New laws about foreigners bank accounts

cabraman wrote:

THIGV wrote:

cabraman wrote:

I,ll be trying the method DEEPSIX said he's used successfully with Vietcombank as I have an account with them. His post stood out from all the others but nobody seems interested.

Perhaps we are interested but as far as I can tell he only revealed his deep dark secret to you by PM.  Perhaps he could enlighten the rest of us.

Normally I wouldn't make public the contents of a PM, but as this is so harmless I will." If I am sending transactions overseas I go the International transfers section and fill in a form and details of account I want to send money too and if I am bringing money into Vietnam I simply go online and log in to my bank in the Netherlands and simply fill in the details of my account here and transfer money"     I won't  knock it until I've tried it.

As long as you have the documentation to show how you received the money in Viet Nam, either by work or transfer, you are able to transfer out. It's been the same for many years, the problem is making sure you have the correct paperwork.

In reply to Cabraman:  Let us know.  Also would be curious about the fees.

Maybe in Hind sight I could've put the details on-line rather than PM but it was the choice at the time, however, yes in regards to moving money around, if I want to transfer money to an account in the NL or wherever I simply go to the International section in my bank here in Q7 and fill in a transfer form which includes what currency you want the transfer in and its then stamped and signed and normally 3 bank working days its in the designated account and debited from my account here, bringing money into Vietnam I simply go online with RaboBank in the NL and transfer from my account there to my Vietcombank here.

Hope this helps

Deepsix wrote:

...yes in regards to moving money around, if I want to transfer money to an account in the NL or wherever I simply go to the International section in my bank here in Q7 and fill in a transfer form which includes what currency you want the transfer in and its then stamped and signed and normally 3 bank working days its in the designated account and debited from my account here,...

Do you recall the fees/$ or € or VND?  The currency really doesn't matter as it is a percent.

Have you ever been asked the source of your funds?

Thanks

Greetings THIGV,

Never been asked about any of the transfers.

Vietcombank was actually the first bank providing international payments services in Vietnam, it works for me, obviously there are charges involved for sending money out and if I recall for sums of around 2000 euros its about 2%..but I maybe wrong on that but certainly not outrageous charges..

The department is the international trade section.

Thank you for that DEEPSIX   I,ll see how I go up here at their Dalat branch.

In my humble opinion the advice that you get when you go to any department of the bank varies with the season, time of day, humiditity, hunger level of the employee or a combination of all of these. I truly rely on the "wait and see" method and having a planned alternative method to avoid the legal ramifications of a mass slaughter of bank employees!

It can be very anal at VN banks, I had a contract for the supply of goods from China. The contract said xxxUSD, on a few lines below it said xxx US dollars. The bank wouldn't accept the contract because the wording was different. For such a simple thing, it took nearly 6 months to resolve such a small, insignificant problem, hence this is why I keep away from the major VN banks and deal with a smaller, more modern thinking bank.

We can go on forever about the pros and Cons of banking in Vietnam, for me personally Vietcombank works for me, I use it just for keeping money in Country that I need as for the rest of my financial needs I use my bank in the Netherlands...

If you are not happy with your VN bank then move the account......simple isn't it???

deepsix, with vietcombank i note there is a small atm withdrawal fee. is there one for over the counter withdrawal ?

Cheers

Greetings Panda7

No charge for cash withdraw when using the counter service.

Have a nice weekend

so you get the atm fee as well ?

It's just a 1000 VND at a vietcombank atm, however, it can be as much as 20,000 VND if you use your vietcombank card at other bank ATMs

ok thanks

Deepsix wrote:

We can go on forever about the pros and Cons of banking in Vietnam, for me personally Vietcombank works for me, I use it just for keeping money in Country that I need as for the rest of my financial needs I use my bank in the Netherlands...

If you are not happy with your VN bank then move the account......simple isn't it???

Maybe you didn't read it clearly, I stated I deal with one of the smaller banks,didn't I.

I was generalizing about banks not specifically your post.... Have a good weekend

colinoscapee wrote:

It can be very anal at VN banks, I had a contract for the supply of goods from China. The contract said xxxUSD, on a few lines below it said xxx US dollars. The bank wouldn't accept the contract because the wording was different. For such a simple thing, it took nearly 6 months to resolve such a small, insignificant problem, hence this is why I keep away from the major VN banks and deal with a smaller, more modern thinking bank.

Hey Colin,
At what point in the negotiations were you restrained,shackled & muzzled. 😉

Imagine trying to maintain a level of decorum and business like manner when dealing with that.

Yogi007 wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

It can be very anal at VN banks, I had a contract for the supply of goods from China. The contract said xxxUSD, on a few lines below it said xxx US dollars. The bank wouldn't accept the contract because the wording was different. For such a simple thing, it took nearly 6 months to resolve such a small, insignificant problem, hence this is why I keep away from the major VN banks and deal with a smaller, more modern thinking bank.

Hey Colin,
At what point in the negotiations were you restrained,shackled & muzzled. 😉

Imagine trying to maintain a level of decorum and business like manner when dealing with that.

I seriously thought I could sort it all out in a week or two, but the bank kept coming up with unrealistic demands. It was a learning experience, thats for sure.

cabraman wrote:

THIGV wrote:

cabraman wrote:

I,ll be trying the method DEEPSIX said he's used successfully with Vietcombank as I have an account with them. His post stood out from all the others but nobody seems interested.

Perhaps we are interested but as far as I can tell he only revealed his deep dark secret to you by PM.  Perhaps he could enlighten the rest of us.

Normally I wouldn't make public the contents of a PM, but as this is so harmless I will." If I am sending transactions overseas I go the International transfers section and fill in a form and details of account I want to send money too and if I am bringing money into Vietnam I simply go online and log in to my bank in the Netherlands and simply fill in the details of my account here and transfer money"     I won't  knock it until I've tried it.

My American Bank requires that I actually call them on the telephone for security. As Skype and other VoIP telephone methods are available, this is even simpler than logging in to my bank on line as everyone in the department knows my voice by now.

THIGV wrote:

In reply to Cabraman:  Let us know.  Also would be curious about the fees.

I went to my Vietcombank branch here in Dalat to check, not to actually try and make a transfer.  I asked if it was possible to transfer cash from my account to my account in Sydney and was told yes, as long as the account wasn't originally opened with cash, because they don't know where it came from. That left me out as I had opened with cash, so  I asked if I transferred money from my Sydney account to Vietcombank and opened another account would I then be able to transfer from that account and was told yes, that is ok. I asked do I have to show why I want to transfer and was told no, not necessary.  Fees in AUD are:   Telex   $7.41, Foreign Bank charge $29.66,  Vietcombank fees 0.165% with a minimum charge of $7.41.    Hope that helps, otherwise make a visit to your local Vietcombank if there are other questions you may have.

@cabraman
That is helpful and interesting...

Yogi007 wrote:

The other system I mentioned above is VERY risky for foreigners. I know the VN use it but I wouldn't .
Basically you take the cash to a gold shop I know of here, and you have a contact in San Jose California that picks up cash at the other end, a VN loan shark.    It's as dodgy as f&€k.

I know that the gold shop route that Yogi mentions charges a flat 3% regardless of the amount US>VN.  I would guess that they are about the same the other way.  On the Hawaii end the agents are mostly VK travel agencies and I would suspect mostly the same in California and Australian major cities.   The drawback is that you have to have a living breathing person to receive the funds which are delivered as cash.  This works fine for Vietnamese and Viet Kieu as they mostly have family on both ends.  It also has the advantage of being much more difficult for governments to trace if that kind of thing is important to you.   

cabraman wrote:

Fees in AUD are:   Telex   $7.41, Foreign Bank charge $29.66,  Vietcombank fees 0.165% with a minimum charge of $7.41.

The Vietcombank method combines variable and fixed charges but it is about 3% at $1500 and gets better going higher, so it looks like a good alternative.  At $5000 it gets down below 1%.

Its been the same rule for many years, the money you bring in via a transfer you can take out, I have kept my transfers for the last ten years just in case I need to take out a large sum.

Thank you linesmen, thank you ballboys, I now have the answer to my question. Deepsix was right and Colinoscapee confirmed, so thank you both.

Looked in to sending about 200 Pounds from Vietnam to U.K to pay credit card bill. Asked Vietcom bank. They asked for proof of the bill. I showed them. They said it can be done.

The charges:

Telex Fee              :    5.50 USD
Vietcom bank fee:   5.50 USD (min 5.50 USD or 0.165%, depending on the amount you send)
Foreign Bank fee:  22.00 USD

Total (minimum) :  33.00 USD

I asked if the sender will receive 200 GBP if I send 200 GBP. She said "it cannot be guranteed", as 'intermediary banks' may want a piece of the pie. I left the building immediately.

Cabraman: Seems these charges are identical to what you were quoted, except mine are in USD.

HSBC quoted around 20 USD for Telex fee and HSbC Bank charge. However, to guarantee the recipient receives the exact amount you send, they said you can opt to pay all the charges, in which case you pay 550,000 VND (25 USD) on top.

I guess the uncertainty may be because the transfer is not from your account here to an account you have in GB.  I will check the next time I go to my branch.

Just use PayPal, fast and no questions.

cossmo wrote:

Just use PayPal, fast and no questions.

Any fees/hidden fees?..what's their exchange rate like?.

I remember reading on a blog that paypal takes at least 2.5% through the exchange rate. (if it's just 2.5%, then probably best for sending small amounts)

Can paypal guarantee the amount received?

sanooku wrote:

cossmo wrote:

Just use PayPal, fast and no questions.

Any fees/hidden fees?..what's their exchange rate like?.

I remember reading on a blog that paypal takes at least 2.5% through the exchange rate. (if it's just 2.5%, then probably best for sending small amounts)

Can paypal guarantee the amount received?

PayPal exchange rates are poor compared to others, they always say they are competitive, but they aren't for such a big business. Last time I received from PayPal their rate was about 4% lower than that of the actual bank rates here. The other thing with PayPal, when receiving money here they only pay in VND even if you have a USD account. If I could get by without using PayPal I would, but many online businesses use them.

sanooku wrote:

cossmo wrote:

Just use PayPal, fast and no questions.

Any fees/hidden fees?..what's their exchange rate like?.

I remember reading on a blog that paypal takes at least 2.5% through the exchange rate. (if it's just 2.5%, then probably best for sending small amounts)

Can paypal guarantee the amount received?

the fees vary, best to try it yourself. they'll notify the fees before sending. I haven't compared the exchange rates, you're probably right about exchange rates. paypal is just another way you can fly money out of the country. it probably isn't the most economical way, but it removes all of the hassles and difficulties mentioned. you just need to weigh out what is more important, value for money/time or the convenience of an online transaction.

paypal is used everywhere, the transaction is almost instant. withdrawing the funds to the local account will take a few days.

The other thing with PayPal, when receiving money here they only pay in VND even if you have a USD account.

so the money is converted from USD to VND, then we would need to convert back to USD (the whole point of having a USD account is to have money in that account, in USD).

The first conversion is a nice little earner for paypal. Reckon they are laughing all the way to the bank, and have the cheek to call us 'Pal'.

PayPal will pay in the native currency of the country where the account is registered. One account I have has an US address so it gets paid in USD.

Moderators: No sensitive PII has been disclosed in this message.

PayPals website states you can receive money in any currency, but it then tells you that you can only receive money in that country's currency. Nice little scam by PayPal as they can pick up about 4% on their dreadful currency conversion. I asked PayPal why it's like this,and they blamed the VN government, yet having a usd bank account I can receive usd from other companies. PayPal sucks.

If I could get by without using PayPal I would, but many online businesses use them.

have you used any of the paypal alternatives:

http://lifehacker.com/5821634/why-you-s … ople-moneyhttp://www.hongkiat.com/blog/paypal-alternatives/http://www.screw-paypal.com/alternative … tives.html

This link says you can pay using alternatives even on Ebay (and they are really big on paypal).

I know with ebay payments, the paypal option is (designed) to come-up on top. So only a few would even think of all the other payment options.

Excuse me if I appear to be picky, but why didn't you give ALL the information you had in the first place?

For the same reasons I don't bend my knee, do patronage or bootlicking. (I don't know what these feel like)

By the way, are you sure you don't work for Santander Plc.

Sorry, my error in not reading the thread correctly.  I thought you had made the initial reference to Paypal  when in fact it was Cossmo.

I love Saigon Special too. Why do the affluent locals drink bloody Heineken when Saigon Special is superior in every single category of choice ?

I use a way not mentioned yet. PM me if you want details.

I was turned down today trying to open an account at Sacombank to have my SS check deposited and use a debit card for the reason you refer.