send money to someones bank account online?

[johnsmarty 0]

Guys, my wife is coming from Singapore to meet me in Australia next month. We were thinking about using Fundfone to send money from Singapore to Australia online, and wondered if you thought zoom.com or fundfone.com were good options. I wanted to stay away from WU as I tried them a couple years back and we had a major delay.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I personally use Paypal. It takes about 10 days but it's the cheapest method I know of.

[riss 12]

I'm assuming that you don't have bank accounts in both countries? Because I've sent money to people in the US a number of times just by doing a transfer through my online banking, from my account to his. That was simple and reliable.

Edited May 11, 2013 by riss

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I'm assuming that you don't have bank accounts in both countries? Because I've sent money to people in the US a number of times just by doing a transfer through my online banking, from my account to his. That was simple and reliable.

I find that a really expensive method. Which bank/s are involved and what are the fees? If you don't mind me asking...

[riss 12]

Hey there Vanessa . I'll send you a PM with the bank names, but the fees were $20 for me to do the online transfer, which was pretty simple, just filling in a form from my online banking. It's the same fee regardless of how much money you send. The exchange rates were also decent as far as I could tell, because I compared them with another company that supposedly specialised in low-priced overseas money transfers, but whose rates were less favourable.

One thing I'm not sure about - the customer service people at my bank said to me that I could have paid an additional $30 and that would cover any possible bank fees charged by my fiancé's bank to receive the funds. They didn't seem certain if these fees would necessarily be charged and how much they would be, so I didn't bother paying the extra. I never checked with my fiance whether he was charged a fee or not, so I should find out. He didn't mention it, but he wouldn't have necessarily.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Hey there Vanessa . I'll send you a PM with the bank names, but the fees were $20 for me to do the online transfer, which was pretty simple, just filling in a form from my online banking. It's the same fee regardless of how much money you send. The exchange rates were also decent as far as I could tell, because I compared them with another company that supposedly specialised in low-priced overseas money transfers, but whose rates were less favourable.

One thing I'm not sure about - the customer service people at my bank said to me that I could have paid an additional $30 and that would cover any possible bank fees charged by my fiancé's bank to receive the funds. They didn't seem certain if these fees would necessarily be charged and how much they would be, so I didn't bother paying the extra. I never checked with my fiance whether he was charged a fee or not, so I should find out. He didn't mention it, but he wouldn't have necessarily.

Okay cool thanks.

I did ANZ to Wells Fargo and it cost $25 from Aus, and $25 for US to receive.

With paypal it's based on a percentage of what you send (free if it wasn't international) and it's usually cost me around $5 total.

[riss 12]

That sounds good Vanessa, I didn't realise you could use paypal to transfer money to each other. Must look into that. I haven't used paypal a lot.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

That sounds good Vanessa, I didn't realise you could use paypal to transfer money to each other. Must look into that. I haven't used paypal a lot.

i have 2 paypal accounts. One for Australian linked to my aussie account, and one for the US linked to my American account.

It's not exactly quick (around 10 days total) but it's a smaller fee and I don't usually have any big hurry.

When mum came to visit she put her spending money in my Aussie account about 2 weeks before she left. I started the transfer and it was here in my US account (in a joint account I put her name on so she got her own card and a cool souveneir) before she arrived. She lost very little in the transfer, in fact, due to the higher Aussie dollar I believe she ended up with MORE money even after fees

[littlej 23]

i have 2 paypal accounts. One for Australian linked to my aussie account, and one for the US linked to my American account.

It's not exactly quick (around 10 days total) but it's a smaller fee and I don't usually have any big hurry.

When mum came to visit she put her spending money in my Aussie account about 2 weeks before she left. I started the transfer and it was here in my US account (in a joint account I put her name on so she got her own card and a cool souveneir) before she arrived. She lost very little in the transfer, in fact, due to the higher Aussie dollar I believe she ended up with MORE money even after fees

Hi Vanessa, first off thanks so much for all of the info you have taken the time to document over your visa journey...i just read your interview day story and when you finally got approved i got a bit teary HA! i was wondering what American bank you are with that you were able to put your Mum as a joint account holder, and what info did you need to provide to b able to do that? Thanks again

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Hi Vanessa, first off thanks so much for all of the info you have taken the time to document over your visa journey...i just read your interview day story and when you finally got approved i got a bit teary HA! i was wondering what American bank you are with that you were able to put your Mum as a joint account holder, and what info did you need to provide to b able to do that? Thanks again

Haha thanks! It really was a bad day but I can't really say that given the ending! It doesn't seem like that was almost 4 years ago now!

I'm with Wells Fargo. She needed 2 forms of ID (passport and drivers license I believe she used) to be added to an account I had already opened in anticipation of her visit. Initially they had said they would open it without her there if I could get copies of the docs and her signature on this form, but then they couldn't finish the opening until she was there in person. I didn't mind so much as I minded them changing their story.

So the day of her arrival all her money was already in the account, we went to the bank the day she arrived and she got her "client ID" stuff done in about 1/2 hour and got a temp card and some check/cheque books , Her new card (with the American flag on it per her choice ) arrived about 3-5 days later. She activated it at the atm (got quite a kick out of it) and used her American card with pride

I would have kept the account if they hadn't been going to start charging me fees (that and she doesn't visit often enough) but she definitely appreciated not having to carry around wads of cash and that she felt "normal". Plus of course it's a cool souvenir now

We were going to send any remaining money back but she ended up spending everything she sent over. She also had "added credit" to a Visa Card at Aus Post as a backup just in case but she didn't need to use it and just paid bills back home with it. I should mention she was here for 3 weeks so it made sense for her to have easy access to American funds.

[littlej 23]

Haha thanks! It really was a bad day but I can't really say that given the ending! It doesn't seem like that was almost 4 years ago now!

I'm with Wells Fargo. She needed 2 forms of ID (passport and drivers license I believe she used) to be added to an account I had already opened in anticipation of her visit. Initially they had said they would open it without her there if I could get copies of the docs and her signature on this form, but then they couldn't finish the opening until she was there in person. I didn't mind so much as I minded them changing their story.

So the day of her arrival all her money was already in the account, we went to the bank the day she arrived and she got her "client ID" stuff done in about 1/2 hour and got a temp card and some check/cheque books , Her new card (with the American flag on it per her choice ) arrived about 3-5 days later. She activated it at the atm (got quite a kick out of it) and used her American card with pride

I would have kept the account if they hadn't been going to start charging me fees (that and she doesn't visit often enough) but she definitely appreciated not having to carry around wads of cash and that she felt "normal". Plus of course it's a cool souvenir now

We were going to send any remaining money back but she ended up spending everything she sent over. She also had "added credit" to a Visa Card at Aus Post as a backup just in case but she didn't need to use it and just paid bills back home with it. I should mention she was here for 3 weeks so it made sense for her to have easy access to American funds.

ah thanks for that, so much to think about. I'm heading over for a visit in a month and we thought it might be good to set up a joint account to add to our list of evidence! Plus it will make things easier being able to access money from an American account while i'm there. Usually i use my Citibank account as they don't charge any fee's for accessing your money overseas, might be good for your mum if she visits again