Based on advice from this very useful travel board, I am in the process of setting up an account at XE.com to transfer funds from a US bank account to Europe (euros and pounds).

I've never done this before, and for others who may be in the same position, you should know that there is some lead time required to set up the account. The applicant must fax in several types of information, an identity-confirming telephone call must be arranged, XE.com must confirm with the initiating bank. For EFT transfers, there is an additional two-day confirmation period for the first transfer. And the web site says that transfers outside the US and Canada take 9-17 business days.

This is in no way a complaint -- this is all necessary (for security, anti-money laundering) and not complicated. It's just a heads-up for those who are trying to rent an apartment from a landlord who doesn't accept cash for the deposit: setting up the account and transferring the funds will take some time.

Can someone explain how xe.com works? It looks to me like this is a middleman between two parties.

Did I miss something? In particular, can you invest in foreign currencies with xe.com?

What a pain in the arse. I don't know if I would want to rent from anyone who doesn't take credit cards or won't wait until you get there to pay. Some of the places I rented from in Ireland and Italy took my credit card number to confirm the reservation, but required to be paid in Euro when I got there.

I went thru this ordeal in 2001 when I rented an apartment in Austria. The owner required a deposit, so I got a draft in Shillings from my bank (took a few days and cost around $10/15). When I got there and settled up my bill when we checked out, he charged me what his bank charged him to cash my check. What a pain in the arse -- never again.

I'm not sure why you would use xe.com rather than your bank. If your bank or credit union claims they don't do international wires, that's simply not the case. They may have to go through the extra step of going through another bank (my credit unions both send my wires through Bank of New York), but they can still do it. My wires from the US to the UK take 2-3days, and all I have to do is send them a signed instruction sheet.

Budman--it doesn't have to be a pain. I wired money from my UK account to Italy when renting a flat in Rome. Again, I just sent in a fax so I didn't even have to go into the bank, and my money was sent.

I recently sent three Internationl wire transfers from our bank account to reserve three apartments for our upcoming trip to Portugal.
The cost was $34 for the three transfers.
This is the reason someone might want to set up an account.

Budman. I really wanted to stay at these particular apartments, but I would reconsider having to go through this kind of arrangement again. I looked into setting up an account, but that seemed like a lot of trouble for a one time shot.

Also, I still haven't received notice from the apartment owners if they have the money and exactly how much they received. They told me this kind of transfer does not cost them.

I will be in Europe for a few months, making lease payments (as well as a few apartment rental downpayments in other cities), and XE.com was worth it to me. Transaction costs are lower, and (according to earlier posters on this site) the exchange rate is likely to be better. It's also a convenience to be able to arrange the transfers on-line, which would not be possible from my bank.

I posted about the process because some messages had recommended XE.com for one-time down payments. Without recommending either for or against, I just thought newbies like me might find it helpful to know what is involved. I haven't made a transfer yet, so I don't know if the 9-17 day time period is accurate or conservative.

Very useful advice, jean.

Thanks for posting.

Some follow-up, perhaps, jeanm?

See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34582271

Best wishes,

Rex

I, too, would like to use xe.com to send a deposit in Euros for an apartment and thus wonder if jeanm has yet completed her transaction through them. Jean? Will you tell us how it went. I apologize if I missed a post in this or another thread in which you reported on your experience. My bank wants to charge me a flat $20 fee and the exchange they offer is about 5% more expensive for me than xe.com appears to be. Given the number of places to rent in Paris that require Euros ahead of time. the service that xe.com promises looks attractive. Jean? Or anyone else whose advance scouting on this process might be useful to we rear guard chickens?

Mitzi

When I have needed to make a deposit for a small hotel or apartment that did not take credit cards, I have purchased travelers checks in Euros (or whatever) from my local bank, filled in the name of the payee and signed both places and sent them just like a personal check. Then I confirmed whether payment arrived and in case it did not arrive, I could report them lost, and anyway since I had filled in the name of the payee they couldn't be cashed or deposited by anyone else. I always asked by e-mail or phone first if this would be acceptable to the payee and never had anyone refuse (the last time I did was for a Paris apartment last year). I know the travelers checks say on them "sign in the presence" but that is really just so the payee know who you are, not for the bank in which the payee will eventually deposit the TC. This method is maybe more convenient if you just have a one time transaction.

topping... since the follow-up question has been asked again on a separate thread...

OK, now I feel badly. I haven't used XE.com in a few years, plan to use it soon for an apartment down payment, and did a search to see whether anything has changed. Now I find out that, back in '05, people were asking about my experience. I guess that I was too busy experiencing to reply!

My experience with XE.com was flawless. I used it about half a dozen times, and there were no problems at all. I used it for various apartment rentals and for lease payments, as noted in my 2005 posts, and nobody had any trouble.

For an apartment in Rome that I'm renting over Christmas, the agent wants a 20% down payment. I gather that's normal; many sites said 30%. He said PayPal was OK, with a 4% surcharge for "taxes and fees." Or transfer. That's where XE.com came in --

Sorry for the 4-year delay! If anyone has contrary experience, do let me know --