# Sending Money To U.S.



## woot79 (Apr 30, 2012)

I have accepted a job in Dubai and am really excited about moving there. I've been able to find answers to my million questions on here or online at other sites but the one I can't figure out is how to send money back home to the U.S. Can I use PayPal? If I open an HSBC account here would I be able to use the same account in Dubai? I'm just a little confused and don't want to pay an arm and a leg to send some money home. Thank you in advance for your help.


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## Tropicana (Apr 29, 2010)

I use exchange centers (UAE Exchance centre), it costs 50 dhs per transfer, and i lose about 25$, in transfer fees, no matter how much i transfer, so its effectively ~40$ per transfer.

Paypal can be used, but you cant use it with a billing address in the UAE, you'll have to use your US Address


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## indoMLA (Feb 6, 2011)

How would you use Paypal since they don't have a UAE association?


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## Tropicana (Apr 29, 2010)

I use it through my American account, but i know people who have Paypal here via their credit cards & use a foreign billing address.
However it may not be the most efficient method of transferring money to the US


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## woot79 (Apr 30, 2012)

Tropicana said:


> I use it through my American account, but i know people who have Paypal here via their credit cards & use a foreign billing address.
> However it may not be the most efficient method of transferring money to the US


So I could use PayPal but just link it through my credit card....as long as I have an American address on it? Can I use a Dubai bank account to pay my American credit card online or by mailing a check? What about HSBC, will that work since I have an account here in the States?


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## w_man (Apr 16, 2010)

For larger transfers, I use https://www.gcen.co.uk/. Basically, you put a purchased order online where you sell AED and purchase USD. You send AED funds to their UK (AED) account and they transfer funds to your US bank account. The whole process takes 2-3 business days.

They don't charge any transfer fees and they also accept to pay for the fees your UAE bank charges to send money to a UK bank. Their foreign currency rate is also much better than what HSBC offers me to purchase CAD.

GL.


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## sanny123 (Mar 10, 2012)

woot79 said:


> I have accepted a job in Dubai and am really excited about moving there. I've been able to find answers to my million questions on here or online at other sites but the one I can't figure out is how to send money back home to the U.S. Can I use PayPal? If I open an HSBC account here would I be able to use the same account in Dubai? I'm just a little confused and don't want to pay an arm and a leg to send some money home. Thank you in advance for your help.


I use HSBC and get my transfers real time. I had opened an account in NY before i moved here and opened another one in Dubai....linking was easy and online and i do the transfers regularly to pay my mortgage in the US. If you open an HSBC premier account you will not pay any transfer or other fees and your money gets transfered real time (almost real time).  

I have a citi account as well but i do not recommend it. Citi does could not link my accounts and wants to charge me an arm and a leg for every transfer


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

sanny123 said:


> I use HSBC and get my transfers real time. I had opened an account in NY before i moved here and opened another one in Dubai....linking was easy and online and i do the transfers regularly to pay my mortgage in the US. If you open an HSBC premier account you will not pay any transfer or other fees and your money gets transfered real time (almost real time).
> 
> I have a citi account as well but i do not recommend it. Citi does could not link my accounts and wants to charge me an arm and a leg for every transfer


sure you dont pay any transfer fees with HSBC, but the exchange rate that you are probably getting is probably pathetic.
The rate that I got with GCEN for Indian Rupees was much worse than what I get with exchange houses. I generally use Al Ansari exchange


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## XDoodlebugger (Jan 24, 2012)

woot79 said:


> I have accepted a job in Dubai and am really excited about moving there. I've been able to find answers to my million questions on here or online at other sites but the one I can't figure out is how to send money back home to the U.S. Can I use PayPal? If I open an HSBC account here would I be able to use the same account in Dubai? I'm just a little confused and don't want to pay an arm and a leg to send some money home. Thank you in advance for your help.


As others have said, HSBC is easy to do even to another US Bank. Before my visa I used "Wall Street" exchange in the Emirates Mall, I think it was AED40 and the money was there the next day to my Chase account. I then use Chase to bill pay my US obligations.

Be sure to get you banks Swift # before you come over (different than the routing number).

Before I knew better I used Western Union to wire some money to my sister, very expensive!


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## INFAMOUS (Apr 19, 2011)

You can use Paypal but it takes longer and costs more. I transfer via HSBC and it costs me like 10AED as a Premier member and it is in my Bank of America account next day.


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## fcjb1970 (Apr 30, 2010)

I would just do from your local bank. I pay nothing outgoing from my local account and the fee on the other side is $25. GCEN used to be a good option but they no longer have a UAE bank account, for going to UK that does not matter, but for US it means two conversions.


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## w_man (Apr 16, 2010)

fcjb1970 said:


> I would just do from your local bank. I pay nothing outgoing from my local account and the fee on the other side is $25. GCEN used to be a good option but they no longer have a UAE bank account, for going to UK that does not matter, but for US it means two conversions.


Not true. 

I still purchase CAD and sell AED like before when they had a local AED account. They have an AED account (with Barklays I think) in the UK. My biggest problem with them was that I would have to pay more to send AED funds to a non-UAE bank but they now cover the bank charges for transfer from my UAE bank to their UK bank. 

I have done a bit of homework on this as I send money back home every month and I still find GCEN's exchange rate to be competitive. Plus the convenience factor, I do everything online and it takes 2-3 business days. When GCEN closed their UAE AED account, I transferred via HSBC once and paid 350AED more in exchange rate from what GCEN was offering. I believe their rates do vary based on how much you are transferring eg: you'll get a good rate if sending 10k+ but if you are only sending 1-2k then you might not get the best rate.

See if you can setup an account with them and then you can get a live exchange rate online and compare with other places before making a decision.


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## woot79 (Apr 30, 2012)

Thanks for all the advice so far from everyone.


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## fcjb1970 (Apr 30, 2010)

w_man said:


> Not true.
> 
> I still purchase CAD and sell AED like before when they had a local AED account. They have an AED account (with Barklays I think) in the UK. My biggest problem with them was that I would have to pay more to send AED funds to a non-UAE bank but they now cover the bank charges for transfer from my UAE bank to their UK bank.
> 
> ...


I only transfer money out of the UAE (seems if money flows the other direction the entire point of being has been defeated ). 

I will talk to GCEN again, but when they closed the account I asked if this now meant I would have to exchange money twice (1x here>UK, 1xUK>US) and they seemed to not be able to answer my questions about it very well. I am always happy to save money but at this point I am paying maybe $15 more on AED 20K after fees than when I was using GCEN so I don't consider it a terrible hit. But the bank makes a huge difference from when I first got here I used Citibank because of their 'cheap' transfer fees and was paying $125 more on AED 20K than what GCEN would cost


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