petitefrancaise

Hi Audio,

how are you finding France then? I must admit that even after 3.5 years away I still don't find an urge to return. Sure, healthcare might be an issue in the future here but the stuff I didn't like is still there and then some! However, my daughter finishes school in another 3.5 years so may well review then.

audio

Hello petitefrancaise,
Well some things better, others not so good. I will eventually no doubt return to the UK as my final resting place (hopefully).
Having worked and lived all over the world (apart from Russia), I still think the UK and France has a lot going for it.
I know quite few people in the US that cannot afford to get medical ‘things’ fixed, that cannot be right. Not applicable to me but if the breadwinner loses his/her job which includes the health insurance for all, I wonder? Sorry that’s a thread drift and I don’t want to get into the politics and be slated by some of the abrasive members.
Good luck and health to you PF.

petitefrancaise

"Good luck and health to you PF."
Merci, toi aussi et bonne continuation!

look forward to hearing from you on the France forum
xx

audio

Merci petitefrancaise,
et a bientôt!
xx

audio

I called Bank of America and they told me the only way to transfer funds was by wire.
The downside is: You must have a US phone so they can send you a pin which has a duration of just ten minutes.
Is this the way you do it may I ask?

durham_lad

I have a similar situation with the need to have a US phone for security codes like this, so I have a Skype US number, cost ~$39/year. It works great.

petitefrancaise

Audio, sign up with worldfirst. We've used them for years with various french banks and no problems.

Bomjeito

We too. We must be present in the bank for funds more than $5k to be wired out. We have looked at all the majors and come up short.

Even from our bank to UKForex's correspondent bank requires physical presence. We have searched two months on this one. If someone has a solution to transfer or wire a large sum without physical presence, we'd be grateful as well.

audio

Thanks petitefrancaise, I'll call them.

I normally use Fexco, I have found them very good but my bank still won't wire funds to them at their New York branch if I'm not here.
Archaic or what?

petitefrancaise

So, I've just spoken to my own bank about this situation - Alliant Credit Union. They have said (and I got them to confirm this ) that with them, I would need to email/fax them the request to transfer cash over $1000 with a photo id in the email/fax and that would be enough for them. There is no upper limit. They also told me that there are no legal requirements for a person to be physically present to make a transfer.

I've emailed my friendly bank manager, informed him of what Alliant would be able to do with an email/fax and asked if WF can do this. I'll let you know what his reply is. His job is dealing with 'high net worth" individuals so he must have come across this already.

audio

Thanks, I'll look forward to hearing his reply.
This is what my friendly bank manager wrote:

"As long as we are wiring the funds, it requires your physical presence, no matter where we are sending it."

I guess that includes all online payments

petitefrancaise

My friendly bank manager...... well, he used to be my bank manager and he was great - totally used to dealing with foreigners and went out of his way to provide good service. He was so good, they promoted him!! I'm not "high net worth"!!! Well, not high enough anyway. I cannot believe that people with huge sums of dosh will stand for this nonsense regarding transfers at these low levels.

It might be worth telling them that you are looking into closing the account and setting up another account with a more enlightened company? I really like Alliant and they are mostly online/telephone, no branches anywhere near me. Are there any totally online banks that would obviously be much easier for you to deal with in the future in any case.

MidAtlantic

Just as one example, you can make Bank of America wire payments on-line:

https://www.bankofamerica.com/conten...info-sheet.pdf

I am almost certain that you can with Wells Fargo also.

Ally Bank is only on-line and you can send wires from them.

In other words wire transfers, without being physically present, are readily available. But why use a wire payment and incur fees? An EFT is just as good, unless time is critical.

petitefrancaise

Midatlantic, no, you can't transfer more than $3k online with WF. You can only do it in a branch. That's been the whole point of this thread.

petitefrancaise

reply from my WF manager. I'm just copy/pasting here.

"Wells Fargo requires that we positively indentify our customers to protect the bank and customers from fraud risk and to ensure we are also aligned with federal anti-terrorism regulations. The law may not require an in person identification but we must able to say without a doubt we have positively identified that person.

There is an exception process that requires the approval of area management but this will typically only be granted in extenuating circumstances in which a customer has no other options, it is a one-time event, and they have a long-standing relationship with a banker who can identify them.

A few options that may work for her:
- I have had a client tell me they use a PayPal account as intermediary between transfers (i.e. transfer their funds electronically into a PayPal account and then use the PayPal account to send funds elsewhere)
- She can write a check
- She can send wires online, but unfortunately they have a daily limit of $5,000 and rolling 30-day limit of $15,000
- She can see if the foreign exchange company can do an ACH debit of her account"

or open another account........