Best method of getting your money back home?

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Member since 25 August 2020

Digitae0nJMember16 July 2022 06:44:23

For those expats who have lived in China a while and accumulated savings in a Chinese bank account: You eventually return to your home country but how to take that large sum of money with you in the destination currency?

Typical money transfers are usually not an option because of the fees involved and limits in how much you can transfer, its just not practical.

I'm looking for some out of the box thinking here to find a cheaper solution. I've heard of people using Bitcoin or gold as an option because of the earnings potential to offset costs involved. And these methods hold intrinsic value independently of conventional currencies.

What are some other methods (preferably legal ones) available?

twlee5 New member

Member since 07 April 2021

twlee5New member17 July 2022 01:52:21

you can use your union pay bank card to make ATM withdraws pretty much anywhere in the world, there is a limit of 10K RMB per day and 100K RMB per year..... DO NOT go over 100K a year or you'll be banned from ATM withdraws for 2 years. You can't fool the system with multiple bank cards as they will add up all your foreign ATM withdraws. Also, you can consider making purchases with your Union Pay debit cards outside of China, there are a lot of advantages with it; favorable exchange rates, no bank fee and there is no limit on the purchase amount.

Baybars Active member

Member since 24 December 2014

BaybarsActive member07 September 2022 09:13:02

@Digitae0nJ Open a Chinese PayPal account and link it to your Chinese bank account. Pay yourself i.e. pay your domestic PayPal account, then you can instantly transfer the money from your domestic PayPal account into your domestic bank account. The entire process takes less than 5 minutes, and it's legal. PayPal take about 5% commission. Only illegals use BitCoin or money mules.

acoop New member

Member since 15 July 2022

acoopNew member07 September 2022 09:30:16

I’ve always got a Chinese national to exchange my RMB into £ sterling as my Bank of China account can hold 6 different currencies £ sterling being one of them. Once it is sterling I can transfer it out of the country to UK using the SWIFT bank to bank transfer. The costs in the past were always fixed not a percentage so the more I did the better it was. I haven’t done this for 3 years now so things might have changed. I think the maximum per calendar year was the equivalent if 50,000$ US. I recollect my cost was 200 rmb.

Lmflmf1 Serial expat

Member since 18 September 2020

Lmflmf1Serial expat12 September 2022 07:02:25

203

@Digitae0nJ

Why take your money out of china? Leave it in a Chinese bank and earn 3-5% tax free interest …you cannot get any interest even close to 3-5% anywhere else outside of china.

cheers

lmf

14 years working in Shanghai….

Lmflmf1 Serial expat

Member since 18 September 2020

Lmflmf1Serial expat12 September 2022 07:04:02

203

@twlee5

union pay there is a bank fee…

acoop New member

Member since 15 July 2022

acoopNew member12 September 2022 07:23:24

@Lmflmf1 It depends whether you have bills back home to be paid.

Lmflmf1 Serial expat

Member since 18 September 2020

Lmflmf1Serial expat12 September 2022 08:05:09

203

@acoop

I was replying for savings accounts and the benefits of leaving money in china for this purpose…

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