Opening a bank account

I was told that because of my 5 year visa, I can have an account but can not get an ATM card nor make cash deposits.  Thus, the cheapest method I found was the Wells Fargo ExpressSend® Service which allows me to have an independent account in Việt Nam.  That way, I can get cash VND at any branch office.

Otherwise, I am in the same family-friends situation as williamherron13. 

BTW, isn't your wife Vietnamese?

We send money from the US to my wife's sister in Vietnam regularly and visit every year or so. Use a service located here that charges a reasonable fee and delivers to her doorstep within 24 hours. I wonder if we opened a joint account with sister-in-law in a VN bank near her that possibly that might work better. comments?
-@williamherron13

(I wonder if you really talked with your wife and her family about this before you posted your question or if you are just brainstorming on your own?)

Since your wife's sister is Vietnamese, the joint account with her might be possible, if your wife has a Vietnam passport.

But I don't think that's necessary, and the service you are using might actually charge you more to make a legal deposit into her bank account.

They (the service) are bypassing the legal banking system by delivering the cash directly to the family at their house, so it's technically illegal here, even though it is common practice.

I can wire almost any amount of money I want every month to my wife's or her family's bank accounts for $15 USD with a Charles Schwab account, but the receiving Vietnam banks do charge both a deposit fee and an exchange commission (by lowballing the current international rate).

if I had $25,000 to keep in the account my wire transfers would be free, and the only fee involved would be from the Vietnam Bank charging twice for receiving the money.

Wise (formerly Transferwise) can also transfer money into a Vietnam bank, and for smaller amounts they are more affordable than the Schwab Bank option.

But again, the receiving bank will charge twice for receiving that money.

This is why I began by asking you if you have discussed this with your wife and her family.

I'm pretty sure that if you did they would advise you to not change what you've been doing, even if it is technically illegal and something that we do not promote here on the forum.

So I went to Vietnam in 1998 and recently two months ago. Both times, I carried cash with me. I remember in 1998 as a 25 year youngster there that ran out of money . I had to walk in to withdraw a few hundred bucks and got killed with the fees.

When I recently went there, I called Chase and they told me there would be an exchange fees on the specific rate.

So for those that stay in Vietnam for so many months, how are you managing your money? Do you just walk in the bank and have them charge you whatever they want LOL!!

@Svho If there is someone you trust you can use transferwise to send money to them and they can withdraw VND.

So I went to Vietnam in 1998 and recently two months ago. Both times, I carried cash with me. I remember in 1998 as a 25 year youngster there that ran out of money . I had to walk in to withdraw a few hundred bucks and got killed with the fees.
When I recently went there, I called Chase and they told me there would be an exchange fees on the specific rate.

So for those that stay in Vietnam for so many months, how are you managing your money? Do you just walk in the bank and have them charge you whatever they want LOL!!
-@Svho

No.

My monthly income is direct deposited to my Charles Schwab account.

$100 deposit to open it in the USA.

No maintenance fees.

International VISA debit card ATM withdrawal fees are rebated every month, and the exchange rate at time of withdrawal in Vietnam is always virtually identical to the international USD/VNĐ rate you can Google on the internet

(searching "1 USD to VND")

No foreign transaction fee either.

So it essentially costs me nothing to withdraw funds from my USA bank account here (at an MB Bank ATM ₫5 million VNĐ per transaction limit with no limit to how many times I can withdraw during the same visit to the ATM machine, except for whatever limit Schwab has on my account at that time)

The debit card also has no foreign transaction fee for POS transactions and converts VNĐ purchases to USD at the same favorable rate as the ATM transactions.

Then, if I want to deposit that in the bank for use with electronic payments in Vietnam, I give cash to my wife and she deposits it in her Agribank account (I am not allowed to deposit cash in my account without some proof that it was legally obtained in Vietnam).

Then my wife transfers money to my Agribank account: we are both are charged ₫8,000 for that.

I'm allowed to use it for electronic payments and ATM withdrawals but not for over-the-counter withdrawals inside the bank.

Agribank charges ₫11,000 per month for mobile banking, but the higher my balance goes, they rebate a little bit of that back to me.

We recently (wedding) needed to withdraw a sizeable amount of money from my account.

Sitting at the teller window inside the bank, the teller said our current options are for me to use the ATM machine (would have been 10 withdrawals) OR, transfer the money to my wife's account and let her withdraw it right there.

So we did that right there with full knowledge of the bank employee and she then allowed my wife to withdraw the money from her account.

Agribank charges me ₫8,000 VNĐ per month for mobile banking and

(apologies to those who have read this story before. I'm in a bit of a rush and I don't have the time to search for the other post)

So I went to Vietnam in 1998 and recently two months ago. Both times, I carried cash with me. I remember in 1998 as a 25 year youngster there that ran out of money . I had to walk in to withdraw a few hundred bucks and got killed with the fees.
When I recently went there, I called Chase and they told me there would be an exchange fees on the specific rate.

So for those that stay in Vietnam for so many months, how are you managing your money? Do you just walk in the bank and have them charge you whatever they want LOL!!
-@Svho

No.

My monthly income is direct deposited to my Charles Schwab account.

$100 deposit to open it in the USA.

No maintenance fees.

International VISA debit card ATM withdrawal fees are rebated every month, and the exchange rate at time of withdrawal in Vietnam is always virtually identical to the international USD/VNĐ rate you can Google on the internet
(searching "1 USD to VND")

No foreign transaction fee either.

So it essentially costs me nothing to withdraw funds from my USA bank account here (at an MB Bank ATM ₫5 million VNĐ per transaction limit with no limit to how many times I can withdraw during the same visit to the ATM machine, except for whatever limit Schwab has on my account at that time)

The debit card also has no foreign transaction fee for POS transactions and converts VNĐ purchases to USD at the same favorable rate as the ATM transactions.

Then, if I want to deposit that in the bank for use with electronic payments in Vietnam, I give cash to my wife and she deposits it in her Agribank account (I am not allowed to deposit cash in my account without some proof that it was legally obtained in Vietnam).

Then my wife transfers money to my Agribank account: we are both are charged ₫8,000 for that.

I'm allowed to use it for electronic payments and ATM withdrawals but not for over-the-counter withdrawals inside the bank.

Agribank charges ₫11,000 per month for mobile banking, but the higher my balance goes, they rebate a little bit of that back to me.

We recently (wedding) needed to withdraw a sizeable amount of money from my account.

Sitting at the teller window inside the bank, the teller said our current options are for me to use the ATM machine (would have been 10 withdrawals) OR, transfer the money to my wife's account and let her withdraw it right there.

So we did that right there with full knowledge of the bank employee and she then allowed my wife to withdraw the money from her account.

Agribank charges me ₫8,000 VNĐ per month for mobile banking and

(apologies to those who have read this story before. I'm in a bit of a rush and I don't have the time to search for the other post)
-@OceanBeach92107

So the ATM is located inside the MB Bank? I am assuming most ATMs are located inside. Good information.

So I went to Vietnam in 1998 and recently two months ago. Both times, I carried cash with me. I remember in 1998 as a 25 year youngster there that ran out of money . I had to walk in to withdraw a few hundred bucks and got killed with the fees.
When I recently went there, I called Chase and they told me there would be an exchange fees on the specific rate.

So for those that stay in Vietnam for so many months, how are you managing your money? Do you just walk in the bank and have them charge you whatever they want LOL!!
-@Svho

No.

My monthly income is direct deposited to my Charles Schwab account.

$100 deposit to open it in the USA.

No maintenance fees.

International VISA debit card ATM withdrawal fees are rebated every month, and the exchange rate at time of withdrawal in Vietnam is always virtually identical to the international USD/VNĐ rate you can Google on the internet
(searching "1 USD to VND")

No foreign transaction fee either.

So it essentially costs me nothing to withdraw funds from my USA bank account here (at an MB Bank ATM ₫5 million VNĐ per transaction limit with no limit to how many times I can withdraw during the same visit to the ATM machine, except for whatever limit Schwab has on my account at that time)

The debit card also has no foreign transaction fee for POS transactions and converts VNĐ purchases to USD at the same favorable rate as the ATM transactions.

Then, if I want to deposit that in the bank for use with electronic payments in Vietnam, I give cash to my wife and she deposits it in her Agribank account (I am not allowed to deposit cash in my account without some proof that it was legally obtained in Vietnam).

Then my wife transfers money to my Agribank account: we are both are charged ₫8,000 for that.

I'm allowed to use it for electronic payments and ATM withdrawals but not for over-the-counter withdrawals inside the bank.

Agribank charges ₫11,000 per month for mobile banking, but the higher my balance goes, they rebate a little bit of that back to me.

We recently (wedding) needed to withdraw a sizeable amount of money from my account.

Sitting at the teller window inside the bank, the teller said our current options are for me to use the ATM machine (would have been 10 withdrawals) OR, transfer the money to my wife's account and let her withdraw it right there.

So we did that right there with full knowledge of the bank employee and she then allowed my wife to withdraw the money from her account.

Agribank charges me ₫8,000 VNĐ per month for mobile banking and

(apologies to those who have read this story before. I'm in a bit of a rush and I don't have the time to search for the other post)
-@OceanBeach92107

So the ATM is located inside the MB Bank? I am assuming most ATMs are located inside. Good information.
-@Svho

No. Almost always outside the bank. Most ATMs are located outside and they are often separate from the bank property, or at least in a separate kiosk.

The two MB Bank ATMs near our house in Hội An are totally stand-alone clear glass enclosures about the size of a large closet, in these two instances with air conditioning inside.

There isn't an actual MB bank anywhere nearby.

ACB Bank is the one place I've noticed in multiple locations where there are often ATMs actually inside the entrance way to the bank, but I'm sure there are some other banks that have that as well.

We send money from the US to my wife's sister in Vietnam regularly and visit every year or so. Use a service located here that charges a reasonable fee and delivers to her doorstep within 24 hours. I wonder if we opened a joint account with sister-in-law in a VN bank near her that possibly that might work better. comments?
-@williamherron13

If your sister-in-law has a VN bank account, could you transfer the funds into her account by something akin to Global Transfer ? I'm assuming a similar service is available to you through your US bank.

I have transferred money from my Canadian bank to VN citizen's VN bank accounts many times.

Sending options for me are

      Send to Card ($8.95 CDN, $6.62 USD) 24-48 hours

• Send to a debit, credit or re-loadable prepaid Visa card with Visa Direct.

      Send to Account ($9.99 CDN, $7.39 USD) 24-48 hours (my preferred way, usually arrives within 3 hours)

• Send directly to your recipient's bank account.

or

      Cash Pick-up ($6.00 CDN, $4.44 USD) 2-4 hours

• Send by Western Union® to a Western Union® Agent Location in destination country.

If the way you are doing it now has been working, and the rate is reasonable, I'm curious as to why you might want to change? Something you're uncomfortable with about the service providers, or just shopping for options?

@markbruns Hi, have you tried to sign-in to your Well Fargo account and use express send while you in Vietnam?  I did and that option was not available.  I asked them when I am back in the U.S and they told me next time just call the oversea numbers and do it.

@markbruns didn't know wells fargo express have branch in vn. did you verify?

@OceanBeach92107 your optoon sounds like the best on this thread. i usually do atm withdrawal from my u.s citui bank acciunt through theur ATM kiosh inside their citi bank branches in vn. there is a currency exchange conversion fee. but swab sound l.jike z better ootion. the question i have, i mighg have to reread your post again. but where do you do atm or transaction at. what bank in vn that would allowe a swab transaction

i might have posted this. but i withdraw from my citumi bank account thriugh their atm kiosh at theur branches in vn. the only thing is citibank only have branches in hn and sg. so the schwab rout might be a better option. have anyone tried HSBC bank. they are everywhere in asia.  big cities lije hn and sg might have  hsbc too.

@OceanBeach92107 your optoon sounds like the best on this thread. i usually do atm withdrawal from my u.s citui bank acciunt through theur ATM kiosh inside their citi bank branches in vn. there is a currency exchange conversion fee. but swab sound l.jike z better ootion. the question i have, i mighg have to reread your post again. but where do you do atm or transaction at. what bank in vn that would allowe a swab transaction
-@brian h hoang

Almost any bank.

If the ATM works, Schwab rebates the fee.

I've only been unable to use it on:

1. an old ATM not yet upgraded to chip technology, and

2. A small bank in Quy Nhơn I'd never seen before with a name I've forgotten. According to friends it's a bank that doesn't allow any international transactions. 

I've probably had about a 98% success rate, and on the rare occasion it hasn't worked, I've been able to use it at the next bank I've tried.

My wife is now a US citizen.  Sending money to Vietnam is a little inconvenient because she has to visit the Vietnamese market here in the US which is some distance away and pay a fee each time.  We also travel to Vietnam for a month at a time and prefer not to use ATM's so a local bank account would be safer than carrying cash.

There is also a small risk to the relative receiving the money in Vietnam if the wrong person spots the delivery.  And the usual problems at ATM's including hidden fees, withdrawal limits, card skimming and robbery.

My wife is now a US citizen. Sending money to Vietnam is a little inconvenient because she has to visit the Vietnamese market here in the US which is some distance away and pay a fee each time. We also travel to Vietnam for a month at a time and prefer not to use ATM's so a local bank account would be safer than carrying cash.
There is also a small risk to the relative receiving the money in Vietnam if the wrong person spots the delivery. And the usual problems at ATM's including hidden fees, withdrawal limits, card skimming and robbery.
-@williamherron13

Why dont you send it by Western Union, a bank account or another money transfer system. Sending money to VN is easy, the other way round is not.

@williamherron13 Need to check out Wize for transferring money directly into a VN bank account. Much safer, easier and cheaper. The way your talking about I am assuming is using an agent. We did that many years ago but the fees are incredibly high and the whole process is very sketchy.

@williamherron13 Using a reliable money

transfer service located in the US is an effective and secure way to transfer money to your wife's sister in Vietnam. It charges a reasonable fee and delivers the money to her doorstep within 24 hours. Opening a joint account with your sister-in-law in a VN bank might work better if you are planning to make regular transfers. However, you should be aware of the fees, exchange rates, and other details of the bank's services before deciding to open a joint account.

My wife is now a US citizen. Sending money to Vietnam is a little inconvenient because she has to visit the Vietnamese market here in the US which is some distance away and pay a fee each time. We also travel to Vietnam for a month at a time and prefer not to use ATM's so a local bank account would be safer than carrying cash.
There is also a small risk to the relative receiving the money in Vietnam if the wrong person spots the delivery. And the usual problems at ATM's including hidden fees, withdrawal limits, card skimming and robbery.
-@williamherron13

I don't know on what you base your fears of Vietnam ATMs, but as long as you use the ones that are obviously connected to a local bank here, I can tell you from my (and many friend's) experience that there's never a problem using ATMs directly connected to one of the major banks, especially when the user follows the very simple precaution of making sure that they shield the keypad when they are entering their pin number.

Even that's not usually a problem anymore, since most ATMs have had the physical shield installed over them and you are required to reach under that with your fingers to type in your PIN.

Having heard more of your story, here's my serious suggestion to you, learned here in Vietnam dealing with covid lockdowns and an unscheduled departure to the United States, leaving a loved one behind temporarily:

(first read again my post above about the financial benefits of having a Charles Schwab Bank account and the associated Visa debit card).

Since I assume you or your wife don't have a Charles Schwab account, consider opening a free account in your wife's name.

The next time you are in Vietnam, give the Visa debit card to your sister-in-law.

You can fund and maintain the account from the United States, including making sure that there is always a travel advisory for Vietnam attached to the card.

There will be no monthly fees of any kind for the normal use of your account and you'll be free to fund it with whatever amount is required each month, or more often in case of emergency.

I'm willing to bet that your sister-in-law in Vietnam is not afraid to use an ATM, and she probably knows which ones are trustworthy and which ones to avoid.

You'll avoid any transfer fees by initiating any deposits from within Charles Schwab as a transfer in, as well as avoiding wire fees, foreign exchange fees, foreign transaction fees AND ATM useage fees.

You will essentially be giving her money at the best possible exchange rate that doesn't involve the fees of the current system you're using.

no need to worry about whether you can trust her.

She can only withdraw the amount of money that's in the account and you can have Schwab lock the ability to use the card for POS transactions, making it an ATM card only, if you want.

You can also set website and app alerts so that you can always be aware of what's going on with the account.

I did essentially the same thing with my fiancé when I needed to leave the country in 2021.

I gave her a prepaid ACB bank debit card I'd previously opened here in Vietnam.

I changed the PIN number so that I wouldn't have to give her the pin number that I normally use on cards.

Once I was back in North america, I would send money to that card with a Charles Schwab wire transfer.

But in your case, you wouldn't even need to incur that fee if you were to give her the card to your US account used exclusively for her needs.

I do hope this is a helpful suggestion.

Why dont you send it by Western Union, a bank account or another money transfer system. Sending money to VN is easy, the other way round is not.
-@colinoscapee

THIS ^^^

(and this)

Wow! Great suggestion, OB!  I didn't know that most ATMs had relocated inside banks.

Wow! Great suggestion, OB! I didn't know that most ATMs had relocated inside banks.
-@williamherron13

Not always "inside" banks, but usually in a directly connected kiosk.

It's probably worth remembering that Vietnam is MUCH safer than the United States in many respects.

Your sister-in-law will only need to access 1 ATM where she's totally comfortable.

One of my key considerations in choosing where to live in 2018 was the US State Department Travel Advisories:

One other thought on transferring money from the US.   You can use XOOM.com which is part of PayPal.  They will automatically withdraw money from a US bank account.  Pay out is at any Vietcom Bank.   Like Western Union, you show ID and have the transaction number.   Money paid in USD.  Cost is $8 to $13 based on the amount  up to $5000.  Money is available within  2 minutes.

@Svho I’ve been here for 7 years. I have money deposited directly into my account account and have never paid a fee. I do have my VN wife on the account but that shouldn’t make any difference with fees. I keep an account open in America and occasionally transfer money to and from accounts using Wise. Wise does charge a fee but it’s reasonable.

I don't have an account at the bank in VN. So do I walk into Vietcom Bank and ask them for their banking/wire information. Go to a site such as Wise.com on my phone app and send money (US dollar to US dollar) to that Vietcom Bank?

I just went to Wise.com and looked at the process and it said money will be available next day. Do I sit at the bank and sleep there waiting for it to to arrive (j/k)?  The only time I have wire money overseas was within the US. This was about 25 years ago walking into 7 Eleven and wired via Western Union to an oversea account.

I just opened a Charles Schwab investor checking account for the US.  Read a few recommendations here but like to know other options just in case.

drutter, I am assuming you have a bank account in VN.

I've been using Wise for about 7 years in Vietnam also.  Never had an issue.  The cost is very competitive and it only takes about a minute for the funds to be transferred into my wife's account.  You can easily check out what the transfer fee would be by going to the Wise website and plugging in the amount of money you would like to transfer.  It will show you the breakdown so you can compare with other services/options.  Too easy.

Sugarcrisp, it sounds like you have  a VN bank account.

@Svho Yes, your assumption is correct...in fact I have three accounts at three different banks here. But mostly I use ACB. As for sending USD from the US without an account here your best bet is most likely just continue sending it to your sister-in-law like you have been doing. If you and her physically walked into the bank here it may be possible to add your name to her account provided she is willing to do that, but it may be more trouble than it 's worth.