converting USD to SGD

[wind30]

People,

I have some income due to stocks grants from my company from in USD.

Currently I am wiring it back to my citibank USD account and then transferring it online to my citibank SGD account.

The rate Citibank is giving me is 1.384 and the spot rate I googled is 1.395.

So that is a 0.8% charge, which works to around USD$800 for a $100k transfer.

Is there any other cheaper way to transfer the money back or is this rate pretty good?

 

[wealth_farmer]

Check out Transferwise. Or if you are using a broker like Interactive Brokers, can use them to do the forex conversion then draw out the SGD in Singapore.

 

[BBCWatcher]

Or you could avoid the conversion entirely and use the U.S. dollars for some purpose(s) that U.S. dollars are good for. Like investing (e.g. via OptionsXpress), buying products on Amazon.com, etc., etc.

It's generally best to convert only if you actually need the Singapore dollars right now, and then only as much as you need right now.

 

[highsulphur]

Take usd into your citi Singapore usd account.

Open a poems account with philips

Credit usd into poems

Covert usd to sgd at near spot rate

Withdraw sgd from poem

 

[Hafi]

if I were you, I will keep it as USD.

thank me later...

 

[Shiny Things]

So that is a 0.8% charge, which works to around USD$800 for a $100k transfer.

Is there any other cheaper way to transfer the money back or is this rate pretty good?

That's crappy. DBS used to give me 0.2-0.3% from spot on similarly-sized wires. Go in and negotiate on the rate.

 

[wind30]

That's crappy. DBS used to give me 0.2-0.3% from spot on similarly-sized wires. Go in and negotiate on the rate.

I called up the citibank hotline and the rate offered is around the same online...

 

[wind30]

Or you could avoid the conversion entirely and use the U.S. dollars for some purpose(s) that U.S. dollars are good for. Like investing (e.g. via OptionsXpress), buying products on Amazon.com, etc., etc.

It's generally best to convert only if you actually need the Singapore dollars right now, and then only as much as you need right now.

Citibank does not have a USD denominated credit card... How do you buy products from Amazon in USD?

 

[wind30]

Take usd into your citi Singapore usd account.

Open a poems account with philips

Credit usd into poems

Covert usd to sgd at near spot rate

Withdraw sgd from poem

Do you know the spread of POEM FX?

 

[foozgarden]

Take usd into your citi Singapore usd account.

Open a poems account with philips

Credit usd into poems

Covert usd to sgd at near spot rate

Withdraw sgd from poem

i believe there is a charge for crediting USD into poems

 

[foozgarden]

DBS used to be the best FX. (untill they change their policy in Feb)
10 flat fee for incoming USD TT.
and draw out the USD in cold hard cash.
you can then use it for holiday, and just dump it into USD FD. (not much, but better than nothing)

 

[BBCWatcher]

Citibank does not have a USD denominated credit card...

They have a lot of them issued in the U.S. But I didn't mention Citibank.

How do you buy products from Amazon in USD?

Well, if you must transfer those U.S. dollars specifically to Singapore -- not an assumption we can make based on the information available, although let's assume it for now -- how about transferring them (as U.S. dollars, unmolested) to a U.S. dollar account at ICBC Singapore? Then it's possible to use the ICBC Visa debit or credit card to pay merchants in U.S. dollars without any currency conversion. The ICBC Visa debit card is fee free, and their credit card has a three year annual fee waiver.

DBS has a similar deal with the DBS Visa Debit Card and DBS Multi-Currency Autosave account, but the difference is that DBS charges something for an incoming wire transfer.

 

[crossfitter]

DBS used to be the best FX. (untill they change their policy in Feb)
10 flat fee for incoming USD TT.
and draw out the USD in cold hard cash.
you can then use it for holiday, and just dump it into USD FD. (not much, but better than nothing)

dbs has a daily fd for USD of 0.79 percent pa. not much but really better than nothing and def better than SGD

 

[crossfitter]

is interactive brokers or poems better for converting USD into SGD?

 

[Yachtmaster]

Or you could avoid the conversion entirely and use the U.S. dollars for some purpose(s) that U.S. dollars are good for. Like investing (e.g. via OptionsXpress), buying products on Amazon.com, etc., etc.

It's generally best to convert only if you actually need the Singapore dollars right now, and then only as much as you need right now.

Q: I need to pass motion. Where's the nearest restroom?

A: Or you can hold it first. Generally best to do it only if you need to pass it right now.

 

[BBCWatcher]

Q: I need to pass motion. Where's the nearest restroom?

That's a dumb analogy. Wind30 never indicated any need to spend the U.S. dollars he is receiving now, or any time soon. Please go re-read his post more carefully.

Receiving U.S. dollar income is great, but there is absolutely no need to convert that U.S. dollar income to Singapore dollars unless and until you want to spend Singapore dollars you don't already have, or soon will spend Singapore dollars you don't already have. If you will never spend any U.S. dollars in the future, OK, now is as good a time as any to convert them I suppose -- still no rush -- but why incur any cost otherwise? It's sensible, prudent to incur cost only when necessary. No need for more Singapore dollars now (to spend), then no need to convert now.

I've got varying quantities of something like 15 different currencies on hand. I don't go rush to convert 14 of those currencies into one. No, that's silly. Money is to support current and/or future spending. It has no other purpose. In the future I'll consume in all of those currencies, or at least it's likely I will. And I've got plenty of my base currency(ies) already. So I don't waste any more money on currency conversion fees than I need to. Simple!

 

[Yachtmaster]

That's a dumb analogy. Wind30 never indicated any need to spend the U.S. dollars he is receiving now, or any time soon. Please go re-read his post more carefully.

Receiving U.S. dollar income is great, but there is absolutely no need to convert that U.S. dollar income to Singapore dollars unless and until you want to spend Singapore dollars you don't already have, or soon will spend Singapore dollars you don't already have. If you will never spend any U.S. dollars in the future, OK, now is as good a time as any to convert them I suppose -- still no rush -- but why incur any cost otherwise? It's sensible, prudent to incur cost only when necessary. No need for more Singapore dollars now (to spend), then no need to convert now.

it's even more dumb to assume holding USD is good. THINK before you speak.

 

[BBCWatcher]

it's even more dumb to assume holding USD is good.

Well, I cannot predict future currency movements, and I'm highly confident you don't have a perfect crystal ball either. However, I can predict, with perfect certainty, that converting currency incurs cost. I can also predict, with perfect certainty, that U.S. dollars will be useful to buy goods and services from merchants that charge in U.S. dollars. (And there are several U.S. dollar countries besides the United States, and there are several more countries with currencies that are pegged to the U.S. dollar.) Amazon.com, to pick an example. Likewise, I can predict, with perfect certainty, that Singapore dollars will be useful to buy goods and services from merchants that charge in Singapore dollars, i.e. merchants in two small countries: Singapore and Brunei.

Start with what money is useful for (current and future spending on goods and services), then use it most efficiently. The certainty of a currency conversion cost should be justified, if one is sensible. I assume Wind30 is an adult who can make his/her own decisions about his/her current and future consumption needs, especially now that somebody reminded Wind30 that money has no other purpose. And if Wind30 still wants to take the currency conversion hit, now, then that's his/her decision to make. Not your decision, not my decision.

 

[Yachtmaster]

I've got varying quantities of something like 15 different currencies on hand. I don't go rush to convert 14 of those currencies into one. No, that's silly. Money is to support current and/or future spending. It has no other purpose. In the future I'll consume in all of those currencies, or at least it's likely I will. And I've got plenty of my base currency(ies) already. So I don't waste any more money on currency conversion fees than I need to. Simple!

Having 14 currencies is just plain dumb. Why do you need to have so many that you need to keep track of and pay interest rates, paying conversion fees, when you mainly just use 1 or 2 currencies. That's silly. Revise your mathematics textbooks.

Amazon.com,

Most amazon products are from China anyway. Keeping USD for shopping? No. That's Silly. Better off buying from China ecommerce websites.

Not your decision, not my decision.

Exactly, TS not asking for your opinion AT ALL

 

[BBCWatcher]

Somebody is looking for an argument again. And/or receives some income from currency conversions.

Having 14 currencies is just plain dumb. Why do you need to have so many that you need to keep track of and pay interest rates, paying conversion fees, when you mainly just use 1 or 2 currencies.

That's rather the point. I minimize currency conversion fees. It's called a "petty cash envelope," mainly. Before I embark on yet another fun voyage, I grab the currency(ies) I have/will need from the envelope. If there's some left over, I put it back in the envelope. Loop, repeat. Life is both simpler and cheaper this way.

Some of the notes have pretty pictures, too.

In this case, we're talking about U.S. dollars, the world's reserve currency, in electronic form. The currency of Amazon.com. It's a very useful currency to most, at least in due course. It's not, say, Omani rials. (Which happen to be pegged to the U.S. dollar, but leave that aside.) I don't have much trouble spending U.S. dollars if I wish to. Many merchants like them. I can also (re)invest them easily. Most of the interesting, low cost investments require U.S. dollars, euro, or occasionally British pounds as input.