Sending money overseas...

[corazónENparaguay 46]

I'm trying to figure out what options I have for sending money from the US to Paraguay, and avoid as many fees as possible. I won't be sending large amount, only about $1K at a time, when needed for wedding expenses.

Does anybody have any insight on the best way of doing this?

[MarcoGomes 2]

I send money to my wife via WIRE..through WellsFargo

it goes straight into her bank account in Brazil...I pay a fee of $30..no matter how much I send.

Hope this helps. :-)

[Casprd 167]

What I did with my wife in China is set up Schwab brokerage and checking accounts and then sent her the atm debit card. I can transfer money to these from my bank account at no cost and she can withdraw money at any ATM in the world. There are no fees from Schwab for this and they advertise that they will reimburse any other banks atm fees to you. So far we haven't seen any transaction or currency exchange fees on the account and we have been doing it this way since August. Beats the heck of of the fees for WU, moneygram or bank wire.

[Casprd 167]

What I did with my wife in China is set up Schwab brokerage and checking accounts and then sent her the atm debit card. I can transfer money to these from my bank account at no cost and she can withdraw money at any ATM in the world. There are no fees from Schwab for this and they advertise that they will reimburse any other banks atm fees to you. So far we haven't seen any transaction or currency exchange fees on the account and we have been doing it this way since August. Beats the heck of of the fees for WU, moneygram or bank wire.

[SimplyMacy 4]

What I did with my wife in China is set up Schwab brokerage and checking accounts and then sent her the atm debit card. I can transfer money to these from my bank account at no cost and she can withdraw money at any ATM in the world. There are no fees from Schwab for this and they advertise that they will reimburse any other banks atm fees to you. So far we haven't seen any transaction or currency exchange fees on the account and we have been doing it this way since August. Beats the heck of of the fees for WU, moneygram or bank wire.

This one sounds great!

[J and S 38]

What I did with my wife in China is set up Schwab brokerage and checking accounts and then sent her the atm debit card. I can transfer money to these from my bank account at no cost and she can withdraw money at any ATM in the world. There are no fees from Schwab for this and they advertise that they will reimburse any other banks atm fees to you. So far we haven't seen any transaction or currency exchange fees on the account and we have been doing it this way since August. Beats the heck of of the fees for WU, moneygram or bank wire.

I'll have to try this in the future.

In the past I have done either a wire through Western Union. It's easy, but with an amount as high as 1k I would go a different route.

I've also done bank wires for larger sums of money. This isn't so bad and has been my method of choice. You more or less need the banking/account information on the receiving end. It can take more time if anything.

Hmmmm...interesting idea with this Schwab account. I never thought of that.

[CQ & CS 2]

My back then fiance PayPal me. I'm not sure if PP works for Paraguay. Wire transfer or Western Union are both secured too. For WU, she gets the $ in 15mins whilst wire transfer could take few days given all the routing information are correct.

Edited January 25, 2011 by CQ & CS

[ryna 132]

I use Xoom.com for sending money to Colombia.

It's $4.99 per transfer regardless of amount (flat rate). Colombia has a $2999/mo limit, but that's probably country dependent. Not sure about Paraguay, but it's worth a look for the price.

[corazónENparaguay 46]

What I did with my wife in China is set up Schwab brokerage and checking accounts and then sent her the atm debit card. I can transfer money to these from my bank account at no cost and she can withdraw money at any ATM in the world. There are no fees from Schwab for this and they advertise that they will reimburse any other banks atm fees to you. So far we haven't seen any transaction or currency exchange fees on the account and we have been doing it this way since August. Beats the heck of of the fees for WU, moneygram or bank wire.

Is the brokerage account necessary? And was the debit card in your name? This sounds pretty slick.