Transferring money overseas

I'm moving to Japan in two weeks and I still have debts to pay in America. Thus, I need to be able to send money overseas. I know there are a number of ways to do this and I looked over [url=http://www.survivingnjapan.com/2012/06/how-to-transfer-money-to-and-fr...]this article[/url] as to what those ways are. I have my payments set up on a monthly plan and for automatic withdrawal on a specified date. Currently, the monthly payments cumulatively add up to several hundred dollars.

Based on my apparent options, I was planning on using PayPal (it seems like it would be the cheapest; after talking with PayPal it sounds like the fee for transferring money would be 3.9% of the amount I am transferring plus 30 cents). However, I read at the end of the article that I'm not able to transfer money from a Japanese bank account to a Japanese PayPal account:
"In other words, Paypal in Japan currently can't be used to remit funds overseas from your Japanese bank account. You can, however, link a credit card to the account (it doesn’t have to be a Japanese credit card, but it does need a Japan-based billing address)." The last part of this "doesn't make as much sense to me: does this mean that I need to use a credit card connected to my bank account in Japan to transfer money to my Japanese PayPal account?

Somebody in the comments for in the aforementioned article also mentioned traveler's checks being a good way to send money overseas. Any thoughts or opinions on this?

In any case, I am looking for more direct advice concerning my situation. I'd especially like to hear from people who have been in a similar situation to mine and what they've done. Any advice or thoughts?

I used GoLloyds, but they changed to a new bank a few years back and started charging more per transfer. I don't need to send money back anymore, so I'm not up to speed on current prices, but once it was all set up, it was definitely easy to do... just furikomi (bank transfer) from yours to theirs, and then they'd send it to the US for you minus fees. I went for ease of use over price, I've heard that Japan Post Bank can do it for cheaper, but its more difficult to set up.

About the credit card, when you open a bank account in Japan, theoretically you can apply for a credit card as well. However I don't know the chances of getting one within the first year; there are varying experiences. Some will allow it, others make you wait until you can establish some credit. These cards are taken straight out of your bank account monthly unless specified otherwise. You can certainly try; if your bank wont allow it, maybe try for the Mastercard or Amex at your closest Costco. They might be more lenient for new foreigners to Japan.

There are 3 ways that have worked for me:

1.) Shinsei Bank had low fees vs other banks and I could send the cash from online.

2.) Apply for a 7-11 card and you can transfer cash easily.

3.) Get an extra ATM card and mail it to a family member so they can pull out the cash from a ATM and pay your bills for you.

Anybody any experience with Bitcoins?
(Need a relative or friend in the US.)

B. Slager

JLR, could you please elaborate more on the methods that worked well for you? Which one is the cheapest?

I looked at the Shinsei Bank website and it looks like the cheapest way would be through GoRemit with them, since I won't qualify for Platinum account status. But GoRemit will still run me \2000 per transaction. Isn't there anything cheaper?

Personally I use Paypal.
I make payments from my Japanese Paypal, to my overseas one, then just withdraw the money into my bank.
As you say you can't use your Japanese bank account to pay via Paypal, so what I do is buy a certain prepaid credit card in convenience stores, add it to my Paypal, and use it to send money to myself.
I only send around 10,000 to 20,000 yen a month though, so I'm not sure if it would be practical if you need to send more. Also not sure if it is the cheapest method.

I looked at the Shinsei Bank website and it looks like the cheapest way would be through GoRemit with them, since I won't qualify for Platinum account status. But GoRemit will still run me \2000 per transaction. Isn't there anything cheaper?

It's more like 3000 yen once you add in your home banks fees (if there are any), but even at that point it's one of the cheapest options to send small to medium amounts. For larger amounts of several hundred thousand yen it may be cheapest to send money via wire transfer.

I spoke to my credit union today and it doesn't sound like they have any fees for receiving money from overseas.

Every month I think I would probably be sending somewhere around \50,000.

There are 3 ways that have worked for me:
1.) Shinsei Bank had low fees vs other banks and I could send the cash from online.

2.) Apply for a 7-11 card and you can transfer cash easily.

3.) Get an extra ATM card and mail it to a family member so they can pull out the cash from a ATM and pay your bills for you.

- JLR

----------------

This is actually similar to what I did when I was working in Japan and I was able to sustain my family's rations that live overseas. I sent money to my family via internet banking through Mitsui Sumitomo Bank(三井住友銀行) instead of Shinsei Bank.

Here's another suggestion that is a little different than usual.

Have you heard about the digital currency bitcoin?

A third party is required to convert the cash into digital currency - often around 2%, though some exchanges are lower.

After that any coins you send or recieve are free. Either it can be withdrawal back into cash, or companies can issue a debit card.

Oversea money transfers was one of the main reasons it was created,

for those who don't like paypal and the traditional service providers.