What approximate interest rate do banks pay on your money in Morocco?

From what I gather all banks in Morocco pay interest /riba but you can give to charity what ever they add to your money. First you will have to open a deposit account in America with a Moroccan bank which you can pay only non Morrocan currency into. You can transfer money into this and with draw it in Morocco. Once you have residency then you can open a normal account in Morrocco. Morocco is a closed currency country so to take money out of Morocco it is easier if you registered it when taking it in. Best thing to do is ring a Moroccan bank in America and they will explain everything better

As far as I know, there are no Moroccan branched banks here in USA. I'll ask my Moroccan friends here in USA what they recommend. Also, the Moroccan Consulate in USA may have some advice. Still your reply didn't answer my general question. From what I've read, Moroccan banks pay anywhere from 2-2.25%, but can charge fees that would deplete any earnings. I was curious if that was accurate. I'm Muslim, so yes, all would go to zakat and sadaqah, but is this considered haram money?  I was in Morocco for the last week of Ramadan this past Summer, so I give 1/2 of my zakat in Morocco and the other 1/2 in USA before we left.

I'm not sure what the rates would be, I'm in the UK and lots of banks do accounts that don't pay interest so we don't have the problem anymore of having to give away the interest. Yes I guessed you are Muslim by your name. The interest I would consider haram money and I have seen the advise which is to give it in charity. I don't know if there is any reward in this but if all the banks pay interest then what else can you do?

I'm sure you will find a Moroccan bank in America - you will I did a quick search and saw some in NY. Here is a list to look for
Banque Marocaine du Commerce Extérieur (BMCE)
Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP)
Attijariwafa Bank.
Banque Marocaine du Commerce et de l'Industrie (BMCI)
Crédit du Maroc (CDM)
Société Générale (SG

I would search by the abriviations such as BMCE. They may link in with other American banks

If you are retiring to a big city like Marrakech or Casablanca then I'm sure you will find all these bank once you are their, if not then I recommend choosing a bank that has a branch in your Moroccan city

Also the bank account you open in America with a Moroccan bank, it's only really a deposit/transfer account and it's temporary . Once you are a Moroccan resident then you will have to get a current account other their.

If you have a lot of money I don't recommend transferring it all over, just transfer what you need and keep the rest in America as you know the American system. You may decide to leave morocco and you will have to do paperwork to transfer your money out.

You mentioned withdrawing money out by atm in Morocco from your American bank but this would be costly as is transfers such as western union and you will need a bank account

All the best with your plans, Morocco is great place to live

My wife is from Marrakech and grew up 100m from Jemaa el fna. Her family house still there. My family has been there many times, so I'm familiar with Marrakech, so I'm thinking of getting 2 places, one in Marrakech and one at the coast which is cooler in Summer. Based on what I've read, I'll leave my money in USA.

Yahya411 wrote:

My wife is from Marrakech and grew up 100m from Jemaa el fna. Her family house still there. My family has been there many times, so I'm familiar with Marrakech, so I'm thinking of getting 2 places, one in Marrakech and one at the coast which is cooler in Summer. Based on what I've read, I'll leave my money in USA.

My wife's from Marrakech too. That's sounds like a good idea. I would sort out getting a place in marrakech first, get your residency paper work and settled then have a look for the place on the coast.  Agadir and Essaouria are nice places , good weather wise all year round. Yes leave your money in USA it less hassle

I was just in Morocco.  I opened a converter account at BMCE and did a wire transfer.  When we opened the account, BMCE informed us that they do not charge fee for the transfer.  The did however charged us commission and it was 1000 MAD.
I tried to use my US credit card and my US ATM card as much as I could.  I had a better conversion rates than the Moroccan banks.  The Moroccan banks rates were 1 USD = 8.85 MAD.  My CC rate was 1 USD = 9.19 MAD, make sure to tell the vendor to charge you in MAD instead of USD for a better rate, this way the rate is set by your US bank.  ATM transactions were a little less than the CC, 1 USD = 9.10 MAD.  My US bank reimburses me for ATM fees including international fees so fees weren't an issue.

RAMKO61, thanks for that info. Was the 1000 dhs fee based on transfer amount or was that a flat fee? What USA bank are you using?

it was based on the amount with a 75 Dirham minimum.  Courier 12 dirhams and VAT 10% on the commission and courier.  The exchange rate were more favorable at 9.184 MAD to 1 USD doing an international wire transfer.

What bank are you using in the USA to do the transfer?

Thanks,

Any bank will do a wire transfer, their fees will vary from USD 10-50.  You will need to open an account in Morocco first.  Once you open the the account, you will get the bank swift number and your account number.  SWIFT is a code that has the  bank name, country code, city and branch.  You will also need the RIB/IBAN number, IBAN is international bank account number.

Since I didn't have a Moroccan bank account prior to my trip, I gave the money to a trusted family member.  Once I opened the account, I sent the SWIFT and IBAN information to start the transfer. 

You will be asked for the purpose of the transfer, in your case, similar to mine, it would be for a property purchase.

I've just called my bank and got more info. If I use my debit/credit card when I buy something, there is no fee. If I use ATM, it's the fee of the ATM plus $2 charge from my bank. My bank doesn't offer international transfer. I've one more question, can you get cash back like you can in the USA when making a purchase? That way you can get cash without a fee.

Thanks again,

My CC offers 2% back on all purchases.  They charged me 1% for foreign transactions so I was left with 1% gain on my charges.  But it was a win-win situation, higher conversion rate than cash and earned 1 % on top of it.
My bank, a credit union, refunds me all ATM fees up to 10 transactions a month.

If you have a fidelity account, they only charge $10 for a wire transfer.  The only issue with fidelity  is you have to fill a wire transfer form with a signature guarantee, medallion signature.

The initial transfer was done by a family member using his credit union, DCU.  Future transfers, I will be using my Fidelity accounts.  The transfers will only be for large amounts for the property purchase in Marrakesh.  we made a decision to use CC and ATM for any spending money with little USD on hand for emergencies.