Withdrawing USD from US Brokerage to AUD Bank

soultrain04 on 24/08/2024 - 13:48

Hi all

I work for a us company and I've been granted some us shares as part of my compensation. It's currently on a brokerage called fidelity and is held in usd. Ive already sold the shares and is sitting in my account as us currency. What would be the cheapest way to withdraw this fund to my aus bank account?

I've looked at fidelity to aud big4 bank and it looks there is a hefty fee from aus bank for usd conversion and the xrate doesn't look great.

I have an option to exchange usd to aud in fidelity but again the fee doesn't look attractive either at 2.25 percent.

Looking at wise or other means but never have any experience using any of these services so keen to understand what options are out there and how reliable they are.

Thanks in advance

Financial

Comments

  • soan papdi on 24/08/2024 - 14:03
    +2

    Wise is the easiest. I've used it.
    - Add your Wise USD account wire details to Fidelity
    - Transfer the USD out of Fidelity
    - Wait for a good exchange rate before transfering between your USD and AUD account within Wise
    - Transfer from Wise AUD to your regular bank account.

    There will be some paperwork to declare that your USD funds are from a legal source. Also IIRC there's a 3 day period for holding USD before they start charging interest (if it's more than 18000 USD). Verify these limits for yourself. If you're in doubt, wire a small amount from Fidelity to Wise USD and get some practice.

    PS: Ensure your W-8 BEN is up to date or you will be charged tax in the US.

    • soultrain04 on 28/08/2024 - 12:39

      Thanks for you reply. Im still abit confused. I dont have USD account details to use for deposit from fidelity instead I have the wire transfer option which is 6.11usd fee. Is this the correct option?

      • soan papdi on 28/08/2024 - 13:14

        I dont have USD account details to use for deposit from fidelity

        You provide Wise's USD account details to Fidelity. Log on to Wise, open the USD account and look for wire details.

        https://www.fidelity.com/customer-service/bank-wire-instruct… says

        Wire transfers are are typically available on the same day if the wire is completed before 4 p.m. ET on a business day. Fidelity never charges fees for wire transfers, thought you may see fees from the sending or receiving bank.

        https://wise.com/us/blog/wise-wire-transfer-fee says

        Receive a wire into your Wise Account costs 6.11 USD

  • Undercut 2241 on 24/08/2024 - 14:14
    +1

    I'd advise setting up an account with one of the online banks Revolut or Wise, transferring your USD into them, then converting to AUD. You can then transfer the money from Revolut/Wise to your normal bank account.

    How much money do you need to convert? If it's around or under USD$1.4k I would recommend Revolut. The fees for Revolut are 0.5% charged for any amount over A$2,000 in a month. Every month you get AUD$2000 of free currency conversion then 0.5% afterwards.

    The fees for Wise are variable depending on the amount converted. It ranges from around 0.28% (if you're converting under USD$27,000) to 0.15% (if you're converting around USD$1,000,000).

    You could also use both and use up the free limit for Revolut then moving to Wise haha

    • soultrain04 on 03/09/2024 - 16:01
      +1

      Thank you for the insight! Figured it out with revolut and done some test transfers which worked great. Wise seems slightly more complicated due to their usd deposit details not being available (instead im on the waiting list). Looks like I'm avoiding almost all fees except for the exchange fees which is also partially avoidable on their premium account. Thanks again.

  • 7ekn00 on 24/08/2024 - 14:49
    -1

    Use Fidelity Crypto to buy Bitcoin/Etherium, sell Bitcoin/Etherium from an AU exchange > AU bank account!

    Less questions, less fees, less hassle :P

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