foozgarden
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You can't send a USD TT from your USD MCA wallet via internet banking; you have to do it over the counter.
Do you have actual USD currency with you now? If so, you're better off just carrying it with you - but do also be aware of civil forfeiture in the US.
If it's just a couple of thousand dollars, it's fine; but you really don't want to be rolling a suitcase full of cash though customs.
If the bulk of your funds is in SGD instead, I would recommend opening an account with Citibank instead.
CGT transfers between SG and US is free, and you can have your ATM card withdraw directly from your USD balance here too. There is also no withdrawal fees if you use a Citibank ATMs there.
I believe internet transactions with USD denominated accounts is not well supported. I have a DBS USD current account, and I can't even see the historical transactions on it, only the account balance on internet banking.
For DBS MCA, you can pretty much only transfer funds between MCA wallets online.
Citi's spread is not great; but they make up for it with the other facilities and services. If you're changing a significant amount, your RM can arrange a slightly better rate for you.
The other way would be to operate multiple accounts, and shuffle the funds around - that's usually more work than it's worth however.
Yes, the only advantage MCA has, is the ability to get physical USD into the banking system without fees; but that's not a very useful function, since most people don't exactly have suitcases of USD lying around.
Are you moving to the US for work, or are you migrating?
If you're moving, you will find it's important to still have SG bank accounts with good internet and phone banking facilities.
"Not a small sum" is subjective. If it's less than USD100k, I would consider it a small sum in the scheme of things of moving funds between borders.
I really like Citi, and use it a lot. The second most functional internet banking account I've found is UOB. You can pretty much do any transaction via the internet with these two banks.
One advantage of Citi is, it is possible to send a TT via internet banking, with no upper limit (if sent via internet banking secure message, otherwise their limit is SGD250k. Most other banks varies between SGD50k to SGD200k...). Another advantage is, if you have Citigold in any country, you don't need to maintain any minimum balance in any other country. In other words, if you moved all your cash from SG to US, and qualify for Citigold US; you can maintain your Citigold SG status and bank accounts with just SGD1 in the bank here.
Other ways would be, if you have a trusted person in SG; leave the funds with them and TT it across once you've established an account there. You'll still want to change some USD to carry there to get you settled in.
You probably can't open a bank account there, until you have an apartment too.
yeap. different folks , different strokes.
i guess, dep what your needs are.
for the OP, i think ** is the way to go too.
when i travel overseas, can i select from the atm machine which pocket (USD or SGD) to drawn down from?
or, is that pre-selected at the branch when opening account?
sounds like you deal alot with USD across borders.
Hi i have about $200k usd coming back after selling my shares in US. What is the most economical way of transferring it back to spore but still keep it in us$ ?
i would like to know this too.
but i would like to know the most cost effective way of transfering USD to SGD.
right now, i just withdraw USD and change at money changer