Can anyone tell me the best way to transfer money from Canada to Switzerland - ie my old saving. I am not really sure if the cheapest way to do it would be a international bank transfer, or trying to open a canadian account that is affiliated with my swiss bank or something(???)

How did you do it? and if you did - was it very expensive?

thanks!

Andrew

first thoughts - cut a cheque (check) to yourself. You're at the mercy of interest rates and a single charge anywhere from 8-25 francs to process that cheque.....

Actually check processing fees are quite expensive (last time it was 25 CHF at the Basel Kantonal Bank) and the processing times can be up to three or four months! (it has happened to us)

Western Union is the simplest and easiest way we've found to transfer money from North America to Switzerland.

must be working for a financial institute means that I don't know what you pay on the street for these services....?

Or maybe BKB gouged us!

Hi Andrew

When I receive funds from the states, it comes in the form of an international bank transfer. Sure, there are two (sometimes three) institutions that crop their $20 off the top for their "expenses"... but is arrives quick and is a sure thing.

Last transfer didn't go through within 6 days, I informed the sender and they asked their bank. There was a failure in the entire system that day, that hour and my money didn't make it. It did the second time, without any expenses deducted!

One bit of friendly advice, DO NOT USE PAYPAL !! Those that have been here a while know why. If you are interested, then search this forum.

If you plan to change to CHF, don't forget about the conversion rates.

Good luck
Scott

after googling the many money saving sites and blogs saw this

sorry I think your link is spamesque (Lob)

if you are into on-line banking seems an alternative way to move money

What link?

the link to a spam-like blog that I've removed

Bad Lob, bad bad Lob.

Consider Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram, it might be as cheap as a Bank Transfer or a Cheque depending on the amount you are transferring.

Hi

Any Indians on this forum ? Which is most reliable and cheapest way to send money to India ? Any inputs on the Citibank rupee checking account ?

Regards

Not sure on the Indian question, but the result for my transfer was a wire transfer from my Canadian bank who charged $50 for it, but the money was in my CH account in less than 12hrs (could have been a lot less, it got there while I slept!).

Another thing to watch is exchange rates since the Canadian bank had a bigger spread than my CH bank, so sending having CH convert it and not CAN saved my about 300Fr

Andrew

I need to do something similar with a US-to-Switzerland transfer and I'd like to find out more about Western Union/MoneyGram. I'll decide on which bank to open my account when I get to Geneva, but I'm trying to plan ahead since I want to transfer several thousand USD within my first month there. I have family staying in the US with access to my US accounts so they can help if needed.

I've done international bank transfers before, which were discussed here:
Money transfer : UK to Switz

However, I don't have any experience with Western Union/MoneyGram transfers and I'm not if it'd be the most efficient approach for me. How are their exchange rates? Could a wire transfer go directly to a bank account or would I need to get the cash at a Western Union location and carry the cash to my Swiss bank?

Thanks very much for the advice.

Ben

My attorney actually advised me to bring cash with me from the US when I was going to form a corporation here in CH. A wire may have taken too long (in this case), so I would have brought close to US$20K with me. He said it was quite common for people in CH to carry large sums of cash. The one issue would have been declaring the funds on the way out of the US, which is not a real problem.

You could probably do the same for your savings...and no fees. Your Swiss bank could surely accept Canadian Loonies (even though they look funny ). This only works if you have not already arrived here, of course.

fduvall

Kind of depends on how much you're bringing. If it's less than 10-20 thousand francs/dollars/ etc, cash is probably your best bet and lets you choose more precisely what your exchange rate will be when you bring it over- for such amounts and smaller, doing it through a service will probably rape you with a huge spread on the exchange rate. If it's more than that, you might look at xe.com , they
have a rather reputable forex business.. you open an account with them, wire your money in, convert it, and wire it out. they have pretty good spreads and you have finer grain control over the timing of
the trade.

When you do the exchange, you will get a considerably better rate doing it at a bank you have an account with.. several percent narrower spreads.
good luck!

What's wrong with the good ole wire transfer? Should cost about 25 bucks or so. Lugging large amount of cash does carry some risks you know.

Especially if you're entering/leaving the US. If you've got over $10,000 in cash, stock certificates, bonds or other monetary devices (not credit/debit cards or cheques though) and don't declare it while entering/leaving you may have it confiscated in a random spot check. I've been checked before, but I don't travel with that kind of money.

You have to declare large amounts of cash (usually $10K or €10K) entering/leaving just about any country in the OECD with similar consequences.

That would solve part of the problem. Not retting raped on the
foriegn exchange transaction was the other part.