Comments on Madhukar's Blog: State Bank of India - Money transfer to India

Hi Madhukar, I found your blog very informative.Ea...

2012-01-02T08:00:19.065-08:00

Hi Madhukar, I found your blog very informative.Earlier I wasted too much time by Remit2India verification process. Finally I gave up after reading people's bad experiences with Remit2India.
Now after reading your very satisfying money transfer experiences with SBI, I registered with SBI online money transfer website. during registration process their system started generating tons of Text messages/ emails for various verification Passcodes,Dynamic Passcodes. And all these different passcodes do not work. I found it very confusing and complicated system.
Does any one else has similar experiences ?

Please also share: If My USA bank (Wells Fargo)will also charge me $$ for using SBI Money Transfer to Indian Bank ?

I would also like to know: as I want to send money to my relative's A/C in Oriental Bank of Commerce. Does it takes longer than transferring money to an A/C in SBI in India ?
Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Hi all, I face some problem to send money ton Indi...

2011-12-14T13:42:47.709-08:00

Hi all,
I face some problem to send money ton India from USA,
I have send $520 to SBI account in India. In US bank charged $20. So the balance is $500. The have given a bank receipt to me also. But when I checked in SBI in India, it was showing the amount of money transfed of $470.

I do not understand.
Please inform me. Is it okey.

Hi Madhukar, I am trying to send money to india ...

2011-11-01T05:27:08.074-07:00

Hi Madhukar,

I am trying to send money to india and looking for some better service.SBI or Citionline remit. I have been using Money gram service all this time. But with money gram you end up paying more fees and it is not direct deposit to account. Could you please suggest as which of these should is safe and fast ..

Thanks,
Gagan

Hi Madhukar, I am planning to xfer close to 15000 ...

2011-10-31T08:21:59.664-07:00

Hi Madhukar, I am planning to xfer close to 15000 USD from my Bank of America(GA) account to my SBI NRI account. I am in the process of opening an NRI account with SBI. Do u know how much SBI will charge. Which is the best thing to do, xfer money from my BOFA account to my brother's SBI account(who lives in India) or xfer to my NRI account. I am trying to understand if there is any difference in both of these xfers.
Thanks for the help. Your blog has really given me good exposure regarding money xfers to India, all this while I have been wasting money on remit2india xfers. They show one exchange rate on their website and always end up giving less than whats shown in their website. I have done like close to 6 transactions with them and all of them have been the same.

Thanks
Madhavi

Hello friends, Please DO NOT use QuickRemit. When ...

2011-09-20T06:49:01.145-07:00

Hello friends, Please DO NOT use QuickRemit. When I transfereed £50 from UK to HDFC my Indian NRE bank account the money got transferred in 3 days. But when I transferred £3000, the money got transferred after 20 days, that also after repeatedly sending hundreds of email to the customer center. Their customer center is one of the worst I have seen in my entire life. Once the tranfer gets delayed, they simply do not reply to any of the emails (apart from the auto generated message). The rate was much lower than the one which I booked. I heard that these guys are actually converting the money on the day when rate is high and keep waiting for the day the rate goes very low. The differnce of rate is their profit. So in my case they would have earned INR 5000 because my rate on the booking day was INR 75.00 and rate on the delivery date was INR 73.50. As a responsible citizen of the country I would like to suggest that simply do not use these corrupted services for your hard earned money, and tell the same to all your family members and friends. Jai Hind!!

Hi. I have a same question as Nidhi. When I went i...

2011-08-11T07:47:17.452-07:00

Hi.
I have a same question as Nidhi. When I went in to transfer thru SBI express remit, Bofa would charge me 25 $ for wire transfer. Is it worth it?

I had asked this question to an SBI bank employee....

2011-07-25T11:42:14.381-07:00

I had asked this question to an SBI bank employee.
As to why the rates differ

http://statebank.com/RemittanceServiceIndMaster.asp
https://remit.onlinesbi.com/glsus/exchangerateremit.htm

Reason: 1st url is posted by india branch and the 2nd url is maintained by New York Branch. and then there is 3rd rate (for which 1 needs to call US SBI branch) which is updated by individual branch based on the base rate for the day.

I have used SBI express transfer, basically you go...

2011-07-25T11:21:15.751-07:00

I have used SBI express transfer, basically you go to their bank hand over a cashier's check and they do the transfer to any Indian Bank, you can negotiate the transfer fee and the exchange rate with them. Money is received next day. If you have SBI US bank account you can transfer money there and the money can be transferred to India using SBI US account in which case no cashier check needed.

I have a question: Last week I tested SBI remit b...

2011-06-30T21:26:02.593-07:00

I have a question:

Last week I tested SBI remit by transferring $100 from my BoA account to my SBI account. I noticed that BoA did not charge anything towards this transaction. The funds credited to my SBI account reflected the SBI charges though. My question is if I use my Chase checking account to remit funds to my SBI account in the similar way, will Chase charge me anything for the transaction or is it free like it is with BoA?

Hi, By going through the entire blog, i learnt th...

2011-06-21T15:29:10.056-07:00

Hi,

By going through the entire blog, i learnt that SBI is good for money transfer and exchange.

But, with SBI, I have two options.

1. Open an account with SBI here in USA. Than deposit the money and transfer. Transfer happens insistently in a day with the exchange rate as on on the request date. The rates are updated at the below URL regularly
http://statebank.com/RemittanceServiceIndMaster.asp

2. I can use the online SBI remit which as per your blog will take some 3 days time. And the exchange rates are at the below link
https://remit.onlinesbi.com/glsus/exchangerateremit.htm

My question is:

1. Why the exchange rates are different on 1 and 2 above although both are of SBI.
2. Which among the above are the best choice.

Please some one help me with the answer.

I live in Indiana and like most of the guys, my AC...

2011-05-16T08:33:46.568-07:00

I live in Indiana and like most of the guys, my ACH transfer is blocked. But I found that the wire transfer process is very smooth and really fast. I transferred funds from my Citibank to BOA in SBI's account on Friday and got rupees in my India account on Monday. Citi charged me $19 for wire transfer but it was worth it.

what does compliance verification mean?

2011-05-15T08:26:36.358-07:00

what does compliance verification mean?

Good info, thanks,Hi can you tell me detail how to...

2011-03-30T04:23:58.905-07:00

Good info, thanks,Hi can you tell me detail how to send money from Bank of America,NY,USA to SBI NRE account.And will receiving the money get it in Rupees.Also advise on the financial charges.
Hi nadhi noticed your blog which is similar to my scenario,do tell me how you did it so i can know the process .

Anyone used SBI express remit this month (March)? ...

2011-03-21T16:06:53.872-07:00

Anyone used SBI express remit this month (March)? I have been using this for last 5 years and today when i logged in, it showed me message about state residency policy in US and service is down until further notice. I was able to get hold of customer rep and he said that currently 34 states in US have this service disabled due to state policies and SBI is working on it to get resolved.
Does anyone know same issue with other services offered by ICICI/HDFC/Remit2india etc?

ACH transfers are usually free. ACH and wire trans...

2011-02-28T08:25:16.425-08:00

ACH transfers are usually free. ACH and wire transfers are different. Some banks provide free wire transfers too. But it varies from bank to bank and also account type. So, check with your bank on that.

Hi Madhukar, I appreciate your effort in bringing...

2011-02-27T23:26:34.241-08:00

Hi Madhukar,

I appreciate your effort in bringing out expertise in banking for the public. I had opened a SBI NRE account before i came to US last month. And i feel that SBI express remit is a good option for money transfer to India.
Now my question..is it possible to transfer money from my US bank deposit (Citi bank) to my SBI NRE account using express remit.
And is citibank going to charge me for the ACH transfer using express remit?? Is it a kind off wire transfer or something different??

Zoom.com is better which i feel. I see my indian a...

2011-02-23T09:14:22.614-08:00

Zoom.com is better which i feel. I see my indian account credited on the very next day and the conversion rate is fixed.

Lets say if you are transferring the amount today at the exchange rate whatever is showing on xoom site, you will get the same.

Hi All, All of you are recommending SBI online tr...

2011-02-18T06:19:58.926-08:00

Hi All,

All of you are recommending SBI online transfer service.

Can you guys tell me if I have to bear any extra cost other than Rs.25 currency exchange rate fee, if i transfer money using SBI service to an ICICI account.

Thanks Madhukar, It was quite informative..Wil def...

2011-02-15T15:44:44.621-08:00

Thanks Madhukar, It was quite informative..Wil definitely go for SBI Remit :)

Yes. They deduct Rs. 25 from the final amount that...

2011-01-08T13:50:54.531-08:00

Yes. They deduct Rs. 25 from the final amount that is being deposited into your account in India.

Hi Madhukar, Its a really nice of you that you ha...

2011-01-08T13:27:19.588-08:00

Hi Madhukar,

Its a really nice of you that you have put this important information in a very nice manner.
I have a question here.
I have been using SBI's instant transfer since past 3 months. They charge me $25 for each wire transfer.
I have recently created my account for SBI's express remit. (The registration is still in progress).
I have a question that, they charge nothing if you are transferring more than $500, but they charge Rs.25 as the currency conversion charge.
So, these Rs.25 gets deducted from whatever amount has got sent. Right?

Please correct me in I am wrong.

Hi Madhukar I finally got thrugh SBI customer ser...

2010-12-02T11:56:37.561-08:00

Hi Madhukar

I finally got thrugh SBI customer service. They did not know whether I would be charged domestic or international outgoing wire transfer fees. However they did confirm that express remit is the same as "funds transfer" and does not entail any wire transfer charges. So you can choose not to put my earlier question on your blog since it has already been ansered( hopefully what they told me was correct).

When you remit money using SBI( which goes through...

2010-12-01T12:22:21.803-08:00

When you remit money using SBI( which goes through BOA New York), your bank will charge for the wire transfer. As per BOA website, BOA charges $25 for a domestic transfer and $ 45 for international transfer. Can anyone confirm whether this transfer to BOA New York will be considered a domestic or international transfer?

Thanks

Hi Nidhi, Try American Express Savings (http://per...

2010-11-19T15:23:37.626-08:00

Hi Nidhi,
Try American Express Savings (http://personalsavings.americanexpress.com/). They give 1.3% for Savings and 1.85% for CD. Or you can use SmartyPig (https://www.smartypig.com/). They give 1.75% on savings. There are more like this that are online only and give better rates than BofA, Chase etc.

You will almost always get a better rate with online-only banks than regular brick-n-mortar banks.

But even these rates are nothing when compared to rates in India. It's country specific.

-- Madhukar.

Hi again, I went to bank of america today. For a 1...

2010-11-19T13:51:03.114-08:00

Hi again,
I went to bank of america today. For a 10,000 dollar deposit (CD), there are giving 0.40 (includes a bonus)for a 7 month period. their rates for other periods are not great either. That works out to about 40 dollars a year.

Am I missing something here? As far as i remember, in india, interest rates are about 7 percent or so and this is just 0.4 percent, duh? How can there be such a wide gap?

Thanks again madhukar!