here) They have ATMs at every MRT stop, but the branches are a bit limited. The MRT ATMs mostly don't accept deposits, so that would probably be my one complaint. Limited locations to make deposits.

I think it also depends on which area you stay. Personally, I find it convenient because there is an ATM machine at Newton MRT and Paragon, two of the places I frequent. There are a numbers of ATMs around Raffles Place as well.

If you are looking for banks that has a lot of machines, it would be local banks like DBS/POSB (note that they always have long quenes), OCBC and UOB.