Money transfer to Peru help.
 

Hello everyone, my wife and i are working with Percy to buy some shoes and Christmas presents for some kids in Peru. We are needing some info into how to actually wire the money. we have all of Percys bank info but we are not sure how to get the money into it. We have found several different online options, but not sure if they are legit or not.

Do any Fodors friends have experience transfering money???

Thanks in advance, Jeffrey and April



P.S. we took a suitcase full of shoes 3 months ago when we went, and it was a highlight of the trip handing them out to the kids!

The best place to start is your own bank. We chose this noption when sending cash from the UK to Laos. As I recall it cost around £25 in fees but seemed the simplest option (plus if the money had gone astray it would have been easier sorting it out with my own bank). The money is transeferred usualy through two banks en-route your bank will have deatails of one of these, the other you may have to get from Percy's bank. other alternatives are Western Union and Moneygram but both are horrendously expensive!

Here is a link to a useful website http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ban...rency-exchange

It is UK based but I imagine similar principles apply in the the US.

The other alternative, if you have the time, is simply to take the cash and by the stuff in the market when you get there.

Finally, you do not mention where in Peru you are planning on delivering the shoes etc. (great idea BTW) but here are links to Hearts Cafe and NGO based operation in Ollantaytambo, run by Sonia and English woman we worked with when we were there. This is exactly the sort of thing she she gets involved in and she may be able to make some suggestions re the best way of transferring to Peru.

http://www.livingheartperu.org/
http://www.heartscafe.org/

Thank you so much for your reply CRELLSTON!!!! I will let you know how it turns out.

We are actually working with Percy, who was our guide for a few days while we were there. He has two other families besides us, that help out with kids at Christmas thru him. Some people in our Sunday School class helped us out also, and now we have enough for 40 pairs of shoes!

If he has a paypal account you can transfer money that way as well.

Diane,that was my first thought...but he doesnt.

It might be easiest to do Western Union or Moneygram; money will be available the same day and fees are usually less than $1 per $100 sent.

The last time I checked, the total fees were closer to 10%!