Hey, this is the first time ever thinking about or touching the subject of international banking.

Help a brotha out please.

My first question is which bank can I use to get my money from in other countries?

For instance, If I go to Brazil and I need to withdraw money, how do I go about depositing the money into the United States account to withdraw and use in Brazil?


What are some Dos and Don'ts I should know about? What scams should I watch out for?

8/24/2010 11:50:39 PM

Lagos, Nigeria.
Attention: GeniuSxBoY

Dear Sir,

Confidential Business Proposal

Having consulted with my colleagues and based on the information gathered from the Nigerian Chambers Of Commerce And Industry, I have the privilege to request your assistance to transfer the sum of $47,500,000.00 (forty seven million, five hundred thousand United States dollars) into your accounts. The above sum resulted from an over-invoiced contract, executed, commissioned and paid for about five years (5) ago by a foreign contractor. This action was however intentional and since then the fund has been in a suspense account at The Central Bank Of Nigeria Apex Bank.

We are now ready to transfer the fund overseas and that is where you come in. It is important to inform you that as civil servants, we are forbidden to operate a foreign account; that is why we require your assistance. The total sum will be shared as follows: 70% for us, 25% for you and 5% for local and international expenses incidental to the transfer.

The transfer is risk free on both sides. I am an accountant with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). If you find this proposal acceptable, we shall require the following documents:

(a) your banker's name, telephone, account and fax numbers.

(b) your private telephone and fax numbers —for confidentiality and easy communication.

(c) your letter-headed paper stamped and signed.

Alternatively we will furnish you with the text of what to type into your letter-headed paper, along with a breakdown explaining, comprehensively what we require of you. The business will take us thirty (30) working days to accomplish.

Please reply urgently.

Best regards

Howgul Abul Arhu

8/25/2010 12:05:42 AM

^Seems legit, where do I sign?

8/25/2010 12:09:31 AM

Nobody?




Fine. Be that way.

8/25/2010 1:57:44 AM

Quote :

"PLEASE REPLY URGENTLY"

8/25/2010 1:58:34 AM

Quote :

"PLEAZ RAEP FLY URGENTLY"

8/25/2010 2:00:47 AM

Greece, Italy, and France and others have atms on the plus system where you can get your money, but you get a charge from your bank for a atm use/foreign transaction fee (Granted Brazil may be a totally different story). You could ask your bank. SECU is something like a 75 cent usage fee & 1% transaction fee in Europe. Of course you'll want to get some of whatever the local currency is before you go which depends on how long you're staying and what your situation is, but a few hundred bucks sounds like a reasonable starting place. SECU I know does currency exchange which you could do before traveling, and I imagine a lot of banks do. Start off by calling your bank, and asking how they deal with clients who are abroad in a given area.

8/25/2010 2:08:05 AM

bank of america is the best bank I've found for international banking. they have partners in france, canada, most of the caribbean and I'm sure several others. however, you cannot make deposits to an over seas account with most any bank very easily. I'm flying down to barbados in a week because of exactly this.

8/25/2010 6:54:34 AM

Quote :

"My first question is which bank can I use to get my money from in other countries? For instance, If I go to Brazil and I need to withdraw money, how do I go about depositing the money into the United States account to withdraw and use in Brazil?"

maybe i'm misunderstanding you, but getting money in another country is generally no more difficult than getting money here

you have a debit card? does that debit card have a visa or mastercard logo? if it does, find an ATM with the logo and use your debit card to withdraw cash monies (in local form, of course)

if you have more than one bank (i have 4), check with them to find out what the transaction fees are...for example, i think BofA might charge a flat $5 fee and wachovia charges a percentage (with a cap)...not sure what NC SECU does

my experience is that unless you're using an out-of-network ATM, you generally won't incur any additional fees from the ATM owner (unless noted, of course), just transaction/conversion fees from your bank

8/25/2010 7:25:46 AM

Quote :

"bank of america is the best bank I've found for international banking. they have partners in france, canada, most of the caribbean and I'm sure several others. however, you cannot make deposits to an over seas account with most any bank very easily. I'm flying down to barbados in a week because of exactly this."

This is terrible news since I am vehemently against bank of america because of their business practices.

Quote :

"if you have more than one bank (i have 4), check with them to find out what the transaction fees are...for example, i think BofA might charge a flat $5 fee and wachovia charges a percentage (with a cap)...not sure what NC SECU does my experience is that unless you're using an out-of-network ATM, you generally won't incur any additional fees from the ATM owner (unless noted, of course), just transaction/conversion fees from your bank"

This is also terrible news since I have never use an ATM in my life.



Lets narrow this discussion down from international to "how do I get liquidity in all the countries of South America" or is each country independent?

[Edited on August 25, 2010 at 11:47 AM. Reason : .]

8/25/2010 11:45:08 AM

What a pussy

8/25/2010 11:47:51 AM

I went to Wachovia and had them put a flag on my card noting that I would be out of the country and where the transactions were likely to occur

however, my card didn't work in the Czech Republic

so I just used my credit card for big meals with friends and had them kick me a chunk of cash

also a friend who is a local there loaned me $300 USD in Czech koruna and I PayPal'ed him the money

8/25/2010 11:48:41 AM

Quote :

"This is also terrible news since I have never use an ATM in my life."

I'm curious about this. Why not? Fees?

8/25/2010 11:53:35 AM

Once you have the money, you're stuck with it right? You can't deposit into an account or change it back to american currency without a service fee?

It's not like I can close any account in Brazil and open one in Jamaica with Brazilian money, right?

If I leave the country, I want to be able to bank internationally efficiently. But I am having trouble finding the bridges that allow people to easy work between other countries.

8/25/2010 11:57:31 AM

once you start traveling, especially in bigger cities, service fees become a part of your life

when I lived in NYC I almost always payed $1-2 in fees at an ATM plus an additional fee from my bank

just learn to carry cash well and use credit when appropriate

8/25/2010 11:59:25 AM

Quote :

"It's not like I can close any account in Brazil and open one in Jamaica with Brazilian money, right?"

Why not? They will exchange it for you at whatever the current exchange rate is.

8/25/2010 12:00:35 PM

^is there a fee?

I know if I walk in my bank they won't take Euros... and this is america

8/25/2010 12:01:34 PM

Of course there is a fee.

What bank are you with? I am with a po-dunk local bank and i can walk in there with polish zloty if i want and exchange it for US dollars.

8/25/2010 12:03:23 PM

I used bank of america when I lived in England. they had some sort of deal with Barclays bank over there so if i used their atms i had no fees

that is about as helpful as I can be

8/25/2010 12:03:32 PM

I'm with ABNBFCU

8/25/2010 12:04:51 PM

I've never been to a Bank of America or Wachovia that wouldnt exchange currency for me.

Im always going from foreign to american though. I doubt they keep a stock of foreign currencies at the actual bank.

A lot of times (though the fees are worse), I've also just exchanged at the airport places.

All airports with international flights will have some type of currency exchange place in them.


Do you even have a visa check card?

[Edited on August 25, 2010 at 12:09 PM. Reason : .]

8/25/2010 12:08:57 PM

Quote :

" All airports with international flights will have some type of currency exchange place in them."

This is super good to know.


Do they have a limit on how much you can take out at one time?

Quote :

"Do you even have a visa check card?"

I have 7 credit cards. 3 Visa, 2 Master, and 2 Discover. I don't work with American Express, because again, I don't deal with companies that have America/n in their name or take pride in being an American company like Ford, Wachovia, etc...

[Edited on August 25, 2010 at 12:13 PM. Reason : .]

8/25/2010 12:10:33 PM

Im sure they do have a limit, but I seriously doubt someone that doesn't know much about ATMs or international exchange is going to be anywhere near that limit.

8/25/2010 12:11:58 PM

wait your problem with Bank of America is that they use the word "America"?

its not because of their business practices or something?

wow - you're really dumb

8/25/2010 12:39:45 PM

It's a stereotype.

8/25/2010 12:42:32 PM

stereotypes are for dumb people

or the lazy

[Edited on August 25, 2010 at 12:43 PM. Reason : -]

8/25/2010 12:43:37 PM

No, stereotypes are an easy way to describe the majority behavior of a certain group.

8/25/2010 12:44:40 PM

Worst alias ever.

8/25/2010 12:49:34 PM

okay well it still isn't clear what group you're stereotyping when you object to Wachovia and Ford

8/25/2010 12:50:03 PM

Open another thread and I'll be glad to spill the beans, but keep this thread to banking. I really need information that can help me protect my assets overseas.

I need to be able to bank online from the United States to where ever to keep tabs on my account. I believe most of the biggest countries in each of the continents there should be something like this. I just don't know who provides this service. I need names or websites particularly

8/25/2010 12:54:48 PM

8/25/2010 1:09:27 PM