Hello,

I am currently living in Spain and have a Spanish bank account. However, I will be moving back to the US at the end of June and I will want to do two things in terms of by bank account here: do something with all of the euros in the account, and close the account.

I do not have a question about closing the account but I have quite a bit of money in the account and I was wondering if anyone knew the best way to take the money out or transfer it to the US. I am supposing that I should close the account before I leave Spain so that means I need to have the money out of the account first. These are some options that were going through my head:

1) Take the money out and carry it with me until I can put it into my US account. However, I do not know if my bank (Bank of America) will charge a lot to change cash from euros to dollars and it is a lot of money so I do not want to carry it in cash.

2) Wire the money. I think that this option is pretty expensive. I have heard that both banks involved in the transaction will charge me.

3) Ask my bank here (BBVA) to write me a cashiers check for the total amount in my account and then deposit that amount into my US account once I arrive in the US. (Do banks typically do cashiers checks here?)

4) Wait until I am in the US, take the money out up to my daily limit each day with my debit card until it is empty, and then call BBVA to close the account.

OKAY, those are the options I think I have. Does anyone know which is best or have any other suggestion?


PART 2

I get paid here by direct deposit. I think that I may have to leave before my last check is deposited into my bank account which means I would have to leave the account open until I see that the money is in there. I guess in this case I would have to take out my last check when I am back in the states with my debit card and then call BBVA to close the account? Can I close the account by phone from the US or is there a better option?

Any help is greatly appreciated,

Chad

Three years ago I was living in Amsterdam and unable to open a bank account due to my legal status in that country. As a result I was paid in cash and when I returned to the U.S. I carried the money on me (v. nerve racking). I use Citibank and I don't remember them charging me to deposit the money. I checked out the Bank of America website and didn't find any info saying they charged either. They obviously give you the current exchange rate but other than that you should be ok. I do seem to recall there being something about reporting the money if it was over $5000, but I'm not sure.

Best of luck with your move!

Bonnie