My family is about to begin a 5 year assignment in South Africa (Pretoria). The company has a stipulation that my husbands paycheck must be deposited into a US bank. It appears that most companies prefer you pay bills through EFT in South Africa, and they do not like to accept wires (which is how my current bank, Wells Fargo, wants to send the money).

Global accounts tend to be very expensive with fees (unless you maintain high balances) and many of them try and operate offshore to get the tax advantage (which unfortunately would not be a benefit for us because his company does tax equalization, plus it does not meet the stipulation of the check being deposited in a US bank).

Does anyone have experience or advice they can share?

6/5/2013 5:44:13 PM

i wish you well.

6/5/2013 5:49:23 PM

Hey, I hope everything works out well for you.

6/5/2013 6:12:16 PM

Best of luck

6/5/2013 6:47:36 PM

just did 2 years in australia and was paid by the US entity of my company in to Wells Fargo

hsbc direct checking account - b&m accounts in both the US and South Africa should do you fine - transfer times can take a few days but not too bad

all of our utilities / rent were expensed while we were there - used the chase sapphire card (no international fees) - make sure you account for ATM withdrawal fees if you will be pulling money out using your US b&m bank card (we did and it was $5 per withdrawal)

6/5/2013 8:30:38 PM

I dont wish you any specific harm

6/5/2013 8:50:50 PM

^^ Thank you so much. I will check into HSBC. It will take me some time to get used to all these banking fees. Working through all the checklists and immigration paperwork is very overwhelming; there is so much to learn!

Our situation is similar (company will pay rent, utilities, vehicle, and the kids schooling), but we would still be responsible for an extra vehicle (if we get one) and cell phone services.

Very excited about the opportunity though, and I appreciate all the well wishes.

6/5/2013 10:30:47 PM

i went to pretoria during the world cup a few years ago and i don't think you'll want to be using the public transportation in general there - i recommend already planning to get a second car

6/6/2013 1:52:54 PM

Chase Charles Schwab has international banking with no charges for transfers/withdrawals - you should look into that.

[Edited on June 7, 2013 at 9:56 AM. Reason : .]

6/7/2013 9:55:44 AM

^^Thanks, we were kind of leaning in that direction also.

The reason we considered otherwise is that some of our friends that we are currently on project with in Texas are also going to South Africa and we considered a carpool situation (where husbands share one car and wives share the other). We have kids in school (and they don't yet)- so I just think that sharing could easily turn into more of a headache than purchasing a second vehicle.

^Great! I appreciate having another bank to compare!

[Edited on June 7, 2013 at 10:04 AM. Reason : ^]

6/7/2013 10:03:07 AM