Money transfer out of Indonesia (the other way). Any suggestions?

[Asun]

As the title suggests, what would the forumers recommendation for transferring money out of Indonesia to USD or EUR or CAD accounts? The usual bank wire transfer seems to incur somewhat unacceptably high fees in the age of Tranferwise, PayPal, Venmo, etc.

 

[steveandpenny]

Frist off do you have a USA bank account and are you transferring to yourself or other people?

 

[Asun]

Frist off do you have a USA bank account and are you transferring to yourself or other people?

Could be either, but which one is easier?

 

[steveandpenny]

If you have a u.s. account the easiest and cheapest way to transfer money back and forth that I've found is a Capitol one 360 account. It's a online banking card that has no forigen transfer fees and no atm fees. You link your u.s. account and your Indo bank account to it and off you go. Just check with your Indo account charges any fees. They shouldn't but check. When you transfer. To the states you get whatever the exchange rate is at that time it will show up as dollars. The other way it shows up as rupees.
You can withdraw 1000 us dollars per day from a atm. I also found out that you should use same banks atm and better still same atm. If you use different bank atm they might freeze your account till you call them to protect against fuard.

 

[Asun]

If you have a u.s. account the easiest and cheapest way to transfer money back and forth that I've found is a Capitol one 360 account. It's a online banking card that has no forigen transfer fees and no atm fees. You link your u.s. account and your Indo bank account to it and off you go. Just check with your Indo account charges any fees. They shouldn't but check. When you transfer. To the states you get whatever the exchange rate is at that time it will show up as dollars. The other way it shows up as rupees.

Thanks for the tips. Do you mean I can link, for example BCA account, to Capital One 360 account opened in US? If so, this would be really easy.

 

[Vicissidude]

I'm reviving this old thread even though I don't think these two members are still active. Does anyone know what was meant by

You link your u.s. account and your Indo bank account to it and off you go. Just check with your Indo account charges any fees. They shouldn't but check.

?

I just happen to be in the exact situation that Asun described. I recently opened a Capital One 360 account in the US for the $0 incoming wire fees. I tested it out with BCA (via KlikBCA) and sent $100. BCA charged Rp 35rb + optional 30rb for same day service, which is fine. But I only received $83 on the other end.

If that's a flat $17 fee that BCA charges the receiving bank, that's a reasonable amount (but I would still of course like to save a few bucks!). However, if it's even partially a percentage type fee, well that won't work too well for larger transfers. I'll have to clarify with BCA after the weekend and I'll report back.

In any event, is there some other way to "link" those two accounts, as Steveandpenny mentioned? Is there a better/cheaper way or bank over here that you've had experience with and recommend for sending money to the US?

Now, before anyone recommends Wise (formerly Transferwise), they've hiked up their fees in the last couple years, which increases with larger amounts. For example, if you want to send 100jt, they charge ~870,000. Topremit (Indonesia's Wise-type app) has a cheap 75rb fee and first one is free, but you lose about 1jt with their crap exchange rate. 1% adds up quick if we're talking 100jt or more.

 

[jstar]

After already being asked for the third time to send selfies and pictures of ID’s when making relatively small transfers, I am completely fed up with Wise. Still quite a good rate though, in sending 10 juta to Oz they provide AU$ 996.70 while at VIP Money Changers in Menteng I would get AU$ 997.00.

Anyway, I think the real linking and integration of bank accounts in different countries (so a global account) with a US account is only possible with certain bigger banks. E.g. Citi (Gold). I had this and did free international bank transfers before between a US and European account of that bank.

But I think since recently Citibank Indonesia is taken over and does not exist anymore?! So perhaps HSBC still has that possibility?

NB: Obviously for such a solution there are quite some demands as a minimum amount of money on the accounts

 

[snpark]

Theres another box option on Bca
Something about receive full amount or charges to remitter or something
Yes it's fixed $17 or $15 or something
I had it sending to US

Always pay the 35rp for same day. It arrives within hours. Bargain if you're sending thousands. With time difference also it will be there first thing US a.m

 

[pantaiema]

After already being asked for the third time to send selfies and pictures of ID’s when making relatively small transfers, I am completely fed up with Wise. Still quite a good rate though, in sending 10 juta to Oz they provide AU$ 996.70 while at VIP Money Changers in Menteng I would get AU$ 997.00.

Anyway, I think the real linking and integration of bank accounts in different countries (so a global account) with a US account is only possible with certain bigger banks. E.g. Citi (Gold). I had this and did free international bank transfers before between a US and European account of that bank.

But I think since recently Citibank Indonesia is taken over and does not exist anymore?! So perhaps HSBC still has that possibility?

NB: Obviously for such a solution there are quite some demands as a minimum amount of money on the accounts

HSBC launched a multi currency account last year, the so called HSBC Global Money Account (GMA) which serves 18 major currencies. Unfortunately it has not got IDR currency, but it keep developing, so stay tune.

It has been in the spotlight in a few discussions where people have tried it, it has a very competitive exchange rate so close to the one you get with mid-market (interbank) exchange rate, the one you see in xe.com. It also comes with multi currencies debitcard that allow you to withdraw cash from ATMs in 18 different countries. Unlike Wise where you could only withdraw USD100 per month (?) without fees; HSBC GMA has very little restriction with the amount of fee free cash you could withdraw per month from ATM. The only limitation comes from the daily limit of the payment processing in this case MasterCard.

HSBC Global Money Account | Accounts - HSBC Expat

HSBC Expat customers can open a Global Money account in 19 currencies and send money like a local from anywhere in the world. Find out more today.

www.expat.hsbc.com

HSBC Global Money Account — Head for Points

HSBC have now launched their Global Money Account to the UK market. You can only apply for and manage the account via the HSBC Mobile app and it offers 0% on currency spends, cash withdrawals and sending money abroad. You can order a physical card and set the PIN during…

www.headforpoints.com

 

[Hawk256]

I have always just relied on the wire transfer option between banks. The only time I have ever had a problem, I was glad there wasn't a buch of fingers in the bowl. Easy to find the problem. Start adding 3rd parties and let the blame game begin. My US bank doesn't charge for incoming or outgoing wires as long as the currencies are different. (They have to make money some how.) My Indondisian bank doesn't charge for incoming but does have a fee for outgoing. Since it is almost always coming in instead of the other way, it works out fine for me. The rates from Bank of America have always been fair IMHO. YMMV.

 

[snpark]

Yes I'm also still bemused by people who insist to use 3rd party apps to send and receive money to and from their banks. Just to save a few dollars. Nowadays even the banks can do same day International transfers for a couple of dollars and you have someone somewhere to speak to if there is a problem.

I'd hate to transfer $20,000 and have an app asking me to upload or scan more personal info just to get my own money. Seems ridiculous.

Banks are banks. That's what they are there for.
A day for a transfer is quick enough internationally. Any faster and you need to organise yourself better. Just my opinion.

 

[jstar]

Hmm, if I can avoid a ‘traditional’ bank, I will. Not only to save a few dollars as you so delicately put it but also since I see how they squeeze the small client like an orange. Everything is costing more money for the customers while their service goes down rapidly. Closing branches, only working on appointment but still declining to do things online, refusing to maintain ATM’s in small towns, etc. etc.

 

[snpark]

And eventually everyone will cry "there's no banks left"
Like in the UK with the post office
Or here when you go to Senayan branch but they say sorry go to PIM or Kemang branch
Why? Because people stop using something fundamentally important

 

[snpark]

Hmm, if I can avoid a ‘traditional’ bank, I will. Not only to save a few dollars as you so delicately put it but also since I see how they squeeze the small client like an orange. Everything is costing more money for the customers while their service goes down rapidly. Closing branches, only working on appointment but still declining to do things online, refusing to maintain ATM’s in small towns, etc. etc.

That's sounds like one particular bank
BCA is all over the place, Mandiri also

Just curious costing more what way? Bank charges for what exactly?

 

[pantaiema]

Here is the comparison. In this example is IDR to various major currency such as USD, AUD, GBP, EUR, SGD, and JPY. But keep in mind this was 2020, so things might have changed. This article is published in WISE website but I do not think the guy who wrote that article is working for WISE.

Sending money from Indonesia? Save up to 2.5x with Wise

An independent researcher compared Wise to the big banks, and non-banks in Indonesia. They found that we're up to 2.5x cheaper for sending money...

wise.com

It is a general practice a bank account will not beat the multi currency bank accounts when comes to currency exchange as that is why multi currency account is created for. WISE although allows multi currency account it is not bank account, so i tmight come up with all hassle . Currently many multi currencies accounts come with fees, but HSBC Global Money Account does not apply any fees to maintain the currencies on that account, with exchange rate close to mid-market exchange rate.
For that reason I believe it beats other methods for currency exchange (not FX trading). The only drawback when comes to IDR, as it has not served IDR yet but they have plan to add more currencies in the future. But you could still use it to for other major currencies.

 

[jstar]

The problem in comparing is that very often the costs are fixed, or a percentage or they apply different brackets depending on the amount you plan to send. Now often the rate is the determining factor but that applies more for larger amounts.

You should have it in a graph where you can see at what amount the one system becomes more expensive or cheaper than the other.

 

[pantaiema]

The problem in comparing is that very often the costs are fixed, or a percentage or they apply different brackets depending on the amount you plan to send. Now often the rate is the determining factor but that applies more for larger amounts.

You should have it in a graph where you can see at what amount the one system becomes more expensive or cheaper than the other.

View attachment 2938

It certainly is. That is why the most important things to check is that how much money you will get on the other end, after all of the fees have been take out for the certain amount you send/exchange.

But that is typically applicable to exchanging money using non currency account, such as Western Union, TopRemit, Paypal, etc. For multi currency account you could do as low low as USD10 or USD1000, it does not matter as there is no more fixed fee to pay. That is why multi currency account is created for. A good example of multi currencies account is Fineco Bank, HSBC Global Money Account.

 

[snpark]

That's years old
Its 35rb now with BCA
Someone even posted yesterday about it
30rb extra for same day guaranteed

 

[pantaiema]

That's years old
Its 35rb now with BCA
Someone even posted yesterday about it
30rb extra for same day guaranteed

Well, it might be the case, as pointed before that was in 2020, the fees might be reduced nowadays due to competition. But as pointed above, It is not the question about the fees, it is what you will get on the other end is matter. They might have a lower fees but the exchange rate is awful. I just did this comparison a few minutes ago, between WISE and BCA for IDR10m to GBP. BCA: GBP 542.61, WISE: GBP 547.94.

 

[snpark]

That's down to the beneficiary then. Not the remitter.
You are talking to the wrong side