MONEY in VN

Vietnamese's habits is to use cash. If you are traveler, you can use your Visa card at some citys in Vietnam (ex: Ha noi , Ho chi Minh, Da nang, Nha trang .... ) for withdrawal and payment. For the less developed regions, Cash is the only once option.  hope you enjoy Vietnam

I use a citibank visa plus , no conversion fee , no withdrawal fee , 8million max withdrawal but you can withdraw then withdraw again
Another option is to get a family member /friend to Western Union money to you , that is very very cheap way of doing it
Just allow about half an hour to do the paperwork , nothing happens quickly here

Old thread: https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 02#2833108

I have since learned Vietnam customs limit is USD 5,000 or VND 15,000,000 undeclared.
moj.gov.vn/en/ct/Lists/Activities%20of%20Public%20Administration%20Reform%20And%20Jus/View_Detail.aspx?ItemID=117

You should look into opening a Charles Schwab account. They'll reimburse you for any transactional fees incur overseas. I don't keep a lot of cash on hand. Just enough to pay for taxi and food. Use plastic wherever accepted as you can always fight disputed charges. Can't do that with petty cash.

thank you for the replies. ideally i would just carry cash but i do not know anyone i would trust enough to leave it with....i mean i could carry a couple hundred usd worth on me. just have to divy it up and not keep it in a wallet.....i think i will be fine.

well, now to the next issue....teaching English and places to stay,

Travelers checks have dinosaured. I suggest you carry in on the airplane US$1000 - $5000, in new $100 bills. (It is not so dangerous, be reasonably careful and your chances of being robbed in transit about as low as your plane going down). This is your emergency reserve. There will be some times when you need to use USD, like when your ATM card or credit card stop working, or you go to Cambodia where USD is used, or for landlord/motorbike rental/visa service, etc. Cash is king. But you never need to carry around USD in your wallet, or your passport or extra credit cards for that matter. Squirrel this stuff away in the safe in your hotel room, or seal in an envelope and give to the hotel desk to put in that safe. If you have an apartment, just hide it. (I photograph all my cards, passport, visa stamps, tickets with my iphone just in case; backed up online, and available on the phone)

Your day to day transactions will be in VND, I only carry around about 500.000VND, it goes a long way. Sometimes you can use your credit card, e.g. at supermarkets or malls. You will get your VND from ATMs. In my experience, Vietnam bank ATMs only disburse 2.000.000 VND max. ANZ (Australia New Zealand) bank maxes 5.000.000. Citibank will give 8.000.000, but for some reason my ATM card no longer works at Citibank. Expect problems like that, and keep your bill paid by paying online! That's why I suggested 2 ATM cards, 2 credit cards. You don't want to run out of cash in any foreign country. I use Charles Schwab checking for $0 ATM fees, $0 foreign transaction fees, and Barclays and Capitalone Visa or Mastercards for low foreign transaction fees, plus points. Don't believe me, google 'best foreign transaction accounts'.

i do not think i can carry that much simply because i do not trust the people i am staying with. they are not family and/or long term friends. i will be using a money wire from home from time to time. i think ill just carry a couple hundred usd converted to vnd on me.

I have a related question. If anyone who can answer, it will be greatly appreciated. Has anyone over there accessed PayPal? I have a large amount of US currency saved up that I don't really want to carry with me. Also, from what I'm hearing, depositing large amounts of US currency over there could be a problem.
My idea is to deposit the money into my bank account here, transfer it to my PayPal account, open a bank account in HCMC when I arrive, register the HCMC account with my PayPal account, and then transfer the money from the PayPal account into the HCMC account. Part of the idea here is to avoid the transfer fees.
Has anyone ever tried this? It seems like a fairly simple operation to me, but I don't know Vietnam like some of you do.
Again, any advice would be appreciated.

i hope i enjoy it too!

I think your idea does not work so much.
You have to imagine that the big problem is given by the fact you are (or will be) in Vietnam, sometimes Paypal block you because you are there.
So, how to access your account if you can't open it?

drutter wrote:

... Has anyone over there accessed PayPal?

I have paypal attached to my Schwab account, works fine here. Meaning, the paypal website doesn't care that I am logging in from a Vietnam IP.  My Vietnamese friend uses paypal attached to her Vietnam bank.

drutter wrote:

My idea is to deposit the money into my bank account here, transfer it to my PayPal account, open a bank account in HCMC when I arrive, register the HCMC account with my PayPal account, and then transfer the money from the PayPal account into the HCMC account..

Sounds complicated and scary. Complicated because most people on the forum use 'swift' bank-to-bank transfers. You can just leave your account open in Hawaii when you come here. Lots of posts if you search forum for 'swift', like this one: https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=291436

Scary because you need to establish a paper trail for the money that the VN government recognizes. I think Jaitch has a post about this, can't find it. If you cannot, then you may have a difficult time transferring the money out of Vietnam later. Apparently swift transfers are recognized.
But personally I see no advantage in opening a Vietnam bank account, unless I have to because a local employer requires it.

Okay, thanks for the information gobot. I see you on the forum all of the time. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders and I value your opinion. I have never heard of a swift bank account before, but then I've never lived out of the country long enough to worry about it. This time is different. I am hoping to marry and settle down in VN. 
   I'll definitely research the swift account. I did some research on Charles Swab but noticed a lot of  people seem to be unhappy with them. Do you mind if I ask how long you have been with them and if you have ever had any trouble with them?
   I am intending to live and work there in VN for some time before I retire, so I just presumed it would be easier to have a local account. Here in Hawaii it is hard to get access to your money and do any business without a local account, but Hawaii seems to do everything a little backwards, perhaps it is different over there.
  Well, anyway, thanks again for the info.

gobot wrote:

But personally I see no advantage in opening a Vietnam bank account, unless I have to because a local employer requires it.

I quote, I have opened the bank account because my employer asked that, they transfer money on it for pettycash and I do same from the salary for my own expenses. Just the little I need no more.
When you leave Vietnam you borrow all the money you have in your account, just change it in $ and go home. You can't export more than $1000 but really they don't check it.

drutter wrote:

I have a related question. If anyone who can answer, it will be greatly appreciated. Has anyone over there accessed PayPal? I have a large amount of US currency saved up that I don't really want to carry with me. Also, from what I'm hearing, depositing large amounts of US currency over there could be a problem.
My idea is to deposit the money into my bank account here, transfer it to my PayPal account, open a bank account in HCMC when I arrive, register the HCMC account with my PayPal account, and then transfer the money from the PayPal account into the HCMC account. Part of the idea here is to avoid the transfer fees.
Has anyone ever tried this? It seems like a fairly simple operation to me, but I don't know Vietnam like some of you do.
Again, any advice would be appreciated.

If You Open a bank account in Vietnam  that's mean  you can withdraw money  from  Your Paypal to local bank But The currency in VND and you can not withdraw  USD to USD  Once you  withdraw PayPal to local bank then the Exchange  rate will be  21,500= 1USD  and also PayPal charge  8USD every  single withdrawal, The end you will imagine how much you will lose your own  Money.

drutter wrote:

Okay, thanks for the information gobot. I see you on the forum all of the time. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders ...

thanks but no, I'm just a noisy newbie in Saigon who takes too many work breaks. I just parrot stuff I read by helpful longtimers like Jaitch, colinoscapee, stumpy, MarkinNam, bluenz, ...
SWIFT is an acronym for a secure banking money transfer thing, google "swift bank wikipedia".
I don't have a Vietnam bank account because I don't have any local income, mostly living off savings plus some investment income into my US bank at the moment.
My warning about difficulty of withdrawing money was based on forum discussions about selling real estate when you want to take US$10s of thousands + out of the country and go somewhere else, and the consensus was that the banks strongly prefer to hold onto it.

gobot wrote:

My warning about difficulty of withdrawing money was based on forum discussions about selling real estate when you want to take US$10s of thousands + out of the country and go somewhere else, and the consensus was that the banks strongly prefer to hold onto it.

If you have introduced your money legally in Vietnam through swift traceable from the bank, then when you leave, you can take your money and transfer it into your foreign bank, wherever it is. Otherwise, if you brought it from paypal or other systems you can forget to take money out.

Gobot is on the money about the real estate situation. 
Once you break the trail of funds , ie take the money out and buy something like a house it's a whole different ball game getting the funds out.

There's a guy in Vung Tau on this forum that's trying to get $200,000 out of Vietnam.  All he did wrong was changed banks.  He took the funds from one bank to another .   Then when he decided to leave the problems started.   

I know another guy that took a shitload of money out (cash) to buy a property.  The deal fell through and he tried to bank the money a few days later and they wouldn't take it even though he had the withdrawal evidence. Because he was a foreigner , he needed proof where he got it AND the little schmucks wouldn't recognise their own paper work as evidence. 

After all, he could have really spent the other funds on a property for someone, and then tried to bank "other money " as previously held funds.   Once it leaves the account the problems begin.

Unless you've burnt your bridges be careful putting too much in accounts  here. The banks here are rated very poorly with the credit ratings agency's.  Their balance sheets are cooked, no ones got a clue what the true position is.   They also seem to be locking bank managers away in Prison every time you read a newspaper here.

I just transfer enough for a few months at a time .  It's fun living on edge eh...