Paycheck is in Dollars Rent (and life) is in Shekels

amother

Cobalt

Mon, May 25 2015, 7:25 am

I'm looking for some advice. I work from the computer for 2 employers in the US. They pay me in dollars. I found a credit card w/ no foreign transaction fees, so I can shop w/ my credit card and the money comes out of my US account. I can do this w/ other bills as well.

But, I still have some expenses that I need shekalim for such as my rent. (DH makes a small stipend in shekalim which is enough to cover transportation costs and small random cash needs.)

I don't make enough money that I could make a wire on a regular basis (although, I have no idea what a wire costs, just sounds expensive!).

Any ideas?

amother

Cobalt

Mon, May 25 2015, 7:54 am

hila wrote:

Take the money from a cash machine with your card, But it is cheaper with a debit card

Thanks! I didn't mention this, but whenever I do that it charges me a 3% fee, plus a charge for using the machine maybe $5.00. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it easily adds up.

amother

Cobalt

Mon, May 25 2015, 8:25 am

Sanguine wrote:

Write yourself a check from your american dollar account and take it to a money changer (there are known ones - ask around).

I currently don't have any checks b/c I do everything online in terms of paying people. (I can mail checks w/o paying for the checks or the stamp!)

I probably could do this. Do you know what it would cost? Also, what is the situation w/ American checks. I remember last yr.? when there was a whole thing when a lot of places wouldn't cash them.

Sanguine

Mon, May 25 2015, 8:38 am

We just changed an American check, but don't take your advice from me. Are you in Yerushalayim? There are people who run banks out of their houses... They take all types of checks. ask around, or have your husband ask around. Everyone changes money like that. They take a %age (about 2%)

amother

Cobalt

Mon, May 25 2015, 8:40 am

Sanguine wrote:

No.

amother

Green

Mon, May 25 2015, 8:43 am

Just a warning about the debit card idea - my card (and I've heard others since its overseas) only allow taking out 1000 shekel per 24 hour period.

I've spoken to people and they said that the best way is to use a check and change it. The person I asked got a good rate with her bank (I don't know which one) and changes that way. The thing is, it takes a good 2 weeks to get the money and I don't know where to do it. Let me know if you have any information since I am in the same boat as you.

There is this place that advertizes on the back of the Newcomers Guide I think that changes money, checks, and wires the money over. I think it is called Forex or something like that. Yeh, I just checked. fx-israel.com - has anyone used them?

amother

Cobalt

Mon, May 25 2015, 9:00 am

amother wrote:

Green, OP here. I've done the debit card thing and found that it depended on the machine. There were ATMs that let 2,000 and ATMs that only let 1,000.

My problem was that I hate paying all of the fees. Let's say, I take out $1,000.00. I am paying $30.00 + $5.00 for using the machine. It would take me around 4 hrs. of work to make back that money. That's a lot!

I hope you find something. I will not be looking for options in J"m as I don't live there.

amother

Cobalt

Mon, May 25 2015, 9:02 am

Sanguine wrote:

There are places out of Yerushalayim too.

You can try these

Thanks Sanguine! I don't see where I live listed Sad

I either need something similar (I could try to research in my own area which does not have a lot of chutznikim) or ideas of debit cards made for international use w/ little or no fees.

aquad

Mon, May 25 2015, 9:13 am

I'm in the same situation (except it's DH's paycheck, not mine). We have a bank account with Charles Schwab, which reimburses us for any ATM fees at the end of the month. We use our Schwab debit card for cash and expenses, and a Capital One credit card for anything we can put on a credit card. Opening a Schwab account will, however, require you to to be at a Schwab location in person. (If you are on Facebook, there are a lot of groups with good advice for people with foreign income.)

myname1

Mon, May 25 2015, 10:12 am

Same kind of situation here.
I've used IsraTransfer and Currency Avenue, and ForEx for larger amounts. A friend of mine uses Clearshift. They all charge a fee, either a percentage of the amount or a percentage of the transfer rate. I actually sent them all an email asking how they'll calculate how much I'll get- that way I could compare. They tend to give better deals for higher amounts, but for <$10,000 or so, they have easier systems with bank transfers without wiring.
Money changers charge .5% to 1% for American checks, and then give you a slightly lower exchange rate on top of that.
My system is to use a debit card from a bank with no foreign transaction fees. I can use it as a credit card in stores and to pay most bills. I can get out $1,000 a day from an ATM- if it's a bank's ATM (not a stand-alone caspomat), then there shouldn't be a fee. The bank gives me a great rate! So I keep the cash or deposit it here. You can PM me for more details if you're interested.
My experience with the 1,000 NIS limits- with many ATMs (Bank Hapoalim for sure), you can do 1,000 NIS at a time, as many times as you want. So lately I've been doing 1,000 NIS three times, and then 800 NIS or so the fourth- to get to my $1,000 limit. Looks a bit sketchy, so I try to do it at less busy times, but it's been working well, baruch Hashem.

Smile1234

Mon, May 25 2015, 11:20 am

If you have an account in TD - they have a premium account, that if you have a minimum of $2500 I think then you can take out money from ATMs without paying them a fee or percentage.

The idea about checks is not necessarily a good idea because I know J'lem the money changers charge a pretty big percentage nowadays to change checks (because of a scandal of some sort that was going on a couple months back). I don't know about other places. Its worth it to find out. I used to pay 1% to change checks before the scandal happened. Then I heard it was at 5% or so after the whole thing died down...

Its not so practical, but I always had cash on hand (either that I brought from the US, or had it sent) when I had to pay my rent in shekel. BH now my landlord is in the US and we just have someone mail them a check. Much easier Smile

Happydance

Mon, May 25 2015, 11:47 am

open a capitalone 360 account

I have only positive things to say about it!

I have a similar working situation and this has really made things so much easier.
You open an online banking account, that you can hook up to your regular account and transfer money from your american account to this Capitalone account through online banking.

Then you can use the capitalone card to withdraw money with no charge (up to $1000 a day) from any ATM.

https://r.capitalone360.com/dKmLT83diW

if you do decide to do this, can you click on the link above, so I can benefit from their refer a friend program

amother

Cobalt

Mon, May 25 2015, 12:25 pm

rlm wrote:

Thank you! That looks great, but I googled them. They had a thing where you can type in a zip code or location. I typed in Israel and nothing came up. Then, I typed in (an Israeli zip code). It didn't work. I want to make sure that it will work before I set up.

Happydance

Mon, May 25 2015, 12:42 pm

I had that problem of searching with zipcodes as well. But I have taken out from a few different ATMs in the neighborhood and never had an issue. I was confident, since I know others that use them
Also, they are very helpful and friendly on the phone. Perhaps you can get more accurate info if you try calling them.