I’m sure SFers can give me the best advice, yet again!

The wife and I are actively pursuing the purchase of a holiday home in Ireland. This coming week, I will be in County Kerry and plan to open an account with the Bank of Ireland with cash.

We plan to transfer 6 figure sums of money into this account in 2023. Obviously, we own dollars and will convert to euros for these deposits.

My question: what’s the most cost effective way of doing this? I see plenty of ads for currency transfers but have no clue as to their trustworthiness or if their fees are reasonable.

Any advice will be welcome!

I do not know about Ireland, nor euros. I lived / worked in Spain back in the 1970s, when each country had its own currency. I could deposit checks in any western currency (dollars, marks, franks, etc.) into my checking account in Spain and the conversion to pesetas would be done at very low fees.

In the past I’ve simply wired the money from one account to another. The money is “converted” into Euros when the transfer is made at whatever the current exchange rate is. Pretty simple.

A few things..

Make sure you have already started talking with the bank. The KYC/AML process in the EU is makes opening an account totally different than in the US. Especially for foreigners. They should be able to give you a checklist of the documentation they want and how they want to see them. It is not like walking into a bank and out with an account like here in the US.

At the same time talk with them about what you want to do. They maybe able to accept USD and then covert it to Euros for you.

Anywhere will make their money on the conversation rate they give you. If the "posted" rate is say 1.25 to 1, they may give you 1.18 to 1.

Also there are various reporting requirements to the countries when you move cash around.

Before opening the account in Ireland, speak with the Irish bank officer as rates may be negotiable. Usually you will just wire transfer US Dollars to your new account & the Irish bank will charge you. It may be advantageous if the Irish bank will open a US Dollar account for you. My experience is with transferring money from Japan & Russia to the US. I had to open an account with BOA to prevent dual US fees. The Russian bank had US Dollar accounts which made conversion unnecessary. The Japanese transfers were company transfers of a few million dollars, again from a US Dollar account at the Japanese bank. If you have not already, find a knowledgeable CPA that will handle your US & Irish tax returns, along with IRS foreign asset reporting.

Negotiate the exchange rate and the transfer fee. My mom has accounts at a major US bank and a major English bank. Their standard rates/fees are horrible.

Wiring is a pretty easy process, with a few more hoops to jump to prevent fraud and money laundering compared to wiring domestically. Having 2 factor authentication may require you have a USA cell phone number, so if you are in Ireland when initiating a transfer from the USA be sure your phone receives calls/texts. My mom also needs a thumb drive security device.

Basically, leave yourself plenty of spare days to be sure the logistics can be navigated.

Schwab used to be very reasonable in fees.

quote:

A few things..

Make sure you have already started talking with the bank. The KYC/AML process in the EU is makes opening an account totally different than in the US. Especially for foreigners. They should be able to give you a checklist of the documentation they want and how they want to see them. It is not like walking into a bank and out with an account like here in the US.

At the same time talk with them about what you want to do. They maybe able to accept USD and then covert it to Euros for you.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Anywhere will make their money on the conversation rate they give you. If the "posted" rate is say 1.25 to 1, they may give you 1.18 to 1.

Also there are various reporting requirements to the countries when you move cash around.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Follow that advice. Banks are experts at hosing you. I inherited some funda from an estate in France. In addtion to crummy conversion rates, there were wire transfer fees etc.

Call American Express and ask about their foreign exchange services. Been a while since I worked there, but they had a service for this and it was low or no fee to have them send a large check in a foreign currency to a foreign bank.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
In addtion to crummy conversion rates, there were wire transfer fees etc.

Yep. Banks love to gouge you on wire fees. ACH is generally cheaper (or free), but slower, and is the better option than a wire if you don't need the funds immediately and can afford to wait several business days.

You could try to find an Irish bank that doesn't charge for pulling international ACHs, or at least has very low ACH fees for that. I've never banked internationally, but domestically most banks will charge for a customer originating an ACH to send to another bank ("push") whereas many banks don't charge for originating an ACH transfer to request funds from another bank ("pull"). So you can just set up every ACH as a pull to avoid any fees.

Just keep an eye out for ACH transfer limits at your banks. I've seen banks lately that have stupidly low ACH transfer limits, like maximum $5,000 per day and no more than $30,000 per month. I was recently considering opening a high yield savings account with a certain bank until I saw that bullshit, and went with a different bank with a similar interest rate whose ACH limits are a mere $250,000 daily.

In Korea you can go to the exchange businesses and get a slightly better rate if it’s the most recent form of the dollar. Maybe a penny more on the dollar but it adds up.

I’d wait until the exchange rate topped 1.24/1 and I’d take 10k to exchange and that netted me about and extra 800$ over the fluctuating daily rate if I just did it before paying rent every month.

I’m not sure if Ireland is as big into money laundering as Korea but ask about new bills over old ones. Assuming you can get the cash there. I’d wager banks there carry US dollars also.

When you say you are going to open an account with cash, do you literally mean a stack of $100 dollar bills? If so, good luck with that. My dad tried deposit cash (about $5,000) into an account he had for 12 years in the Cayman Islands and they wouldn’t take it. We had a business account there for our rentals and finally closed it because the fees were getting silly and annual documentation required by the bank to keep the account open just wasn’t worth it.

if it's to your own account in Ireland, I suggest go for a secure way instead of being cost-effective (penny wise, pound foolish and all that).

I've researched various ways of moving funds from the US to overseas. For your situation, I think the best way is international wire transfer. It's not that expensive, maybe $15, at least for Schwab when done online. Then the receiving bank may charge you a fee along with a currency conversion fee besides their cut on the exchange rate So it's not like you'll transfer $100 at a time only. Ask your bank what information they need -

a. Tag 57A SWIFT/BIC Code
b. Tag 59 IBAN, CLABE, or Account Number
c. Account Holder Name
d. Second Name
e. Address of Account Holder (Street Address, City, Country)

On a more casual basis, you can use Xoom (owned by Paypal) and Remitly. You can use these to send to yourself or to another person. You have the option of paying a fee or not paying a fee. If you don't pay a fee, they just take their cut on the currency conversion rate.

V-Tail does offer another alternative: Go look up which US banks have presence in Ireland. A quick google search says Chase has a bank there. Ask a bank if you can do what V-tail says, access your US Chase bank account in Ireland. It is possible. Chase was the only US bank in the country I was planning to stay for several years but I learned the two are separate entities and their systems don't talk to each other.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
When you say you are going to open an account with cash, do you literally mean a stack of $100 dollar bills? If so, good luck with that. My dad tried deposit cash (about $5,000) into an account he had for 12 years in the Cayman Islands and they wouldn’t take it. We had a business account there for our rentals and finally closed it because the fees were getting silly and annual documentation required by the bank to keep the account open just wasn’t worth it.

Yes, actual dollar or euro bills is what I was thinking, about US$1,200 just to start the account.

I will look for American-based banks in Ireland… but Chase bank would be my least favorite. I was nickel-and-dimed by them when I first moved out to the East Coast… would highly prefer NEVER to to business with Chase.

I know nothing about this credit union but I will check them out:

https://www.americansabroad.or...escription-and-faqs/

If it’s a holiday home, you’re going to regularly be doing business with a bank in both nations/probably elsewhere in Europe.

They seem like a good solution, if the fees are reasonable.

Schwab was great - no ATM fees and excellent exchange rates - but I don’t know what happens if you use it abroad, all the time, or if you have an issue.

If you have an account with a major US bank, most likely they will have a branch in Ireland.

Talk to them about fees.

Some can be reasonable, especially in large purchases of Euros. One of the most common conversions.

Research both US and Irish laws regarding income taxes and inheritance issues. It can be quite complex.

Shop around. When I was stationed in England, the 'local' on base bank tried everything to get us troops to bank with them. It was a Bank of America owned branch, and they sucked harder than they do to civilians in the States. This was in 2008 when the Pound was close to 2$. I pulled 100 quid from the BoA ATM on base, and it was close to 210$. When I got home and realized I needed another 100quid for a bill, next morning (a Saturday) I jogged into town and pulled another 100 from the ATM. And when I got home I checked my bank to see how bad I was killed on the exchange. And to my surprise, it was just under 200$ for that withdrawal. WTF BoA!!! So check with banks where you plan to live to see what they would do for you in addition to the banks States side you are familiar with.