France Forum - Transferring money between countries
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vml1002
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From: United States
10/10/2006 01:01
Hi,
I'm looking for advice/suggestions re: money transfer from US to France without paying the high fees and percentages of conventional bank wire transfers.
Or, bypassing transfers altogether, info regarding versatile multi-national bank accounts a person can withdraw from or deposit to while living in any country?
For those of you who move outside of your country of origin, how do you access your money?
Thanks a million! :)
Veronique
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mditlove
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From: United States
10/10/2006 16:51
Bonjour Veronique,
I have an account in France and one in the US, I just did an electronic transfer of funds from france to the US and it cost nothing.
If you use a bank where you do not have an account, there is a charge, but I don't know what it is.
The down side was that my great bank here, the Harris trust etc., owned by Bank of Montreal actually does not do business directly with Europe, so they have to use an intermediary bank which took 5 days, otherwise, it would be instantaneous.
I've learned that European banks are far more sophisticated and knowledgeable than US banks when it comes to such things, at least than banks in the midwest.
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Cicero
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From: France
10/12/2006 04:53
You are right the American banks seem to have a terrible time transferring money. One would think it was an every day occurance, but even in Sacramento it was a nightmare. No one seemed to know what they were doing. They also charge $35 per transfer and it takes days. Which is silly when it is all done by wire, and actually should take them seconds.
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ceej
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From: France
10/12/2006 06:44
If you have a paypal account in both countries, it is simple, quick and fairly inexpensive, depending on the amount that you are transferring.
It is my belief that at some point you will want a paypal account (they are free) in both countries, tied to two different bank accounts. They take a few days to get set up, so do it now.
It costs nothing to get the money out of the account (as long as the amount is above 100), and even though they say it will take a few days, it is always there in less than a day...even if the transfer is done over a weekend.
good luck
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rokiany
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From: United States
10/16/2006 01:23
You might just try asking around at different banks. I know Washington Mutual, here in New York, has free international wire transfers. Back in 2001 I used Wachovia to transfer money to Germany, and the fee was sustantial, but that might have changed in the interim.
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lostinspace
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From: France
11/16/2006 10:31
I have BNP Paribas here and a small credit union in the states. I get charged a fee on both ends for an electronic transfer, so I try to wait until I can move significant amounts of money. Also it can take a while because the money has to go through an intermediate bank. It's always a little stressful because I don't feel like the form is really set up for an intermediate bank and I'm always waiting for the transfer to fail somehow.
I also take advantage of my trips home - I simply carry cash and deposit it when I get over there.
The paypal things sounds good though. I think I'll work on getting that setup.
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