Talk to me about transferring $ internationally

[wise_rita]

I just paid $22 to send money from Australia to the US. It'll cost $15 on the US side once it arrives. That is highway robbery!

I know there's a way to do it for free through XE or PayPal but I've been too damn lazy to set up accounts and do it. $37 wasted is all the motivation I need.

Please tell me where to begin! TIA.

(I may have asked this before but I will get my butt in gear for reals this time.)

[pittpurple]

I use paypal but it's not free. I'm just too lazy to set up a better way to do it. It's charged based on the amount you send and seems to be around £20 for around £500? Something like that anyway. Look into xe, it's a much better system it just takes a bunch of paperwork to set up so we've failed to do it.

[wise_rita]

Jul 5, 2012 7:32:12 GMT -5 @blessed said:

I have my savings in ING and you can transfer money to any account for free (as far as I know). I just transferred money to someone in South Africa and didn't have to pay anything. You just need to know the person's last 4 digits on their account. Super easy process.

Wait, whut?

Was this an American to South African account? Or American to American? Last 4 digits of their account seems so....insufficient.

[potatopie]

Rita, you always seem to ask the financial questions at the same time they come up for me. I've been meaning to transfer money to my US account but don't really know where to start. My bank here doesn't say whether it charges for international transfers or not, but my US bank is pretty good.

I want to make DH do this for me...I'm much better at nagging than I am at dealing with finances.

[clogged]

Head to XE like yesterday and start process.

With paypal, I have to pay some admin or handling fee. It's usually a teeny amount and no where near $37!!! But it has more to do with currency exchange. The fee is charged once and I can pay it or make the other person pay when they receive it. We both don't pay. I usually swap to their currency up front and pay the fee- that way they get whatever they need on their end in their currency, ready to go, no hassle.

[americaninoz]

yea I'd suggest you set up the XE accounts - it takes a bit of admin on each side - but once it's set up it's SO easy
we sent money while we were travelling in South America from/to UK, USA & Australia
they give you a good rate, and it's cheap to send $$ (sometimes free, sometimes not, depending on the bank/country - but almost always cheaper than normal bank fees and certainly a LOT easier!)

[wise_rita]

Ok! I've registered with XE and now I sit back and wait for them to verify my identity.

I'll let you know how long the process takes from start to finish. July 8th I began.....

[clogged]

The waiting sucks. But one you are in, you are in and transactions are so easy to do!

[bail229]

I send money through PayPal and if you put it as a gift there shouldn't be any charges,at least that is what I do and I haven't gotten charged yet.