I have a brokerage account with Vanguard that I would like to continue to deposit money into after my move to Tokyo later this month, so I called them to ask about details. Apparently it is ok for me to use my Japanese address, but in order to send money, I need to use a “correspondent” US bank. They were not able to name any examples, and my googling isn’t going too far. Has anyone dealt with this, and can you describe the actual usage (fees, etc)? What are some banks that use this arrangement?
4 comments
They’re telling you you need a US bank account as a middleman, essentially. You can’t send them money from a Japanese account; it needs to come from a US account.
Some banks in Japan have their own built-in wire transfers, like SMBC Prestia. Otherwise, you can use things like Wise.
It depends on which bank you use in Japan, and the info is out there though it can take a little digging. Try looking at international wire transfer instructions for the banks.
If you have a regular bank account in the US, I encourage you to keep it open. Definitely open an account before you leave if you don’t already have one. You can wire money to he bank and then to Vanguard. Vanguard is great, but they aren’t a bank and sometimes it shows.
Why don’t you just open a bank account in the US or keep your existing one open? That’s what I do with my Vanguard account.
Also make sure to set up a Google voice account if you’re not going to have a US cell phone to accept those security codes that they require
It’s been many years…but as I recall, my company did direct deposit to my Japanese bank (prestia), then I wired money from Prestia to my US bank, and then moved money from my U.S. bank to Vanguard. That last step is initiated on the vanguard side.
Vanguard also sent statements to me in Japan via US Mail.