I need to send myself money from US to Bulgaria

svetlanik Active member

40POSTS

10 years ago

Hello, Need to find a way that I can send my mom's ssa payments from an American bank to Bulgaria. But I want to be able to pick it up in person, or is it better to open account and do wire transfers! Which is better ? What banks here in Bulgaria accept US Bank wire transfers? Which is the best banks in Bulgaria?

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sihemt Serial expat

652POSTS

10 years ago

The exchange rate in obb is very good

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kristiann Bulgaria Expert

794POSTS

10 years ago

Banks in BG that have coverage almost throughout the country:

DSK (Chech owned)
Bulbank (Unicredit - Italian owned)
First Investment Bank(Bulgarian ownership)
OBB(Greek owned)
Procredit Bank (German owned)
Societe Generale Express Bank (French owned)
Reiffesen Bank (austrian)
Central Cooperative Bank(Bulgarian owned)
Pireus Bank (Greek owned)

List of licenced banks in Bulgaria and contact details:
banks

Money transferr options:
1. (And my favourite): Open a bank account at a Bulgarian bank in your name, and transferr money from your US account to your BG account.
2. Pay Pal
3. Money Gramm

The good thing of owning a bank account in Bulgaria, is that you can personally effect payments (e.g. monthly electricity, water, phone bills etc.) or even set automatic money withdrawal options for these payments.

Actually, you can also ask in your bank at the US, which is their correspondive bank in Bulgaria.

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svetlanik Active member

40POSTS

10 years ago

Thank you, but for some reason I cant use the same computer for both paypal accounts ! Do I have to sign out from the one to sign in the other?

kojidae Serial expat

588POSTS

10 years ago

Yes, you have to sign out from one to sign into another account. You should always sign out of your paypal account when you leave the page (instead of just closing it) in case your computer is ever handled by someone else.

If it still wont let you sign in, you can use a different browser (like chrome for one account and firefox for the other.)

eshek Member

21POSTS

10 years ago

Have you tried Transferwise

https://transferwise.com

I have used them to transfer money between countries and currencies.

Stephen_T Active member

48POSTS

10 years ago

The simplest way would be to open a Bulgarian bank account for the person you want withdrawing the cash, and have the money transferred to that account. You can open an account in US dollars but keep in mind the money will automatically get transferred to leva (official currency) once crossing the border, and then transferred back to US dollars, so there are even higher commissions.

The biggest and most stable bank in Bulgaria is Unicredit Bulbank, bar none. It has more money than the other 30+ banks put together.

svetlanik Active member

40POSTS

10 years ago

Yes I just did Transferwise and I am very happy !
Next I will trey paypal. But I have to get my BG Credit Card first!

svetlanik Active member

40POSTS

10 years ago

#10

I tried Trasnferwise, Paypal is next. So thank you for your imput . That is what I thought was the best way! And is free!

svetlanik Active member

40POSTS

10 years ago

#11

OBB is what I got. Thank you!

Kris0x0 Contributor

150POSTS

10 years ago

#12

Any bank accepts US wire transfers, you can open an account in US dollars and transfer dollars to dollars, and no it does not get converted to lev and then back to dollars. You can choose to withdraw in dollars and exchange at a place of your choice or get lev from the bank (they exchange it for you) typical wire transfer fee is $45 from your US bank and there is a small fee for receiving it here.
You can also wright yourself checks, you can load a pred paid card and withdraw at an ATM or you can send through PayPal but in my opinion the best, fastest and cheapest way is the wire transfer. I've heard of some specialized wire transfer companies that charge less but have not looked into it.

Lillianausa Active member

50POSTS

10 years ago

#13

Has anybody used USForex ?

EuroAdventure Member

12POSTS

10 years ago

#14

kojidae wrote:
Have you considered the Direct Express Debit Card for her? Social security benefits are loaded directly onto the card without a bank account and then the card can be used as a debit card for purchases and atm withdrawals, although the international fees are not great, they are probably cheaper than something like western union fees or wire transfers.

In my experience, all of the banks I have banked with accept US wire transfers. I like societe general for their customer service but they are a more expensive bank. OBB also has good service with cheaper rates.

I simply use paypal to transfer between my US account and my joint account with my husband in Bulgaria. If you use checking instead of a debit card it is inexpensive (up to a certain amount free). It takes about a week with checking but it is not bad if you plan ahead. Otherwise, the service fees are not too bad.

Dear friend, would you mind to enplane me in details HOW to use Paypal. We made request for transfer by using personal check in UniCredit Bulbank as was informed that transfer will take 45 days and 20 euro free (any amount). US Bank made Withdrawal and transfer in 2 weeks after request. So, money somewhere in Bulgarian Bank, not on our account yet, but 45 days limit is not expired yet. That's why we are interested in more quick way to get money from USA.