Betty1

Has anyone used this means to send money for house/apartment rentals?

http://fxglobaltransfer.oanda.com/

If I am understanding it correctly it would save me about $75 over sending it by bank transfer through BofA. That's for sending 1300 GBP to a house owner in France. It would go to his UK bank. I wonder how much BofA would charge to transfer funds to an Oanda account. Could I maybe do that through online banking? At least I would not be paying BofA's awful exchange rate.

J62

I used xetrade.com in the past - it took a long time to set up because of id verification requirements (to prevent money laundering / offshore transfers).

Once set up it was a breeze to use, and it saved me about $100. xetrade pulled the $ from my BofA account rather than BofA sending the $ the other way.

Michel_Paris

Bank drafts cost me about $5.00. It is the equivalent of a certified cheque, but in foreign currencies. If the rentor woold accept, would be the cheapest.

KayF

We have paid for apartments overseas using online banking and it has worked OK. You just need their sort code and account number. I remember we had to pay a fee but it wasn't that much and we needed to check that the amount in euros would be correct when it reached the owner. In other words, take into account any fees that may occur so they aren't short changed.

Kay

Betty1

Thanks, all. J62, xetrade.com looks a lot like the service I mentioned but has the advantage of allowing for funding the account by EFT and only funding it when the transfer has been scheduled, not before. I'll have to investigate further. The time factor makes it less attractive for this first payment which I need to make next week, but it might be the best solution for future payments.

Michel_Paris, I don't think I can get a bank draft at my bank but even if I can, I don't think it would work in this case. My homeowner has asked for a bank transfer. He is going to be traveling for the next few weeks and needs the funds deposited automatically into his account. (I'm assuming a bank draft would be mailed, then taken by the recipient to the bank for deposit.)

KayF, was that by Electronic Fund Transfer? That would be great but I don't think I can transfer funds to European banks that way through BofA. I'll check.

I'll post again to let you all know what I do. If there are any other ideas, I'd be glad to hear them.

Cathinjoetown

Our bank (regional midwestern) transfers funds for us all the time directly from our checking or savings account.

The fee is $45 and we usually get a rate about 2 cents higher than what forex is showning that day. Example: 1.00 euro is $1.25, we pay $1.27.

There are much lower fees out there but this is convenient for us.

Betty1

Cathinjoetown, if I could do that well at BofA, I wouldn't mind but on 11/25 when oanda was showing an exchange rate of $1.4980 to 1GBP, BofA's rate for wire transfers was $1.5781. I wouldn't expect oanda's rate but almost $1.58?? And there would be a $35.00 fee on top of that.

I spoke with a branch manager at BofA this afternoon and he was not very happy about my sending all my banking info to an internet exchange service. Of course, he has a vested interest but it did get me thinking.

I also spent some more time on the xetrade.com website and even "chatted" online with one of their agents. Here's what I came away with.

The registration/verification process could take a few days. I would have to send a recent bank statement showing my name, address, bank name and account no. plus another piece of ID - a copy of my passport or driver's license. I can send this by snail mail or can scan it and send by email. I understand that they might call me to verify some info. I will admit that all of this makes me a bit nervous.

Once I am approved I can go on their website and arrange for a transfer. I can send them the funds by wire transfer (BofA will charge me for that though not as much as for sending one abroad), by EFT (free but requires them to contact someone at BofA - not sure how cooperative they will be!) or perhaps by using the bank's online bill pay system. (If possible I'd prefer this. It's free and seems less risky than EFT.)

Then they would send funds to my homeowner's bank by wire transfer (costs $21.00) or to the recipient by bank draft (too slow in this case). Sending funds by EFT is not possible at present outside US & Canada.

So, is it worth all that? I don't know.

Can anyone reassure me about sending all that sensitive info to xetrade? I especially wonder about giving them access to my account for EFT.

I know I'm being a bit paranoid here but better safe than sorry.

Robespierre

An EFT authorization (ACH debit) is a blank check <i>in perpetuity</i> (not a one-shot deal) with your signature on it. I won't use one for anything.

Mara

I used xetrade.com as well after I read about it here. It was about a year ago but I remember it being a lot cheaper than sending a wire transfer from my bank.....I had to send money to the Japanese bank account of a Japanese hotel for a cancellation fee.

Cathinjoetown

Betty,

It seems like a lot of complexity and a lot of exposure but only you can weigh that against any savings you might realize. I totally agree with Robespierre regarding EFTs.

We usually wire transfer a minimum of $5,000 which probably gets us a better rate. I realize you aren't dealing with those amounts.

Good luck.

ithacaguy

I used <b>FXGlobalTransfer</b> to pay for a rental in Barbados. It took about 10 minutes to sign up and they verified my ID quickly. It was really worth it since I saved several hundred bucks on the rate and they only charged a flat $25 usd for the transfer.

I've since used it a few times and it works great very good rates and the money gets there fast. One cool thing is that you can see how much OANDA FXGlobalTransfer charges right on the home page without having to sign up. Most of the other sites wanted me to sign up and talk to someone just to find out how much it would cost. With OANDA it's right on the home page. very cool.

janisj

ithacaguy: Do tell - did you really register today to top a year old thread and post this?

Maybe it is just the skeptic in me, but it does seem a <i>bit</i> like advertising masquerading as a 'satisfied customer'. To save several hundred dollars on the exchange you'd have to be talking about $6000 or $7000 or more.