Actually I just checked out
the pre-paid green card, not such a good deal. Fees every time you turn around.

For ordering cash in Euro to be delivered to your front door with most minimal cost(one time $5.00 +/- charge) seems to be from XE currency converter.

Nevertheless in Euro in relation to the dollar, Americans are still losing 33.33% of dollar buying value when we have to pay in Euro.

http://www.xe.com/cash/?utm_source=i...h180*150tripUS

Mah: maybe this would be a good time to suggest my idea to the son in law and see if it flies.

<i>Nevertheless in Euro in relation to the dollar, Americans are still losing 33.33% of dollar buying value when we have to pay in Euro.</i>

I disagree. Although prices in the cities sometimes seem outrageous, they really aren't out of line with what we pay in big US cities, when both the exchange rate and the price in local currency are taken int account. The fact that a Euro costs $1.50 is only one of the factors to consider. This is shown clearly on the following chart:

http://www.finfacts.ie/costofliving.htm

As can be seen, Paris is only 109.4% as expensive as NYC - and even London is &quot;only&quot; 125%.

And this chart is using $1.57 = 1&euro;, which is about 7&cent; too high as of this week.

Robespierre,

Not talking abut equal hotels in New York City,where I dont live, but just to buying value of dollar in Europe; I can buy an excellent lunch for $12.00 American, entree and salad .(no drinks or wine).

$12.00 American is equal to Euro 7.99.
Tell me what lunch I can buy
for 8 Euro.

I can buy an excellent dinner for less than $20.00 American, entree, salad, dessert,bread.(shrimp Napoleon or mussels) Please tell me what similar dinner I can buy for Euro 13.32 in Paris.

For that matter I can have an entire breakfast, pancakes, eggs, bacon or sausage or ham, plus potatoes and coffee for less than $7.00 American. What breakfast can I get for Euro 4.66 ?

Last time I had mussels, bread and dessert at Leon's of Bruxelles on Rue St. Michel in Paris when the exchange was US $1.32 for 1 Euro, my bill was 28 Euro - now equal to $42.03 American.
One can buy one heck of a dinner AND lunch for $42.00 in the USA. Or for that matter, $42 is breakfast, lunch and dinner in the USA.

Really, we can't say it's equal.

Susanna,

I thought about it, but reasonable apartments anywhere in Paris in late September this year are scarce - so I chicken out

M.

i often send traveler's checks made out to the person....its the easiest

<i>Not talking ab[o]ut equal hotels in New York City...</i>

That is obvious. Once more: the value of one currency for another country's goods and services depends on a combination of the exchange rate and the prices in both countries.

To say that USD will buy 1/3 less than EUR just because that's the ratio of the currency prices is absurd.

Okay Robespierre.

You say Tomatoe (with the long A) and I say Tomato -(with the short AH)
You shall believe what you believe and I shall believe what I believe. I refuse to argue with you dear.

Absurd.

Obtuse and obstreporous.

I probably shouldn't get into this argument, but regarding prices here in France and in the US, I don't see any point in comparing prices 'anywhere' in the US to prices in Paris.

I live in the countryside, where you can still get very good value for much less than in Paris. Then again, we don't have the ambience, real estate values, magic, etc. of Paris.

If you check my recent thread on eating in the Southwest
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...rlux&amp;fid=2
you'll find meals at much lower prices than in Paris. In my opinion they also taste much better than most meals in North America, but that's just my opinion.

&quot;Let's say the agreed price was &euro;100. I would deposit $200 over here and the landlord would withdraw &euro;100 in Europe. All the fees and foreign exchange markup would come out of my US funds, and not the merchant's European funds.&quot;

That is right, in order to send the real dollar equivalent of say, 100 euros, you have to deposit more, because the bank is going to eat up some by using its own exchange rate. The bank's exchange rate is not the real one. So it may not turn out to be an advantageous way to pay, once you factor in what what you will lose on the transaction.

I do think that rental owners in Europe may shy away from this system simply because it is completely new, and so left-field as to seem like one of those cons where you don't know how it works but it just smells wrong.

I have successfully used the ATM card to give a deposit on a french apartment in St Tropez, it worked beautifully. It took a while to get to this point.

In October I reserved an apartment in Grimaud, a few miles from St Tropez, for high season next year, June-July. We had been there this summer, staying in a different location. I had found this apartment on the net, the owner didn't speak a word of English and I wasn't exactly sure where it was. We visited the apartment and the owner while we were there and loved it and tell her that we definitely want to stay here next summer. She will email me when she has her calender for 2009.

Now the drama begins. She would like a deposit now, and another one closer to the actual date. I propose the ATM card and just like many of you said in the other threads, she thinks that this is way to difficult and she prefers a bank transfer! I tell her I can do that but it is very difficult (don't know why) and expensive for us to do that. She says to just do one transfer then and we can pay the remainder when we arrive, great.

After the new year I attempt to do the wire transfer, with all the hassle and agony that always happens. She sends me the transfer information's, I take them to my bank and start the process. They call me back later that day and tell me that the swift # is only 8 numbers/letters and that they need 12! I write her back and she says that she has given me the correct number and that she gets transfers from all over the world with no problems. I relay this info to my bank, but, NO, they still want 12 numbers/letters! Fine, just cancel it.

I look into Western Union but that is REALLY expensive. OK, I can get a bank draft in euros. I write her back with that proposal, NO, she doesn't like that, it costs too much on her end,which I will pay but now is costing an arm and leg with the fees on both ends. I can tell she is frustrated, I am becoming a big pain, BUT, a three week rental is substantial, I ask her if she is going to cancel me and she assures me that I have the reservation.

At this point I figure I have nothing to loose. I write her another email and tell her I am sending her money for the deposit, I do not tell her it is the ATM card. I have an account at the bank with $25 in it, an ATM only card with no link to a visa credit card.

I send her, via snail mail ,the ATM card, a self addressed envelope with 2euros taped to it for the postage and a note to email me when she receives it. She is irritated to get the card, I can tell. I immediately transfer money into that account, write her back in the most simple french and tell her: take the card to an ATM at the bank, put in the card, put in this code (!@#$) put in an amount (400euro) and VOILA, money....and I tell her I hope it will be very easy for her to do.

The next morning I wake up, check the bank account and see that the correct amount has been withdrawn in two withdrawals. I immediately write her and ask if it worked. She writes back that it worked perfectly and was very easy, she will now send me the card and the receipts back. I can tell by her tone that she is happy. I go back into the account and take out the extra money I had transferred, leaving $25 in it again.

This process has cost me $3...I pay $1.50 a transaction on that ATM card, had I used my credit union it would have been free, she has paid nothing to get the money, a win win for both of us.

In the future I will probably just tell them I am sending the deposit and send them the ATM. It seems to sound difficult in the explanation but in actuality it is quite simple. Maybe if they just get the card and then receive the directions they will be more open to trying it.

I hope that this helps others, it is always such a hassel to send that damn deposit, this was just so so easy, in the end !

It doesn't sound that easy to me, but glad it worked out for you. It sounds to me like it took a lot of time and trouble. But I agree the actual cost is small (which doesn't include your time, which seems considerable to me to open the account, to communicate with the landlord several times, and then to close the account).

I have never done a wire transfer but have had bank checks written in euro which I just mailed to some company in France for payment for things. I don't know why your landlord thought getting a check in euro was expensive for her, I don't get that at all. The people I sent mine to are used to getting checks and depositing them, why would that be a problem for the recipient, can't imagine.

They might have the same problem we do at work (UK) - we can only take cheques drawn on a British bank, with British branch address and sorting code. I'm not involved with the details of payment, so I don't know exactly why - but I know it's something to do with the bank we use. Either they charge fees which are high compared to the amount we usually get overseas payments for, enough to make it not worthwhile, or they won't do it at all.

Christina,

I'll chime in on this method because I think it does NOT involve a lot of time and trouble compared with other methods. Let me describe the hassle I went through a few years ago trying to put down a deposit for a hotel in Croatia.

First, I had to go to the bank to arrange a wire transfer, using the Swift # supplied by the landlord. The deposit wasn't large, perhaps $100. That cost me $35 for the transfer. The hotel wanted the deposit in Euro, so my bank had to convert my dollars to Euros; at a really horrible rate.

When the money arrived in the landlord's bank, the bank leveled an additional charge; for what I have no idea. That meant the hotel did not have the full amount needed for my deposit. A series of back and forth emails followed, with the landlord saying he wanted the full amount, and me saying I was not about to pay an additional $35, plus conversion fees, to send him a few more Euro. He finally agreed that I could pay the difference when I arrived, but the whole thing cost me time, money, and a lot of frustration.

Look at it this way, you would have to go to the bank to arrange the wire transfer anyway. It would probably be easier to open a new account, and get your two ATM cards. You could probably do it on line, or with a phone call.

It used to be much easier for me when I had a bank account in Holland. I could have just sent the guy a Euro check. Sorry I closed that account.

Bottom line is that I think Susanna's method is easy and workable. I'll try it when the need next arises.

You have an excellent suggestion susanna. I don't need it because I have my Dutch bank account but it should work well for many others.

Thanks Nuke, you have gone through the same hassles that I have.

I don't know why it is so difficult and expensive for Americans to send money to Europe.

It was about 5 mins to open the account, I would have to have emails with the landlord no matter which way I gave them money, and, I am not closing the account. I am able to transfer the money out of it on the net and I can also change the code with just a phone call, although it has worked out so well that I probably won't.

Finale to my payment plan: the card and receipts arrived today in the mail!!

Bravo Susan you did it! Now I wonder if I could suggest my future guests to do that in some cases (a long stay booked a long time in advance). Maybe it would be as hard for me to explain it the other way!

Fellow Fodorites, what do you think? Would you like the owner to ask you to open an account especially to pay for a deposit? I wonder...

Beside the 1.5$, was the change good for you, no additional charges? I suppose it must be the same as when you withdraw money yourself from the ATM...