# USA to PRC



## lanqiuren173 (Dec 13, 2013)

大家好！
I am looking to emigrate to the PRC for a month or two to continue my study of Mandarin. I was wondering how efficient is the Bank of China in the PRC with its branches in the USA? Has any members have experience with the BC and the transference of funds? I was thinking of setting up an account here (NYC) and transfer account funds to the PRC branch once I arrive in the PRC. 谢谢你！


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## Eric in china (Jul 8, 2014)

lanqiuren173 said:


> 大家好！
> I am looking to emigrate to the PRC for a month or two to continue my study of Mandarin. I was wondering how efficient is the Bank of China in the PRC with its branches in the USA? Has any members have experience with the BC and the transference of funds? I was thinking of setting up an account here (NYC) and transfer account funds to the PRC branch once I arrive in the PRC. 谢谢你！


They are quite good nowadays. I receive a monthly cheque from the UK for my pension in sterling and I have a sterling/RMB account with them, the transfer is slow, approx 1 month for a cheque to clear but it works fine.

Once the cheque clears the money is held in my account in sterling and I can change it for RMB whenever I want. I usually wait for a good exchange rate.


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## lanqiuren173 (Dec 13, 2013)

Thank you, Eric. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my post. 你会说汉语吗？
保重！


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## Zhongshan Billy (May 18, 2014)

I have used the B of C ever since I came here. I have a normal Sterling account in London with a UK Bank into which my various pensions are paid direct. 

Every month I make an online international transfer from my London bank to my B of C bank here. I go into the bank here every month and have to make an exchange from GB pounds to RMB by filling in a little info on two forms, In five years the exchange rate has not varied very much at all. 

There is of course a limit that can be exchanged in any one calendar year which is the equivalent of 50,000 US dollars but when I reach that limit I simply make further payments into my wifes account for the rest of the year. With her account the exchange limit still applies but the exchange rate is carried out automatically to her account.

As I keep a balance in my UK Bank then the money is available to me immediately without any delay for clearance.

Of course any Bank of China banks outside of the PRC are separate international banks and are governed by the rules of the country they are situated in. There is no direct contact or advantage in opening an account with the B of C outside of China.

Zhongshan Billy


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## Eric in china (Jul 8, 2014)

lanqiuren173 said:


> Thank you, Eric. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my post. 你会说汉语吗？
> 保重！


Lol, I speak enough to get by but cannot read or write it.


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## cschrd2 (Oct 31, 2011)

Disappointing because they are not really a quipped to work together (I moved from china to us using BOC and ICBC). Transfer fees are quite high and service is slow.


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## pomwonderful33 (Nov 12, 2014)

If you have HSBC branches back home, I would suggest having a look at them, as they provide fast transfers between all their branches.


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## Zhongshan Billy (May 18, 2014)

The banks in every country are treated as separate units and any transfer to the same Bank in another country is treated as an international payment. 

I regularly do transfer from Lloyds Bank in UK to the B of China here and it normally takes 5 days. including weekends. 

Cost £10 GB Pounds for up to £5000 or approx $7500.

Zhongshan Billy


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## badsector (May 23, 2014)

i work in china for 2 months each trip for the pass 3 years now.
always hand carry the rmb here then bank it.

fast and low cost.


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## Zhongshan Billy (May 18, 2014)

badsector said:


> i work in china for 2 months each trip for the pass 3 years now.
> always hand carry the rmb here then bank it.
> 
> fast and low cost.


There is a restriction on how much RMB that you can carry in cash with you. I think that it is 20,000 rmb at the moment. Carry more than that without declaring it to customs and you run the risk of losing the lot. If you carry foreign cash into China the limit without declaring it is the eqiivalent of $5000 US Dollars.

Plus if you use currency exchanges outside China you get a pretty poor rate of exchange.

Modern banking systems make it easy to transfer money directly from home banks to Chinese Banks very fast and at competitive rates. 

Zhongshan Billy


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## lanqiuren173 (Dec 13, 2013)

*Wow!!*



Zhongshan Billy said:


> I have used the B of C ever since I came here. I have a normal Sterling account in London with a UK Bank into which my various pensions are paid direct.
> 
> Every month I make an online international transfer from my London bank to my B of C bank here. I go into the bank here every month and have to make an exchange from GB pounds to RMB by filling in a little info on two forms, In five years the exchange rate has not varied very much at all.
> 
> ...


Thanks for that head's up! You really saved me lots of trouble and headaches. 你会说普通话吗？


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