Re: [tlug] Receiving money internationally

[Raymond Wan <rwan.kyoto@example.com>]

On Wed, Aug 31, 2022 at 9:22 AM Benjamin Kowarsch <trijezdci@example.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 30 Aug 2022 at 07:42, Raymond Wan <rwan.kyoto@example.com> wrote:
>> ... one other option is for them to mail a cheque (I guess
>> "bank draft" is a more correct term?) drawn from a Japanese bank.
>> i.e., if they are in the UK, they go to their bank to write a cheque
>> out to you, but the money is actually paid by (assured by?) a bank in
>> Japan.  They then mail it to you via normal post and you cash it in at
>> any bank in Japan.  I haven't done this with Japan (sorry!)
> I doubt you would recommend this if you had actually tried this in Japan.
>
> Years ago, I asked about this at two Japanese banks where I have accounts and they both recommended against it outright. It was extremely expensive. There was a handling fee which was about 2000 JPY and then there was a transaction fee as a percentage of the amount to be cleared which was significantly higher than for wire transfers and the minimum transaction fee was 6000 or 8000 JPY. And I was told that it would take longer than any other form of money transfer. This was several years ago but I cannot imagine that the terms would have become more favourable since. I'd rather suspect the opposite.


No, I didn't say it would be cheap or fast.  Nor that it would be
cheap or fast elsewhere.  Of course, electronic transfer between two
banks remains the cheaper and faster option.

If the cost is high, perhaps collecting several transfers into one is an option.

In any case, my point is just that the option is there.  And "if all
options are on the table", then it's worth asking about it to see if
it's viable.

Ray

PS:  As for "recommending outright", of course Japan has better
service than other places.  But I've been to institutions which
recommended against a particular option and I find that it isn't
always in the customer's best interest.  Sometimes, they just don't
want to do the paperwork.  So, I still would rather I get quoted a
cost, a time frame, whatever and let me decide.  I've probably have
become more cynical over the years...