How do I move dollars in a UK Paypal account to a US bank account?
April 1, 2009 6:51 AM Subscribe
I have some US dollars in my UK Paypal account. I would like to move these to a US bank account in order to pay for a service. I can think of two ways of doing this. Are my numbers correct? Am I missing something? What's the best (read: cheapest/quickest) way of doing this?
I would like to pay a colleague in the US his share of some money that's sitting in the US Dollars section of my UK Paypal account. For the sake of argument, let's call this amount USD 10,000. I can see two ways of doing this:
1. Transfer the USD from my UK Paypal account to his US Paypal account. He can then withdraw it into his US bank account.
2. Withdraw the USD into my UK bank account and then wire it to his US bank account.
My understanding of the fees involved is a little sketchy, and neither the banks nor Paypal make it very easy to figure out. Here's what I think the two methods involve:
1. It seems to me that the fee to send money from my UK Paypal account is nothing. This is based on the UK fees page. I think there is a fee, however, to receive a cross-border payment in a US Paypal business account. This is between 2.9% and 3.9% + 30c, depending on their previous month's income. This is based on my reading of the US fees, especially Receiving payments from buyers outside the United States. But it seems that it is completely free to receive domestic payments in the US if you have a personal account.
2. I would transfer the money from dollars to pounds within my UK Paypal (commission over wholesale exchange rates is 2.5%) and withdraw it into my bank account (no charge). I would then wire it using the terms offered by Barclay's Bank (£20/35 fee depending on urgency + 2.5% currency commission + ominous sounding "Overseas delivery", which "cover the costs and charges for delivering the payment in the destination country. They may be a flat fee or a percentage fee".)
The times involved are a little easier:
1. Paypal—Paypal is instant, and then it takes about 3 days to transfer money from a US Paypal to a US bank account.
2. Paypal—UK bank account is 3-5 days, and then it takes 1-5 days for the wire transaction.
So, my question is, have I got this straight? Am I missing an option? Is my description of the fees involved accurate (especially those for method 1)? Is the only way to be sure to send a small test amount and see what happens to it on the way? Which method do I use?!
I would like to pay a colleague in the US his share of some money that's sitting in the US Dollars section of my UK Paypal account. For the sake of argument, let's call this amount USD 10,000. I can see two ways of doing this:
1. Transfer the USD from my UK Paypal account to his US Paypal account. He can then withdraw it into his US bank account.
2. Withdraw the USD into my UK bank account and then wire it to his US bank account.
My understanding of the fees involved is a little sketchy, and neither the banks nor Paypal make it very easy to figure out. Here's what I think the two methods involve:
1. It seems to me that the fee to send money from my UK Paypal account is nothing. This is based on the UK fees page. I think there is a fee, however, to receive a cross-border payment in a US Paypal business account. This is between 2.9% and 3.9% + 30c, depending on their previous month's income. This is based on my reading of the US fees, especially Receiving payments from buyers outside the United States. But it seems that it is completely free to receive domestic payments in the US if you have a personal account.
2. I would transfer the money from dollars to pounds within my UK Paypal (commission over wholesale exchange rates is 2.5%) and withdraw it into my bank account (no charge). I would then wire it using the terms offered by Barclay's Bank (£20/35 fee depending on urgency + 2.5% currency commission + ominous sounding "Overseas delivery", which "cover the costs and charges for delivering the payment in the destination country. They may be a flat fee or a percentage fee".)
The times involved are a little easier:
1. Paypal—Paypal is instant, and then it takes about 3 days to transfer money from a US Paypal to a US bank account.
2. Paypal—UK bank account is 3-5 days, and then it takes 1-5 days for the wire transaction.
So, my question is, have I got this straight? Am I missing an option? Is my description of the fees involved accurate (especially those for method 1)? Is the only way to be sure to send a small test amount and see what happens to it on the way? Which method do I use?!
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Wiring money internationally is a pain, and there are often hidden charges (basically, the order is sometimes allowed to travel through several middlemen, each of whom charge a fee, before reaching its destination).
One concern regarding PayPal is that the payment has the potential to be flagged as fradulent, which could potentially lock your account and/or the account of the recipient until it gets sorted out (and sometimes, it's quite painful dealing with PayPal's customer service in resolving these kinds of issues).
You have a third option, XEtrade. I have used this with success in a similar situation. It involves setting up an account (a somewhat lengthy process), after which you can send money to the US by wiring money to an account in the UK, saving bank fees (and getting XE's buy rate for currency instead of your bank's).
posted by helios at 7:19 AM on April 1, 2009