Best way to send money to Russia?

[millefleur 5,046]

For those of you on the other side (in Russia): Sberbank is the pits. I've gone there now multiple times trying to put dollars on my dollar account and every time I've showed up they have some kind of technical problem or difficulty in doing so.

I would definitely recommend using a smaller bank with better services. I'm going to keep trying with Sberbank because I already opened the USD account there, but if I can't make any successful PayPal payments I'm going to switch to another bank.

[Brusik 11]

Hmm I have had no problem sending money to my wifes brother in Russia.. I have done Western Union and Paypal

[armenino15 6]

First of all even if you open another Citi account, you will not be able to add your Fiancee to the account therefore the ATM card that you send to Russia will need to be your name. No U.S Bank will open a bank account for someone that does not have a SSN.

To give you another option, I suggest opening a PayPal account if you don't already have one. The reason I say this is because you can order a PayPal business debit card (for free) and it works on the Master Card network. PayPal also allows you to add an additional card holder to your account. All you need is his/her first and last name. The card will come to your address, you will log in, activate it and set a PIN for the card. At that point you are able to make point of sale purchases (swiping the card) for a maximum of $3,000 daily limit and a $400 ATM daily limit for withdrawals. (Works on any ATM that has MasterCard, Mestro and Cirrus Acceptance Mark.)

This way the card is in her name and you can fund the card from your bank account any time you please. If you want you can actually link your bank account as a backup to the card so that if the balance in your PayPal account is not sufficient than PayPal will simply debit your bank account to cover the difference.

The fees are pretty simple. From the PayPal side you will get charged $1.50 for an ATM withdrawal plus a 1% international transaction fee (Maximum of 4$ per your $400 dollar daily ATM Withdrawal limit). Please also don't forget that the Bank/ATM machine that your fiancee will be withdrawing the funds from will most likely have fees for example conversion rates.

All in all PayPal should be charging your a maxim of $5.50 for each withdrawal of $400 plus the local fees which I don't believe will be much more that the PayPal fees. This makes the fees amount to the same ball park area as WU and Moneygram without the hassle of going to Walmart and other stores. You can do it all from your phone's PayPal app.

Edited November 2, 2016 by armenino15

[sofyab 2]

This is something that a lot of people don't know about, but if you have a foreign debit card BINBANK atms (the ones that are loaded with USD) allow you to withdraw money without fees. They offer the highest USD withdrawal limit too ($600, could be even higher).

Tell her to not withdraw money in rubles, especially if there is a transaction fee from your bank + international fee. The limit of withdrawal from foreign banks in rubles is low (10 000 Rub, $150) and the exchange rate is not the best.

[millefleur 5,046]

This is something that a lot of people don't know about, but if you have a foreign debit card BINBANK atms (the ones that are loaded with USD) allow you to withdraw money without fees. They offer the highest USD withdrawal limit too ($600, could be even higher).

Tell her to not withdraw money in rubles, especially if there is a transaction fee from your bank + international fee. The limit of withdrawal from foreign banks in rubles is low (10 000 Rub, $150) and the exchange rate is not the best.

Sberbank does not allow USD withdrawal from ATMS. Just wanted to add that in case anyone needed to know. You can have a USD account with them, but all transactions have to be done at the teller window. There are some banks here where I've seen USD ATMs, including VTB24.

[BigRedCat 36]

I just returned from Moscow today. I ended up giving my fiance a paypal mastercard debit in her name that is attached to my paypal business account. Had no problems using it in Russia. Now I can load money onto the account if needed.

[millefleur 5,046]

I just returned from Moscow today. I ended up giving my fiance a paypal mastercard debit in her name that is attached to my paypal business account. Had no problems using it in Russia. Now I can load money onto the account if needed.

Great news! I hope the exchange fees weren't too much?

[BigRedCat 36]

No exchange fees, just the usual ATM fee of 2.95 or whatever. Much better than the ridiculous exchange fees I paid at the airport to change US to RUB.

[armenino15 6]

No exchange fees, just the usual ATM fee of 2.95 or whatever. Much better than the ridiculous exchange fees I paid at the airport to change US to RUB.

Sounds good. I'm glad my PayPal suggestion worked. I myself just recently sent the PayPal Card over to Russia. I did want to ask you a question though.

How did you manage not to get charged the exchange fees. Did you load the PayPal account with Rubles? or did you simply link the account to your bank and swipe the card?

would you be able to please run me through your actual set up? I would love to avoid any exchange fees as well. If needed you can PM me.

Thanks.