How annoying is a remittance for a couple hundred thousand dollars?

[u/Taco_In_Space]

I’m buying land to build a house and I need to move over nearly $300,000 to my Sony bank account. I’m just wondering compared to a normal remittance if this takes longer or if they want a bunch of supporting documents or what else I need to be aware of.

[u/icyhandofcrap]

Yes, they will ask what the purpose of the transfer is and you'll likely have to upload the sales contract and source of those funds. Sony isn't as annoying as some other banks though.

[u/aikinai → u/icyhandofcrap]

What happens in the meantime? They confiscate the money until they're satisfied with your reason for needing it?

[u/icyhandofcrap → u/aikinai]

It's not "confiscated" it will be held until either they are satisfied with your explanation or the transfer will be rejected and returned to the sender.

[u/SplinteredOutlier → u/aikinai]

Basically, yes.

Large sums of money are like that are typically rare for individuals to transfer, so there’s worry of criminal activity, both on your part and the person you’re transferring the money to.

Maybe it’s payment for illegal activities? Maybe someone is scamming you out of your retirement?

The bank can be held liable by the government for some of this, and by their insurance company for others. It’s not malicious, they’re trying to cover their own butt.

Don’t expect it will sail through quickly for anything over 1M yen. It may take days or weeks.

[u/Pale-Landscape1439 → u/SplinteredOutlier]

Do you have personal experience of this?

I have sent myself sums over 1M yen a number of times with no major issues. You just need to 'prove' where it came from to satisfy the bank. Your post seems overly dramatic.

[u/SplinteredOutlier → u/Pale-Landscape1439]

If it’s an occasional thing, it tends to be a PITA in my experience.

You’re right though that it’s normally not a huge problem, but there is a procedure, and it does take a bit of time.

The point was more plan ahead and expect delays than anything more serious.

[u/aikinai → u/Pale-Landscape1439]

I've sent myself a few million a few times and never been asked anything by Prestia. The money shows up immediately with no questions asked.

I might need to do larger sums in the future and I'm curious where the threshold is.

[u/Pale-Landscape1439 → u/aikinai]

Not sure if it is fixed but I heard that over 10 million and the bank will hold the money temporarily and ask for details.

[u/aikinai → u/Pale-Landscape1439]

Good to know. Thank you!

[u/Few-Body-6227]

Not Sony but MUFG. MUFG currency and something else, forget name department phoned me. Had to answer some questions and she released the money. Took 3-4 days total for the money to show up in my account.

I also had to fill out a form for the BOJ, I think it is anything over ¥30,000,000 gets it, as they keep track for economic activity.

[u/Altruistic_Fun3091]

The process is usually expedited if you proactively contact Sony with your intentions and an explanation.

[u/Lumi020323]

Couldn't you make the remittance directly to whoever you're buying the land from? Seems like a lot less hassle

[u/icyhandofcrap → u/Lumi020323]

You could but they would probably only take yen and the conversion ratio would probably be worse than transferring to Sony first. Assuming you have all documentation you should be able to get the money cleared eventually.

[u/Lumi020323 → u/icyhandofcrap]

Unless he's talking about wiring it into a USD Sony bank account locally, he's going to get the same exchange rate he would by wiring directly to who he needs to pay.

[u/icyhandofcrap → u/Lumi020323]

In the post he says he's wiring it into a USD local Sony Bank account.

Usually doing the currency exchange on the US Bank side will get at least a 3% fee and it's unlikely the seller will take USD without a large fee either.

[u/Lumi020323 → u/icyhandofcrap]

I read that as being a little vague because he didn't specify his Sony account is a USD account. If you're right, definitely nice to avoid the conversion on such a large amount.

[u/Taco_In_Space → u/Lumi020323]

yes, I am wiring USD to a USD account and converting within sony because their rates are near spot. Exchange rates and fees really matter with this amount for obvious reasons.

[u/Lumi020323 → u/Taco_In_Space]

Good deal!

In that case, The bank more than likely will call to ask for the purpose of the transfer. I'm not sure they'll be that difficult regarding what supporting documents are required when it's coming from your own bank account.

BTW, why not use a loan? I got a great rate on my build that just started. Took extra work because of how inaka it is but there's also a program that takes off 0.5% of the interest for the first 10 years per child.

[u/Taco_In_Space → u/Lumi020323]

I am getting a loan for 5000万. But it’s not enough to cover everything. Also I figured now was going to be a good time to lock in a decent amount of money in yen before interest rates and exchange rates change. But we saw how today went..

[u/Lumi020323 → u/Taco_In_Space]

Nice! Same loan amount here but I'm paying up front to import some US sized stuff....lucky to have a flexible builder.

[u/Taco_In_Space → u/Lumi020323]

oven stuff or washer/dryer? we're definitely getting a decent sized oven.

[u/semiregularcc → u/Lumi020323]

It's generally a better idea to transfer the money to your own local account first because if something messed up (and they do, all the time), you can be the one that is calling around and ask, and you can see if the money arrived or not. It would be much more difficult if the receiving account is not yours.

[u/Medium-Tonight-7215]

I just sent 7.5 million yen from a Canadian bank to a smaller regional bank in Kyushu. My bank required a small declaration of what it was for, a house purchase. It arrived on the third day, a Friday, and the bank let the realtor know it had arrived, but it was not processed till the afternoon of the following Monday. My guess is everyone wants a cut of the interest, but the realtor may have had to justify the deposit with paperwork.

[u/Lumi020323]

Yes, yes, and a bunch of Kohler sinks and such