Transferring Money Overseas

[Dragon Lady]

Yes thanks for all the good advice, as it turns out the money has to go through 3 accounts on the French side and has gone through 3 accounts, 2 Aussie and 1 English so far. Everyone is now telling me to be patient and we think everything is OK.
I must say I thought the world banking industry was a bit better than this, no wonder paypal and credit cards charge so much.

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Paypal could cost you 3%. Wire transfers still serve a purpose.

When I transferred monies from my Charles Schwab account to the overseas builder, the fee was a nominal fixed amount, equal to about 0.00037 of the amount transferred.

[Mike43]

I have used banks to transfer money overseas and have learnt my lesson. They charge shocking exchange rates and then $30 +/- for the privilege.
I now use and have been using for a lot of years an exchange company based in Canada. Excellent rates, excellent service and no fees. PM me for name if interested.
As a point of interest. In the old Travelers check days, I would call as many banks as I could and get the best rate. Really pays to shop around.

PS. Stuff the banks.

[hellosailor]

"I must say I thought the world banking industry was a bit better than this, no wonder paypal and credit cards charge so much."

What does "better" mean? They can be faster, if they want to be. But they are best at doing what they have been chartered to do: And that is make profits for themselves. Why send something immediately and directly for a stranger (as opposed to a significant depositor) when they can send it slowly, have six parties take percents of it, and each plays a bit of the float along the way?

Paypal, compared to how and what they started as, became greedy SOBs after eBay bought them out. Don't mistake them for the tooth fairy either.

In the US...a member can go to a AAA office, get travelers' cheques in foreign denomination (supposedly at no charge, don't know how good a rate) and then Fedex them globally. In 24-48 hours, your money is halfway around the globe, free of charge. I think the "real" Amex cards offer tree travelers' cheques as well, although that might be only in USD.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

...In the US...a member can go to a AAA office, get travelers' cheques in foreign denomination (supposedly at no charge, don't know how good a rate) and then Fedex them globally ...

Who cashes the "AAA" cheques at the other (foreign recipient) end?

[delmarrey]

Using one of many independent money exchange services I send money into a bank account in the Philippines several times a year for just a $12 fee, at the going exchange rate. And it arrives the next business day.

Can Europe/France have the same service?

[hellosailor]

Gord, they are travelers' cheques. As far as I know, every bank takes them on deposit, and OUTside of the US, every merchant used to take them with as much confidence as any major currency.

Dunno if the banks consider them "foreign currency" and surcharge the merchants, I always thought it was a great act of faith to take funny papers instead of cash anyhow.

[Mike43]

IMHO T/checks are pretty much redundant. Two rates of exchange at banks UK and fees to cash them. Lots of other options out there.
If you buy me a beer I can tell you some funny stories about travelling with TCs in the day

[Aussiesuede]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Who cashes the "AAA" cheques at the other (foreign recipient) end?

AAA Travelers checks are a "ReBranded" product issued by American Express (ie, they are American Express Cheques with the AAA logo on them).

Visa follows the same routine with their travelers cheques as well, but the rebranding is handled through 3 separate carriers. The majority of travvers cheques you get through US banks are Visa International Cheques, the exception being Citibank Travelers cheques which handle their Visa branded product in house. The other two available Visa cheque products are issued through Thomas Cook travel Services and Barclays Bank international.

As long as their are two matching signatures, then the issuing companies will honor them from a merchant. The merchant has zero liability as long as the two signatures match. Since the issuer covers all the fraud losses itself, they are in the process of winding down their travelers cheque product line all together and replacing them with branded "Travel cards" which are reloadable. Doubt you'll see any travelers cheque products anywhere after 2015 or so.

[Dragon Lady]

Just to let you guys know the money finally arrived last night, my currency trader sent an amended instruction on the final bank account number and the additional IBAN number.
I don't know if that's what did it but it certainly was a relief to hear that it had arrived.
I'm not quite sure what to do if the survey is good and I have to start sending some serious money.
That said Ozforex were very helpful and supportive so maybe I'll stick with them.

[Dragon Lady]

Hi again,

I'm currently preparing for the final payment, which I want to hold until I have viewed the boat in person but also have a limited time frame.
So can anyone suggest the best way that I can move the money offshore to France and convert it to Euros then hold it for a week so I can do an overnight transfer when I view the boat.
I've approached the bank that the vendor uses but they want me to set up a permanent account and use it which I’m not interested in.
There must be some institution that wants to hold my money for a week.

[hellosailor]

"There must be some institution that wants to hold my money for a week. "
Possibly not. It costs them time and effort to open an account and then close it again. Even if you gave the money to an attorney, or bank, and said "put it in escrow" there would be some charges for the time and effort involved.

Perhaps there is a bank or motor club near you, that will sell you EU traveler's cheques at par. (In the US, the AAA does this for members, as do some banks and perhaps American Express for some levels of cardholders.) Of course, that means you will pay the conversion fee and if the sale doesn't go through, pay it again to get it converted back.

If you pay the seller in AU$, will their bank accept a deposit of them? Often at a fee, but some banks will accept foreign currency. Perhaps one of the online banks like INGdirect will be able to deal with the different currencies? Or let you open an account in Euros?

[Dragon Lady]

I have a good forex set up it just takes about a week for the funds to go through so if I wait till I view the boat I will have to sit around for a week waiting for the boat to be released when the funds clear.

[jpemb7]

Hey Dragon Lady,

I'll be going through this process too, sometime next year. So I am interested in your experiences. It seems to me that you are going through the most difficult part now. That is, survey, transferring money and then comes the registration process. It all seems to take time, too much time.
Did you find your boat and negotiate the deal online ? Then arrange for the survey from Australia ? And once the boat passes survey, you are going os to view the boat and finalise things.
I hope you will continue to post how things go. When you are finished, I'd be interested to know what went well and if you would do anything differently.
Good luck with everthing.

Jim

[Dragon Lady]

Thanks Jim,

What I am doing is quite different to the normal sale process.
There is no negotiation with this boat it is a fixed price and I am taking the position that the deposit is not refundable.
That said the vendor has been very patient and I am assured by my contacts that they are a reputable company.
If the deposit money goes through tonight and I have secured the boat I will be more candid.
That said according to my survey the boat appears to be in very good condition and is a very reasonable price.
I did arrange the survey from Oz and was very lucky to get a first rate surveyor whom was not cheap but has given me a very detailed report.
Yes I will continue to post as the information on this site has been a great help to me and it's only fair that I give something back.