can't avoid bank transfer so what's the best way to do it?
 

We've been renting apartments around Europe for years and have always chosen places that give options for deposits other than bank transfer/wire transfer.

After searching for an apartment for a week in Paris in June 2014 for 7 adults and children, we found the best apartment by far but it requires a deposit by bank transfer. My impression about the dollar to euro bank transfer is that it becomes very expensive because of the additional fees.

Do I have options other than Western Union or my own bank, which is Bank of America, that are less expensive and still safe? We have to go to our bank if we want to do a transfer because it's over $1000.

I hope to research and understand the options before we go to the bank from contributors here who have made a bank transfer from the US. Thank you for sharing any comments or suggestions with me. Deborah

not sure if you have HSBC in your neck of the woods, but I recently paid £4 for a transfer of about £4000 though I think £18 for more than £5000.

You could suggest doing a transfer through paypal

I paid $45 to transfer, but it took FOREVER, because my little bank was so unfamiliar with it!
(They actually refunded half of the cost when I complained about the delay)!

We did a $1,000 BofA bank transfer to France recently, and the fee was $35 and the exchange rate was 1.3784. At the time we did the transfer, the Yahoo published exchange rate was 1.3301.

Stu Dudley

jamikins This owner will only accept a bank transfer, I've already suggested different means like paypal but no go!! The apartment is so absolutely perfect for us, meaning it's affordable and no one has to sleep on a sofa bed in the livingroom plus our favorite location in Paris no easy feat for 7 persons;;)

biloburgler we have HSBC near us but we don't have an account so I wonder if they would work with us and I think the problem is the fees for a dollar to euro transfer.

mokka, thanks for sharing what you paid at the bank, I'm also wondering if the exchange rate we are given at our bank will drive up the cost of the transfer.
Thanks for the comments, Deborah

stu, thanks for that information. I imagine you've done this more than a few times so if BofA is good enough for you----;;) Deborah

I use xe.com. You must sign up for an account as if it were a bank account. Once done one can specify from which account the money should be withdrawn and to which account it should be sent. One can specify a transfer in dollars or euros. I do it in dollars when I add money to my French account, but in euros when I have to send it to another account. I use the EFT bank to bank method which means that there are no charges for the recipient. Xe.com charges one or two percentage points above the daily conversion rate to carry out the transaction.

DeborahAnn

I was doing £ to Euros. By chance I looked at an Oz account with HSBC whose conditions are even more favourable than the UK account

However you end up doing it make sure you bear all the costs, or you may have to do another transfer to make up the difference. The most likely they don't accept PayPal is the cost to them.

Michael, you must not feel there is risk in this type of online transfer. xe.com is one of the companies that comes up when I googled how to make a bank transfer. Have you noticed that it takes a much longer time for the transfer to take place this way than through a bank?

If you had to show up with a large amount of cash to pay for an apartment would you also do a bank transfer with this xe.com to avoid carrying around so much cash or avoiding having to make multiply daily withdrawals from ATM's in order to have enough cash to give to the apartment owner. This is a thought that just came to me. My husband is concerned about needing to present 2000 plus euros to the owner upon arrival to the apartment. Thanks, Deborah

hetismij, that's a good point. Thank you, Deborah

We actually made two bank transfers this year. The propietor of the first gite insisted on a bank transfer. She probably had to pay something to receive the transfer - but didn't complain or tell us about it. The cost was probably included in the rental rate.

On the second transfer, the proprietor wanted Euros cash or a check in Euros. Up to this year, his property was "managed" by Gites-de-France - but he left them and was going to handle 2014 rentals himself. We told him we could not do cash or Euro check for many reasons, and we suggested a bank transfer. He received it, and complained to us that he had to pay a 25E fee (or so).

DeborahAnn - since your proprietor wants a bank transfer, I would be surprised if you have to pay any portion of costs he incurs to receive the transfer.

Both transfers were for different amounts (one over $1,000) and the transfer fee was $35 on both - so this is a fixed rate.

Stu Dudley

<i>you must not feel there is risk in this type of online transfer. xe.com is one of the companies that comes up when I googled how to make a bank transfer. Have you noticed that it takes a much longer time for the transfer to take place this way than through a bank? </i>

I've been doing it for three years, at one point transferring $9000 at a time with no problem. My last transaction (placed this on Nov. 21 with a receipt on Nov. 25) took 5 days. However, the rate of conversion was fixed as of the day when I made the transaction. Xe.com plays the percentages to make more money on the deal. There is no risk and I can't imagine anyone on the other side of the transaction unwilling to wait the 5 days when on the other hand, their bank will not levy a fee.

Let me add that I use my credit union account as a bank in the U.S., and it does not charge me a fee. I do not know what would be the policy for electronic transfers from other banking institutions.

If the owner regularly rents to foreign visitors, he is used to bank transfers and probably understands the fees/costs involved.

I've used both Wells Fargo (several times) and my smaller local bank (once) and both were easy but cost $45 each time.

International wire transfers are not very expensive when considered in the scheme of the cost of the trip. i did two last summer wiring funds to France. Many large banks allow you to set up the wire transfer online for a lower fee. My bank, a big US bank but not B of A, charged me $30 and the exchange rate was excellent. Depending on the amount that you are sending Paypal's fees may be lower and I have found their exchange rate for the transfers to be very good.

<i>My bank, a big US bank but not B of A, charged me $30 and the exchange rate was excellent.</i>

What is the definition of excellent in this instance?

<i>I've used both Wells Fargo (several times) and my smaller local bank (once) and both were easy but cost $45 each time.</i>

And what was the conversion rate?

It really doesn't matter at this point (they were mostly sent to Russia so I have no idea what the €/$ rate would have been).

The one other was to the UK and the exchange was (my memory is a bit cloudy re this) about 3¢ over the official rate at the time.

I used Charles Schwab where I have an account. It was $25 for a transfer. I have sent money to Bangkok and France upon occasion. Exchange rate was ok when I check at the time, but don't recall now to report it. There was a misspelling in the transfer to BKK and it took quite a bit to get it corrected and I was never charged for the additional transfers that had to be made. They were a pleasure to work with in ensuring the place in BKK finally got it correct.