How to transfer money to India in one go?

R2IFinal2010 · Post by **R2IFinal2010** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:01 am

All,

I have a very silly basic finance question (yes, I visited that thread, my head started spinning seeing all finance terms :))).

I will be R2ing in 3 months time. I have accounts in various US banks (accumulates to more than 200K).

1 ) How can I transfer this to my NRE accounts in one go? Is wire transfer safe and applicable?

I do not want to take the online transfer (money2India etc) since it takes 10 days for a transfer plus exchange rate is low.

I also want to close my bank accounts here once I am done transferring (I am on H1b so I will not be coming back to US).
2 ) How long can I keep my US bank accounts open after I have left US?

Please advice.

Lakshya · Post by **Lakshya** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:20 am

[QUOTE]
I will be R2ing in 3 months time. I have accounts in various US banks (accumulates to more than 200K).

How can I transfer this to my NRE accounts in one go? Is wire transfer safe and applicable?

You want to be careful, I believe anything more than 10k transfer require some IRS form to fill.

venkat786 · Post by **venkat786** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:27 am

wire transfer.

R2IFinal2010 · Post by **R2IFinal2010** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:30 am

@Lakshya

Could you please elaborate?

How is already R2Iers have done this? Please share your experiences so that I can take an educated decision.

venkat786 · Post by **venkat786** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:34 am

wiretransfer is the safest and fastest. I remember, my BIL transferred $110k from wellsfargo to ICICI at one go.
I am not sure he filled any IRA forms. Please confirm with your bank.

R2IFinal2010;298667@Lakshya

Could you please elaborate?

How is already R2Iers have done this? Please share your experiences so that I can take an educated decision.

R2IFinal2010 · Post by **R2IFinal2010** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:37 am

venkat786;298669wiretransfer is the safest and fastest. I remember, my BIL transferred $110k from wellsfargo to ICICI at one go.
I am not sure he filled any IRA forms. Please confirm with your bank.

@Venkat:

Sorry for sounding really dumb in these matters, but I need to confirm this with the US bank right?

Also, does wire transfer give better exchange rates if transferring large amounts?

Lakshya · Post by **Lakshya** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:48 am

R2IFinal2010;298667@Lakshya

Could you please elaborate?

How is already R2Iers have done this? Please share your experiences so that I can take an educated decision.

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=210244,00.html

But not sure if you are on H1 so may not apply to you.....

mudramantra99 · Post by **mudramantra99** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 3:05 am

r2ifinal2010----the way i did was to fill out a couple of forms with SBI,nyc branch.You can download the forms from their website or they can guide you over the phone.After they receive your forms ,they will email you your remittance account # and you are all set to go. I wire transferred 200000 dollars from my wells fargo account to sbi,nyc branch. if your wire transfer reaches them by 12 pm, the money will be sent to india the same day. Sbi,nyc publishes the rate on a daily basis on their website and their exchange rates are the best of the lot.it costs you 20 dollars at wells fargo to wire transfer to any bank in the usa and make sure to tell them the wire transfer is to a bank in the usa.No irs forms need to be filled out with the bank.After you wire transfer the amount to sbi,nyc,you will have to send them a fax stating the same and you are done.My tranfer of $ 200000 to india was my first one with sbi,nyc and it was a smooth transaction---no hiccups anywhere. Call them up after you visit the sbi,nyc website.I have tranferred money through remit to india and hdfc but in my opinion sbi,nyc branch gives you the best rate and you are not left guessing about the exchange rate.The same day you will get an email from sbi confirming the transaction at the day's published rate. The exchange rate for amounts over $100000 are very close to the official exchange rate.Good luck.

mudramantra99 · Post by **mudramantra99** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 3:11 am

lakshya---the fbar form has to be filed by June 2011 if you have over 10000 dollars in a financial institution abroad sent in year 2010.

R2IFinal2010 · Post by **R2IFinal2010** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 5:21 am

mudramantra99;298685r2ifinal2010----the way i did was to fill out a couple of forms with SBI,nyc branch.You can download the forms from their website or they can guide you over the phone.After they receive your forms ,they will email you your remittance account # and you are all set to go. I wire transferred 200000 dollars from my wells fargo account to sbi,nyc branch. if your wire transfer reaches them by 12 pm, the money will be sent to india the same day. Sbi,nyc publishes the rate on a daily basis on their website and their exchange rates are the best of the lot.it costs you 20 dollars at wells fargo to wire transfer to any bank in the usa and make sure to tell them the wire transfer is to a bank in the usa.No irs forms need to be filled out with the bank.After you wire transfer the amount to sbi,nyc,you will have to send them a fax stating the same and you are done.My tranfer of $ 200000 to india was my first one with sbi,nyc and it was a smooth transaction---no hiccups anywhere. Call them up after you visit the sbi,nyc website.I have tranferred money through remit to india and hdfc but in my opinion sbi,nyc branch gives you the best rate and you are not left guessing about the exchange rate.The same day you will get an email from sbi confirming the transaction at the day's published rate. The exchange rate for amounts over $100000 are very close to the official exchange rate.Good luck.

Thank you mudramanta99 for a very detailed explanation.
I am assuming you have an existing SBI NRE account in India, am I correct?