Russian Bank Question

[Dashinka 23,252]

My fiancé is getting ready to depart Russia and we are trying to set up a way to be able to help out her mother. She set up an account with VTB 24 bank in Krasnoyarsk and has a card that can work in either rubles or US dollars,an and we are trying to find a way to tranfer funds to this account as needed.

Has anyone dealt with this bank before? Are there transfer restrictions for private citizens now? Maybe the best step would be to use WU, or MG, but my future MIL is not very mobile.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

[eekee 182]

It might be easier to set up a US bank account and give her an ATM card for that, rather than deal with wiring money into a Russian account. For now, at least, there are no issues with withdrawing money from US cards using Russian ATMs.

[Hollyday 122]

There might be a fee for withdrawal in an ATM of a foreign bank though (if the card is issued by an American bank).

Basically, there used to be no problem with transferring funds from abroad to Russian accounts but here's a hint: it should come in amounts that would not attract much attention (less than 5k USD). The beneficiary would still have to confirm it's not a business-associated transfer. Is the account in MIL's name? If yes, then it can come from either of the spouses abroad. If it was in the fiancee's name with a PoA for the mother, then if your fiancee wanted to transfer funds from her account in the US she could get into trouble with the Russian government - you have to report accounts opened abroad to the authorities in Russia after opening them.

Also, it has to be an account in USD for her to be able to receive money into it. She can withdraw money in foreign currencies from a rouble account as long as the ATM is loaded with the foreign currency - but to receive foreign transfers the account itself must be in USD.

Just my $0.02 (after working for a Russian bank).

[vbtwo 54]

There might be a fee for withdrawal in an ATM of a foreign bank though (if the card is issued by an American bank).

Get an account in a bank that refunds ATM fees. I have an account with Ally bank and they refund ATM fees anywhere in the world. Whenever I went to Ukraine, I just withdrew cash from an ATM instead of exchanging. You get a little bit better rate than the local exchangers, there are no forms to fill out or sign, etc

Most ATMs in Ukraine did not even charge any fees, but for the few that did, the bank refunded them without any issues.