I m going abroad in December. i wonder what the cheapest way to wire money over from the US....?

Question

I m going to China for winter holiday. i want to take 3000-4000 US dollars, but don know how

Answer 1

Yummy, I have made several trips to Russia. I have learned from experience. At first, I thought Traveler's checks would be a good idea. But it turned out to be such a pain. The process was terribly slow for cashing them in. Now, I rely mostly on my debit card. Right now, if I were going back to Russia, I would carry a few hundred and then use ATM machines for the rest. I don't know about China, but if they have plenty of ATM machines in Russia, then they'll certainly have enough in China. The problem with carrying a lot of cash, aside from the chance of it being stolen, is that you are constantly serarching for the best exchange rates before making the exchange...takes time. By using the ATM you get a favorable exchange rate that is better than what you'd get there at a bank. However, keep in mind that besides the exchange rate, there are fees involved in using an ATM. For me in Russia, this meant, for example, that if I withdrew $300 from a machine (in roubles) the bank that owns the ATM would get 2% of the withdrawal amount ($6) and my own bank would charge a $2 fee for withdrawal from a bank other than my own home bank. So, to withdraw $300 would cost me $8 for $300. But, in your case, just to have some redundancy (backup), I would take a relatively small amount of cash...I can't tell you what that amount would be because I don't know what your immediate cash needs would be once you get there, and I would take an ATM debit card and a couple of credit cards, and maybe $500 in traveler's checks. Make sure that before you leave to go to China, you call your ATM and credit card service centers to notify them that you will be travelling out of the country to China and that you will be using your cards there. The reason for that is so that when they notice these transactions coming in from China they will not think that your card or number has been stolen or faked. Also, have your parents or someone you trust in the USA be on your checking account so that if worse comes to worse they can access your account and can wire you money using MoneyGram. Money can be transferred to you this way, and WalMart is an outlet for this (First, go to MoneyGrams' website and make sure that they send to China...while there you can determine the cost of sending money). They can go to the Customer Service Center to do this. Good luck...hope you have a great trip!

Answer 2

There is no limit to a wire transfer to the US but any amount above $9,999.99 is reported to the US Treasury. Lower amounts are also reported if the transaction is deemed 'suspicious'. A wire is safer than bringing cash in due to the possibility of theft.

Answer 3

I'd take $500 or so then use ATM or a debit card at the bank machine if you will be in major cities.

Also take american $1 these are very usefull for buying tourist trinkets. Some are really quite nice too, like ink sets and brushes.

Answer 4

it depends where in China. If it's Hong Kong PayPal is Ok, otherwise for the rest of the country Western Union

Answer 5

Western union.