Greetings all. I'm in a pickle and hoping someone has an idea. I'm a dual US/CH citizen, live in the US, and inherited a small sum that is in a CH regional bank. I was kicked out of my small, (yes, declared!) CHF account years ago.
How do I get the inheritance out? Given my US person status the regional bank won't put the CHF account in my name, they will only pay final expenses on behalf of my late Swiss parent, and pressure me to close the account by sending the CHF to the US asap. I've put them off by working through a Swiss intermediary during the Covid period, but need to finalize this. Tested transfer attempts:
1. My US WISE account has refused a test CHF transfer, because funds in my parent's name, not mine.
2. My Swiss Revolut cannot be funded because funds are in my late parent's name OR because the Revolut account information bounces back (lawyer told me Revolut not adapted to Swiss accounts).
3. Am I just stuck with the regional bank's fees to get the funds out?
And, yes, I know, it's a terrible time to be buying USD. Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
On option (2) Revolut:
Which account did you ask them to send it to?
There is normally an omnibus CH IBAN account you can use with a reference to direct the funds to your account with them. I would give this another try as I don’t think Revolut requires that the source account is in your name. Certainly worth chatting with their support team despite the potential long waiting times.
Sorry for your loss and hope you can get the funds without extortionate fees.
Unfortunately I have no great suggestions but is it possible to open a CHF account in the US or another country that suits you and make CHF to CHF transfer and decide later how to proceed?
Btw, I am not sure if it is clear that it is a bad moment for selling USD. Some estimates are that EURUSD will go some further 10% down. If SNB does not want to break away from EUR then CHFUSD may follow the suit.
Thank you very much. I have tried Revolut a few times and it bounces each time back to the bank. One thought is that it's because account is supposed to be in my full name and the other thought is what the lawyer suggestd, that Revolut does not work well with the Swiss online banking system due to number of lines and the order in which the information must be presented.
Thank you. I am buying dollars, not selling them. And I have looked into a CHF account in US but they come with a lot of fees and negative interest rates. I'm not sure I would be better off than with the typical regional CH bank fees. I am not sure the percentage on those.
It may still not make sense but you could just open an USD account for a month, know in advance how to transfer to another account or convert and close the account.
It's basically 1:1, so what;s the problem?
Tom
It will work but only if you have the patience to figure out why it bounced back or catch it half way while it still on the Revolut side and they will find the payment and credit it to you. Good luck!
I'm not sure I understand but I appreciate the assistance. My primary goal is to access a better exchange rate and avoid exorbitant fees of brick and mortar banks. A bonus would be if I could hold the CHF until the exchange rate is more favorable.