Cheapest and quickest way to pay a business in the US
Cheapest and quickest way to pay a business in the US
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Discussion

Louis Balfour

Original Poster:

28,176 posts

251 months

Monday 8th November 2021
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About £10k.

HSBC says it could take 4 days plus!

I have accounts with Barclays and Nat West too if it helps.

jonny70

1,280 posts

187 months

Monday 8th November 2021
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Wise .com (no affiliation)

I have used them to sent payments to the US and they are excellent.

Louis Balfour

Original Poster:

28,176 posts

251 months

Monday 8th November 2021
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jonny70 said:
Wise .com (no affiliation)

I have used them to sent payments to the US and they are excellent.
Yes, looks good value.

I am not sure if I am expecting too much, but why does it still take 48 hours to send money? With electronic banking it's immediate surely?

Evoluzione

10,345 posts

272 months

Monday 8th November 2021
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Paypal.

supersport

4,630 posts

256 months

Tuesday 9th November 2021
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Wise, I use them regularly for sending and receiving money at that value and higher, it's fast and efficient.

Louis Balfour

Original Poster:

28,176 posts

251 months

Tuesday 9th November 2021
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Evoluzione said:
Paypal.
You know when I said cheapest...

guyvert1

2,161 posts

271 months

Tuesday 9th November 2021
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I used to use these in the past https://www.xe.com/send-money/

Cheib

25,365 posts

204 months

Tuesday 9th November 2021
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Revolut. Mate of mine pays his sons University fees in the US with it….I’ve used a few times for large overseas payments. If you are worried about it send an initial payment of £50 to make sure they get it. You won’t get a better FX rate than Revolut give you.

NickCQ

5,392 posts

125 months

Tuesday 9th November 2021
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Louis Balfour said:
I am not sure if I am expecting too much, but why does it still take 48 hours to send money? With electronic banking it's immediate surely?
US banking and payments is stuck in the Stone Age compared to the UK / EU. They only just got Chip and Pin FFS biggrin!

Louis Balfour

Original Poster:

28,176 posts

251 months

Wednesday 10th November 2021
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Cheib said:
Revolut. Mate of mine pays his sons University fees in the US with it….I’ve used a few times for large overseas payments. If you are worried about it send an initial payment of £50 to make sure they get it. You won’t get a better FX rate than Revolut give you.
Have just downloaded it and will give it a try. Thanks.

Matt p

1,119 posts

237 months

Wednesday 10th November 2021
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Would it still be advisable to use the same companies for personal transfers?. I’m looking at sending £25k out to Brazil.

Louis Balfour

Original Poster:

28,176 posts

251 months

Wednesday 10th November 2021
quotequote all
Louis Balfour said:
Cheib said:
Revolut. Mate of mine pays his sons University fees in the US with it….I’ve used a few times for large overseas payments. If you are worried about it send an initial payment of £50 to make sure they get it. You won’t get a better FX rate than Revolut give you.
Have just downloaded it and will give it a try. Thanks.
I did use Revolut. It was fairly easy, although it seemed not to need a great deal of information in order to complete the transaction.

HSBC on the other hand messed up the entire process by blocking the inbound transfer, then not answering the phone to do a fraud check.

Cheib

25,365 posts

204 months

Friday 12th November 2021
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Louis Balfour said:
Louis Balfour said:
Cheib said:
Revolut. Mate of mine pays his sons University fees in the US with it….I’ve used a few times for large overseas payments. If you are worried about it send an initial payment of £50 to make sure they get it. You won’t get a better FX rate than Revolut give you.
Have just downloaded it and will give it a try. Thanks.
I did use Revolut. It was fairly easy, although it seemed not to need a great deal of information in order to complete the transaction.

HSBC on the other hand messed up the entire process by blocking the inbound transfer, then not answering the phone to do a fraud check.
I think Revolut is fantastic, it’s brilliant for using when on holiday. They are playing the long game as there is no way the business is profitable on it’s FX for retail.

Evoluzione

10,345 posts

272 months

Friday 12th November 2021
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Louis Balfour said:
Evoluzione said:
Paypal.
You know when I said cheapest...
They are cheap, I sent about $800 over the other day for no more than £2.99, I get the feeling it's a fixed fee and not a percentage.
You won't find cheaper than that. Problem is certain businesses don't have PP accounts.

cheeky_chops

1,648 posts

280 months

Sunday 14th November 2021
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Evoluzione said:
They are cheap, I sent about $800 over the other day for no more than £2.99, I get the feeling it's a fixed fee and not a percentage.
You won't find cheaper than that. Problem is certain businesses don't have PP accounts.
you missed the 3.75% over base rate so on $800 thats a hidden $30 charge

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/cross-border...

Louis Balfour

Original Poster:

28,176 posts

251 months

Monday 15th November 2021
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cheeky_chops said:
Evoluzione said:
They are cheap, I sent about $800 over the other day for no more than £2.99, I get the feeling it's a fixed fee and not a percentage.
You won't find cheaper than that. Problem is certain businesses don't have PP accounts.
you missed the 3.75% over base rate so on $800 thats a hidden $30 charge

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/cross-border...
I sent £100 by Paypal and calculated what it would have cost me, had I sent £10k. It worked out a few hundred pounds more than Revolut.

Louis Balfour

Original Poster:

28,176 posts

251 months

Monday 15th November 2021
quotequote all
Cheib said:
Louis Balfour said:
Louis Balfour said:
Cheib said:
Revolut. Mate of mine pays his sons University fees in the US with it….I’ve used a few times for large overseas payments. If you are worried about it send an initial payment of £50 to make sure they get it. You won’t get a better FX rate than Revolut give you.
Have just downloaded it and will give it a try. Thanks.
I did use Revolut. It was fairly easy, although it seemed not to need a great deal of information in order to complete the transaction.

HSBC on the other hand messed up the entire process by blocking the inbound transfer, then not answering the phone to do a fraud check.
I think Revolut is fantastic, it’s brilliant for using when on holiday. They are playing the long game as there is no way the business is profitable on it’s FX for retail.
The money has arrived, but it was paid "ACH" which can apparently be reversed, so I am having to wait additional time for the money to clear!

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

227 months

Monday 15th November 2021
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Credit card an option?

Louis Balfour

Original Poster:

28,176 posts

251 months

Tuesday 16th November 2021
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Welshbeef said:
Credit card an option?
Expensive, typically.