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I’m set to use WUPay to send myself $2999 worth of CNY to myself. My plane leaves late tonight to go to Chengdu. Western Union says it’s a 15 dollar fee and 6.15 exchange rate (I find that hard to believe that 6.15 exchange rate). My American bank charges a $3 fee for international withdrawals (not bad if I withdraw large amounts at a time). Do Chinese banks/ATMs charge a lot to withdraw money? and is the exchange rate bad?
What is the best way to access my money in China?
Some guy who could barely speak English called me and said he was from Western Union, asked to speak with me, asked to confirm what country I was going to… maybe I’m just paranoid, I don’t want anyone to be able to get to my money before I get to it. He asked me where the money was going and who the recipient is, I don’t know why anyone from WU would call me and ask me this.
Went to Travelex yesterday and bought a small amount of CNY for 5.24 exchange rate (I felt completely raped, no lube).
Is there anyone with WU experience that can recommend or discourage me from using them? If not WU, then how?
Should I just use my bank card to withdraw money? Is that a viable option, or is it going to add up to too much money?
I think we’ve had this conversation?
* I’ve sent lots of money via western union. Never had a problem. You do, absolutely, need to provide a recipient and destination city when sending money — recipient doesn’t need a TON of information but there are fields to fill for a full identifier. It should at least be enough that it requires an ID card to verify. There is, however, also a code on your WU receipt you can choose to use as the verifier.
* WU: You’re paying $15? (that’s cheap) and yes, they don’t mess much with exchange rates, so it makes sense to me. You just bought some CNY @ 5.24 when WU is giving you 6.15. You wont find much better rate than what it seems WU is giving you — why are you paying $15 anyways, is it a promotion? I thought it would be more like $40.
* Withdrawing from ATMs in China costs money. If you are withdrawing in Chengdu and you belong to a Beijing branch, for example, most banks take like 3%? of your withdrawal. In addition, you will NOT get a good exchange rate via bank card withdrawals, in any experience with it that I have had. There may be some cases with some banks and ATMs where people have gotten good rates, but I have repeatedly been in a position where I just need to extract some overseas cash and look at the actual numbers and say “fuck them”. Feel free to go that route, but as with the other thread, *don’t suggest it*.“He asked me where the money was going and who the recipient is, I don’t know why anyone from WU would call me and ask me this.”
If your receipt has a little confirmation #, you need that when receiving the money. How would anyone else know that you were sending money and what your contact # was if it wasn’t from WU? That seems weirder than thinking the dude was some sorta non-English speaking scammer, no? 😛 Relax. Use WU. Or just carry it over in your pocket like I would and exchange at any bank of china with a local person carrying local ID.
Well if you can’t figure it out in time, I need USD in my US bank account. I’d be willing to meet up with you at some point and give you RMB in cash if you transfer me some USD. We can exchange at whatever the daily rate is, no fees, no hassle yay!
i’ve got both dollars and rmbs if anyone needs some in an emergency. i’ll take whatever the rate at the day of exchange. no fee. but i’m too lazy to meet you anywhere so you have to come to me.
Fuck! Western union’s website ripped me off! They took $3000 from my bank account and sent me an email saying “we are unable to process your transaction at this time”
Edit: Apparently it’s going to take 3-4 business days to refund my money. God damnit. I should’ve brought cash with me.
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