Sending money to New Zealand?

netwhizkid

I have cross posted this on the New Zealand forum here to try get local info from the expats in NZ.

Anyway here goes,

I need to send a small amount of money to NZ which amounts to NZ$330 or roughly €150. The person I am sending it to wants me to pay it into their bank account and do an International Bank Transfer, I went to my BOI bank today and was told told it would cost between €7 and €25 to to do this transaction depending on the NZ Bank charges and I can either absorb the cost myself, share it or make the recipient accept the bank charges. This is a ripoff from the Bank of Ireland and represents a charge of an additional 16.6% of the transaction, if it is the upper end €25 which it almost invariably will. I could live with €7 to €10 but anything more in ludicrous.

My two other options I have come up with the get the money over there is to get a Bank Draft denominated in New Zealand Dollars costing €3.80 from the Bank and post it via registered post to New Zealand costing €5.17 so €8.97 would be the cost of that. I could wire the money with Western Union but this will cost me €20 An Post told me and I am not too sure of it due to all the scams running with Western Union.

I am sending this money to pay for a Digital Terrestrial Receiver "Freeview HD" which I cannot get anywhere else cheaply with suitable specs for the new Irish DTT service bar New Zealand and the seller (Whom I have spoken to and trust) doesn't take Credit Card.

I wonder is there any other way to get payment to him affordably?

Toots

I can't really see a cheaper way of doing this transaction TBH, other than going to a foreign exchange and putting cash in the post, not secure tho.

To break down the BOI charge a bit, the charges for transfers outside the eurozone are 0.25% of the euro equivalent if you are sending foreign currency and 0.75% if you send euro. Min BOI charge is €8.85, and max is €36.80. You also have the option to cover any costs that may arise on the NZ side. The charge for this is €7. So in total, this transfer would cost you €15.85 if you decide to take the foreign charges. (if you're paying for goods I'd recommend you take the foreign charges too), or €8.85 if you decide to let the seller cover their own bank's costs. Obviously the advantages to doing an electronic transfer is that the money goes straight into the beneficiary bank account as cleared funds, and it takes around 5 working days.

A draft would also be a handy option, cheaper than the transfer, however you would be relying on the post to get it there and it might take longer or get lost. Also the person who you are sending it to in NZ may have to wait for it to clear in their bank account, which can take weeks.

If it were me, I'd be going with the wire transfer option.

netwhizkid

Thanks for that toots, I will ring the seller Sunday night (Monday morning NZ Time) and ask him what he wishes to do, I am hoping he may have paypal which would be the handiest for myself and probably work out cheapest if Paypal operate in NZ.

Toots

AFAIK Paypal work worldwide. It'd probably be your cheapest option if it's possible

netwhizkid

Toots85 wrote: »

I can't really see a cheaper way of doing this transaction TBH, other than going to a foreign exchange and putting cash in the post, not secure tho.

To break down the BOI charge a bit, the charges for transfers outside the eurozone are 0.25% of the euro equivalent if you are sending foreign currency and 0.75% if you send euro. Min BOI charge is €8.85, and max is €36.80. You also have the option to cover any costs that may arise on the NZ side. The charge for this is €7. So in total, this transfer would cost you €15.85 if you decide to take the foreign charges. (if you're paying for goods I'd recommend you take the foreign charges too), or €8.85 if you decide to let the seller cover their own bank's costs. Obviously the advantages to doing an electronic transfer is that the money goes straight into the beneficiary bank account as cleared funds, and it takes around 5 working days.

A draft would also be a handy option, cheaper than the transfer, however you would be relying on the post to get it there and it might take longer or get lost. Also the person who you are sending it to in NZ may have to wait for it to clear in their bank account, which can take weeks.

If it were me, I'd be going with the wire transfer option.

I went for the wire option in the end,

Thanks very much toots you were indeed spot on with €15.85 as my bank charge as I also paid the costs on the other end. I wired through NZ$330 on Monday and the seller dispatched to me Wednesday evening (early morning Irish Time) so it took only around 36 hours for the money to get there on Normal mode, it could be done faster for emergencies as there are options for this on the form also if the need arose. Payment was taken from my Acc balance on Wednesday and I received a receipt with full breakdown of costs today (Friday) by post.

The charges were €15.85 as toots had said and my costs to wire NZ$330 to NZ was €162.98 as NZ$330 @ 2.2429654 exchange rate worked out to €147.13 + €15.85 = €162.98

The google currency translator quoted me 330 New Zealand dollars = 141.403694 Euros so obviously the BOI rates are not as generous as Google's.

I am very happy despite the cost and eagerly await delivery of my DTT Receiver from NZ this coming week.

Finally I wonder do BOI do any online exchange rates where I could login and get a quote for a foreign currency that would match what I would pay as the prices listed on Google trans and Aertel are more market oriented and what you pay in the bank differs widely. It would be handy to get a true price or do I have to check my local BOI branch for the true rate? or do branches even differ?

Toots

AFAIK BOI don't have fx rates online. The rates are the same in all branches, so you could give any branch a call to get a rate quoted before you go down to your local branch.

The rates you see on the likes of Google or XE.com are what's referred to as a 'mid rate', it's a good reference point if you want a 'rough' idea of what your currency is going to cost you. When you go into a branch or to a bureau de change, the rates are broken down further in to 'buy' and 'sell' rates, the rates will differ slightly depending on whether you are dealing in cash or cheques. Also, the more currency you buy/sell, the better the rate you will get.

netwhizkid

My goods arrived today from New Zealand and I sent an International Bank transfer in the end and everything worked out 100% perfectly! Thanks for the help people