Wire transfer to the USA

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

I have searched the posts talking about transfering money and some people talk about wire directly through the banks, some talked about websites like Xoom or Moneygram, even Paypal. But most of the discussions were about transfering money from the USA to another country.

Here's the situation. When I go to the USA with my K1 visa, I will open a bank account with my soon-to-be husband and then I will want to transfer most of the money that is on my French bank account. I have a relatively big amount of money to transfer (meaning more than $10000). I have read that big amounts raise red flags for IRS.

-> Should I try to transfer less than $10000 at a time (therefore, I would make several wire transfers, which will increase the fees) instead of trying to transfer everything at once?

Moreover, as probably all of you, I'd like to find a way where the fees are minimized.

Xoom seems to be only for transfers from the US to other countries.

Western Union has huge fees for big transfers (from what I read here).

Moneygram quotes €150 ($230) for fees, for a transfer of €5000. I believe it is more than the bank fees.

I couldn't find the exact amounts for Paypal and I'm not sure what the biggest amount I can transfer through it would be.

Some talked about traveller checks but I would be very anxious to have all my money on a small piece of paper... :S

-> What would be the best solution to bring my money to the USA?

[Sylvia_n_Joseph 3]

Large transfers trigger an interest in the source of the money. As long as you can show that you didn't get the money from illict means transfer what you want. Yes it will be reported but if it is your money then it is fine. Have your SO go to the bank ans ask what needs to be done.

[Dr. Obvious 49]

Unless you are planning to make a massive purchase, I would be lazy and leave the money in France. You have access to it through an ATM whenever you want it. If the dollar keeps tanking, you keep making money.

[Sal and Jay 2]

Unless you are planning to make a massive purchase, I would be lazy and leave the money in France. You have access to it through an ATM whenever you want it. If the dollar keeps tanking, you keep making money.

I am in the same situation, I have about 100,000 dollars to transfer, but I think I will do it through a bank transfer and use the atm till I am ready to do that.

You may find that there is a french bank that trades in the usa, as I found a uk bank that does that, may be worth looking into.

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

Unless you are planning to make a massive purchase, I would be lazy and leave the money in France. You have access to it through an ATM whenever you want it. If the dollar keeps tanking, you keep making money.

Through the ATM, it costs me €7 everytime I withdraw $400, so in the end it would probably cost as much, if not more, as a transfer. I thought of keeping it in France though because of the euro-dollar rate. But once I get there, I'm the one who will pay the rent, and I'll also pay the AOS fee. So that would be better to have everything in the US.

You may find that there is a french bank that trades in the usa, as I found a uk bank that does that, may be worth looking into.

I thought about it too. That would mean that I would have to move my money from my current account to a new one at another bank then transfer it again to the US account. I'm not sure it's worth the trouble. I don't know.

Large transfers trigger an interest in the source of the money. As long as you can show that you didn't get the money from illict means transfer what you want. Yes it will be reported but if it is your money then it is fine. Have your SO go to the bank ans ask what needs to be done.

OK I'll have him ask when he goes there next weekend.

Do you know how long such a transfer can take?

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

quite a few people on the UK forum have come accross this, the best reviews have been for xe.com and interchange FX

They are companies that specialise in the kind of transaction you are trying to do, and will have far more favourable fees and exchange rates than western union.

I will try to dig up some reviews for you, but I know that they are the two that repeatedly come out the best from these threads

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

Also, I'm presuming that the funds are from your savings or from the sale of property - not illegal activity. So long as the funds are going from one account in your name to another account in your name, and the source of the money is easily proven, you shouldn't worry about triggering interest from the IRS.

[Merk 0]

In my situation with large sums of money, it was easier and cheaper to open an account with a bank that is domestic and internationl such as HSBC. There is not a branch in my area but I was still able to get an account on-line and transfer the money into the account. There are branches in the U.S I am not sure in whose area. But to me it is a lot better than wireing money back and forth.

[Dr. Obvious 49]

Unless you are planning to make a massive purchase, I would be lazy and leave the money in France. You have access to it through an ATM whenever you want it. If the dollar keeps tanking, you keep making money.

Through the ATM, it costs me €7 everytime I withdraw $400, so in the end it would probably cost as much, if not more, as a transfer. I thought of keeping it in France though because of the euro-dollar rate. But once I get there, I'm the one who will pay the rent, and I'll also pay the AOS fee. So that would be better to have everything in the US.

I see. We get charged between 3 and 4€ a transaction, regardless of the amount. Normally we will take out as much as the ATM will give us to avoid having to go too often. It was fun to pay for all of our cars in $20 dollar bills because that was all the ATM would give us.

Hopefully you can get something worked out.

Edited May 20, 2008 by Wacken

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

Yup, this has come up a helluvalotta times over in the UK forum, here are a selection for you:

one thread

another thread

and another

and another one

yup, it comes up a lot

one more for good measure

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

Thank you all!

Poiteen: I will check xe.com and interchange FX. And yes, the funds will be from an account in my name to another one in my name, so I guess that will be easy to prove where the money comes from. We'll ask to my fiance's bank what we need to "prove" it.

Merk: There doesn't seem to be an HSBC branch where we will be. Having accounts online could be a possibility but I'd like to be able to go to the bank when I need to ask them something.

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

Yup, this has come up a helluvalotta times over in the UK forum, here are a selection for you:

one thread

another thread

and another

and another one

yup, it comes up a lot

one more for good measure

Wow thank you very much Poiteen!

I don't understand why they didn't come up when I searched earlier...

[*julez* 124]

My every day job is for a bank as an anti-money laundering compliance specialist. I investigate potentially suspicious activity, including unusual wire activity. Given that France is not considered to be a high risk country by the US, it is extremely unlikely that a wire from France between 2 individuals would even be looked at by a bank, let alone reported as suspicious activity to FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network). If there were any questions about the wire transfer, the bank would have branch personnel contact your fiance for an explanation for the transfer. Telling them that it is from a French fiance who is emigrating would not raise any red flags. To be honest, as investigators, we find that when transactions are broken into smaller amounts it is an indication that the customer is trying to hide something.

Just a little food for thought from an industry insider.

[ausqueen 0]

I moved just over a year ago from Sydney, Australia. When I was looking at how to tranfer my money (also more than $10000), the simplest way proved to be - direct wire.

I had no account in my name at the time here in the US. Sent it all to my now husband's account (paid a single bank fee of $35 for an iternational transfer!). Without any problem.

Once I got here, we added my name to his account so I had access to my money And a few months later when we reached AOS stage, we used those bank statements as proof of "comingling our assests". Without any problem!

Good luck with your money transfer!

[Cecile and Bryan 0]

Thank you this is good to know.