banking

The recent stock Market downturn in China reminded me of the Bureaucracy I ran into when I needed to get some cash transferred to China to purchase some plane tickets.

1. Firstly I couldn't use my credit Card at the Travel Agent so I had to try and get the cash for 4 tickets for a trip to Australia. Not a small sum.
2. I talked to the finance department at work and they thought I could go to the bank and get some money wired across.
3. They suggested that I open a bank account and have the money transferred.
4. While all this took some time I needed the cash to ensure the tickets were not lost. So we went to the bank with the intention of getting it all complete quickly.
5. This did not eventuate.
6. The first try at the bank the computers were down so they could not help me.
7. We went away after waiting for a while then came back later that day.
8. I then opened my account and proceeded to ask about a money transfer.
9. Then it got interesting.
10. To get money wired into my account it would take 7 business days.
11. I asked what could happen if I wrote a check and deposited it into the account. Because it is from a foreign bank it would take a minimum of 4weeks to clear the funds.
12. Well both of these time frames were not right so what to do.
13. In the end after talking to the bank in the US we used both our ATM cards every day and withdrew the maximum amount of money.
    
14. After 5 days we accumulated enough funds.

I am now the proud owner of a bank account with the equivalent of 1 US dollar in it and not much use for anything else.