How do I get money out of my US Accounts now that I am abroad?

[k%C3%A4rleksljus]

I just moved to Australia for a Working Holiday (woo!) but now that I am settling into things, I've found the international account I was planning on using for this year is not helpful.



I set up a Wise account before I left. Was planning to transfer money from my checking (PNC) or savings (Capital One) when the need arose, and am supplying that to my new employer for direct deposit. Thing is, I need money more immediately to pay rent, but PNC won't connect to Wise and Capital One revoked my connection to Wise and denied a transfer because their representative said it wasn't a proper checking account. Capital One also can't do international wires without going to a physical location, which is not helpful to me, already in Australia.



How do you you all get your own money when you're abroad?? Wire transfers? Brought everything you had with you in cash? I did not anticipate it would be impossible for me to access my own money. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[heavenboundgurl]

@k%C3%A4rleksljus Revolut or Wise are all the tools you need. There's bank transfers or wire transfers or a handful of other ways depending on the banks and circumstances, but there's some way to make it work with them; just a question of how much you'll lose to fees.

 

[eee27]

@k%C3%A4rleksljus For emergency cash, stick you ATM card in an ATM and enter your PIN. It won't be cheap unless your US bank is geared towards travellers and expats (e.g. Schwab), but it should work.

Can you do a domestic wire to Wise rather than an ACH link? It will cost more, but might be your only option if your banks are being dickheads about this (they want you to use their expensive forex service, so they deny links to 3rd party exchange services). CurrencyFair and OFX are other options if you have an Australian bank account to land the funds in, and want to transfer a larger lump sum. You'll still probably need a domestic wire into their US account though.

 

[dovesong]

@k%C3%A4rleksljus Have you tried linking your US bank account with ACH deposits? Don't use Plaid.

It's not an obvious option in Wise, but look for "link my account a different way". Wise makes two small deposits, wait a couple days, then enter those values into Wise and you're good to go.

You can also move money to wise using your debit card.

 

[tmarcee]

@k%C3%A4rleksljus I have a similar issue but an Australian living abroad.

I use Western Union to transfer from Australian account to either cash or into a local account.

I found it was also cheaper than a regular bank transfer and it only takes minutes.

Not sure if it will work the same for you but might be worth exploring