Favorite ways to send funds internationally?
Stork
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I'm asking this elsewhere too, but thought I'd throw this out to you guys--it's not a frequent thing for me, but it's time to do better.
A friend mentioned XE.com, and I'd been aware of Transferwise (now known as Wise). I'm curious about people's experiences, satisfaction with interface--web or app, or any concerns. Good news or bad.
Personally, for lower cost things (if available) I'd been defaulting to PayPal-- in all it's easy, familiar, already set up, costly, annoying glory. I've done a credit card directly a few times too but nowadays if they take credit cards, they usually take PP too. Once one gets to a certain price point though, these fees are pretty egregious.
For other things I've done a few international wires. More work, fees that work to my advantage over a certain price point, no idea what currency conversion I'm getting before sending, and generally just annoying. I mean, an ACTUAL phone call???
In any case, I'm trying to set up a poll. If it works great and feel free to comment on preferences. If not, oh well. Comment anyway. Assuming anyone wants to. It should be a private poll.
Comments
I used to be adamant on PayPal/CC due to ease of use as you’ve mentioned but I’ve since migrated to wire transfer. Bank of America has a new policy where international wire transfers incur no fee if sent in any currency other than USD(I’ve also found the conversion fees quite reasonable and they make that known before you submit) and to it takes me all of 3/4 minutes to send a bank wire now online.
Transfer wise I grew extremely frustrated with. Perhaps I missed something but in order for my wire to get sent through to an international auction house I first had to send a wire to transfer wises account in Europe which to me seemed to completely defeat the purpose but again I may have missed something here
Xe.com is a wire transfer. It just makes it easier to set up than going to the bank/CU and filling out the form. You enter all the details yourself online and they do an EFT from your bank for the funds.
And you cut out the middleman and his fees.
Thanks pruebas that was my misunderstanding then. I already have an online banking account and can initiate wires there. I Had assumed transferwise would allow me to send funds to a US based account and they would handle the wire from there hence why it didn’t serve any purpose for me
Before using XE, I used to have to go to my brokerage office, fill out the form, and then watch the clerk then type all the information I just entered on the form into the computer. Then I had to talk to the back office and confirm that yes, the rate was ok (what else could I say?) and to proceed. While they didn’t take a fee, they made it up in the exchange rate.
At least with XE, I can keep all my auction house details on file in my account, and try different days for the best rate. Very easy, and no leaving my home (especially useful during COVID).
They still get their cut from the exchange rate, but I haven’t found it onerous (like I did with PayPal).
I've only done PP, Wire, and Wise. Wise has been head and shoulders better than the other two.
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XE and Transferwise are very similar, but I like Wise a tad better due to sleek interface and being able to see every step of the process.
8 Reales Madness Collection
@TwoKopeiki I'm not picking on you, but just playing devil's advocate here because I've done it so many times.
Here is the process:
1) Business day 1: Enter the recipient details and amount. Confirm transfer. (Email sent to originator.)
2) Business day 2: Money is taken from your bank via EFT.
3) Business day 3-4: Wait for funds to "clear".
4) Business day 5: Recipient's bank has funds. (Email sent to originator.)
At what step would it be unclear as to the process?
Wise is great, actual market exchange rates, less than 1% fee, between 1-5 days for recipient to receive funds in my experience
I never send fund to oversea. I bought from ebay and use paypal to pay for international seller. I did receive fund from oversea buyer using wise. It is just like bank transfer no issue. It usually takes about a day or two for the money to show up.
@pruebas To me, 5 business days is a long time to wait for an international wire. I also like instant notifications that come with using the app. Not to mention the ability to have various currency accounts allowing for no-conversion sending and receiving to countries I do a lot of business with (like US)
8 Reales Madness Collection
It sounds like you guys are saying is that Wise doesn't need a clearing period. That's definitely a plus, if true. I will have to check that out. I thought all EFT transfers needed to clear, just like a check.
After doing the research, I have found that Wise will let you fund a transfer with a credit card, debit card, or ACH transfer. Of course, credit card funding costs the most, but that is the only way to get an instantaneous transfer (like PayPal).
Personally, I’d prefer to save the extra bucks and fund with ACH and wait the few extra days.
When funding with ACH, both companies take the same amount of time to transfer.
ACH=Automated Clearinghouse (the way paper checks and EFTs are cleared in the USA)
I compare the difference in amounts between XE.com and my credit card and then decide. XE.com has both ACH and Wire options though I use only ACH here. For higher amounts if Wire makes sense then use my bank directly-- that is the cheapest. Make sure your CC has no foreign exchange fees and will turn out cheaper than PayPal. The PayPal fx rate is not that great to a no fees CC.
@Stork,
Too bad that your poll does not accept more than one answer, because a lot of times the method I choose depends on the circumstances. I recently sent money via a wire transfer; I chose that method because I knew the recipient and felt it was a safe transaction. The online process was easy enough; my first time doing that was a pain but I got used to it and it is not a burden at all to me now.
But, I will also choose payment via CC or PP depending on what the recipient accepts and how he is set up. If he has a cart and checkout system, then I just use that with my CC. Otherwise, PP becomes an option.
EVP
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That's weird, I got it to take more than one option on the other site. I like Paypal for lower cost purchases, but between the relatively bad dollar to yen rate (about 2% difference), and the 4.4% 'extra fee', at a certain level it's too much.
Wise (once I got the hang of it--my credit union didn't let me transfer to them oddly but my bank did) was pretty easy. Fast. And no wire fees either. Assuming no unforeseen glitches this will have been a good experience. In any case it cost me far less than my bank or credit union's international wire fee and I didn't have spend excessive amounts of time on the phone trying to spell unfamiliar words.