Which NRI account would work best??

[Moksha 1]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for any advice or suggestions on which type of bank account works best. My fiance (soon to be husband) and I would like to open an account we can share with his mom who is in India. I've looked up NRO and NRE accounts, but I'm not too sure which would be better for us. We want something that we can open jointly over here that she also has access to (so it would have all 3 of our names on it). Something that we can have a debit card and she will have her own. Also, if possible, an account that either one of us (us in the US or her in India) can deposit money into and have access to.

It seems that each of the accounts I've looked into have their own seperate parts of what we want, but neither has all.

Any help you guys could give would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[champi 13]

HI Moksha,

Here is my expirience...

I am US based so I am certainly not expert in this matter. My husband and I ended up opening NRO account (instead of NRI) because bank (ICICI) told us that we both have to be living in US to open an NRI account. So it seems like, all the people in the account has to be living in US to have an NRI account. I did get debit cards, for both my husband and myself. We don't use the account that much because we only created it to show joint ownership of bank account.

[Bani 0]

Champi-

Thank you for sharing this information.... I didn't new knew about this... You opened NRO account through ICICI bank or some other bank...

Bani

[champi 13]

I did open NRO with ICICI bank while I was in India during marriage time. I am the primary person... not sure what the technical term is I've to warn you though, there were some major drawbacks listed for NRO accounts... I can't remember all, but some stuff I remember is, I can only withdraw in Rs. currency, and I can not withdaw in US or any other country except India... some stuff like those... Like I said, I am not at all an expert and cared less since that we only opened it for the purpose of joint ownership..

Edited April 22, 2009 by champi

[crash 0]

If there is a Citi bank branch local to the area, you can access the account info in the us and add and remove money in dollars. On my last trip i opened a HDFC NRI account that my fiancé can access it. The account is under my name but she has permission to to use it, i had to be there for HDFC account setup, but i was able to setup the Citi account from here by sending my info to the local citi bank rep in india. My citi branch is in Surat Gujarat. Hope this helps

AP.

[Elima 0]

If there is a Citi bank branch local to the area, you can access the account info in the us and add and remove money in dollars. On my last trip i opened a HDFC NRI account that my fiancé can access it. The account is under my name but she has permission to to use it, i had to be there for HDFC account setup, but i was able to setup the Citi account from here by sending my info to the local citi bank rep in india. My citi branch is in Surat Gujarat. Hope this helps

AP.

Hi AP,

Did you able to deposite money to your HDFC NRI account from US...I mean transfer money directly to HDFC NRI account???

[crash 0]

If there is a Citi bank branch local to the area, you can access the account info in the us and add and remove money in dollars. On my last trip i opened a HDFC NRI account that my fiancé can access it. The account is under my name but she has permission to to use it, i had to be there for HDFC account setup, but i was able to setup the Citi account from here by sending my info to the local citi bank rep in india. My citi branch is in Surat Gujarat. Hope this helps

AP.

Hi AP,

Did you able to deposite money to your HDFC NRI account from US...I mean transfer money directly to HDFC NRI account???

Yes i have wired money into the account with no problems, but since i have a citi account i use that now.

AP

[Bani 0]

I did open NRO with ICICI bank while I was in India during marriage time. I am the primary person... not sure what the technical term is I've to warn you though, there were some major drawbacks listed for NRO accounts... I can't remember all, but some stuff I remember is, I can only withdraw in Rs. currency, and I can not withdaw in US or any other country except India... some stuff like those... Like I said, I am not at all an expert and cared less since that we only opened it for the purpose of joint ownership..

Thank you

[crash 0]

I did open NRO with ICICI bank while I was in India during marriage time. I am the primary person... not sure what the technical term is I've to warn you though, there were some major drawbacks listed for NRO accounts... I can't remember all, but some stuff I remember is, I can only withdraw in Rs. currency, and I can not withdaw in US or any other country except India... some stuff like those... Like I said, I am not at all an expert and cared less since that we only opened it for the purpose of joint ownership..

Thank you

No Problem

[lovica_l 0]

Citibank!

[crash 0]

yup citibank

[Moksha 1]

Do you guys know if with an NRI account you can deposit from both places...and access from both places, or is it just being able to deposit from the US and access from India?

[crash 0]

depends on the bank, if they have a branch in the us than i think you can, but if they don't then you would have to fed-wire deposits into the account. In India you can deposit with no problems.

[Moksha 1]

thanks crash! So confusing...there are a few different types and then different for each bank! We're just going to have to make up our minds and pick one!!!

[Nikita2Charles 31]

We have an NRI account with Citibank

The advantage of the account: Citibank has many branches in India, so it's easy to access your money through an ATM or a local branch, there are several choices but what worked best for us is the NRI account.

Keep in mind

Your funds are kept in Rupees as such you can only withdraw it from India.

One way to go around that

You can have a regular citibank checking account here in the US and in case of an emergency you can transfer the money to your NRI account in India, and I am talking about seconds and the person can withdraw the funds.

2) Once you have the account in India, if you are going to move large sum in case of an EMERGENCY, Citibank NRI doesn't charge for the transfer but they make their money by giving you a lower rate for the transfer

One way to go around that

Remit2india gives the best rate for money transfer and it's also FREE.

Since you have your NRI account in India, you can then use in NON EMERGENCY cases Remit to India to transfer funds to the account like if you are planning some financial matter that can wait a week or so.

Either way it's a very good way if you are traveling to India, you don't have to use your credit card there, since your money is already in Rupees, you can write DD, checks and so on.

Keep in mind that money kept in an NRI account are subject to the tax treaty between US and INDIA as such you have to give your social security and at the end of the year you have to include interest earned there in India on your US tax Return Form 1099, the rupees interest earned will be automatically converted to $$ on the form.

Edited May 7, 2009 by Nikita2Charles