Sending money to the US

M5

Hi all,

Im in the states on assignment for 1/2 years. Im wondering what the best/cheapest way to send cash over here is? I have a BOA account but a transfer from Ireland ends up costing about $50. Also if I use my Irish ATM card it costs about 6 Euro a pop.

I get paid in Ireland so I have no option but to transfer money accross

cheers
M5

Darren1o1

M5 wrote: »

Hi all,

Im in the states on assignment for 1/2 years. Im wondering what the best/cheapest way to send cash over here is? I have a BOA account but a transfer from Ireland ends up costing about $50. Also if I use my Irish ATM card it costs about 6 Euro a pop.

I get paid in Ireland so I have no option but to transfer money accross

cheers
M5

I send money the opposite way, but my usual way is to write a cheque and cash it. It usually does not cost anything. Have you tried using your Irish bank card to take money out. If you take it out in bulk (and with certain banks) the fees are minimized.

Darren1o1

M5 wrote: »

Hi all,

Im in the states on assignment for 1/2 years. Im wondering what the best/cheapest way to send cash over here is? I have a BOA account but a transfer from Ireland ends up costing about $50. Also if I use my Irish ATM card it costs about 6 Euro a pop.

I get paid in Ireland so I have no option but to transfer money accross

cheers
M5

Could you change your direct debit account to the US also? Maybe ask your employer?

M5

Darren1o1 wrote: »

I send money the opposite way, but my usual way is to write a cheque and cash it. It usually does not cost anything. Have you tried using your Irish bank card to take money out. If you take it out in bulk (and with certain banks) the fees are minimized.

Thanks for your response!

Yeah, the Irish card costs 6/7 euro a pop to use. Also i can only take out E250 out at a time so that ends up costing quite a bit. I wonder if you can cash an Irish cheque here, i doubt it!

Darren1o1 wrote: »

Could you change your direct debit account to the US also? Maybe ask your employer?

I cant unfortunately

lil_lisa

You shouldn't get charged for using an Irish credit card. That's what I do. If you transfer your wages into it and make sure your credit card has a positive balance whenever you use it in stores, you won't get charged. Taking out money will cost a couple of euro or using the actual credit on the card will also cost.

avalon68

I think the credit card solution is the easiest for day to day purchases - I rarely use cash here, but Im assuming you will need to pay rent, bills etc too - in which case it would be easier to have your money in an american account for direct debit etc. You may just end up having to take the hit of the transfer fee if you cant arrange to have them pay directly to your american account.

Darren1o1

M5 wrote: »

Thanks for your response!

Yeah, the Irish card costs 6/7 euro a pop to use. Also i can only take out E250 out at a time so that ends up costing quite a bit. I wonder if you can cash an Irish cheque here, i doubt it!



I cant unfortunately

If regular cheques don't work, you could get someone to get travellers cheques and send them to you. A bank cashiers cheque could work too.

tombull82

Hey M5

How did you get on with this after, whats the best option?

I'm heading to portland in Jan in the same situation as you so will have to transfer wages from home to US.

the Credit Card route looks best to me..

M5

tombull82 wrote: »

Hey M5

How did you get on with this after, whats the best option?

I'm heading to portland in Jan in the same situation as you so will have to transfer wages from home to US.

the Credit Card route looks best to me..

That does not work, well not with MBNA anyway, they charge you a cash advance fee even with a positive balance

There is a method using Paypal that im looking into ATM that is supposedly free

tombull82

M5 wrote: »

That does not work, well not with MBNA anyway, they charge you a cash advance fee even with a positive balance

There is a method using Paypal that im looking into ATM that is supposedly free

I was talking to customer service in BOI, the girl told me to transfer cash onto my BOI credit card so it stays in positive balance and use it like I would my laser card at home and I should not have to pay any fee's. hopefully so.. :-)

I never thought to ask if they charge a cash advance fee to withdraw money if its in positive balance. I'll try it out and see.

I've have sent money to another individual free via Paypal before, I think i had to send it as a gift or something? must look into that again also.

Thanks

spideog7

Had to send money the other way recently and couldn't find anyplace that wasn't far too expensive. In the end used these crowd: Xoom

Was able to send the money from bank account to bank account and it only took about 2 days. Exchange rate was fairly decent too maybe a cent or 2 below xe.com.

Plus if you use that link I gave there we both get an extra $25 credit

MadsL

A word to the wise; currently BoI 365 Online is not setting up beneficiaries (online) for 12 digit US bank accounts. Ask any US bank before you open an account how many digits in the Bank Account. If more than 10 you might have short-term hassles with BoI...

See thread here..


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056470522

Killer Wench

I definitely recommend Paypal or Western Union.

tombull82

Thanks Mads, definitely something to watch out for so.

I'm landing Thursday.
:-)

MadsL wrote: »

A word to the wise; currently BoI 365 Online is not setting up beneficiaries (online) for 12 digit US bank accounts. Ask any US bank before you open an account how many digits in the Bank Account. If more than 10 you might have short-term hassles with BoI...

See thread here..


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056470522

M5

OK tried paypal

It looks ok, you get about 2c below the exchange rate.

Im with BOI and BOA. It took 2 days from BOI to Paypal (no fees), and a few hours to transfer from paypal to my BOA account, *again no fees

word of warning though. my Paypal account was suspended after my second transaction like this. Just had to verify the transactions etc

ASTRACLUB

To All assignees in AZ and OR
I have BOI and i use XE trade acount. I transfer money to XE Frankfurt acount (online wire free) and than from Frankfurt to my wellsfargo acount through ACH transfer by XE cost nothing.
I get what i am told before i lock the transaction.
You need to add a benificiary from your online BOI acount which can be done through CELL PHONE VERIFICATION (via sms).

welcome to OC8/RA3

cheers

M5

ASTRACLUB wrote: »

To All assignees in AZ and OR
I have BOI and i use XE trade acount. I transfer money to XE Frankfurt acount (online wire free) and than from Frankfurt to my wellsfargo acount through ACH transfer by XE cost nothing.
I get what i am told before i lock the transaction.
You need to add a benificiary from your online BOI acount which can be done through CELL PHONE VERIFICATION (via sms).

welcome to OC8/RA3

cheers

nice one! wondered if any of the assignees were on here

How long does the process take?