Hi!

A while ago I borrowed money from a friend in China, and now it's time to give them back. The problem is that I'm in Sweden, and I will stay here for at least a couple of months. So, whats the easiest and cheapest way to transfer about 20.000rmb to China, preferably to a Chinese bank account (工商银行)? I dont really know a lot about these things, and it would be great if someone here could give me a few pointers.

The easiest way for them would be for you to just do a international bank transfer, and take in the cost (in the UK, it varies by banks, but mine is a one off charge of £20).

Alternatively you could ask the other person to get a paypal account and link it to their account. That's a bit of a pain.

I know Western Union is active in China, though I've never used it. It's worth looking into.

Yeah, most Western Unions (at least, the ones I've seen) are at the Postal Savings Banks, which are EVERYwhere. Probably be a bit cheaper fee wise than a bank transfer.

Less mucking about with bank numbers and Swiftcodes and stuff as well with Western Union, I believe - that stuff can be pretty nightmarish...

Then again, I've never used Western Union overseas - within the US it's pretty straightforward, but from Sweden to China I'm not sure...

Our family used Western Union to transfer money (I think about $2000) to Colombia and it was something of a problem. The Western Union people at the Colombia end were a real pain in the butt. As is common in Latin countries, the recipient had four names on her ID (first and second names, father's family name, and mother's family name), but the sender hadn't put the second name, so there was a huge delay in receiving the money for what I thought was a pretty minor issue (kind of like writing me a check and writing my name as "James Wilson" without my middle name, big deal). The Western Union employee said that it was because of the size of the transfer, so maybe there are some special rules when it goes over certain limits?

James

you can't set up a paypal account and do it that way?

DaXia, as Byzanti said, international bank transfer is easy, I do it very often. Ask the accountholder, what type of account he has, is it a RMB account or a multi-currency account, in which case he might have different account numbers for the different currencies, so you have to choose the right one. Some banks, especially the big international ones, make difficulties, if you transfer to the wrong account. If it is a RMB account, they will do an automatic currency transfer (but first transfer to a bank internal clarification account, I once had quite a delay because of this). Pay attention, what James said about the accountholder name, if it is not exactly to the banks record, you can run to the bank again and let them send a clarification letter. Transfer time 1 - 3 days. My experience with ICBC is very good, Citi and HSBC are sometimes quite bureaucratic in China.

I have had some friends here in China receive money from the US and England through Western Union and they had problems similar to the one James mentioned. The Western Union employees here would not release the funds because the recipient's middle names were listed on passport but not on the transfer... it was a big pain. So if you do it that way, be sure to match the recipient's passport or official ID name EXACTLY.

Actually that's been a problem for us here on several occasions as well, in various situations. Once we spent half a day arguing in the Sanya summer heat of an unairconditioned post office trying to get a new Dell laptop released. It had been shipped under my husband's first and last name but his passport had first, last, and middle. They insisted this was not our package, despite there being only a handful of foreigners in Sanya at the time (circa 2005) and NONE with the same first and last.

Oy! We did finally get them to give it to us though :)

For the transfer to China just make sure that the name is spelled right and in the right order.

With a chinese name might not be a big deal although, not sure you will get the Chinese name filled in with Hanzi properly in Europe. Transferring money myself to my account with ICBC here is relatively easy, it is registered to FIRSTNAMELASTNAME, but make sure how your friend registered his account. Should be on an account slip in CAPITAL LETTERS on top.
I think mine is without space and in this case it also should be ommitted. But your mileage may vary.

Otherwise international transfers are relatively painless but expensive. If you have different accounts make sure you compare this can be quite a few Euros depending on the sending bank, same goes for receiving.

My wife used Western Union for transfers with some customers and I remember it being somewhat cheaper and relatively fast if executed right. Least cost option should be paypal.

Good luck,
Alex

Thanks for all the answers!