repatriating cash to US

[frabuzz]

Yep. That's why I warned When I needed to move money from the US to SG, it was easier and cost-comparable to just do a wire and take the kick in the balls on the fx spread. I had planned to wire USD into a USD account, but the girl at Citibank warned me the fees to do anything with it in SGD would be quite high to make it not worth it.

That sounds like a rape. I think I will just go with the suitcase method... unless US Banks will ask me a fee to deposit USD, in USA. In that case I will just give up and go meditating in Nepal.

Referred to forcing customers to pay tons of fees based on anything that truly makes sense, always taking advantage of us no matter what.

[maneo]

Carrying USD back will avoid the bank transfer fees and you should get the best currency rates at the various currency exchanges here.

If your party going back is carrying $10K or more (USD or USD equivalent), then you need to file a formal declaration, Form FinCEN 105:

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail ... -leave-the

http://www.fincen.gov/forms/files/fin105_cmir.pdf

You may be asked on arrival if you're carrying cash.
Even if you are carrying less than $10K, if you give a number only somewhat less than $10K you may be "lucky" enough get to see what the insides of your suitcase linings look like.

[noskich]

Buy Bitcoin now that it`s down and re-sell once in US.

[Max Headroom]

No mention of Transferwiseyet, probably because they're still a whipper-snipper in the money transfer business. Had a peek at them the other day and they're looking pretty nifty.

At least someone is giving above banks a run for their money. Hopefully, in time, they'll shake up the industry as much as Whatsup did the incumbents in the telco biz. Result: lower rates for us.

I need to transfer money to JB every now and then. My bank takes one week(!) for a TT. I'd be faster if I walked to that bank from my place in Singapore. And their exchange rate is abysmal too.

Western Union is better, but they still charge SGD160 (fee + crappy exchange rate).

Bottom line: I head over to JB in person with the cash in my bag. It's not a crazy amount, usually 5K or less, but it's not ideal of course. The minimum I can take into Malaysia before I need to declare is 10K USD, so no worries there.

I'll be using Transferwise the moment they start doing SGD to MR.