exchange money with a guy at the bank front

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ccie6961

Lurker

Joined: Apr 09, 2007
Posts: 36
Location: Zhongshan Park
Status: Offline

Posted: July 04, 2008 - 08:18 PM
Post subject: exchange money with a guy at the bank front

I'm going back to LA next week for a short 2-week trip. I need to get some money back to the states.

Questions:

- what's the limit of exchanging RMB to US$ then wire them to US?
- is it safe to deal with the guys hanging at the front door of bank? I heard it's safe as they deposit US$ into your bank account and you transfer RMB into their account. Is it legal to deal this way? If so, is it safe to deal some relatively large sum like US$50k?
- I assume you can wire whatever US dollars back to the states if you have US$ in your account, correct?

underh20
Shanghai Royalty

Joined: Sep 27, 2006
Posts: 8435
Location: EOA Seminar

Posted: July 04, 2008 - 08:34 PM
Post subject: Re: exchange money with a guy at the bank front

ccie6961 wrote:

The limit is $50k as long as you are on a work-related residence permit and have all the necessary paperwork. If you do not meet those requirements, you can not exchange momey at the bank.

Once you have exchanged the money, there is no limit on how much you may wire back to the States.

Generally the moneychangers hanging around the bank are ok, but you do need to exercise caution. I usually have them deposit $$ into my account and then I leave the counter and tranfer the RMB to them through the ATM machine. Bank tellers are authorized to freeze any accounts they believe are used for illegal money exchange transactions and the account(s) will not be unfrozen until the PSB orders it / them unfrozen. It seldom happens, but it is a possibility.

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iara
Veejay
Veejay

Joined: June 09, 2006
Posts: 2044
Location: brazil-shanghai

Posted: July 04, 2008 - 09:21 PM

under, don't you think isn't a good idea to have your account receiving some money from those guys?
suppose they catch him (I know, it won't happen, but...) and if they search all his accounts and find out that he sendt you some money, won't you be in trouble?

I know it's not so safe, cause sometimes it's hard to tell if the money is fake or not, but I do prefer to take my rmb to them and exchange at the same for US$.
ok, just did it twice, but it worked...

and also, how will you prove from where did this money come to your account? or why?

just questions...

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underh20
Shanghai Royalty

Joined: Sep 27, 2006
Posts: 8435
Location: EOA Seminar

Posted: July 04, 2008 - 10:05 PM

iara wrote:

There's no need to prove where this money came from. Does anybody ask you to prove the source of every deposit you receive?

There's an element of risk in dealing with moneychangers and that's why I'd seldom use on hanging out near the bank. After a while, you develop your own contacts and just meet them for coffee and conduct business there.

If you have no ability to distinguish real from counterfeit currency, you shouldn't leave your home unsupervised.

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