E-trade Bank International Wires, Have You Tried It?

[Jingthing]

I have an E-trade bank account and want to try it out for wire transfers. Have you had good luck with this bank? The transfer fee is 25 dollars which isn't bad at all.

Their method does not require any in person authorizing meeting in the US, only that the name on the e-trade account and the target foreign bank account be the same. No issue there.

Also, they require a form to be faxed. Here is the form:

https://content.etrade.com/etrade/customer/...tional_wire.pdf

Note on the form they ask for BOTH the SWIFT code and the BIC (bank id code). I have done wires using other banks and they never ask for a BIC code, only a SWIFT code.

According to WIKI, they are the same thing!:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Identifier_Code

So, if you have used e-trade, did you just put in the SWIFT code and leave the BIC code blank?

Other than having to fax and the stupid form, it sounds like a good setup. I have another bank setup with a repeat wiring authorization and its becoming a problem. You see the US address I use for it has to change and they are so anal that if your address changes, your wiring agreements become void, requiring showing up again in person at at US branch. Yes, insane, but rules is rules, huh?

So I am hopeful that etrade will solve my problem.

[Maestro]

I always put the SWIFT code in both fields, for SWIFT and for BIC. It seems to satisfy their computer, as the remittance always arrives without any problem.

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Maestro

[Maestro]

I went to look up my last wire transfer from E*Trade just now:

Saturday: payment order faxed to E*Trade

Tuesday: my E*Trade account debited

Wednesday: my bank account in Switzerland credited

You should expect a similar transaction speed with a wire transfer to a bank account in Thailand, at most one banking day more (increased time difference). I find that Thai banks in general are equally fast in processing incoming remittances as Swiss banks, ie fast as lightening.

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Maestro

[Jingthing]

Thanks, that sounds very promising. I also get fast wires from other US banks into Siam Commercial Bank. My main concern is ease of initiating the wire from Thailand and assurance that I will be able to continue to do so for many years without physically going back to the US.

Regarding e-trade bank, their form doesn't ask whether the money should be sent out in dollars or converted in the US into the target currency. Of course, I want it send to Thailand as dollars, so is it fair to assume because there is no option on their wiring form, the money is indeed sent out as dollars?

[earlofwindermere]

I have an ETRADE Financial International account. I discovered that you can apply for a debit card (works for both ETRADE BANK or ETRADE Fiancial accounts). I withdraw money from my ETRADE account in Thailand for free. I used to do the $25 fee wire transfer until I discovered this.

The currency conversion rate is also on par with what I'm charged through other institutions.

[Jingthing]

I have an ETRADE Financial International account. I discovered that you can apply for a debit card (works for both ETRADE BANK or ETRADE Fiancial accounts). I withdraw money from my ETRADE account in Thailand for free. I used to do the $25 fee wire transfer until I discovered this.

The currency conversion rate is also on par with what I'm charged through other institutions.

True, they have atm cards. But for purposes of visa qualification, you need to wire the money into a Thai bank account.

[ProThaiExpat]

I think the big low cost brokerage houses have similar programs. I use Schwab who provides one free wire transfer a quarter for International Customers.

Their wire transfers can be telephone call activated, if you pre-send a standing authorization to do so. However, by the time you call, get the right person and get over the details, I always figure a fax is cheaper, especially if done from home.

They call me to confirm so it is their dime. I always put on the form to call without concern for time zones so they don't wait a day to call during our waking hours. They still usually call before midnight. So get fax off during the day so it is waiting for them when they open in the early evening and they will call to confirm as early as 7PM depending on how busy they are that day. Wire goes out during that night but not into my account at SCB until late the next day or the following. SCB has a busy wire transfer office so even though they may acknowledge receipt of the wire by 9 am they don't get it into my account until around noon or shortly thereafter.

Schwab also has a Visa Debit Card that allows the payment of large bills at the Visa exchange rate. Yes, I agree that I am far more comfortable going into immigration with a bank book where it shows the wire transfer deposits.

My last go around, the bank code did not show overseas origin as the online service does, so I just printed the online form to show the code if asked, but was not asked. The branch can also print out wire transfer confirmations from their computers.

Nothing new in the above, but posted for newbies who might be thinking of setting something up.

[Jingthing]

As far as I can tell, e-trade does not telephone confirm, can someone verify?

I consider that a good thing, as you are only transferring between two accounts in your own name (thats all e-trade will do).

Another detail, for their US based accounts, they do not do international wire transfers for the brokerage accounts, only the BANK accounts. Two different kinds of accounts. When you have both types of accounts, you can move money between them online so no problem with that.

Edited November 1, 2007 by Jingthing

[earlofwindermere]

Are you sure Jingthing? I am a non-US citizen but I applied for an ETRADE brokerage account through their US office. I can do international wire transfers no problem at all. I also know someone who has a US brokerage account (not a Bank account) and has no problems doing international wires. His login screens are no different than mine.

As far as the US currency, you are correct in understanding that the money will be sent in US dollars (unless Etrade has some other kind of currency account as well... not sure). But, if your Etrade is USD, it will be sent in USD.

Incidently, the former VP of Etrade was working with my foundation about 3 months ago. She told me that they keep track of EVERYTHING and have stats on everybody. Spooky. She said that when you call, you are directed to a certain "quality" of customer service agent based on your account. She told me that if you're ever directed to an offshore agent, you're at the bottom of the rung. I've never had anybody but an offshore agent answer my calls

Edited November 1, 2007 by earlofwindermere

[Jingthing]

Are you sure Jingthing?

That was my understanding and recollection when I called them over a year ago. However, it appears I am wrong. Either I misunderstood or they changed their policies:

https://us.etrade.com/e/t/estation/help?id=1903000000#Wire

In this case, it sounds like you can do an ONLINE international wire transfer from an e-trade brokerage account but need to fax a form for the bank account. Can someone confirm this works online from a US based brokerage account?

Edited November 1, 2007 by Jingthing

[Langsuan Man]

E*Trade requires a fax so that they have a signature on file that they can compare with the signature that opened your account. (also to cover their butts if the wire is bogus)

Of all the US banks I have found them to be the best as far as speed and convenience. I have their ATM card and use it at SCB and so long as I maintain at least $5,000 combined in any of my accounts I never pay a fee. The ATM exchange rate is ALWAYS higher than SCB's posted rate. I know since I will take out money from the ATM and check the board with the rates, come back to my condo and log into E*trade Bank and they will have already posted my debit and I can just convert it and see what rate I received.

I use for Fidelity for my investments so I really can't answer questions about their brokerage accounts other than to say that they can link the two together and you can instantly transfer from your brokerage to your bank account and vice versa. And that $5,000 I spoke about earlier for free ATM use includes what you have in your brokerage account. But as another poster stated wire transfers can only be initiated by bank accounts and not brokerage accounts

On the other side of the spectrum is CitiBank and they are absolutely horrible. They want $50 for a wire transfer, there is a fee for any ATM transactions, except ones done at their branch in Bangkok (Sathorn), and their exchange rates are atrocious.

For instance, when I bought my condo I had to come up with some cash right away for the deposit so I used both my E*trade ATM card before noon for the maximum $1,000 USD daily transfer limit and then again after noon for another $1,000 USD next day daily limit. I went over to the Bangkok Bank ATM and used my CitiBank card and not only did I get an exchange rate that was 3 Baht per dollar less than E*Trade but CitiBank hit me for $2.50 per TRANSACTION. Since the ATM would only give me 10,000 THB per transaction to get my $1,000 US limit I had to do three 10,000 Baht transactions and one 5,000 Baht transaction which ended up costing me $10 in fees and of course 3,000 THB less due to the currency rate.

The only good news was that this insured that I used E*Trade for the big wire and not CitiBank.

LSM

[kudroz]

I haven't read the whole thread, but just wanted to say that BIC and SWIFT is the exact same thing.

[kudroz]

You might want to add this in the comments field: MT103 REMIT USD CURRENCY TO THE BEN BANK

MT103 is the communication format they uses over the swift network. They will format this message into tags with the proper instruction in the system. It is safe to put it on your wire initiation form in case some funny bank (correspondent or others) tries to make the conversion before it reaches the beneficiary's bank.

[Naam]

I haven't read the whole thread, but just wanted to say that BIC and SWIFT is the exact same thing.

not exactly the same although BIC uses SWIFT channels for transfers and the same goes for IBAN. both BIC and IBAN are individual setups (apart from SWIFT) for crossborder transfers.

[kudroz]

I haven't read the whole thread, but just wanted to say that BIC and SWIFT is the exact same thing.

not exactly the same although BIC uses SWIFT channels for transfers and the same goes for IBAN. both BIC and IBAN are individual setups (apart from SWIFT) for crossborder transfers.

This is how I understand it:

"Bank SWIFT Code" is an old (wrong) expression. SWIFT is a network, and each financial institution subscribed to this network have a Bank Identifier Code (BIC). People are usually referring to a "Bank SWIFT Code" when they actually mean a BIC. That's why I have mentioned above that they were they meant the same.

IBAN is an european standard that includes not only the Bank identifier in that "code" but also the beneficiary's account number and currency of the account.

[Maestro]

...IBAN is an european standard that includes...also the beneficiary's account number and currency of the account.

Not the currency, but the country in which the bank is located. For example, for an EUR account with a bank in Switzerland the IBAN’s first two digits will still be CH, not EU, for an EUR account with a bank in Germany it is DE, not EU.

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Maestro

[Naam]

"Bank SWIFT Code" is an old (wrong) expression. SWIFT is a network, and each financial institution subscribed to this network have a Bank Identifier Code (BIC). People are usually referring to a "Bank SWIFT Code" when they actually mean a BIC.

SWIFT is a "BIC" too but SWIFT and BIC have different Bank Identifier Codes. your definition of IBAN is correct.

[Maestro]

I haven't read the whole thread, but just wanted to say that BIC and SWIFT is the exact same thing.

not exactly the same...

I can confirm that. Let’s for example take an account with a bank in Germany:

BIC: 70120400

SWIFT: DABBDEMM

IBAN: DE9870120400... (total 22 digits in Germany, the remaining digits being the account number)

The BIC, in Germany called “Bankleitzahl”, has become part of the IBAN, but the SWIFT code has not. Banks in Thailand do not have a BIC, as far as I know, but the bank branch number is part of the account number. For an order for a remittance to Thailand one gives the SWIFT, beneficiary’s bank account number, beneficiary’s name and address, and where required also name and address of beneficiary’s bank.

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Maestro

[kudroz]

...IBAN is an european standard that includes...also the beneficiary's account number and currency of the account.

Not the currency, but the country in which the bank is located. For example, for an EUR account with a bank in Switzerland the IBAN’s first two digits will still be CH, not EU, for an EUR account with a bank in Germany it is DE, not EU.

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Maestro

I stand corrected, you are right - my apologies.

[kudroz]

I haven't read the whole thread, but just wanted to say that BIC and SWIFT is the exact same thing.

not exactly the same...

I can confirm that. Let’s for example take an account with a bank in Germany:

BIC: 70120400

SWIFT: DABBDEMM

IBAN: DE9870120400... (total 22 digits in Germany, the remaining digits being the account number)

The BIC, in Germany called “Bankleitzahl”, has become part of the IBAN, but the SWIFT code has not. Banks in Thailand do not have a BIC, as far as I know, but the bank branch number is part of the account number. For an order for a remittance to Thailand one gives the SWIFT, beneficiary’s bank account number, beneficiary’s name and address, and where required also name and address of beneficiary’s bank.

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Maestro

i was reading on http://www.swift.com/biconline/index.cfm

And the way I understand it is that some BIC are connected to the SWIFT network, and some other aren't (the ones that are only digit numbers aren't).

The proper terminology would be a SWIFT BIC (for a BIC connected to the SWIFT network) and a BIC by itself would mean a BIC that is not connected to SWIFT network.

Edited December 27, 2007 by kudroz

[Naam]

The proper terminology would be a SWIFT BIC (for a BIC connected to the SWIFT network) and a BIC by itself would mean a BIC that is not connected to SWIFT network.

partly correct Kudroz. my bank in Germany uses the expression "SWIFT-BIC" in its letterhead. unfortunately i have no paper letterhead handy to scan and post. however, all "BIC" banks can use the SWIFT network for international transfers.

[lannarebirth]

Why don't you look at an Interactive Brokers account. If limited to one per 30 days, wire transfers are free. I think $10 per wire if more frequent.