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Hey, someone asked below if it is better to wire cash Bank-to-Bank instead of using Western Union...

I was wondering the same thing.

Western Union charges me $27. I think a bank transfer would be even less...

But, I had another idea... has anyone thought of sending their Fiancee one of those "Fill 'er up" credit cards?

I saw one at Comdex last year. You open an account, and then you can give the credit card to anyone you want. (They were marketing parents with kids in college)

They use it like a regular charge card, but it debits from your account.

You could send it to your lady empty, so there was no worry of it getting "lost". And then just put money on the account whenever you wanted to "send" her cash, and she could use an ATM machine or whatever to get it on the other side of the ocean. (I was able to get a bank to give me cash advance on a credit card when I was in Kiev for only 2%)

Seems like a good idea... problem is I can'tr remember the name of the card company now for the life of me.

Anyone?

... in response to Sending Money, posted by MarkInTx on Jun 17, 2002

Tell them you want two debit cards. One for here and one for overseas travel. Keep one for you, and give the other to her. I use Wells Fargo. It costs $2 per transaction (total cost up to make allowed withdraw perday (not sure max maybe $300, never took out that much). Do not worry about her having to sign for it. Tell the bank you do not want funds to be withdrawn unless they are present.

Send the card to her. If it get intercepted or comprimised, just close the account and open another. Keep no more than $100-$200 in the account.

Works well, and is cheap. It also helps her learn to budget. I was surprised to learn the total fees levied were only $2 per withdraw. Maybe Wells Fargo is Ukraine friendly.

I delivered my debit card personally :-) Gave me another excuse to hop onto a plane and visit. (not like I needed that as an excuse). I am sure the mail will work also.

MNKen

... in response to Sending Money, posted by MarkInTx on Jun 17, 2002

I tried to set up an account for my girl but the bank would not let me do this without her signature also.

... in response to Sending Money, posted by MarkInTx on Jun 17, 2002

I am leary of sending a debit card through the mail over there for I am worried about it falling in the wrong hands and having access to my accounts. I send money to my girl 1 a month and pay the one time fee through western union. Rick

... in response to Sending Money, posted by MarkInTx on Jun 17, 2002

I send money (typically $100) to Babushka maybe every other month.  I send via wire transfer at a domestic rate of $14 per transfer (regardless of amount transferred).

It is considered 'domestic' because I send the from my bank (Fleet) to the Bank of New York, which is the correspondent bank for Alfa Bank (all over Russia, I gather).  Babushka has an account at Alfa Bank and gets the money within about 5  days or so (it ain't fast like Western Union!).

Easy to send to...I just call a special number at Fleet, give them a repetitive transfer code (tells them to whom and where and from what account) and the amount and it is on its way.

Had to fill out several forms to set this whole process up, however.

Stevo

... in response to Sending Money, posted by MarkInTx on Jun 17, 2002

All you need to wire funds to any bank account on the planet is the bank routing number and the account number... Most national banks, like Bank of America can perform overseas wire transfers... If you have an account, the fees from BOA are 15.00 for domestic wire transfers and 25.00 for overseas...

If you can find an American bank with a branch the Ukraine, all you need to do is transfer funds from your US account to your account in the Ukraine at a local branch... ie. no transfer fees...

... in response to Sending Money, posted by MarkInTx on Jun 17, 2002

I looked into sending money to my Babushka-in-law through a wire transfer from my bank to hers in Moscow...it sounds easy but it was not cheap, if I recall it was more than Western union for small amounts. Other banks may offer a better rate..but I read in the paper that many migrant farm workers pay a small fortune to Western Union to send thier paychecks back home to Mexico because wire tranfers are expensive..if not available to small villages.

We did look into what appeared to be the cheapest method, sending her a bank card so she could withdraw the cash with a PIN number from our bank/seperate babushka account. The withdraw fee could be pricey but if she only withdrew once a month for a larger amount than say a weekly allowance it would beat Western Union doing the same thing.

My wife and I never did get around to sending her money, she lives off of a $50/month pension but now is pretty well off renting out my wifes 2nd apartment for $300/month.
It used to be that we sent her a care package each month...now she sends us one each month(smile).

... in response to Sending Money, posted by MarkInTx on Jun 17, 2002

Mark, my Ukr. wife's 23 year old dayghter lives in Dnipro. and I sent her a debit card a year ago. I opened a checking account just for this purpose. I fund the account as necessary and let her know about it by e-mail. She is able to access the funds within minutes after my deposit and I can monitor her activity by watching the account on the internet site of my bank. She is able to take the money easily at many ATM's located around her city and she can chose USD or Grivna. The costs are 2%! That is for example $4 for a $200 transaction. I opened the checking account jointly in her and my name so that the debit (Visa) card was imprinted with her name. That way she can even use it as a credit card, so long as I put $ in the account. It has solved a big problem for her mother and me. We were spending inordinate amounts on Western Union transfers. No longer!

... in response to Re: Sending Money, posted by rojak on Jun 17, 2002

rojack, can she also deposit money from Ukraine into the account via ATM?

... in response to Re: Re: Sending Money, posted by michaels on Jun 18, 2002

Good question! I don't know the answer but I will find out. My wife will be selling her flat (hopefully) in the near future and we've been wondering how to get the $ out. This could be a possibility....

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Sending Money, posted by rojak on Jun 18, 2002

I will be in Odessa in couple of days and will try to see if I can make a deposit from there. My mother-in-law wants to have some of her $$ transfered out of Ukraine and we haven't found a way to do it yet.

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Sending Money, posted by rojak on Jun 18, 2002

I suspect that the laws in the US would prevent making deposits from Ukraine into a US based account because the banks I have dealt with would not allow me to make deposits into an account from a state other than the state in which the account statement is mailed to.

Richard

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Re: Sending Money, posted by Richard on Jun 18, 2002

Richard, this must be a new requirements. When I moved to CA (3.5 years ago), I was able to make all types of transaction with my account in another state(OK).

... in response to Re: Sending Money, posted by rojak on Jun 17, 2002

That sounds similar to the idea I had in mind...

Just use the debit card... Makes sense.

How did you get the card to her?

... in response to Yep, posted by MarkInTx on Jun 17, 2002

We send her a box about every month using a company that specializes in taking parcels to Ukr. We simply put the card in one of those boxes. It would not have been of any value to a thief since I only opened the checking account with a small sum pending notice from her that the card arrived safely. How I regret all the hundreds of $$ given to W U!

... in response to Yep, posted by MarkInTx on Jun 17, 2002

Be sure you read the fine print on those debit card applications.  Some of them can go after your savings or other checking accounts within the same bank to cover any overdrafts.  Also you do not have the same theft protection that you do with a credit card.

I got a low credit limit, $1000, from USAA for my son in college.  USAA does not charge a service fee for cash advances and they do not rip you off on the currency conversions either.  Most banks charge about 3% fee for currency conversion and then do not use the wholesale conversion rate either.

... in response to debit cards, posted by wilmc on Jun 18, 2002

No worry about currency conversion in our case: we put dollars in, she takes dollars out of the ATM. And no charges whatever except the 2% of the amount withdrawn.

... in response to Re: debit cards, posted by rojak on Jun 18, 2002

Could you comment on this..

Later

... in response to Re: Sending Money, posted by rojak on Jun 17, 2002

That is what I was about to do...seemed the most logical and cheepest, but I did not think about the convenience of a credit card also, sure beats her running to the atm everytime!