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Spending your BRL abroad & repatriation

Last activity 01 May 2024 by Peter Itamaraca

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RioRoamer

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum here, I had a quick search and couldn't find the answer so decided to post.

I'm in the middle of a work relocation to Brazil but one area i'm unclear on is when I have some BRL built up in a Brazilian bank account:

  1. What's the most effecient way to spend it when i'm on a return trip to europe for example or for any meaningful expenses that might occur in my home country for my home (Ireland).
  2. What about when I go to leave Brazil with (hopefully) a nice bit of cash saved up, I assume there are tons of FX charges and taxes associated with transferring this to a euro bank account for example.


If anyone has any advice or experience to share that would be great - i'll be seeking professional advice at some point but that's down the line and I thought i'd check if anyone has any lived experiences.


Thanks

abthree

04/30/24 @RioRoamer.  A couple of ideas for you:


-- The most efficient way to spend down your BRL balance is to spend it on BRL denominated expenses.  So for your trip or trips to Europe or anywhere else for example, buy your tickets in BRL.


-- Talk to the manager at your Brazilian bank to find out what the charges are to transfer funds to Ireland.  You may be pleasantly surprised at the forex charges and taxes.  Talk with your Irish bank about the kind of exchange rate and charges you can expect transferring BRL there.  Once you understand both ends of the transaction, see whether a service like Wise can do better for you.


-- Make sure that your bank discussions include any monthly or other limits on transfers, so that if they exist, you can time your transfers to stay within them.


I've never moved a lot of money out of Brazil to another country and don't expect to, but if I were going to do it, these are some of things that I would do.

madrac

I'd probably transfer the Reals to Euros from your Brazilian bank account to your Irish bank account for either 1. or 2. in your post.  I use Wise to send USD to Brazil.  Haven't done it in reverse but of all the online services (e.g Wise, Xoom, worldremit), I find wise to have the lowest fees, best exchange rate, and extremely quick transfer times (like seconds in most cases). 


You can make the transfers from any where in the world.  I've also moved USD to Reals whilst in Brazil

Peter Itamaraca

I have used Wise to send funds out of Brazil, and it is a little slower but seems to work fine. To avoid bank charges, try and find people from your home country who want to send to Brazil, then have them pay direct into your home bank account (in euros, for example) and use the interbank rate to calculate how much in reais to deposit on their behalf here. That way neither party gains,and there are no bank or other charges,

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