How do I transfer money overseas?

June 3, 2008 11:31 PM

A friend of mine owes me money, but he's overseas for an unknown amount of time. Is there a way for his bank to transfer money to my account without large fee? What are the options?

A friend of mine borrowed a large sum of money from me about a year ago, and it's time to pay me back and I am looking for an efficient service to tell him to use. He relocated to a different country for work and it seems that he's decided to settle there.

I need a service that'll also allow him to transfer the money without a large fee...I don't want either of us to have to pay too much. Is there such a service?

posted by notsogirliegal to Work & Money (15 answers total)

If he's working for a US company he can set up a direct deposit account and do all of this online with minimal or no fee. If he's not working for a US company he can set up an account with one of the major retail on line banks and work from that. The on line banks are slower, but the money can be moved at little or no cost.
posted by ptm at 11:56 PM on June 3, 2008

Can he just Paypal?
posted by crabintheocean at 12:10 AM on June 4, 2008

http://www.westernunion.com/ offers precisely this service, though it'll depend on which country your friend is in, and what your definition is of "pay too much".
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 12:41 AM on June 4, 2008

Obopay was set up for just this sort of thing, but 'large sum of money' may be the sticking point with many of these services, often they charge on a sliding scale.
posted by pupdog at 12:55 AM on June 4, 2008

Stating the obvious perhaps: If he still has an account with a US bank, he can write and mail you a check.

Similarly, I'm in the UK but if I want to pay anybody in the US I can add them as a Payee in my US bank's online billpay account, and my bank mails them a check.
posted by vacapinta at 2:35 AM on June 4, 2008

How does he pay his other bills? He can pay you the same way. If he doesn't have a checking account, that's his problem. He should open one, or suffer the added costs of money transfer fees.
posted by gjc at 4:15 AM on June 4, 2008

It would help if you could mention the countries involved. Within Europe, this is extremely easy and cheap thanks to the now-standard International Bank Account Number system.

Rest of the world, I don't know.
posted by slimepuppy at 4:25 AM on June 4, 2008

Seconding vacapinta. Does his bank offer online bill pay? It's often free/no-fee and the cheque will be mailed directly to you from the bank.
posted by kate blank at 5:28 AM on June 4, 2008

Paypal has a fee, so depending on how much the money is the fee could be considered a large amount.

Why can't he mail you a check? It'll take a bit longer but it sounds like you've waited a while anyway ;)
posted by jesirose at 7:20 AM on June 4, 2008

Postal money orders have a cap on value, and not every post office will have the cash available to pay out on a large one, but for countries that have reciprocal agreements this is a very cheap way to send cash.
posted by Scram at 8:22 AM on June 4, 2008

Where do you live?

Have you looked into something like an Interac Email Money Transfer?

They're cheap and easy. If you're not in Canada, maybe there's a similar service where you live.
posted by ODiV at 8:32 AM on June 4, 2008

Why not just wire the money over? Without knowing what countries, the amounts involved or what you consider to be expensive, it's hard to be specific.

I'd imagine a simple wire is going to be the cheapest, quickest and easiest way (and afterall, time is money!).
posted by Static Vagabond at 10:45 AM on June 4, 2008

I live in the UK and send cheques from my UK bank account (written out in pounds sterling) to my mom once a month (for paying my student loans). My mom then deposits them into her US bank account and they usually clear in about a week. My mom's bank gives a pretty fair rate of exchange but other than the cut they take from currency conversions, no other fees on either end. Might want to check with your bank to see if this is an option. But a wire transfer will probably be the quickest and easiest way. From the UK they cost about £25 (about $50) per transfer.
posted by triggerfinger at 11:43 AM on June 4, 2008

It depends on what you mean by "large sum" and "large fees". For sums $1000 and above a Bank Wire Transfer would probably be most efficient. It will cost about $40. All major banks in many countries are a part of this network.
posted by olegchet at 1:52 PM on June 4, 2008

Usually an internet bank will let you do an ACH bank to bank transfer for free. Most will charge for a wire transfer, $40 is pretty high to pay for this, most will do it for $10-$15. Hope this helps.
posted by runnergoat at 4:18 PM on April 29, 2009