Ok, after 3 trips to Wells Fargo I still can't seem to get the bankers to follow the instructions from our tour operator for wiring funds to Bhutan.

Anyone US based care to offer detailed help I can hand to my bank. Anyone specifically do this with Wells Fargo? PM me if you need to

Thanks!

I found that the cost of a wire transfer was much higher than the cost of Western Union. I had my bank do a Western Union transfer.

I do international transfers at least 9 or 10 times a year via Wells Fargo (to Russia - so the issue may be different) and most of the branch bankers (not the tellers) know exactly how. Is it something specifically different re Bhutan?

If not, (and if you decide against using WU) talk to the branch manager -- they should be able to do this for you.

What about PayPal?



I am not familiar with sending money to Bhutan but I can tell you good luck with WF. We had a nightmare issue wth them simply trying to roll over one of my wifes IRA's. It took over 1 yr.! Finally had to resort to reaching out on their fb page. I found their CS to be terrible CS.

And when will we be able to edit our comments????

>>We had a nightmare issue wth them simply trying to roll over one of my wifes IRA's. It took over 1 yr.! <<

The investment side is totally separate and unrelated to the banking/wire transfer side. Not relevant . . .

I really don’t care.

And I'll continue to post what I like. Your approval isn't required.

Bye.

I agree that

I didn't say you shouldn't post it -- but that anything to do with an IRA is totally separate and distinct from the OP's problem.

... WF is useless. I only wound up with them because they took over Wachovia and I left shortly thereafter. The idiot managing my local branch tried to tell me I couldn't use an ATM only card abroad.

I have used Western Union to send money to India - not in a bank, there was an outlet in one of the local grocery stores.

[Anyone who banks with WF after the scandals over unwanted accounts and credit cards deserves what they get. And on the investment side the fees on their selected mutual funds are outrageous.]

I agree thursdysd. WF has a messy overall corporate culture and not just on the investment side.

For the OP I would say change banks.

Janis I find your tone very condescending and not just this one time.

Adios.

The wire pings an US intermediary and then the bank in Bhutan--but that is not the ultimate beneficiary, which needs to be inputted somewhere else. Not sure if WU can do this but I will look into it.

Yikes, nevermind. WU rates are 4 times as much as WF.

Is a wire transfer the only option? Can you make a bank check in their currency and send it certified or registered mail? I know that’s usually costly but not sure how it compares to WU.

Otherwise good luck with WF. I ended up going to a local WF bank manager during my ordeal and was dissatisfied with his attitude as well. He promised much and did nothing.

I hope you can work this out. It should not be this hard but it’s WF.

"WU rates are 4 times as much as WF."

I'm surprised to hear that. I used Western Union when I had to pay for our last trip to Myanmar, and it was less than the wire transfer price. I did the Western Union transfer through my bank. And yes, Western Union can do a transfer to the bank of your Bhutan agent.

Larry, there are many times when a transfer of cash via a wire transfer or Western Union is really the only option. This is one of them.

BTW, do you have a brokerage account? Sometimes they will do wire transfers for less.

(I do agree that you might want to look for a new bank - WF also charges a lot to withdraw money from a foreign ATM. But that is a longer term issue. Right now, you just need to figure out how to get the money to your Bhutan agent.

Ok. Good luck jannan. .

When I tell WU I want to send money to Bhutan, I see that the fee for paying with a credit card goes up with amount of money and can get quite high. However, if you pay from a bank account, although it takes longer, it starts lower, and goes up more slowly. To send %1,000 that way costs $13, and to send $2,000 costs $16. That looks quite reasonable to me and I have a hard time believing WF would only charge $4 unless you have a lot of money with them.

In any case, how much is it worth to get the job done right?

I hope jannan this works out for you. If you have tried three times w/o success I do wonder how difficult it would be to just close that account and open another one in a new bank. FWIW Chase has been great to me to deal with in all aspects from the people at the on site bank to the many people I have had to speak with over the years.

Again good luck!