Transfer funds to USA from Ireland

C

Cheesesteak

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Hello AAM posters,

I'm an Irish resident but I spend quite some time in the US for work.

Of late I've been transferring the same USD amount from my BOI account to an account in the US once per month.

The money leaves my account, the BOI impose their international fee, (5 euros or something), but in the interim, somewhere in the murky banking world - theres a flat charge imposed on the transfer and USD30 is taken from the lump sum each time.

I queried this with the US bank and they knew NOTHING about it, acnnot explain it! Thats funny in itself. But BOI were very helpful and they informed me that there is an intermediary bank that imposes this charge, then forwards on the balance.

I, understandably, want to avoid this excessive charge. Does anyone know of how I can do this? What Irish banks (If any!) have a relationship with US banks? (There may be some waiver of fees or something like that?) Shoud I use PayPal? (I find PayPal awkward at the best of times) FexCo? Etc....

Any suggestions are welcome!

Apologies if this is a duplicate post - however I did search for related topics and did not find too much....

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
 
I send Eu200 pm to the States through BOI. It costs Eu7 - the only charge. This is done by International Transfer Form. Takes three to four business days. You can EXPRESS it - send before 10.30 and it's there at the other end that evening. This costs just under Eu13.
 
Have you tried XE?

https://www.xe.com/fx/login/

You send them the money via IBAN to Germany ( free of charge with my bank but your bank might charge) and they pay it via EFT into the US account (free of charge). You get good exchange rates and you have no or little cost. IBAN to germany takes about 2 days and EFT in the US takes another 2 days. So you are looking at about 4 days.

If you need it faster XE also can send the money via Wire transfer to the US account, which cost however on their part and remember that most US banks also have an incoming wire transfer fee that they charge the receiver (unless you specify that you carry the cost). I don't know what their wire transfer cost is but it is usaly less than what banks charge.

If you don't like xe, I have done a direct payment from PTSB to US accounts (just make sure you are there before 1100) and for the charge they have (26€ if I remember) it was same day in the US. They use Citibank in London for transfers, so they are great.
 
I am also trying to send funds to a bank in the USA (for a charity). Because it is not an urgent transfer timewise, I am hoping that a US Draft might be the cheapest way. My Bank AIB are not home at the moment to provide me information on costs!!
However, I may look at the XE.com site although its the first time I have ever heard of an international money transfer being free. In the meantime, anyone got ideas on the costs or pros and cons of a USD Draft ?
 
I did a SWIFT Transfer yesterday for $500 U.S. Dollars at exchange rate of 1.446000 and a charge of €31.50 - Total amount: €377.28 to a U.S. Bank. I was at the Bank before 11a.m. and it hit the U.S. account probably within 12 hours. PTSB did advise it could take a few days (probably just to cover themselves).
 
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