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Cheapest way to wire money to friend's China bank account?

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  1. #1

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    Cheapest way to wire money to friend's China bank account?

    Hi all. Can somebody tell me the cheapest way to wire money to China? I need to wire about $1000 HKD to a friend in China this time, but I have more family and friends in China that I would like to wire money to in the future. Here are the two best options I can think of so far:

    1) Try a Western Union outlet in Hong Kong. However, for $1000, won't I be charged an exorbitant fee?

    2) Open a China bank account in Shenzhen. Does anybody know the bank to bank wire transfer rates? Will there be problems if I repeatedly wire money to other friends and family on a continual basis?

    3) Try a money changer in Hong Kong. People say this is the riskiest way because they might just rip me off and never transfer the money over.

    I heard that you can't transfer money from Alipay to Alipay account unless I purchase a product (ie. purchase on Taobao) - is this true? Can I transfer from Paypal to Alipay? (I can't read Chinese well so I can't read any information on Alipay).

    Anybody else have any good suggestions?


  2. #2

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    edit: deleted

    Last edited by Gruntfuttock; 30-01-2014 at 04:42 PM.

  3. #3

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    >2) Open a China bank account in Shenzhen.

    You can do bank2bank transfer in China, but it's only free within the same city. If I transfer from SZ to i.e. SH the fees can be up to rmb 50 or so.

    I can use Alipay only for Taobao purchases, I can not pay others, even can't do online shopping.


  4. #4

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    I used western union and the fees were not TOO bad for an emergency, but certainly not the most cost effective way of transferring cash


  5. #5

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    cash in an envelope?


  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by flameproof:
    >2) Open a China bank account in Shenzhen.

    You can do bank2bank transfer in China, but it's only free within the same city. If I transfer from SZ to i.e. SH the fees can be up to rmb 50 or so.

    I can use Alipay only for Taobao purchases, I can not pay others, even can't do online shopping.
    It all depends from bank to bank. For HSBC Premier it is a fixed 5 RMB for inter city transfers. Other baks charge a 0.X percent fee. The advantage if you transfer within the same bank (e.G. BOC to BOC) it is instant. Small Charges apply. For a transfer of 1000 RMB it should not be more than 1 RMB in the case of BOC.
    Repeating transfers are zero problem.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by hktraveller:
    It all depends from bank to bank. For HSBC Premier it is a fixed 5 RMB for inter city transfers. Other baks charge a 0.X percent fee. The advantage if you transfer within the same bank (e.G. BOC to BOC) it is instant. Small Charges apply. For a transfer of 1000 RMB it should not be more than 1 RMB in the case of BOC.
    Repeating transfers are zero problem.
    hktraveller, are you saying it's a fixed 5 RMB if I transfer from HSBC Premier in Shenzhen to BOC in Beijing for any amount of money? And it's also 5 RMB if I transfer from HSBC Premier in Shenzhen to ICBC in Shanghai? That sounds dirt cheap if that's true.

    Heck, that is 10x cheaper than what flameproof mentioned about the possible 50 RMB rate!
    Last edited by orionx999; 31-01-2014 at 09:32 AM.

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by orionx999:
    hktraveller, are you saying it's a fixed 5 RMB if I transfer from HSBC Premier in Shenzhen to BOC in Beijing for any amount of money? And it's also 5 RMB if I transfer from HSBC Premier in Shenzhen to ICBC in Shanghai? That sounds dirt cheap if that's true.

    Heck, that is 10x cheaper than what flameproof mentioned about the possible 50 RMB rate!
    I can't say about "any amount" as my daily limiut is 50000 RMB and I haven't needed more so far. But yes, it is true for 50000 RMB. I have my premier account with HSBC Shanghai, and within Shanghai it is only 1.20 RMB.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by hktraveller:
    I can't say about "any amount" as my daily limiut is 50000 RMB and I haven't needed more so far. But yes, it is true for 50000 RMB. I have my premier account with HSBC Shanghai, and within Shanghai it is only 1.20 RMB.
    Correction: The charge has increased to 5.50 RMB from 5.0 as I saw on my latest transfer dating Nov. 19, 2013

  10. #10

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    I think HSBC China needs at least rmb 100,000 in the account or it something like rmb 60/month fees.

    If the other party in China has a bank account I think you can simply walk into any of that bank branch in SZ and simply deposit cash - or somebody else in case you have no visa.

    About the instant, recently I send money online from ICBC SZ to CMB DG and it was instant (to my surprise). Fee was a reasonable 0.50 or so.


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