How to bring money in from US to open a local account?

[137lbs]

Hi everyone,

I've searched, and have not found an answer to this specific question. We are moving from the US to Singapore in a few months, and plan to open local bank accounts, including one foreign currency acct(US dollars of course). Our US accounts will be retained because we will still have US financial obligations.

My question is, how best to bring the money in to open the local accounts? The amount I am planning to bring is US $ 20,000. Perhaps more. And it needs to be accesible to me, in Singapore dollars, as quickly as humanly and institutionally possible.

Should I just write a personal check drawn on my US account? Do we arrange a wire transfer after the fact? Can we bring a cashier's check (it would have to be in US dollars - can't find any bank in the US that would issue it in Singapore dollars)?

Or are we better off carting the money on the plane in cash? (I suppose I would duct-tape it to my torso to make sure no one picks my pocket!! But they'll think I'm a drug dealer at the airport haha). If cash is the answer, then what US denominations are the least problematic for local banks? Or should we just buy Singapore currency in the US (which we can through our bank) and bring that instead?

Do we employ a combination of strategies? Or some other way? Any novel suggestion?

I have been told that my employer might take a month or two before reimbursing us for our flights, moving expenses, etc., and we will be arriving two weeks before I start work (so, more than a month before I get any local paycheck). In other words, we will have to live off whatever money we bring with us for AT LEAST the first month, possibly longer. So we'd need to be able to use the local accounts (and the money we open it with) fairly quickly. 

So please comment on the wait times for clearing the money/checks for local use (i.e. to get mobile phones, pay for school tuition, apartment, utilities, etc.).

Thanks!

[NYC4SIN]

Your stateside bank can wire the money to your singapore account.  There is a fee (of course) but it should clear and be accessible quite soon after the wire is initiated. 

[137lbs]

Thanks, I may just do that. However, it's not as simple as it seems, because I've looked into it.

Normally, I'd actually have to be in the US to wire the money. My spouse will come with us for the first month then go back home for work. Otherwise I'd have him do the wiring from our joint account, no problem. In our case, I'd really have to wait over a month after opening the local account for him to get back home and wire the money himself.

I could pre-arrange something with my US bank, bring the paperwork with me, fill in the new Singapore acct info etc when I get it, then mail or fax the document back to my US bank. Normally you have to walk into the branch, show ID, etc., for an international wire transfer, so I'm not optimistic about the faxing - they might wait til they get the paper copy via snail mail. Which takes time. As will the wiring itself - it has taken about 3 days for money to be credited to a Singapore acct., based on when we wired the registration fee to my son's future school.

I COULD send someone in the US the money to then wire it to me via their account -- and I DO NOT really like the idea of handing someone - anyone - US$20,000 to hold in their own account under their own name while I leave the country and sort it out. Legally they would be able to do anything they want with that money and I would have no recourse. There are people I can trust generally, but I've never had to trust them with real money, and I don't know how they'd react to 20K - or even knowing that I have got 20K to begin with.

[NYC4SIN]

If you have an HSBC Premier or Citi Citigold account you can set up the singapore acct before you leave the US and fund it.

[137lbs]

NYC4SIN: I looked into that - it does not change the problem. Citi accts in the US are not tied to Citi accts in Singapore. I'd have to be in Singapore to open the acct.

HSBC looked good but apparently I also have to be in Singapore to open the acct. At least that what they told me over email when I inquired. And I wouldn't make the minimum balance, since a large chunk of the 20K I want to deposit would be used in the first month.

I'd actually prefer to open a DBS acct since that's what my employer prefers.

[137lbs]

UPDATE - my US bank (Wells Fargo/Wachovia) just told me that they can issue checks in foreign currency, by special order. I would be able to get a check in Singapore dollars, and drawn on a Standard Chartered Bank account. The fee is only US$35 and it takes 5-10 business days to arrive. So I think I will do that for the majority of the money I need to bring.

Furthermore - in case anyone is interested - they definitely do not accept wire transfers via fax or even snail mail. You have to be in the branch. I suspect this is the case for most US banks, too. But they do have a setup -- which one needs to setup BEFORE you leave the US -- under which you can call the bank's international wire dept. directly on the phone, enter a previously arranged PIN #, and give them the international wire transfer info -- then they would do it. Normally this is used by people who send money regularly, in a set amount, to someone else overseas. But they said that it can also be for non-repetitive wires overseas. This is Wells Fargo, so if anyone in the US needs this same info.

I have a BofA acct, and they don't have this, as far as I know.
For the record, ING Direct USA does not do international wire transfers.

[Well I Never]

Absolute rubbish.   We call or e-mail our personal banker in the US, Fedex our instructions, and voila money is wired the day the instructions are received.  (They will require copies of your passport as proof it is you!)

Takes a day or 3 for the Singapore bank to find the money (kind of joking but it has happened to us) but it takes 5-7 days at most to have access to cleared funds!

Our accounts are at BofA and WF, BTW!   

[137lbs]

Good for you. But the info I posted came from a phone conversation with a Wells Fargo bank manager that ended about 2 minutes before I wrote it. Maybe you have a special account or something - I don't have a "personal banker," just a regular checking account. As for BofA, same deal - I don't have a Personal Banker or any special account of any sort.

[Vulcanl]

137lbs,

Leave your USD in the US based account, but bring your US bank account's ATM card with you to Singapore.  Once here, you simply withdraw what you need from the Singapore ATM (using your US bank account's ATM card) until you start collecting your local (SGD) check

[137lbs]

Thanks VulcanI.

For my needs in our first month or two in Singapore, however, I do need to bring a whole bunch of cash to pay for things in Singapore. It's not the kind of money that I can obtain by withdrawing the maximum from an ATM every day (I think it's US$300 max out of an ATM daily, and I will need about 20K to pay for tuition, apartment, buy some furniture, open bank accts, get mobile phones, buy food, etc.).

Hence the original question about the best way to bring a bunch of money over to Singapore.

The rest of my USD (what little is left) will indeed stay in the US.

[do you have]

An etrade account?

They will most certainly wire money without you physically going there.

Convoluted but could put money in that then wire from there.

[Wire money over web]

We wire money regularly from our US bank (Chase) to Singpore bank regularly. These are normal acounts. This is accomplished through the the bank websites; I have never been into a bank branch or talked to a human. Most of the setup is at the US bank (PIN etc.).

Each transfer takes 3-5 days for the Singapore bank to sit on it, as someone else mentioned. So this wire method might not work when you first get here. Also just more frustration while you first adjust to Singapore.

To set up a Singapore account I think you will need your employment pass or dependent pass numbers, which is quick but will add more time. Sorry I can't be of more help.

[137lbs]

Thanks, I'll look into both etrade and at Chase. It might be worth it to open an acct just for this.

@Wire Money: No worries - by the time I get there, I will have my employment pass, so opening an acct should not be a problem. I already have a job - signed a 3-year contract and everything. They are waiting to hear back from MoM for the EP before we do anything else (buy airfare, talk to apartment people, etc.). Though I already did send a registration fee to the school we wanted, since the company wouldn't reimburse that anyway (they told me flat-out, no education benefits).
 

[Cash is King]

Bring cash (in US$100 denomination) and exchange them for S$ at the Arcade.  The rates there are very competitive.  Then bank in the S$ into the account you open here. 

[137lbs]

Bring cash (in US$100 denomination) and exchange them for S$ at the Arcade.  The rates there are very competitive.  Then bank in the S$ into the account you open here. 

You are suggesting I bring in 20K this way?