Everbank World Currency Accounts

[gobkk]

i have an everbank freenet checking account in us dollars and several world currency accounts in euros,singapore dollars,and aussie dollars.

i plan to open an account with siam commercial for business and personal expenses.

when i open a thai baht account with scb,i can wire any of the currencies.is there any advantage i.e.,in regards to exchange rates,on which currencies i can wire and convert to bahts.does us dollars get more per baht than other currencies or are all currencies equal in their baht exchange rates.noticed some scb deposit accounts seem to favor us dollars in regards to interest rates,fees,etc.

[Yangpuss]

i have an everbank freenet checking account in us dollars and several world currency accounts in euros,singapore dollars,and aussie dollars.

i plan to open an account with siam commercial for business and personal expenses.

when i open a thai baht account with scb,i can wire any of the currencies.is there any advantage i.e.,in regards to exchange rates,on which currencies i can wire and convert to bahts.does us dollars get more per baht than other currencies or are all currencies equal in their baht exchange rates.noticed some scb deposit accounts seem to favor us dollars in regards to interest rates,fees,etc.

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Don't know the answer to your question but are you happy with Everbank? I am thinking of opening an account with them too. What alternative banks did you investigate? Is Everbank the only US bank that has these foreign currency accounts? Thanks.

[gobkk]

i have an everbank freenet checking account in us dollars and several world currency accounts in euros,singapore dollars,and aussie dollars.

i plan to open an account with siam commercial for business and personal expenses.

when i open a thai baht account with scb,i can wire any of the currencies.is there any advantage i.e.,in regards to exchange rates,on which currencies i can wire and convert to bahts.does us dollars get more per baht than other currencies or are all currencies equal in their baht exchange rates.noticed some scb deposit accounts seem to favor us dollars in regards to interest rates,fees,etc.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't know the answer to your question but are you happy with Everbank? I am thinking of opening an account with them too. What alternative banks did you investigate? Is Everbank the only US bank that has these foreign currency accounts? Thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

yes,i really like everbank and closed my local bank accounts and am now only using them.i can go on the net and check all my accounts at once,and one phone call can shift money from one currency to another with no fees.i looked into other banks regarding foreign currency accounts and they wanted too much for minimun deposits.i am thinking of opening a $10000 yuan account because i think despite china and the g7 statements,i think china is being careful and sly about not wanting the worlds investors to make a run on their money.then all of a sudden they will surprise everyone by allowing their currency to float a bit or change their peg.my singapore dollars aren't pegged so can appreciate without waiting for china.

[MattFS218]

A few years ago I had looked at everBank and their CD multi-currency accounts but apparently they now offer deposit accounts.

I was wondering if anyone has experience sending SWIFT transfers via everBank and how successful they have been in terms of fees and exchange rates. everBank claims (at least for an undefined time period) that they offer free foreign wire transfers but "additional charges" may be added by intermediary banks.

Does anyone have any information (who actually has an everBank account) on what the fees/exchagne rate given might be? There is no mention of exchange rates on their website.

matt

[Upcountry]

Hey folks,

Being disgusted with BOA, I've taken as serious look at Everbank. I'm almost ready to open an account.

The best news is that the rep I spoke to recently who told me that Everbank has a new feature allowing out-of-bank transfers. It's so new, that he could not be 100% sure about the maximum amount allowed per day, but he thought it was $5,000.

So, I'm curious about any experiences people have had with this bank lately for regular banking purposes - paying bills, moving money, and especially the out-of-bank feature.

Thanks,

UC

[TRIPxCORE]

I have used Everbank before. They are one of the only U.S. banks to offer foreign currency investments to normal people on a wide scale. I was very happy with them. If you want to know exchange rates and which might be better for you, go check the interbank rates at www.oanda.com.

[galt67]

I, second, checking out Oanda. Their currency spreads are much better then Everbank. But, Everbank is VERY easy to use and has excellent customer service.

[calibanjr.]

I don't think you need to worry about dealing in Yuan, just use HKD, pretty sure that's pegged to the Yuan and a lot less problematic, got most of my cake in HKD. I have a multi-currency biz account with HSBC, which works really smoothly to Thailand, pay all my vendors with acct number and SWIFT number only, don't need to worry about addresses and such. Moving money between currencies within the account is free, but at disadvantageous trxrates. Everbank sounds interesting though if you can move between currency accts freely.

Edited October 12, 2005 by calibanjr.

[Rainmon]

bottom line US funds transfer?

I have both a BOA checking and Fidelity checking/brokerage account. Fideltiy offers same funds transfer feature as BOA but it is free, also free, 4 ATM's a month (I was in Pattaya for 3 weeks last month and all my Fidelity ATM's were free, no fees either side, the BOA ATM's had $6.20 fees total from both banks).

2 questions:

1. I am moving Pattay soon, should I wait and open Thai bank account there or try to open USA account with Bangkok Bank of NY?

2. If I wait and open account in Thailand, will they give me an aba routing number for the NY branch and then forward the funds to my Thai account for a $3 Bangkok NY bank fee (USA banks do not use shift numbers)?

I don't understand why this is so confusing, but, I have talked to Fidelity 3 times and get different answers each time, one guy said wire transfer, another guy said use the free money line transfer. Even the banks here do not know a simple way to do this, thanks, Paul

i have an everbank freenet checking account in us dollars and several world currency accounts in euros,singapore dollars,and aussie dollars.

i plan to open an account with siam commercial for business and personal expenses.

when i open a thai baht account with scb,i can wire any of the currencies.is there any advantage i.e.,in regards to exchange rates,on which currencies i can wire and convert to bahts.does us dollars get more per baht than other currencies or are all currencies equal in their baht exchange rates.noticed some scb deposit accounts seem to favor us dollars in regards to interest rates,fees,etc.

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[calibanjr.]

Depends upon your banking needs and visa situation. Some people will tell you that you might have a problem opening a bank account in Thailand without an O Visa, B-visa, work permit, what have you. My experience was that I opened a Bangkok Bank account with a tourist visa and a passport (obviously).

If you are moving to Pattaya long-term, I guess I would recommend opening an account here, and if your transfer fees are reasonable, just transfer what you need monthly or whatever into your Thai bank. That way you have easy and free ATM access to your funds all the time. I transfer my personal money from HSBC in Hong Kong once a month 100HKD (roughly 13 bucks). There are more efficient ways, but I just don't like having more than I need in my non(or very little)-interest bearing Thai account. One really great convenience in Thailand is, if you need to put some money into another person's account (a GF for the obvious example) you can do it from your ATM directly into their account for any major Thai bank for 30 baht, or free if it is the same bank. Unfortunately, I have maybe overused this feature in the past.

DD

bottom line US funds transfer?

I have both a BOA checking and Fidelity checking/brokerage account. Fideltiy offers same funds transfer feature as BOA but it is free, also free, 4 ATM's a month (I was in Pattaya for 3 weeks last month and all my Fidelity ATM's were free, no fees either side, the BOA ATM's had $6.20 fees total from both banks).

2 questions:

1. I am moving Pattay soon, should I wait and open Thai bank account there or try to open USA account with Bangkok Bank of NY?

2. If I wait and open account in Thailand, will they give me an aba routing number for the NY branch and then forward the funds to my Thai account for a $3 Bangkok NY bank fee (USA banks do not use shift numbers)?

I don't understand why this is so confusing, but, I have talked to Fidelity 3 times and get different answers each time, one guy said wire transfer, another guy said use the free money line transfer. Even the banks here do not know a simple way to do this, thanks, Paul

i have an everbank freenet checking account in us dollars and several world currency accounts in euros,singapore dollars,and aussie dollars.

i plan to open an account with siam commercial for business and personal expenses.

when i open a thai baht account with scb,i can wire any of the currencies.is there any advantage i.e.,in regards to exchange rates,on which currencies i can wire and convert to bahts.does us dollars get more per baht than other currencies or are all currencies equal in their baht exchange rates.noticed some scb deposit accounts seem to favor us dollars in regards to interest rates,fees,etc.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

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[TRIPxCORE]

2 questions:

1. I am moving Pattay soon, should I wait and open Thai bank account there or try to open USA account with Bangkok Bank of NY?

First of all, you cannot open an account at the Bangkok Bank branch in NY. That is not an actual bank where a person can walk in and do banking. It is just an office where Bangkok Bank conducts business.

2. If I wait and open account in Thailand, will they give me an aba routing number for the NY branch and then forward the funds to my Thai account for a $3 Bangkok NY bank fee (USA banks do not use shift numbers)?

Every account you open, no matter where it is or who it is with, you can be provided with routing numbers, ABA numbers or Swift numbers. They all serve the same purpose. You are not going to be using the NY branch of Bangkok Bank though.

I don't understand why this is so confusing, but, I have talked to Fidelity 3 times and get different answers each time, one guy said wire transfer, another guy said use the free money line transfer. Even the banks here do not know a simple way to do this, thanks, Paul

The easiest way for you to do this would be to put all of your money into an account in the U.S., preferably one that paid decent interest and has an ATM card for it and just use the ATM whenever you need money in Thailand. It saves you having to transfer money all over the place. The fees are nothing to worry about as long as you take out an adequete amount of money each time so you dont have to keep going back to it.

[Rainmon]

excellent, thanks for the info thats what i needed to know, apprecitate it, have a good one, Paul

2 questions:

1. I am moving Pattay soon, should I wait and open Thai bank account there or try to open USA account with Bangkok Bank of NY?

First of all, you cannot open an account at the Bangkok Bank branch in NY. That is not an actual bank where a person can walk in and do banking. It is just an office where Bangkok Bank conducts business.

2. If I wait and open account in Thailand, will they give me an aba routing number for the NY branch and then forward the funds to my Thai account for a $3 Bangkok NY bank fee (USA banks do not use shift numbers)?

Every account you open, no matter where it is or who it is with, you can be provided with routing numbers, ABA numbers or Swift numbers. They all serve the same purpose. You are not going to be using the NY branch of Bangkok Bank though.

I don't understand why this is so confusing, but, I have talked to Fidelity 3 times and get different answers each time, one guy said wire transfer, another guy said use the free money line transfer. Even the banks here do not know a simple way to do this, thanks, Paul

The easiest way for you to do this would be to put all of your money into an account in the U.S., preferably one that paid decent interest and has an ATM card for it and just use the ATM whenever you need money in Thailand. It saves you having to transfer money all over the place. The fees are nothing to worry about as long as you take out an adequete amount of money each time so you dont have to keep going back to it.

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[thaistick]

Just came back from Paris where I used my Everbank and Bank of America ATM cards to their limits every day to be able to bring back 5000 euros home with me as an investment and for future Europe trips,and the rates were essentially the same.

Bank of America is part of the Global Alliance network and using the member banks' ATMs like PNB Paribas and Barclays meant no ATM fees.

Everbank charges no foreign exchange fees and small ATM fees applied so the balance was that both cards were the same all fees considered.

I have Everbank's Freenet checking account and debit card,a Singapore dollar deposit account,and a New Zealand dollar 6 month CD which pays almost double what I can get with a local bank plus one can make more through currency appreciation.

Bank of America charges me $40 for international USD wires and $20 for domestic US wires.Everbank charges no wire fees for wiring money into or out of their world currency deposit accounts and have not tried it from their regular checking account.

Am shifting out of BOA and moving my money into Everbank.More choices,

international currencies,great CD rates,and good interest on their checking account versus no interest on my BOA account.

Edited October 12, 2005 by thaistick

[susah_sih]

EverBank hardly gives any interest or gives much lower interest on the currency that supposed to give high interests.

Anyone ever looks at EMIGRANT DIRECT?

http://www.emigrantdirect.com

It pays 4% APY. Quite useful for managing your money in the US.

Edited October 13, 2005 by susah_sih

[KhunPadThai]

>I don't think you need to worry about dealing in Yuan, just use HKD, pretty sure that's pegged to the Yuan and a lot less problematic, got most of my cake in HKD.

The HKD is pegged to the USD, not the yuan. So holding HKD offers no hedge on the USD, unless they lift the peg, of course.

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

[KhunPadThai]

Anyone ever looks at EMIGRANT DIRECT?

http://www.emigrantdirect.com

It pays 4% APY. Quite useful for managing your money in the US.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have an account at EmigrantDirect.com and they are pretty good. When the Fed raised a quarter point in September they raised a half the next day.

One disadvantage, though, is that they do not accept a power of attorney. A PofA lets you designate who gets access to the money if you were to become incapacitated. With banks like EmigrantDirect.com your spouse, for instance, would not be able to get access to your funds if you were incapacitated, e.g. to pay essential bills. May not be a major concern for many people.

I like using a bricks and mortar bank, that is fully regulated, rather than some purely internet entity like oanda.com.

Khun Pad Thai

[calibanjr.]

>I don't think you need to worry about dealing in Yuan, just use HKD, pretty sure that's pegged to the Yuan and a lot less problematic, got most of my cake in HKD.

The HKD is pegged to the USD, not the yuan. So holding HKD offers no hedge on the USD, unless they lift the peg, of course.

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

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, KPThai! Good to know! Now I just wish I had enough money in the account for it to matter more.

[TRIPxCORE]

I like using a bricks and mortar bank, that is fully regulated, rather than some purely internet entity like oanda.com.

Khun Pad Thai

I did not suggest Oanda.com to be used as a bank. In fact, they do not even offer banking services as far as I know. One of the posters asked about comparing exchange rates between currencies and to do that I told him to reference Oanda.com which is a great source of information regarding currencies and their history.