Which bank is the best for cashing in pay in US dollars?

[boroangel]

Yo guys...

If I am gonna be paid in US dollars every month, which bank is the best for putting my salary? Considering

1. Interest rates (first priority)
2. Ease of withdrawal overseas as I will be stationed overseas and I want my family to withdraw the money in singapore easily.
3. I heard some banks charge you money for putting in money in US dollars

Gonna call each bank up soon and ask but just trying to see if any experts in the finance sector has any info. Cos sometimes when you enquire they dont really state all charges....I asked a particular bank about additional charges and they didnt let me know...found out from a frd that you will be charged a fee for depositing Us dollars.

 

[1Ds]

Yo guys...

If I am gonna be paid in US dollars every month, which bank is the best for putting my salary? Considering

1. Interest rates (first priority)
2. Ease of withdrawal overseas as I will be stationed overseas and I want my family to withdraw the money in singapore easily.
3. I heard some banks charge you money for putting in money in US dollars

Gonna call each bank up soon and ask but just trying to see if any experts in the finance sector has any info. Cos sometimes when you enquire they dont really state all charges....I asked a particular bank about additional charges and they didnt let me know...found out from a frd that you will be charged a fee for depositing Us dollars.

You can open a US$ account with the bank , no charged since is bank into your account. When withdrawal just get them convert to SIN$ .

 

[haagen_dazs]

hsbc online savings account is at 5.05%
INGdirect has high interest rates too
so is paypal. pp is not insured though
remember that you have to pay tax on all interest earned in a US bank
so make sure you have the proper documents eg residential adderss/ ss number/ etc etc
it is not so straightforward to just draw money out ..
you probably have to tt the US dollars back to singapore
but that means you need a US dollar bank account in a singapore bank

if you have any questions, email me (email below)

 

[boroangel]

Actually looking at banks in Singapore. I am not working in US although I am paid in US dollars and the money will be deposited into a local bank here in Singapore.

 

[reachme2003]

even if a bank does not levy a charge, the exchange rate offerred would have included a spread where the bank makes the difference from you.

You can open a US$ account with the bank , no charged since is bank into your account. When withdrawal just get them convert to SIN$ .

 

[haagen_dazs]

Actually looking at banks in Singapore. I am not working in US although I am paid in US dollars and the money will be deposited into a local bank here in Singapore.

hmm then you probably either 1)cash out the cash in USD, convert to SGD and deposit or 2)open a US acct in a singapore bank and deposit the cheque.

if you chose option 2, i dont think you will pay any currency fee charges. money just remains as USD. as for how to go about opening one, i am not too sure. =)

 

[Donna]

When my dad was posted to the US he opened a citibank account in singapore. But he also opened a bank in the US so I'm not too sure.

Next option is to look at the bank websites most likely under the heading Foreign Currency Deposits Wikipedia has a list of all banks in singapore if you need.

 

[boroangel]

Have called several banks here...

Problem is banks such as OCBC, Standard Chart, UOB, DBS all do not have debit or ATM card which means I cannot withdraw my money overseas. Citibank have but needs minimum USD 15 K to maintain the account. Till now only HSBC has a US dollar bank account and issues ATM card but they do not give any interest at all.

Anyone in the same situation as me b4 and which bank did you choose to open your US dollar bank account?

 

[wind30]

I have a Citibank USD account and I don't have to mainten a $15k balance leh.

I use it mainly to park my USD after trading in Nasdaq shares.

 

[Sjourn]

Not sure about interest rates, but you can open a USD savings or checking account. You will need access to convert it into SGD before withdrawal, if you withdraw USD, there should be a surcharge of 5% (last time i checked). The teller adviced that it would be better to check the rates daily to get the most benefit out of the exchange rate rather than wait for the actual day to do the conversion. hope this helps.

 

[boroangel]

I have a Citibank USD account and I don't have to mainten a $15k balance leh.

I use it mainly to park my USD after trading in Nasdaq shares.

Can you advise what kind of US dollar account this is and did you open this in singapore? Were you issued an ATM or debit card?

 

[boroangel]

Not sure about interest rates, but you can open a USD savings or checking account. You will need access to convert it into SGD before withdrawal, if you withdraw USD, there should be a surcharge of 5% (last time i checked). The teller adviced that it would be better to check the rates daily to get the most benefit out of the exchange rate rather than wait for the actual day to do the conversion. hope this helps.

Yeah I know...but quite a few banks here dont issue debit card or ATM card for their savings or checking US bank account...which means I cant withdraw my money when I m overseas...

I have 2 choices...one is to get a US dollar bank account which issues debit or ATM card...the otehr choice is to TT transfer money from my US dollar account to my otehr account which I already have the debit card...but have to pay TT charges lah. Would prefer choice 1.

Just found out that ABN AMRO also issues an ATM card. min $5K to maintain, 1 % comission per transaction when withdrawing USD over counter from local bank, 0 % in SG dollars but the conversion rate should be poor, $12 nominal fee per transaction when withdrawing USD from overseas ATM, local ATM in singaproe can only withdraw USD dollars with no otehr charges.

interest rate is 3.5 %.

Wah like that then of cos I must open joint account with my mom and get her an ATM card so she can withdraw from teh ATM locally rather than over the counter.

 

[wind30]

Can you advise what kind of US dollar account this is and did you open this in singapore? Were you issued an ATM or debit card?

I have my housing load with citibank. Then I opened a US dollar checking account in Singapore. I have a ATM card.

 

[nuts]

Citibank Singapore's USD account does have a min balance of $15k. However, this min $15k is the total sum of money you have with Citibank, so you can actually have US$2k in the USD account and SDG$12k in some investment fund with Citibank or normal savings account etc and it will meet the requirement. Also, drawing money from a Citibank ATM in US from this USD account in Singapore is free using the Singapore issued ATM card, which is pretty cool.
However, when you said you're paid in USD, not sure if the funds are drawn from a US bank; if so, definitely will incur charges if depositing into any Singapore USD account (not just Citibank)
Btw, I'm not any expert from any financial sector; just a consumer with some past experience using Citibank....