Wire Funds to Banco Do Brazil

02/22/23 Can you wire funds to Banco Do Brazil. I am at the end of money transfers (No longer using XOOM, Wise, Remitly and others because of regulations), and I am expecting money from my inheritance. Can the trustee wire money directly to my Banco Do Brazil account.
Thanx!

Roddie in Retirement
-@roddiesho

Short answer:  yes.

Longer answer: 

• the transfer should be in the name of the account holder at BB (your wife, if I remember correctly);
• the sending bank will need to provide a reason for the transfer (e.g. "household expenses"), and you should provide the same reason at the BB end;
• if this is the first time, the transfer may take 3-10 business days to clear;
• you can probably shorten the time to clear if the account holder goes to BB in advance, sits down with someone in the office, and explains what's happening.  It may be necessary to show US documents proving that the source of funds is legit.

@abthree I just received my Banco Do Brazil card. (Got stuck in Sao Paulo, they told me).

The name on the card as well as the account is my name, the same as it appears on my passport.

My wife is nothing short of amazing, so I don't know how she does these things. Also, the lady that helped us lives in the neighborhood (my wife also knows everybody), so we will prep her for the wire. My younger brother is the estate trustee (I'm the people person) so he has everything official to transfer money to "purchase appliances and furniture. Savings in a Brazilian Bank" 

Thanks for the Feeback.

Roddie in Retirement

02/23/23 @roddiesho. Sounds like you have all your bases covered.  Let us know how it goes.

Too bad that the exchange rate is so poor right now, but there's nothing to be done about that - it's like the weather.

@abthree i live in Parazinha (Granja) in Ceara. It is ALWAYS 86 degrees 365 days a year.  The weather never changes.

Roddie in Retirement

@roddiesho Win some, Lose much. Apparently, you cannot wire money to Banco Do Brazil according to Banco Do Brazil. My younger brother, the inheritance trustee is a very, very smart guy so I will let him handle the money transfer that I have been having such trouble with since it is from our fathers' estate to the Banco Do Brazil. As long as I can put some savings in a Brazilian Bank and buy some furniture, I don't care how long it takes. Thanx,

Roddie in Retirement

@roddiesho Win some, Lose much. Apparently, you cannot wire money to Banco Do Brazil according to Banco Do Brazil. My younger brother, the inheritance trustee is a very, very smart guy so I will let him handle the money transfer that I have been having such trouble with since it is from our fathers' estate to the Banco Do Brazil. As long as I can put some savings in a Brazilian Bank and buy some furniture, I don't care how long it takes. Thanx,
Roddie in Retirement
-@roddiesho

That sounds like nonsense. 

Any commercial bank in Brazil will take wire.  Every bank is on Swift and they all have their specific wire codes

I have wired money to Banco do Brazil in the past. According to their website they still accept it.

https://www.bb.com.br/pbb/pagina-inicia … transfer#/

02/26/23 I have wired money to Banco do Brazil in the past. According to their website they still accept it.
-@KenAquarius

I do it once a month.  The only time there's ever a hiccup is when I have to update my documentation, which only takes about an hour.  Most months, I can release the transfer through the BB app on my phone on the afternoon of the same day that my bank in the US initiates it, next morning tops.

@sprealestatebroker This is for all three of the recent posts.

Thanx for the advice. My last retiree contract job was for consumer cellular. We could not move your account from Consumer Cellular to T-Mobile, AT&T or Verizon, this was a special department.

That may be what I am running into.  Wire Transfers may be above the small local branch.

I also found some information on Wire Transfers; this one even has the SWIFT code for Banco do Brazil.

https://wiretransfer.io/banco-do-brasil … -transfer/

I will let my younger trustee brother do it, he is more experienced in it then I am.

Is there a Limit on amount?

Roddie in Retirement

@KenAquarius See last post!

@abthree See last post!

I don’t know of any limits, but a large amount will most likely throw a flag and you will get hit with taxes. Others on here know more about this than l do.

I have only sent smaller amounts. Unless you need all the money at once it might be a better idea to have your brother send it to you in smaller amounts over time. Also keep an eye on the dollar to real conversation rate. It’s advantageous to do the transfer when the dollar is up.

02/26/23 Is there a Limit on amount?

Roddie in Retirement
-@roddiesho

No limit, although I believe that transfers over US$4,000 need to be released in person at the bank office, and will not be released automatically or by app.

@KenAquarius @abthree says $4k, so I will look at $3k-$4K. it's not that I don't trust my little brother, but I don't trust.... 

i would prefer that he dispense of the full $10k now then trust his memory later on.  I can still put more in PayPal or Charles Schwab.

If they have a money exchange in Miami, I can exchange more for Reals then bring it back and deposit it in Banco do Brazil.

Roddie in Retirement

@roddiesho Hey Roddie,

I would trust whatever Al says. He is one of the best people on this forum.

Yeah, I understand about family whenever money comes into the situation. Whenever my Mom died, my brother was all about the sadness, until he found out she had named me as executor. He went ballistic. I really don't know why. I got an estate attorney and everything was divided equally.

I guess because he was the eldest he figured he would be boss as he had done when we were children. I suppose Mom knew he was a loose canon.

I remember when we finally sold the house. I went to meet the Realtor and pick up my check. Whenever I walked into her office the first thing she said is "your brother is f'in crazy". Tell me something I don't know.

@KenAquarius @abthree says $4k, so I will look at $3k-$4K. it's not that I don't trust my little brother, but I don't trust....
i would prefer that he dispense of the full $10k now then trust his memory later on. I can still put more in PayPal or Charles Schwab.

Roddie in Retirement
-@roddiesho

There's no reason not to have the whole $10K sent if you want it.  You and your wife just might have to sit with the bank manager for an hour or so to get it released once it hits São Paulo, that's all. 

The only thing that would hold me back from transferring any more than I need to transfer right now is that the exchange rate is pretty bad.  Just my opinion, but I don't think that the comparative strengths of the US economy vs. the Brazilian economy justify the premium that Dollar holders are paying for Reais right now.  I believe that it's unsustainable in the long run, but who knows how long the "long run" will be?  I don't expect it to change by March 1, so I'll take my lumps then, and hope to do better in April. 😅

@abthree Ok, first of all you need a profile page!  i guess I am too new to know, but at first, I thought you were female, now I understand you are male, and Ken just called you like you were the next-door neighbor.  All I know is you are the most knowledgeable, helpful person on the forum, but boy am I confused.  Maybe the photo was throwing me off. 

I thought the exchange rate was almost 5 to 1. Works good for me, did I miss a better rate?

Thanx!

Roddie in Retirement

@KenAquarius I can so relate but I will try to keep it short.  I went ballistic when my younger brother was named executor, so I know the feeling. My father switched it back to me, but in the end, my younger brother became executor because our personalities are so different. I would call my father EVERY Day and he would barely call at all, I was just a LOT closer to my father and on the east coast. so, I talked my DaD through getting us power of attorney etc. and changing the will. (We needed to sell the house, so Mom had to separate from the house so we could sell it) As we went through hospice, funeral, renovating the house and finally moving my Brazilian mom back to Brazil (to live on my Brazilian wife's compound) I was the point person. He lived in San Francisco and dealt very well with all the processes.

I liked the part about how your brother related to the passing. I have a long background in communications and photos / videos from as far back as my grandmothers 102nd. birthday.  My brother wanted photos, even though me and my daughter had produced a documentary when DaD was 95. He reflected on each member of the family, why he moved to R.I., why he remarried to my Brazilian mother, his association with the church and of course his two boys.  I did not get it, but I finally sent photos to my brother to "deal with his grief".  He went ahead and had a semi-professional do a video presentation of our dad nowhere near as good as what me and my daughter did.  I guess dealing with his grief meant paying someone else for the memories.

I definitely understand the journey.

Sincerely,

Roddie in Retirement

@roddiesho The “rate” changes all the time. Of course the banks will never give you the going rate anyways .

l have an app on my phone that l check every so often. If l remember correctly last year there was a point where it got to 5.65 to 1.   As far as l am concerned anything over 5 is really good. I remember when l first traveled to Brazil about 20 years ago it was about 3.5 to one and l thought that was great.

@abthree I thought the exchange rate was almost 5 to 1. Works good for me, did I miss a better rate?

Thanx!

Roddie in Retirement
-@roddiesho

Yep, that's about where the exchange rate is.  It changes hour to hour, of course, but the trend over the last six months or so has been gradually downward, with the Real getting stronger against the Dollar.   I make the same transfer on the first of every month, and except for January, I've been getting fewer Reais every month.  In February I really got clobbered -- here's hoping that March is better. 

My problem is that I don't see any fundamentals that would account for the Real staying this strong for this long.  I expected it to get a lift from the change of government, but I would have expected it to start dropping by now.  I don't like to bet on things I don't understand, but I'm no investment advisor! 😂

Yeah, I'm a guy, married to another guy.  The picture is actually the topper from our wedding cake.  My profile is here:

https://www.expat.com/forum/profile.php … mp;lang=en

You can see people's profiles by clicking on their avatar next to one of their posts -- not in the Activity List.

02/27/23  l have an app on my phone that l check every so often. If l remember correctly last year there was a point where it got to 5.65 to 1.  As far as l am concerned anything over 5 is really good. I remember when l first traveled to Brazil about 20 years ago it was about 3.5 to one and l thought that was great.
-@KenAquarius

When we bought our apartment the rate was still 3.65; that's the main reason that I'm sure that when we sell we'll lose money, at least in Dollar terms, but it was still worth it.  Since then, the rising exchange rate has usually kept us abreast of local inflation.  Lately, though, it's starting to fall behind. 

@abthree Thanx, my inheritance add-on is $10k. If I can convert that into my Brazilian Bank account, that will be about 50k Reis.  I can live with that as my Brazilian Bank option for when I need Brazilian $.

As I mentioned to Ken, me and my brother are supportive, but completely different. I was extremely passionate about Brazil when our father remarried when I was about 8 (he was 4).  To help Dad out with cultural differences I immersed myself into Brazil and later married my Brazilian wife of 22 years. (In fact, dad commissioned my secret agent Brazilian wife to travel to Niteroi to bring back his wife after she overstayed for a year).

My wife and I had one child (on purpose). My brother and his partner (he is gay) ended up having three children (the youngest one was twins, so I think he meant to have a girl to match with the boy, but things did not work out that way...sometimes I think he had kids because I did).

Me and my daughter did a documentary on my father when he was 95. He was concerned with my brother having to take care of all the kids (My retirement life in Brazil is due to my dad's obsession with taking care of his boys)

He is not with his partner anymore, but the breakup is so restrictive that his plans to move to Spain (he routinely visits every country but Brazil) are on hold because his partner will not let the kids leave the country.

Thanx,

Roddie in Retirement

@roddiesho there used to be a county music song that had a line that went  “I can’t stand most of the folks l love”.

@abthree Bom Día! I have a small situation I am looking for advice on. My brother (aka the trustee) just emailed me to verify the numbers in my Banco Do Brazil account. Possibly I didn't put in some zeros since account numbers are often larger in the US.

The challenge is that they are comparing American banking to Brazilian banking. I.E., the CPF, Agency etc. are important in Brazil.

The information is correct, but they have no Agency in the U.S. so it narrows down the need for a longer account number.

He plans to send it with SWIFT, but he needs to fill it out appropriately.  I had the same problem with Western Union, no recognition of an alternate banking form.

Thanx!

Roddie in Retirement

roddiesho -- go to your branch of Banco do Brasil and have the manager verify the SWIFT transfer numbers for you.  I know it takes a bit of waiting in line to see him but he will do that for you since he gets involved sooner or later anyway.  get a digital copy from him  so that you can transfer it directly, copy and paste, instead of ever trying to type any of it yourself.

03/06/23 Inubia beat me to it - that's the ticket. 👍

I have used Wise to transfer 2,00,000 reais in 2 batches of 1,00,000 to buy a plot. There were zero problems and the money arrived quickly. Haven't been contacted by anybody for taxes or anything. I then transferred this money very easily to seller's caixa account by going to caixa bank branch where we have our account.

I tried to transfer money to Bank of Brazil for a car purchase it was to the dealer account. Like what was said the number and directions for a SWIFT to the bank are usually longer that what you normally see. I made the mistake of leaving them out and it took 1 month to reach the bank. Also they wouldn’t release the funds at the bank until I bought paperwork showing where it came from it was the sale of my house in the US. So be aware you may need to have paper to prove where the money is from..

also, according to Dodd-Frank, any time you send wire instructions to any institution in the USA to wire funds internationally, the institution is required to verify the transaciton through a different medium, usually a telephone call but sometimes email will do.  There will ALWAYS be two step verification.

@Inubia; @abthree.  The challenge with that method is that this is apparently over their heads. My Brazilian wife (I might have mentioned her before) knows everyone.  She is friends with one of the managers and when we were there trying out the new atm card she asked her about preparing for wiring funds to Banco Do Brazil. My wife told me the manager does not think Banco Do Brazil does that and we need to transfer money there instead. Since then, I have learned from every source imaginable that they do it, however getting the help of the locals appears out of the question. This must be done in a separate office.

My Portuguese is not good enough yet that I could tell you what my wife would say if I asked her to go back and ask Banco do Brazil again, but I can read body language.  Need to find another way.

Roddie in Retirement

@jtp_redson Wise kicked me to the curb, I think it was the "bank" regulation - I only have PayPal, since I was hacked out of having a normal bank account.  Anyway....Enjoy.

Roddie in Retirement

03/06/23 @Inubia; @abthree. The challenge with that method is that this is apparently over their heads. My Brazilian wife (I might have mentioned her before) knows everyone. She is friends with one of the managers and when we were there trying out the new atm card she asked her about preparing for wiring funds to Banco Do Brazil. My wife told me the manager does not think Banco Do Brazil does that and we need to transfer money there instead. Since then, I have learned from every source imaginable that they do it, however getting the help of the locals appears out of the question. This must be done in a separate office.
My Portuguese is not good enough yet that I could tell you what my wife would say if I asked her to go back and ask Banco do Brazil again, but I can read body language. Need to find another way.

Roddie in Retirement
-@roddiesho

Okay, now I understand the problem. Thanks for clarifying. Here's what your wife should tell the Bank Manager:

1.) You need the IBAN, the International Bank Account Number/Número da Conta do Banco Internacional, for your account. In Brazil, that's a 29 character number that starts with "BR". Here's the Central Bank Circular that implemented IBANs in Brazil; they should have it on file. Your wife can send it to the Manager by email, and he can look it up:

https://www.bcb.gov.br/content/estabili … 20port.pdf

You can find out more about what an IBAN is here, in English:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/iban.asp

or here, in Portuguese:

https://blog.nubank.com.br/codigo-iban/

2.) Next, you'll need a SWIFT code. That's an electronic address for the receiving bank that you provide to the sending bank. These change very seldom, so if you keep it on file, it will be good for a long. long time. You can look up a SWIFT code for your bank on the Wise site, here:

https://wise.com/gb/swift-codes/

If this comes up with XXX in the last three digits, it may be because Banco do Brasil has several SWIFT codes. For the last five years, this one has worked for me: BRASBRRJSPO. It probably will for you too: it's a São Paulo code, and I suspect that Banco do Brasil's international transfers are centralized there. If the Manager seems confused, ask him to find out if that one will work.

In Bom Jesus, the door to Banco do Brasil faces a main public square and the door to Bradesco is opposite.

I'm quite sure that the manager of Banco do Brasil saw us finally walk into Bradesco after years and years of frustration with him.  Tony's attitude changed considerably after that.......

@roddiesho that is indeed sad. I saw that you have Schwab account. That helps as well.

@abthree Thanx, DHL is delivering my new XPS 13 Laptop today, after that I will ask my wife for another trip. Thanx, I will try it.

Roddie in Retirement