How to wire transfer money?

Rockyp44

Does anyone have suggestions on how to wire transfer money abroad?

ICICI is useless--colleagues tried and main office asked for all kinds of papers from work, etc., and even then no one could get a straight answer from them.Thomas Cook only does it for Indian citizens.

Mickey S

I used Western Union to wire money from the UK to a hotel in Pushkar, and it arrived very quickly and without problem.

luckyshibu

i second mickey! its really good!!

Nick-H

money2india.com

It is actually run by ICICI, I'm afraid, but it is not useless. It's not particularly fast, but it is reliable. I have been using it for a couple of years, and I have transferred the money to buy a house as well as other stuff --- a lot.

I've found that it takes about 7 to 10 days, account to account, but I've heard that the British banking system has, at long, long, last, emerged from the middle ages, and an online payment can now be expected to arrive at the payee's account on the same business day*.

When I have had problems, usually through my own mistake, I've also found them helpful and responsive, by either phone or email.

You set up the transfer on the ICICI money2india site, note the reference number and account details, and use them to make an online payment from your bank to ICICI in your country. They charge a fee for small amounts, otherwise I guess they make on exchnage rates. They transfer to your (or another) account in India. They will even deliver a DD to an address, instead of crediting a person, if you want.



*Heck, they must have taken the

while (days < 5) {
delay(1 days)
days = days +1
}

loop out of the programs (don't pick holes in my syntax; I haven't written any code for three three years).

Sorry, all rubbish: thought you wanted to bring money into India

karuna

Mickey and lucky- in my experience Western Union are fine for getting money into India, but the OP seems to want to send money out of India. That's where the problems start. Western Union don't seem to do this at all (a branch in Delhi told me so!). Banks will, but you need all kinds of paperwork about where the money's come from and is going, invoices etc etc, which is no good if you just want to send money home.

Nick- just making sure I understand you here- money2india will accept payments from any Indian bank account to ICICI accounts worldwide?

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luckyshibu

Ahh my bad!!! apologies to rocky!!

Nick-H

Woops!

Sorry, misunderstood completely.

karuna

Well, I might be wrong, it's a bit ambiguous, but his profile says he's in Chennai.

luckyshibu

i wonder why people are mixing up gender on Indiamike.. it happened the other day with indian men being gorgeous! but anyways karuna i think you are right! she wants to send moeny abroad as she has pointed out!

karuna

Oops. It's the name "Rocky" that did it! Sorry Rocky.

luckyshibu

i have just enquired from Expat workingin my office. He says best way is through your bank. Another possible way is (i was vary of suggesting it earlier) if you have a colleague expat who is going on vacation you can give hm money in INR and he'll transfer money from his account in your country in local currency

Rockyp44

Yes, I'm female. We established that at the June meet up, ha ha.

Yes, send my money FROM India TO the U.S., in my case. I figured Western Union wouldn't work. Thanks.

Yes, sometimes it is possible to send money back w/a colleague, but we are only a couple of Americans here and do not fly back and forth. One has wired money from his Axis bank acc't and I will try that today. (I was hoping someone had an easier way...)

Axis did explain to me that there is a minimum 1,000 fee (or .25%of the am't), plus 500+ service fee, plus an Indian tax on ALL of that, if I remember. Therefore it only pays to send a large am't out at one time, that's for sure.

ISN

The best way is to open up an account with banks like Bank of America, HSBC or CitiBank in Chennai and USA. If you want to grant immediate money access from Indian bank account to someone in a foreign country then use a debit card.

Bank of America (USA account) + Bank of America (Indian Account) – Money transfer is easy you can transfer easily within a few clicks.

Bank of America (Indian account) – Use a debit card issued by the bank in USA to withdraw money.

Bank of America
748, Mount Road,
Chennai, Tamilnadu,
Phone: 28523856

HSBC Bank
30, Rajaji Salai
Chennai, Tamilnadu,
Phone: 25280200

Citibank NA,
164 Anna Salai,
Chennai 60002

All the above banks allow you to open an on-line account in USA, you have to provide them with an address in USA. It only takes a few minutes to open an on-line account.

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capt_mahajan

It is less if you have an account there, but yes, generally makes sense to send larger amounts (specially if being sent to me )

BUT for wire transfer

It is always easier to do this with the bank where you have an account

You need

• To be eligible to remit the amount of the money (RBI and other laws) you plan to send.
• Paperwork to confirm the reason, sometimes. Ask your bank what is needed. For example, a copy of a students US F1 Visa may be required if money has to be sent to him/her. Though, sometimes, they take your word for the 'reason' when huge amounts are not involved.
• The postal address of the bank you are remitting to abroad, besides the account number there.
• The SWIFT or CHASUS number of the same bank abroad. Sometimes available on their website, else ask. (This is a kind of tracking mechanism and more- it identifies each branch of each bank absolutely, so your money doesnt land up somewhere else, when it can take weeks to get back to you. Strongly recommended. Some banks will insist on it)


Takes one day. Usually money reaches within the same working day, at least in the UK, Singapore and Europe (where I have done this)


Edit: If money is remitted from certain accountsin India like NRE accounts, no reason is required. That money is freely repatriable anyway.

Note NRE, not NRO

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Outside the machine

crvlvr

I made the mistake of opening an Indian account with the State Bank of India here in the US. the fellas at the branch here have no idea I can remit monies from the UK into my account in India. Now i am beginning to wonder - if making a deposit is so hard, it will be impossible for me to get any money out while in India. I have finally decided to move on to another bank. But, each one out there appears to be worse off than the next.