Finance, Forex and Investments

sending money from maldives to uk?

Hi, I'm currently teaching out in the Maldives, and as I'm only here for 11 months I still have all my UK bank accounts and my dreaded credit card, which I still need to make payments to. I was a little naive about sending money home, I thought it would be a fairly straightforward thing to do. However, the local currency is tied to the dollar and only available to be bought in country. The only place to exchange money into dollars/sterling is at the Bank Of Maldives who have told me that there is restrictions on foreigners changing money, and for the foreseeable future they won't exchange ruffiya into dollars for us. So, rather panicking at the moment. I've been given conflicting information about whether the bank will send money as well, some say yes, some say only if I have a dollar bank account. Any ideas? I know there's Western Union but I'm a day's boat ride away from the capital. The Indian expat teachers use the Bank of India, but obviously that's not an option for me and I'm a bit worried Thanks

Public Comments

1. It looks like Maldives Post is your best bet. They can do either international money orders or moneygram transfers.
2. Hi laura I have a friend who was in this exact situation - she recently left Maldives to return to UK - so I asked her what she did when she was over here. Apparently, she just spent pretty much what she earned, and treated it as a "working holiday". At weekends she would treat herself & husband to an overnight stay on the resorts (which is quite expensive), and before they left they blew the lot on a great holiday to Sri Lanka. But of course this doesn't help you much ! As the other reply suggests - Maldives Post offers international money transfers, in the same way that WU will, so this might be your best bet. The Bank of Maldives (BML) recently changed their rules, so yes, as far as I know, as an expat you need a DOLLAR account to be able to send any money overseas. You could phone BML and ask to speak to a manager for confirmation - they are usually quite helpful. You said that SBI would not be able to help you, but any bank can send money to any other bank internationally, if you have an account with them - the only problem would be the bank charges & exchange rates they use. So you could ask at the SBI bank, and consider opening an account there. There is also a HSBC bank in Malé - this might be your best bet as they are obviously large & international, but I do not know what they will charge for transfers, and I think there is a minimum opening balance with them. (2ys ago I transferred from a UK HSBC to Malé HSBC and there was a fixed charge of just GBP £10 ). Ask around with your colleagues, to see what they do, and what the batch of teachers before you did. The organisation that sent you should really be able to help you too. (To be honest, I thought that you would be getting paid in USD$, so that would make things easier, for everyone, as you must all be in the same boat). Hope this helps. Any more question - please ask here or send me a message. Hope you manage to get something sorted, and that you enjoy your experience in Maldives ! .