Transferring money

[newtoOZ]

What is the best way to transfer money to pay overseas bills? I need to do a couple of monthly payments, and I don't want to pay a fortune in fees.

[tygwyn]

Originally Posted by newtoOZ

What is the best way to transfer money to pay overseas bills? I need to do a couple of monthly payments, and I don't want to pay a fortune in fees.

Are the bills you're paying in the UK?

I use PayPal for a lot of mine - nice and easy and theres no minimum to the amount of money you can send. Our PayPal account is linked to our UK bank account (which we kept open when we left the UK) and we trans the funds directly into there.

[newtoOZ]

No, my bills are back in the US. Like an idiot I pretty much brought everything with me. PayPal is a great idea though. My original idea was to just go to the bank and buy checks in US dollars and mail them. The fees are high. I looked at wire transfer, but that's not worth it unless you are sending really big sums. Anyone have any other suggestions?

[cmallon]

Originally Posted by tygwyn

Are the bills you're paying in the UK?

I use PayPal for a lot of mine - nice and easy and theres no minimum to the amount of money you can send. Our PayPal account is linked to our UK bank account (which we kept open when we left the UK) and we trans the funds directly into there.

Really glad I looked at this as I was also thinking about having to transfer money back for regular bills and I never even gave paypal a thought. I had resigned myself to the fact that I would be paying a lot of money for wire transfers so got some good advice here.

[cmallon]

Originally Posted by tygwyn

Are the bills you're paying in the UK?

I use PayPal for a lot of mine - nice and easy and theres no minimum to the amount of money you can send. Our PayPal account is linked to our UK bank account (which we kept open when we left the UK) and we trans the funds directly into there.

Hi there,
Can you please tell me a bit about how the paypal thing works. I have a paypal account (we are still in the UK) and didn't think of using it. I had thought that I would need to pay for wire transfers at the bank once we are in Oz. I had a look at the website but the paypal worldwide info seemed to be for buyers and sellers, how does it work to just send money from the account I will have in Oz to my account in the UK?
Thanks

[FX Specialist]

Hi tygwyn, cmallon & newtoOZ

Check out my post on Moving Your Money.
If you guys are in a situation where you need to make international transfers - I guarantee that I can beat PayPal by a mile. I know that it seems good, but firstly you lose something like 4% just for sending/receiving the money. The company I work for is a leading FX provider and I can provide details of how to save/gain on international transfers to anyone who needs it.

I cant post a link to the topic, so its in the Spain Section!

Feel free to drop me a PM and I'll provide details. I don't want to post links in topics as its a bit cheeky!

Kind regards

FX Specialist