We'll be in the UK for 3 weeks this summer. Two of the B&Bs that we want to use require a deposit to hold our reservations, but they don't take credit cards.
I went to my bank today to see how to send a check in pounds. After much research, they told me I'd have to pay $30/per check and it would take 2 - 3 weeks to receive the checks (which will be sent to my local branch for pickup).
Do any of your know of a more economical way to do this?
Thanks for any advice.
What about wiring(electronic transfer) the money over to their bank account? It may not be the most economical way to send the money over, but may be the fastest.
It would be much better to use PayPal but I suppose those B&B's aren't the most internet savvy... Before I switched my inter-continental payments to PayPal I, too, got sent regular US-Dollars checks that I then handed over to my German bank. They applied the rate of exchange of the month, substracted their service fee and credited the amount to my local checking account - 3 working days later. Now on PayPal I as the receiver of the €uro-amount email out a payment request in €uro to my US counterpart. He receives it, clicks on the link and gets to the US website of PayPal where he sees a pretty odd amount in US-Dollar. He pays it any way he likes it, e.g. credit card or by sending a check to PayPal USA. As soon as they receive the US-Dollar payment I can "download" my €uro-amount and it would be credited to my checking account usually within 24 hours. PayPal charge a fee of €0.39 per transaction plus a 3% fee if the payment is made by credit card - still much much cheaper...
... than mailing checks. Maybe you should suggest using PayPal to those B&Bs.
We wired money to an apartment rental. Probably easiest way. Figure on $20-$30 depending on your bank. Also ask what the exchange would be based on the rated. In other words, ask what percentage would be taken vs. interbank rate for the day. Interbank rate is what they give each other as exchange rate and that is a published number.
Don't know about New Orleans, but in my very small town I can obtain from my bank a draft/money order in GBPounds (or Euros, Swiss Francs, etc.) for not much more than the exchange rate and send it by courier/express post and it'll be in the UK in days. Haven't used it for years but visit your Western Union outlet and see what the deal might be (they're common in the UK as well as North America).
Thanks for the suggestions. I think Western Union is going to be the best way to send it; now I just have to find out if there's one near the B&B.
Another option is to use an online foreign currency exchange service such as XEtrade. I haven't used one, but have been tempted. I would certainly do what I could to check out the background and veracity of such an outfit before using one since they require access to some financial info. But so far XEtrade appears legit. Cheaper than the usual American-based services.
When my sister lived there and with friends who are in Germany we just use Western Union.
I have an account with XeTrade and use it to send money to relatives in England and to pay deposits for B&Bs that don't accept credit cards. Money is taken from my checking account by electronic transfer and XE mails a bank draft in the currency of my choice directly to the person/B&B. The exchange rate is only slightly higher than the international rate on the day the transaction is initiated. There are no other fees--unless I choose to do a wire transfer. For security reasons it takes a little time and effort to set up an account, but things go swiftly and smoothly after that. The account is free. See www.xe.com/fx.
Thanks!
Our son is attending grad school in the UK. He pays all his tuition and living expenses and we're helping with his housing. Three times in the year we wire the housing payment to the UK through our bank (B of A). It costs $35 for the wire transfer fee, plus a currency conversion fee.
The recipient needs to send you all pertinent routing information so the money goes to the right account. This includes Beneficiary name, Beneficiary IBAN or Account #, Beneficiary Bank name and address, and the bank's ABA # or SWIFT or National ID.
We also had to fax a copy of the wire transfer confirmation as proof that we had made the money transfer.
