Western Union by Nationwide Credit card.

happyandcontented

I am about to pay for a holiday rental, previously, the deposit was paid via bank transfer and I can pay the balance that way if I choose. The owner has also said I can pay by credit card via Western Union.

I know WU has a bad reputation but would there be an issue paying by Nationwide card? Would the same protections be afforded if any issues arose?

grumbler

No protection for both a bank transfer and WU funded by a CC.
Also, you'll possibly be charged the cash advance fee in the latter case.

If it's abroad, check fxcompared.com to save on a bank transfer.

Can you not pay cash on arrival?

happyandcontented

No, unfortunately, the owner will only accept monies sent as above.

I have taken out a stand alone policy in case there is an issue via the online agent HomeAway but I would still have rather paid by credit card.

Can you do an over the counter payment abroad via a credit card?

grumbler

I don't think that you can do this even for UK payments.
If the recipient doesn't accept CC payments, then no way can you get the protection you want.

eddddy

Is the rental payment in a foreign currency?

If so, you could use a foreign exchange company (as grumbler suggests in post #2), and save some money. But no s75 protection. And you would need to carefully check-out the fx company as well, to make sure they are legit.


Essentially, you would transfer GBP to the fx company's sterling bank account. Then they would transfer the foreign currency from their foreign currency account to to renter's bank account.

And they would typically do it at a much better exchange rate than your bank would offer.

CKhalvashi

happyandcontented wrote: »

I know WU has a bad reputation but would there be an issue paying by Nationwide card? Would the same protections be afforded if any issues arose?

No protection.

WU is fine if used to people you've met before, but never send money by this method to people you don't know. I use it if I need to send money to family back home in an emergency situation, but would never use it to pay for services.

Best advice is to settle by CC, preferably on arrival.

eddddy

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Best advice is to settle by CC, preferably on arrival.

I think the issue is that the property owner does not accept CCs.