Sending funds to Vietnam

When did Wise institute a 300k per day limit?  That can't be correct.  $12? The only limit I ever hit with them was $10,000 USD per transaction so I had to send multiples.

u should have a document to open a vietnam bank avcount . Open a USD currency , different bank got different rule . i did tt a 200k USd to buy a house there 10 years back . To my vietinbank , need to state the reason . Tecno bank i just ask , my account can only accept money from vietnsmese , mean u can only transfer money to yr wife .

It very easy to send money into vietnam for yr information . The problrm is sending money out of vietnam .

@SteinNebraska I agree, it is not correct. I regularly send millions of dong to Vietnam every month. 

@SteinNebraska

Thanks for pointing this out. It was a typo, I am aware Wise has about a 10k USD limit a day. Although their exchange rate is very good , the fees are not and it adds up quickly if you send larger sums of money multiple times.

My wife is going to ask VCB if I can transfer the funds into my own account or that it is only possible to send to a Vietnamese account.

@Kiteflyer you can make bank transfer from your bank account to your wife's one in Vietnam.  VCB will accept but once your transaction completed, your wife  gotta go to VCN to sign an agreement to sell foreign currency with the agreed rate from VCB.

It's very easy, just a matter of fact that how much can you send.

With WISE, you can do as well, you do everyday till you run out of cash.

On March 1st I transferred $5,785 USD to my Agribank DOMESTIC account to cover 6 months rent in advance and a construction project in Quảng Ngãi and our monthly expenses.

The Charles Schwab fee was a flat $15.00 USD.

Once the SWIFT wire transfer was completed (within 24 banking hours) I was able to immediately transfer ₫100,000,000 VNĐ to my wife's Agribank account at no extra charge.

The slight downside to making a large transfer in this manner is that I lose about ₫150 VNĐ per 1 USD (approximately ₫867,750 VNĐ in that case) compared to the ATM exchange rate I get with a Schwab Visa debit card withdrawal, PLUS all of my withdrawal fees from an ATM would have been rebated, saving the $15 USD wire fee.

So compared to withdrawing the money from an ATM, the transfer cost ₫1,239,300 VNĐ.

We did it because our local ATMs would have required about 48 individual withdrawals at 3 million VNĐ a pop.

Even if we'd been willing to travel to the nearest MB Bank ATM and get 5 million VNĐ per withdrawal, it would have required 29 withdrawals AND then a trip to Agribank for my wife to deposit the large chunk of cash.

It was just much more convenient to handle everything from here at our home in Đà Nẵng

Thanks for the info HoanghaFlow & OceanBeach92107

Before TransferWise (now Wise) I also used the ATM to withdraw money from my VISA card. The company stated that if you kept a positive balance, there wouldn't be any fees to pay. That never worked at any of the banks in Vietnam, and I tried about a dozen.

I am happy to have left those visits to the ATM behind me. The bank with the lowest fee (BIDV) had no airco in the outside ATM . It was an ordeal to repeat the 3.000.000 vnd withdrawal 7 times just to get 21.000.000 vnd. I was sweating it out and people behind me were getting impatience.

The slight downside to making a large transfer in this manner is that I lose about ₫150 VNĐ per 1 USD (approximately ₫867,750 VNĐ in that case) compared to the ATM exchange rate I get with a Schwab Visa debit card withdrawal, PLUS all of my withdrawal fees from an ATM would have been rebated, saving the $15 USD wire fee.


 
    -@OceanBeach92107

I am lucky in a couple of ways really OB, even my wire transfer fee's (15usd) from Schwab are re funded as well as the ATM fee.

I am also lucky because I still have a long standing USD account here so all my transfers into Vietnam from various overseas accounts go in there as USD & then I can selectively choose when to convert USD to VND. Its like going to a casino & rolling the exchange rate dice. Last week I was getting 24,709VND  to USD.........................God bless America & God bless the mighty USD.

    The slight downside to making a large transfer in this manner is that I lose about ₫150 VNĐ per 1 USD (approximately ₫867,750 VNĐ in that case) compared to the ATM exchange rate I get with a Schwab Visa debit card withdrawal, PLUS all of my withdrawal fees from an ATM would have been rebated, saving the $15 USD wire fee.       -@OceanBeach92107I am lucky in a couple of ways really OB, even my wire transfer fee's (15usd) from Schwab are re funded as well as the ATM fee. I am also lucky because I still have a long standing USD account here so all my transfers into Vietnam from various overseas accounts go in there as USD & then I can selectively choose when to convert USD to VND. Its like going to a casino & rolling the exchange rate dice. Last week I was getting 24,709VND  to USD.........................God bless America & God bless the mighty USD.        -@goodolboy

I have a similar setup with my International accounts at ACB.

When I opened my Agribank domestic account, they encouraged me to simply send all wires directly to my vnd account.

I may look into adding a USD account there

I too am seeking advice on getting small amount of spending cash.

I hope to get a 90 day visa and will probably carry 1 or 2K (US) in with me.

Before when I lived abroad for 2 years, I used my visa card (DEBIT) at the atm and that worked fine, I don't recall the fees being excessive.

WOuld doing the same thing work in VN?  I am not a high-roller so I doubt I will spend a great amount of money beyond the 2K

I do have a Schwab Broker account which holds money not in the market,  Others mentioned getting their card, in my situation would the Visa debit card be sufficient?

In addition, when abroad before, it was important to have fairly new US money to exchange into the local currency, is there any difficulties exchanging cash which is of normal wear and denomination in VN?

Open a Schwab investment checking account. Withdraw VND at most ATMs at the current exchange rate without charges of any kind. At the end of the month, ALL of those pesky atm fees from the previous month are refunded in full.

I do have a Schwab Broker account which holds money not in the market,  Others mentioned getting their card, in my situation would the Visa debit card be sufficient?

Yes. The Schwab Visa Debit Card can be used for any funds in your checking account.

You must use funds in the individual brokerage account for Swift code wire transfers.

In addition, when abroad before, it was important to have fairly new US money to exchange into the local currency, is there any difficulties exchanging cash which is of normal wear and denomination in VN?-@Dannyroc3

Vietnamese people probably won't share your opinion as to "normal wear".

Yes, there can definitely be a problem attempting to use or exchange anything except very good or pristine quality US currency (uncirculated or proof being preferred).

Places where you might encounter problems are international border crossings (Cambodia, Laos, China), official government agencies including immigration checkpoints where fees are collected and in all types of currency exchange situations; both legal and not-so-legal.

So upgrade all of your cash before you bring it here. A teller at your bank should be willing to do that for you.

Also, should you ever need to purchase USD here using VNĐ, don't accept any USD currency that appears to be circulated.

Otherwise, you may not be able to use that money again in Vietnam, unless you want to give it away or use it to pay for things in tourist traps.

Good luck!

O.B.

    I too am seeking advice on getting small amount of spending cash.

Not sure whether you should consider this advice, but here's my experience/routine.

I hope to get a 90 day visa and will probably carry 1 or 2K (US) in with me.

When I arrived in 2017, I had with me both CDN and USD. I can't remember the exact amount, but it was equal to ~$2,000 USD (mostlyUSD), with an additional 6 million VND purchased at my TD Bank's branch in Canada.

If I were to do it again, I would have taken only the 6 mill VND, and left the USD and CDN in my account, accessing it through an ATM with my Visa-Debit card. The 6m VND would have been enough to cover any of my cash-outlay expenses for a couple of days. I paid for the hotel with my Visa credit card. I didn't frequent any tourism sites, so my CDN and USD foreign currency was hastily exchanged for VND. I had trouble finding places to spend it where I'd get a fair exchange rate.

Before when I lived abroad for 2 years, I used my visa card (DEBIT) at the atm and that worked fine, I don't recall the fees being excessive.

I do exactly that to this day. No charge from my bank for ATM cash withdrawals, but I do get hit with a charge at the local ATM, usually ~22K VND (~$1.20CDN, or 0.87USD) for a 3mill VND withdrawal. I agree, not at all excessive.

When I need access to a large amount, I do a global transfer into the account of a trusted VN account holder, who then withdraw the funds from their account via their ATM (no 3m limit per transaction, no charges).

WOuld doing the same thing work in VN?  I am not a high-roller so I doubt I will spend a great amount of money beyond the 2K

Works perfectly fine for me. I spend (or rather, I try to limit my spending to) 40m VND a month (~$1,550USD). Works out to ~$12USD/month local ATM fees. The convenience of the ATM is priceless, though I get a much better rate when I transfer directly from my bank to a VN citizens bank account.

I do have a Schwab Broker account which holds money not in the market,  Others mentioned getting their card, in my situation would the Visa debit card be sufficient?

Can't say anything about Schwab, having never dealt with them. If you won't be making large-ish purchases, I'd just use your Visa-Debit card. ATMs are everywhere.

In addition, when abroad before, it was important to have fairly new US money to exchange into the local currency, is there any difficulties exchanging cash which is of normal wear and denomination in VN?
       -@Dannyroc3

See OceanBeach92107's comment above. As I've also heard from other member's reports, USDs in pristine condition, or....

@OceanBeach92107 Thanks for your helpful comments.

On the Schwab visa-card, does a checking account need to be opened or can it just be linked to the Broker account (if you know.)

    @OceanBeach92107 Thanks for your helpful comments.
On the Schwab visa-card, does a checking account need to be opened or can it just be linked to the Broker account (if you know.)
   

    -@Dannyroc3

If you have a Schwab Investor account and received a linked Visa Debit card, then you also have a linked checking account with Charles Schwab bank. You can transfer funds between the two accounts as necessary, usually effective within 24 hours, though sometimes (during their normal business hours) transfers go through virtually instantaneously.

Call the toll-free number on the back of your Visa Debit card for more information or sign into your account online to find information about your individual brokerage account and checking account.

Good luck!

O.B.

@Aidan in HCMC Getting to the point where I will need to tap into money from home soon.

I use a V I S A card, are there any ATMS I should lookfor or avoid as far as fees or service?

    @Aidan in HCMC Getting to the point where I will need to tap into money from home soon.
I use a V I S A card, are there any ATMS I should lookfor or avoid as far as fees or service?
        -@Dannyroc3

For me they're all pretty much the same. ~22K VND per transaction. Most machines have a 3 million limit per transaction for foreign cards.

If you're in need of a large amount, consider transferring funds directly to your GF's account, as per my comments in post #14 above.

@Aidan in HCMC Is it complicated to transfer from US bank to VN account?

I will go to my bank online and see how to transfer bank to bank.  I will try a ATM and see if my bank hits me with a reasonable charge.

I'm unsubscribing from this thread.

It's obvious that the extensive guidance I've shared--specifically on point for US citizens--has been flushed down someone's personal black hole as being worthless.

    @Aidan in HCMC Is it complicated to transfer from US bank to VN account?
I will go to my bank online and see how to transfer bank to bank.  I will try a ATM and see if my bank hits me with a reasonable charge.
   
    -@Dannyroc3

As a Canadian, I'm in a pee-poor position to give advise on US banking regulations. I can only tell you what I do with funds from my bank.

In my case, it isn't classed as "bank to bank", but as a "global transfer".