Living the Travel Channel

Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.

Banking, banking, banking. It is the time of year when I procrastinate too long about doing the bank transactions we need for our vacation and end up having days of misery and multiple trips to multiple banks. The days of misery are a given no matter when I do the banking, so that is the reason for the procrastination.

I have written about banking before. Read it here.

This year we needed to exchange two currencies – Euros for the trip and USD for family expenses. Some of these amounts would then be sent by wire transfer and some of the Euros taken in cash. Seems simple right? No. Currency exchange and wire transfer can only be done on the same day IF you are sending the money to your own account in your home country. To do currency exchange and pay a bill by wire transfer in the same day is forbidden.

Also, all of these transactions take huge amounts of time. I have not gotten out of a bank in less than an hour, and often double that.

I started the process on Wednesday. I went to the bank nearest my workplace even though I hate that I have to climb the stairs to the second floor because the tellers on the first floor are for VIP only. I took all my documentation: passport, expert card, bank card, employment contract, two months worth of tax receipts and salary slips. Back in October the tax laws changed. So did the tax receipts. This particular bank branch has not kept up with the changes and turned me away (after I had been there for 30 minutes or so) because they said my tax receipts were not right because they did not have the official stamp.

So, next day I go to HR at work and say “what’s up with the receipts?” The answer is that they are just fine and I should go to a different bank branch. I ask for a referral to a better (more friendly) bank branch.

That afternoon we are into a taxi and off to a second bank branch. We manage the USD exchange, but have to cut the Euros exchange to a smaller amount than we need because my tax receipts and salary slips don’t exactly match up and do not represent enough money to cover the whole exchange. Note that this has nothing to do with the balance available in my account. This is about proving that I earned the money and paid the taxes on it. When I receive the receipts and slips from my employer, it is the salary slip for the current month stapled to the tax receipt for the previous month. Since I had only brought two sets of stapled documents, I had only one set of matching documents – the receipt and slip for April.

The teller had asked if I wanted to do a wire transfer, too, so I said “yes” even though I knew from previous experience that you can’t do the exchange and transfer same day unless it is to yourself. We needed to pay our language school tuition ASAP, so I gave it a try. I gave her the form from the same transfer done last year with all the bank account numbers and addresses and names, etc. All she had to do was type that information in on a new form. Which took a long time and when she finally gets to the spot on the form giving the reason for the transfer, which is important because it tells the recipient what we are paying for, she realized we were not putting the money in our own account. She refers the matter to a man I presume to be the manager who tried to tell us in limited English that we could not do the transfer. We fought about it a bit. I asked him how people pay their bills? He suggested that I transfer it to my own account in another country and pay it from there. I said we cannot do that. We left unhappy and frustrated. Both the shortage of currency exchange and inability are partially my fault for not having a third tax receipt and for pushing to see if we could do a transfer even though I knew it wasn’t allowed from previous experience. However, the real root of the problem is the red tape wrapped so tightly around every transaction.

Next day (#3) we try a third branch after I leave work. When we get there it looks like this.

The space is vacant and the sign has been torn off. Day 3 is a bust.

Day #4 is Saturday. The branch closest to our apartment is open from 9am-4pm. So, we walk there around noontime. I have extra tax receipts in addition to all the other documentation I need. When I sit down at the window (all teller windows have chairs, because whatever it is you want, it is going to take a while) I tell him I need to do 2 wire transfers. I start with the transfer to pay for our language school tuition. Again, I hand over the receipt from last year which has all the correct information on it. It takes 40 minutes to complete this transaction. He has to type up the transaction. I have to proofread and sign the form. After that, he and a woman standing behind him type and stare at the computer for a long time doing who knows what. Then he prints out a form for the fee that I am paying in yuan for the pleasure of this experience and I have to sign that, too. In there somewhere, he asked me if I had previously changed the money from yuan into Euros using my salary. This makes me nervous because I do not want him to reject my transfer on some technicality even though it is a different day. He then needs me to go across the lobby to a computerized kiosk and print out an account statement. The kiosk is NOT bilingual, so someone has to come help me figure out what to press to get it done. The only explanation we can think of is that the bank does not allow the teller to look at my account record to verify my previous transactions. I have to print it out for him.

After 40 minutes the first wire transfer is completed. He thinks I’m done having forgotten that I said 2 wire transfers when I sat down, so he is not so happy when I indicate that I now want to transfer the USD to my US account. Thankfully, this only takes 22 minutes (yes, I timed it with the stopwatch on my phone).

There is more ahead. We still need Euros in cash. We learned by our bad experience in India that we need to have enough cash to cover the hotel just in case card transaction does not work. When you are staying 5 weeks, that’s a sizable amount. Currency exchange at the airport is limited to the equivalent of $1,000 USD. We also know from experience that you cannot do the currency exchange and immediately receive it in cash. So, this will be a two day affair. Make sure I have enough tax receipts and matching salary slips. Make sure I don’t go to the branch that does not accept the new tax receipts. Go back a second day to get the cash OR go to a second branch on the same day to get the cash as they will be blissfully ignorant that it is a same day transaction.

Now, any Americans reading this post next time you are in the bank and you can perform a transaction using only your bank card and one picture ID and it takes less than 15 minutes, you should thank your bank profusely for their good customer service. Grab your teller and give him or her a big old sloppy kiss on the forehead.