Movin' Money

bmoys

01 May 2011 21:41:19

Berkeley, CA

Not wanting to reinvent the wheel I thought I would reach out to those savvy bloggers who have done this much better than I could;

Question 1. I have a UK bank account into which my RAF pension is deposited each month (they insist on a UK account). When I move I want to be able to transfer this to a Belize account but the UK bank nails me on the exchange rate and charges a transfer fee both of which are prohibitive. How do I get around this?

Questions 2. Similar but with a USA bank account and instead of regular transfers these would be larger and Ad Hoc.

I know about off shore accounts but the money still needs to get off shore which brings me back to the original challenge of UK & USA banks manipulating the current exchange rates and transfer fees.

Thanks to all of you keeping the conversations going.

Bill

worleyld

01 May 2011 22:58:16

Canoa

Bill:

I suggest you keep your UK account. You can use the Visa Debit card associated with it in Belize. They have lots of ATM's that will accept international debit cards. Bring some cash, or get some from the ATM to open a small local account to pay your local bills with. Once established, your local bank can accept a wire transfer from your home bank as needed, either on a scheduled basses, or as an occasional lump sum. The same applies to US accounts. The one thing you should bring is as many letters of reference from your current banks as you can get your hands on. This I needed to establish an account locally in Belize. Then when you are established with a local Belize bank you can get a Visa Debit card for that account. This makes paying your local bill on line, or automatically, very easy.

Unfortunately you will always have an exchange rate to deal with. Likewise there will always be a transfer fee. You might check to see if the rates and fees are better if you move the money twice. First to your US account, then to Belize. This probably won't help, but it's worth looking in to.

Or you could simply bring cash. You can bring in as much as you feel comfortable carrying. You simply need to declare it on your entry forms. You only need to declare it if the amount is over a certain amount and there are no fees for bringing it in.

"Visitors entering Belize must make a customs declaration of any currency or financial instruments exceeding a total value of $5,000 U.S. dollars."

Read more:
http://www.belize.com/currency-converte … z1L8kapXal

You might re-check with the UK. Since Belize is still a part of the Commonwealth, you may be able to use a Commonwealth bank in Belize for your deposits / transfer.

Leonard

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