Temporary storage of savings before relocating internationally — best approach?

Posted by trickster1127@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 18 comments

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to relocate to another country later this year and need to close my current bank account. I’m looking for the safest way to store and move my savings temporarily until I can open my own local bank account in my destination country.

I’m considering:

A home country USD account as a temporary option
Wise for international transfers
A fiancé’s local bank account temporarily, until I open my own account

I’d love to hear from expats who have done something similar:

How did you store and transfer funds safely?
Did you use Wise, and how much is safe to deposit at once without triggering delays or account reviews?
Any tips to minimize fees or exchange losses?
Do you prefer keeping funds in a home USD account vs a multi-currency account?

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences!

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elevenblade@reddit

Personally I’d just use Wise. I’ve been using them for a decade and have had a great experience with them. I’ve transferred enough money with Wise to buy a car and a couple apartments. I use Wise at the bare minimum once every month to do transfers and have had zero problems. I currently keep an emergency fund in Wise sufficient for six months of living expenses. You earn interest on money held in Euros, British pounds and USD.

If Wise feels too “all your eggs in one basket” you could also open a Revolut account and put some of your money there. Potentially you could do the same with other institutions that hold money for you, like PayPal, Klarna, Coinbase etc though it may be harder for you to access the money in these until you have an established bank account in your destination country.

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trickster1127@reddit (OP)

Thank you for your feedback! This is exactly what I would want to confirm. As to whether I can actually keep some of my funds there. The only thing that concerns me is that I read some issues with other people which had some trouble accessing them when they need it. I don’t know exactly how can those happen and I won’t really like to experience the same.

May I ask though how much emergency funds do you actually keep if you don’t mind? When you buy something, how long do you keep the funds inside until you actually use them? Are there requirements or some kind of proof of funds that you’re going to transfer? Please feel free to provide me with more detailed information if you can.

I really appreciate it.

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NotASpyJustExpat@reddit

I personally kept my US bank accounts and credit cards but use Wise as well

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trickster1127@reddit (OP)

Thank you for your feedback.

I would like to add that I'm currently an expat hence the contemplation of whether to use Wise as a temporary storage of my savings or transfer it to my home country until I set up a new account on my next destination.

As I'm seeing quite few negative experience from other users of Wise, I wonder if it's really going to work and I won't face any problem accessing it once I'm ready to withdraw my savings. Otherwise, please feel free to provide any recommendation or suggestion on how can I make this work.

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NotASpyJustExpat@reddit

Why do you want to close your bank account?

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trickster1127@reddit (OP)

I prefer to not have any complication once my visa is canceled and moved to my new destination. I won't be able to come back and fix if something wrong were to happen.

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Telecom_VoIP_Fan@reddit

I have been using Wise for international transfers for a year. So far, very satisfied with charges and speed of transfer. I should add that the sums I transfer are not huge.

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trickster1127@reddit (OP)

Thank you for your positive feedback of using Wise. However, may I ask if you only use it for quick transfers or you also store funds for quite some time and how much were the transactions if you don't mind? I was thinking to use it for maximum 2-3 months once I have set up and open a bank account to my destination.

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Telecom_VoIP_Fan@reddit

I have only used it for quick transfers of a few thousand US $ max.

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trickster1127@reddit (OP)

I'm actually trying to look for where can I keep my savings for couple of months as I prefer to close my bank account from my current residency before I move.

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North_Moose1627@reddit

Wait to close your local account until after you have an account in your destination country, then transfer your money there. Use Wise for transfer only, don’t hold significant amounts in it.

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trickster1127@reddit (OP)

I understand that it's much safer to open a bank account first but I'm currently an expat from another country and once I cancel my visa, I prefer to close all my bank accounts so I wouldn't have issues once I leave the country.

This is the reason why I'm contemplating whether to transfer to my home country or I can use Wise or other recommended temporary solution. Let's say 1-2months after I close my accounts and relocate.

I personally think brokerage account is unnecessary for my situation as it is more advanced and I only have decent savings hence considering Wise and or transferring to my home country.

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trickster1127@reddit (OP)

Thanks for this.
My situation is that I’ll eventually be closing my current account before I permanently leave and don’t yet have a bank account in my destination country, so I’m trying to figure out a temporary solution in between.

In your experience, would you still avoid holding funds in Wise even short-term (a few months), or just avoid keeping everything there?

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North_Moose1627@reddit

you should never keep the funds in Wise that you cannot afford to lose access to for a couple of months if they freeze your account

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trickster1127@reddit (OP)

This is the reason why I'm contemplating whether to transfer to my home country or I can use Wise or other recommended temporary solution. Let's say 1-2months after I close my accounts and relocate.

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Moerkskog@reddit

Don't close it before you have an account in the new country. If you must insist, then use a brokerage account

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trickster1127@reddit (OP)

This is the reason why I'm contemplating whether to transfer to my home country or I can use Wise or other recommended temporary solution. Let's say 1-2months after I close my accounts and relocate.

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AutoModerator@reddit

Based on keywords in your post, it looks like you might be asking for help transferring money between countries. There are a couple of popular options. Wise supports more currencies, but may be more expensive than Atlantic. Both offer reasonable rates and have been used by members of the community to transfer large amounts (in excess of $100K USD). Please do your own research to decide what is best for you. Note that Atlantic also has a comparison tool and is better value the more you are transferring.

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