renting an apartment in paris--question about money transfer

SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) is a UN approved standard for international wire transfers, and has been around since the early 70's. The easiest way to imagine it is as a prefix which allows the use of your bank account number within another system. This is similar to the use of an area code for a telephone. (In other words, your telephone number is 123-4567, valid for you in Chicago. However, somebody in NYC also has the number 123-4567. If you travel to NYC and wish to receive calls on your phone, the caller would need to dial (312) 123-4567. The area code is the SWIFT code.) Talk with a teller at your bank, he or she will be quite comfortable with the use of SWIFT codes, and will guide you through the transfer process.

We found the apartment we are renting (starting Friday) via the Yale alumni magazine. The rental is handled by an American in Chapel Hill, NC, and all payments were made by check in dollars. Fortunately, we paid a few months ago so the dollar slide isn't continuing to hurt us!

If the apartment owner will accept a bank draft in euros, you can save the cost of a wire transfer by opening an account with www.xe.com/fx and having them send a bank draft through the mail directly to the recipient overseas. (They also do wire transfers, for a higher fee.)

Here is how I use it. Money is taken directly from my checking account by electronic transfer. The exchange rate is only slightly higher than the official rate on the day the transaction is processed. There are no other fees. XE mails a bank draft to the recipient I designate. For security reasons it takes a little time and effort to set up an account, but everything goes smoothly and swiftly after that.

Ok, I'm trying not to sound like an American with a bad world view here because that's not that case at all. For someone like yourself who, undoubtedly, is rarely if ever going to use this type of payment method again, perhaps you just need to look for a different apartment rental. I doubt this is the only apartment rental in the entire city of Paris that would be acceptable. If the owner is also going to tell you HOW to pay and it's not a world-wide accepted method such as cash or credit card then find somewhere else.
If I'm being too much of a jerk American here I greatly apologize (and I'm dead serious about my apology!). Just be a capitalist and make a different choice. Any business person in the "western world" can't argue with someone making a different choice.

Jarrod, the SWIFT system IS a world-wide accepted method of payment. Obviously, cash won't work in this instance, since the guy wants a deposit now to hold the apartment. Credit cards would cost the owner money, since they have to pay a fee to the credit card people to be able to accept credit cards. So a transfer makes the most sense. It's not a scam, it's just a one-time transfer. And whether or not Sarah intends to use this method of payment again doesn't factor in at all. Adynata explained it very clearly.

The smaller shops, hotels, rooms, etc. operate a lot differently in Europe than they do here. Most everybody here in the U.S. will accept a credit card. Most have secure sites for registering online. Not so in Europe. Many smaller places are cash only. We've been asked a few times to have money wired in advance. First, it's about a $40-$45 fee to send the wire transfer and banks at the other end will charge 15 Euro to receive it. That's about $70 onto the cost of what you are sending the money for. Next, they have the money and you don't. If you need to cancel, you could have a problem getting your money refunded. As for credit cards, many smaller hotel sites don't permit you to register online. They want you to register by email and they also want you to send your credit card number by email. We did this a few times and it's very uncomfortable and not secure. We didn't have any problems but I didn't like it. But that's the way they do business.

http://www.vacationinparis.com/toc.htm

Hi Sarah,
The above web address is that of a US company with headquarters in New Jersey. We understand that most of the apartments they manage are owned by US citizens. You might call these managers to discuss your concerns.

Should you decide to rent an apartment through Vacation-In-Paris, you will very likely have your apartment key before you leave Chicago.
Bon Voyage! P.

When you rent from VRBO, you are renting dirrectly from the owner, and few are set up to accept credit cards. Transfering the money through SWIFT is safe as long as the owner is honest and you understand the cancellation policy, rental terms, and so on. We did it to rent a chalet in Chamonix. But it was expensive (an extra $40 or so on top of the conversion to euro). So Perry's suggestion of trying www.vacationinparis.com is a very good one. We have rented a Paris apartment from them and they were very professional and esay to deal with. You pay by credit card and they send you the key to the apartment, together with directions, before you depart the US.

just wanted to thank you all for your feedback, it's been very helpful. the owner in question may be willing to use paypal instead, so hopefully i can avoid the steep transfer fee. i really appreciate all of your help.

I just rented an apartment for christmas in Paris through VRBO and admit I'm nervous about it. I've been dealing with the owner via e-mail and sent my deposit via paypal. If you are dealing with that website there is a place you can register your trip in the event that you have a problem with the owner and it not being what you expect. Since I am uneasy because the owner seems so casual I registered. I've rented from another place a couple of times and they took credit cards and I never even worried.