Sending money overseas

buyitall

Hi, not sure if this is the right board, but I’m looking for advice on sending money regularly overseas.
I need to make a monthly payment in US dollars to an account in the US. I know they accept PayPal. My question is: can I set up PayPal to use a card which will give the best rate/lowest fees? I have a Starling Card, Barclaycard Platinum and Halifax Clarity.
Any advice on how to get the money to the US in the mist cost-efficient way much appreciated. Or please direct me if you think I should use a different board. Thanks 👍

The_Fat_Controller

Transferwise

virgo17

The_Fat_Controller wrote: »

Transferwise

+1 for Transferwise.

D_M_E

You need a service which will make a fixed transfer of xx dollars per month every month for a set period.

Another vote here for Transferwise but don't know if they will do a fixed amount for a fixed fee per month giving you the same exchange rate every time.

Fairfx is another to consider and they offer a fixed exchange rate for the duration of your transfer period - if you contract to do 12 transfers of, for example $500 at monthly intervals then they will fix the exchange rate for you so you know exactly how many quids you need to send them by standing order every month and no worries about exchange rates in the future.

There's many others, the above are just suggestions on personal experience.

buyitall

The_Fat_Controller wrote: »

Transferwise

virgo17 wrote: »

+1 for Transferwise.

D_M_E wrote: »

You need a service which will make a fixed transfer of xx dollars per month every month for a set period.

Another vote here for Transferwise but don't know if they will do a fixed amount for a fixed fee per month giving you the same exchange rate every time.

Fairfx is another to consider and they offer a fixed exchange rate for the duration of your transfer period - if you contract to do 12 transfers of, for example $500 at monthly intervals then they will fix the exchange rate for you so you know exactly how many quids you need to send them by standing order every month and no worries about exchange rates in the future.

There's many others, the above are just suggestions on personal experience.

Thanks, will look into both of those. Are they ways of transferring directly into an account, bypassing PayPal?
I need to transfer $700 per month. I don’t mind doing it manually each month. What about Revolut, would that be an option too?
Edit: have looked at both and they both look ideal for what I need, thank you. Do you know how they work when I need to send a fixed amount of dollars, rather than pounds? Does the website give you an instant exchange rate so you know how much Sterling to transfer? (Not a great time to be converting Sterling, god knows how much it will cost me as the months go on ������, does the Fairfx option to tie in at a fixed rate give a lower exchange rate for the privilege of fixing it? Is fixing it even a good idea??? How long is a piece of string ����������)

D_M_E

Both Transferwise and FairFx - and a lot of others - transfer directly to an account, no need for Paypal.

You just need to qoute the IBAN and SWIFT codes for the account where the money is going when setting up the transfers, making sure both are correct, you don't want to send the cash to the wrong account.

msallen

Just to check the obvious ... does the recipient accept credit cards? If so just pay with one of the cards you have that don't charge an FX fee.

buyitall

msallen wrote: »

Just to check the obvious ... does the recipient accept credit cards? If so just pay with one of the cards you have that don't charge an FX fee.

I will double check, but it’s a private landlord so I don’t think so.

bengalknights

+1 for transferwise quick and cheap

bombblast1968

If you can afford to pay upfront have you considered a bulk payment, say 6 months in advance and negotiated a discount from whoever you are paying (ie they can earn interest on the upfront payment) which also might save you some currency exchange fees as only one transaction rather than 6.

Just a thought.

buyitall

bombblast1968 wrote: »

If you can afford to pay upfront have you considered a bulk payment, say 6 months in advance and negotiated a discount from whoever you are paying (ie they can earn interest on the upfront payment) which also might save you some currency exchange fees as only one transaction rather than 6.

Just a thought.

Thanks, I’ve asked my son to look into this option.