How do I pay someone in USA in dollars?

evergreen

We want to rent a condo in the USA for our holiday. The owner has asked us to send a cheque for the deposit, but our bank can't give us a dollar cheque. The owner hasn't got a paypal account so how can we pay her without incurring large fees? Thanks

grumbler

https://www.fxcompared.com/money-transfer/UK-USA?amount=1000&bType=1&aDir=0&ref=filter

http://www.mycurrencytransfer.com/money-transfer-to-USA/1000-GBP


Or you can consider sending a prepaid card (and get it back later): Best buys: euro/dollar prepaid cards

agrinnall

Are you happy to hand over a sum of money with no way to recover it if things go wrong? The general advice is to be very wary about paying in this way. A genuine business should have some way of accepting payment through a more orthodox channel.

LHW99

Check that the request is actually from the owner - there have been scams where emails apparently from the property owner are not, and the payment actually gets diverted to another bank account and then quickly disappears without trace!

Previn

I've used Transferwise several times for Euros payments fo r apartments etc & it is extremely cheap & I've had no problems at all so far.
It does a large range of currencies including dollars but as this is effectively a bank transfer, once the cash has gone I don't think there would be anyway of reclaimimg in the event of fraud etc but if you're happy with that risk then its worth checking out

Ta

Anthorn

evergreen wrote: »

We want to rent a condo in the USA for our holiday. The owner has asked us to send a cheque for the deposit, but our bank can't give us a dollar cheque. The owner hasn't got a paypal account so how can we pay her without incurring large fees? Thanks

Which bank cannot provide a cheque in USD? That's a new one on me. As far as I'm concerned all banks in the UK can produce a USD cheque although it will most likely be a bank draft and they will charge an arm and a leg. But do tell so I can avoid that bank.

grumbler

Avoid?! Are you using them on a regular basis despite the allegedly huge cost?

That said, ignoring the unknown exchange rate, the cost isn't that huge.
An "International Draft" costs £20 to Lloyds' personal customers - the same as a £ "Banker's draft/cheque". However, indeed, this is more expensive than an international payment costing £9.50.
https://www.lloydsbank.com/assets/media/pdfs/Banking_charges_guide.pdf

eDicky

To transfer money to a US account by straight bank transfer or a service such as TransferWise, the name and address of the US account holder is required. So when you request the condo owner's bank account and personal details to send the deposit, you should be able to see if it's the same person you are supposed to be dealing with, not an imposter.

You may need to explain that outside of the USA, dollars and US dollar cheques are not always commonly used.

Anthorn

grumbler wrote: »

Avoid?! Are you using them on a regular basis despite the allegedly huge cost?

That said, ignoring the unknown exchange rate, the cost isn't that huge.
An "International Draft" costs £20 to Lloyds' personal customers - the same as a £ "Banker's draft/cheque". However, indeed, this is more expensive than an international payment costing £9.50.
https://www.lloydsbank.com/assets/media/pdfs/Banking_charges_guide.pdf

You disagreed with yourself yet again. You're doing that on a regular basis these days. As you say, £20 vs £9.50.

Been a while since I used Barclays / Chase but at that time the charge for the draft was £37. These days though I use Western Union.

mgdavid

Anthorn wrote: »

You disagreed with yourself yet again. You're doing that on a regular basis these days. As you say, £20 vs £9.50.

Been a while since I used Barclays / Chase but at that time the charge for the draft was £37. These days though I use Western Union.

Have you never heard of 'attack the post, not the poster'?
Apparently it's widely thought to be crass bad manners....

Anthorn

mgdavid wrote: »

Have you never heard of 'attack the post, not the poster'?
Apparently it's widely thought to be crass bad manners....

So what does that have to do with the topic of this thread? Or are you just attacking the poster and not the post?