Money transfer to bali

First thing is you can very probably use your ATM card in banks here so that's the short term looked after.

Putting money into someone else's account has potential issues, especially as a lot of money could test how good a friend they really are and how much they fancy a holiday or a new car paid for by you.

If you have a KITAS, you can open your own bank account - should be no serious problems once you have the basic paperwork sorted,

Hi Fred!
Thanks for your answer. Sorry, missed a few informations. No, I don't have a KITAS, just here for holidays. And I will need a bigger amount as I have to pay the rent in advance, so that won't work with the ATM.

My friend is absolutely ok, no worries about that. Just don't want to do anything illigal (could cause problems for my friend as well, would hate that) and of course I don't want to lose my money. These were my concerns.

I heard that it's possible now to open an account without kitas, but not sure about that. need to ask at the bank. But I needed a short term solution, that the owner gets his money in time.
Thanks a lot!!

How long are you on Bali for and how much rent are you being asked to pay?

Most holidays are a week or two so debit or credit cards are usually easily enough.
Bank accounts should require a KITAS or KITAP before you can legally open one but I know the rules haven't always been followed in the past.
Things in general have got tighter so banks are more like to follow the regulations these days.

Just do a bank to bank telegraphic transfer.

No, I will stay a few months... don't know yet how long exactly. As long as I get a visa,  feel good here or as long as I can afford ;-) . Time will tell. I have to pay 3 months in advance. All good so far.  Thanks for your help!

Just been looking at local prices.
Villas are silly money but large houses get up to 40 million per year, that being 10 million per quarter.
That's about a thousand Australian Dollars.
A small house is going to set you back a lot less.
There are limits on the amount of cash per day you can take from an ATM but the above is either one or two days worth of withdrawals if you use a BCA or BNI ATM with Rp100,000 notes in it.
Some banks have far lower limits but the two above work every time for me.

Renting a house puts you into a new headache group, that starting with a residence letter from the local PAK RT and a police report at your local station.

Jeannie, are you moving to Bali permanently, thus taking a long term lease on this house you've found…or are you taking a short term (three month or so) lease? 

The former scenario would mean you're talking significant sums of money, the later scenario obviously would involve far less an amount of money.

Assuming the later scenario, having your bank in Austria wire transfer to your friend's Bank Central Asia account here in Bali should be fine so long as you have full trust in your friend (which you've already indicated that you have).  In lieu of having this trusted friend, most landlords here, (be they locals or foreigners) are used to having wires sent directly into their bank from foreign banks. 

Your expenses, once the house is taken care of can run as Fred indicated…using your Austrian bank card at ATM's.  Staying here for just a few months will not require that you have your own account at a bank here, and as already mentioned, you would need a residency visa (KITAS) as well as a tax number to open such an account anyway.

It sounds like you'll be staying in Sanur?  A good choice…Sanur being about the only part of the “real Bali” still left down south.  Enjoy your stay.   

Actually I thought that foreigners including tourists are already entitled since September 2015 to open foreign currency accounts up to a maximum of US$50,000 just by showing their passport. If that is true it would save a lot of hassle and avoid the necessity of using a friend's account. I suppose you could then convert some of those funds to Rupiah. However, I am by no means certain of all this, so some clarification from those in the know would be helpful as I might be completely wrong.

Holy cow...you are right.  Have a look:

https://www.indonesia-investments.com/f … /item5937?

Thanks for the "heads up" on that!   

You are most welcome.

It should be noted that some foreign banks such as HSBC and Citibank may still require KITAS or KITAP to open an account.

Believe it or not I use the App Transfer Wise which is very cheap (especially the low exchange rate) but it takes 3-5 days.  My Mandiri Bank has the debit card with Visa and since my bank at home also issues debit cards with Visa on the bottom, I can use Visa Direct which requires just the debit card number and nothing else and for a fee I get it in 2 hours!  There are limits per month on most transfers but most are $10,000 dollars.