Depositing check from the USA

[bogdang]

Hey,

I was thinking writing a check from my account in the US and depositing it in the bank in SG would be the easiest way of transferring my money.

Has anybody encountered any problems doing so?

Thank you,
Bogdan

[sundaymorningstaple]

I've heard it will take about 6 weeks for it to clear (manual clearing). Not the best method and the exchange rate sucks as well. I was also told this by POSB as well. Of course if you have an international bank like StanChart or HKSB it may be shorter. Hopefully one of our other posters will have more info.

[JimH5]

We used a company called HiFX to handle our currency exchange.

We wired money from our US bank to HiFX, and they exchanged it for a fee and deposited it in our DBS account.

The transaction was smooth, and I'd use them again.

[road.not.taken]

Hey,

I was thinking writing a check from my account in the US and depositing it in the bank in SG would be the easiest way of transferring my money.

Has anybody encountered any problems doing so?

Thank you,
Bogdan

Bad idea. Takes forever -- 6 weeks is not unheard of. It also costs $20 or so depending on the bank. We just wire transfer money into our Singapore account from our US account, takes a few days.

[sierra2469alpha]

With HSBC Premier, you get fee free transfers between the countries in which you are a member. You can then transfer money via their internet banking site, and ours normally clear overnight. HTH, Mr. P

[road.not.taken]

We tried HSBS when we first moved here and it was disasterous, maybe time to give them a try again?

[boffenl]

We use DBS and send direct deposit/wire transfer each month to our Canadian and US accounts. It takes about three weeks but only costs about $12 SGD. And because it's in Canadian and US dollars, it's free to deposit on the other side.

[sierra2469alpha]

R.N.T - I posted here a long time ago about HSBC - it was truly an experience akin to having bowel surgery in the bush with a blunt stick.

However, that was more the setup - our AUS account manager had, shall we say, obviously missed more than a few days of school. Anyway, that aside, once it was set-up, it works like a dream. It's a slightly unwieldy process on their behalf, according to our "realtionship Manager" - please note the judicious use of inverted commas - their assistant has to go through a report every morning to see which HSBC Premier Customers transferred monies between their accounts, then reverse the automated fee!

From the "consumers" persepctive - it works well for us, espeically here in SIN, as they have a multi-currency savings account where we can transfer other holdings to, then transfer as required (again, fee free).

If you want the name of the head RM here, just PM me and I'll flick it over to you.

For other interested parties: HSBC Premier is ok if you need to transfer funds on a regular basis, however if it's just a few one-offs, the monthly fees and qualifaction regime might detract from the convenience.

HTH! Mr. P

[Stoven]

I currently have an online HSBC account here in the U.S. but will be moving to Singapore soon. If I open a HSBC account locally in Singapore will I be able to transfer money from my online account without any fees?

Steve