[kolya]

I need to send money to a business in the United States from Hong Kong. Any idea of the most efficient (ie cheapest) way to get this done? A bank draft is darn expensive (on both ends). Somebody suggested an international money order but I don't know where to turn since the HK Post Office will not send money to the US. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[berryplucker]

It really depends on the amount you want to transfer. If it is small then one possibility would be to send cash by registered mail.

[sabi]

Any way for you to do it yourself electronically via a service like HSBC online? It also costs less than going to the bank, about HK$100 I think.

[kolya]

Thank you for your comments.

The amount will be around $800 on a recurring monthly basis since it is a loan I must pay off. The loan is through a US bank and they tell me they will not accept payment through the internet from an international bank - I'm guessing even though HSBC has locations around the world, this would still not satisfy their needs since they only allow online transactions from domestic (US) banks. Anyway, they have agreed to an international money order in US$ but I don't know how to go about this. The red tape we fight......

[berryplucker]

If this is going on for a while can't you get a bank account in the US, anbd transfer the money in two stages?

[KnowItAll]

What berry says ..

1) Open a savings account with the US bank that has your loan and ask them to deduct the loan payment from that account.

2) Transfer money into that account from your HSBC account in Hong Kong on a monthy basis.

Also, I would consider opening a US dollar checking account here in Hong Kong. American Express Bank used to have them ... no clue if they're still doing that or not.

That way, you can continue writing US dollar checks to meet obligations back home with an account you can monitor in Hong Kong. This was well before Al Gore invented the internets.

[sabi]

Best to have your own US account - otherwise, ask someone in the US to pay monthly on your behalf and you transfer by best way to him/her. I am guessing it is not a bank loan if they aren't accepting electronic payments - likely a student or other institutional loan.

[kolya]

I was trying to close all bank accounts in the US - since somebody currently living in HK told me this is best for tax purposes. I don't see how this matters, I mean where I have my accounts based. As long as I am out of the US for more than a year, I should be tax free up to $80,000. Yes?

[Snowflake]

HSBC offers accounts where you can have a joint USD/HKD account. It only works with these two currencies, and I think there is a fee for this ability. You can keep specified amounts of both currencies in the account, but I'm not too sure how the transactions work. Have a look into it, if you can make online transactions through both currencies it may be a good option. Cheers

[kolya]

Thanks for the help all!