sending $$ to France

Paypal seems to be the best way for easy international transfers

Cashing personal checks in Dollars in Europe is problematical. Some banks might accept them, but it could take weeks for them to verify the check is good, plus there will likely be service charges and a lousy exchange rate.

The best way to send Euros to Europe is to open an account with XE Trade (www.xetrade.com) in Canada. It's free, although it takes awhile to fill out the forms and open your account. XE Trade has very good exchange rates and there are no service charges. (By comparison, if you had a US bank issue you a bank draft in Euros, there will likely be service charges, plus the exchange rate will be poor.)

After your account is open, you can buy Euros from them and they can issue you a check in Euros. The check can be payable to whomever you want. They can either mail the check to that person, or mail it to you for you to deliver it to the person.

Easier, however, is to use XE Trade to send a SEPA payment (electronic payment) to the person's bank account. I don't see why your exchange family would have a problem with giving you their account number. It's a routine thing in Europe to use bank account transfers to make payments.

I second the PayPal reference. However we just got done reserving an apartment in Paris and our landlord specified Western Union. You can give their name and they pick up the money at the office with photo id. It was relatively easy, but having never done this before it was a little confusing. The Western Union website is pretty good and you can even online chat with a rep.

I forgot about PayPal. Their fee is very low, but the person receiving the money has to have a bank account to withdraw the money.

Like Tyler, I have an account with XE Trade. It works great!

I might be missing something, but my podunk bank will stuff money into any bank in the world in a couple of heartbeats. They stiff me about five bucks for the project.

Ask the people how they want to get it, then go see your bank.

You all have a good point. I will just ask them for their bank account number. Especially since this is just a one time thing.

[In answer to Ed, but would apply to the question, too.]

Your bank's $5.00 service charge is not an exorbitant fee, but the real issue is, what is the exchange rate? The interbank rate for the Euro today is about 1.36, but you can't get that rate yourself. Bank of America, for example, will sell you Euros at 1.43. That's quite a difference. By contrast, XE Trade's rate will only be about 1.39, with no service charge. PayPal seems reasonable, too, at 1.39, plus a 0.50 Euro fee, if you pay from your bank account.

Western Union will wire the money to one of their affiliate's offices in France, where your exchange family can pick up the cash. Easy for them, but, I'll bet they have a hefty service charge, plus a lousy exchange rate.

If you are not sending very much money, and don't want to hassle with opening an account with XE Trade, perhaps using your bank is the best bet. You probably won't get a very good exchange rate, but it will be convenient.

If I use XE Trade to send money should I also use it to change my dollars to euros for when I travel there in June? Or is it better to research credit cards with little or no fees for international transactions? I kind of want to change my dollars to euros now while the rate of the dollar to the euro is better then is has been for a while.