Banks with free international bank transfers/wire!?

nb20

Hey, so I'm new to this forum and moving to Ireland soon. I have student loans to pay for in the USA and I've found out that I can only pay those with my US bank. Do any banks in Ireland offer free international bank transfers/wire!?? Thanks!

BuffyBot

None that offer free transfers to the USA that I'm aware of.

nb20

Thanks! I didn't think so. There isn't a citibank in Dublin is there? If so they offer free transfers.

If not, what's a good bank with the cheapest outbound/send fee?

JTMan

nb20 wrote: »

Hey, so I'm new to this forum and moving to Ireland soon. I have student loans to pay for in the USA and I've found out that I can only pay those with my US bank. Do any banks in Ireland offer free international bank transfers/wire!?? Thanks!

Plenty of Irish banks offer free EUR (SEPA zone) international transfers but not USD.

You can get it close to zero but not zero. You can do a USD transfer for 0.35% wire fee and a small FX margin.

Use an online brokerage service such as Currency Fair who will complete the wire and the FX for you at a lower rate than the bank.

nb20

Online Brokerage and all that sounds like a lot of work to do every month. I'd prefer a one stop shop such as bank to bank. Does anyone else transfer money outside of Europe? If so what bank do you use, and or anyone aware of outbound fees attached with certain banks? Ulster bank? AIB? etc. Trying to find the cheapest outbound fee!

nb20

Also JTMan, can you explain how all that works? Currency Fair and FX?

Is this stuff legit? Does it go to a bank? I know nothing about all that.

mel.b

Currency fair is brilliant - i use it every month to send money to Australia. Basically they have bank accounts in loads of different countries which is how they can offer the better rates and low fees. So you transfer the money from your account into the currency fair account - if you do this on a monday, they have it tues etc. then you exchange it within currency fair for the currency you want - sounds complicated but takes all of two seconds. Then you let them know the account details of the account you want to deposit to and how much and they do it. For transfers to Oz this happens again over night.

So basically you deposit euro into their dublin account, 'exchange it' for USD, and they tansfer from their USD account into your account. It's clever and works because there are people doing it in reverse also, so there are always funds available in the various currencies.

nb20

Thanks Mel.b. The whole idea of putting money into someone's account and providing bank info, etc etc..seems sketch; however, might be worth a go! Banks will cost a lot and the exchange rate is not great! Thanks again guys. I'll definitely have to look into it more!

homer911

nb20 wrote: »

Thanks Mel.b. The whole idea of putting money into someone's account and providing bank info, etc etc..seems sketch; however, might be worth a go! Banks will cost a lot and the exchange rate is not great! Thanks again guys. I'll definitely have to look into it more!

I use transferwise.com and you can send them the money with a VISA debit card, very efficient process

nb20

homer911 wrote: »

I use transferwise.com and you can send them the money with a VISA debit card, very efficient process

That sounds very convenient! I'll also have to look into this! You use them often!?

BuffyBot

nb20 wrote: »

Thanks Mel.b. The whole idea of putting money into someone's account and providing bank info, etc etc..seems sketch; however, might be worth a go! Banks will cost a lot and the exchange rate is not great! Thanks again guys. I'll definitely have to look into it more!

Obviously you're not going to lodge it to just any one

Read up on the companies involved and find which works best for you. Transferwise for example has Sir Richard Branson as a backer. So they aren't all fly by night operations

ScottSF

I recommend CurrencyFair as well. They are based in Ireland so you are supporting an Irish company. You can transfer from your bank account in Ireland (Euros) to a US Bank (Dollars) for a small fee plus a very good exchange rate. They are quite established now and I've used them several times without a problem. I suggest you pick the best money transfer company based on your requirements and try them out with a small amount first to see how easy and successful it is. It takes a bit of time to set up as you need all your bank account numbers and also legal identification since they are subject to financial oversight.

The other issue is trying to time your currency transfers to get a better rate based upon market fluctuations. Like right now the Euro is weak and so it doesn't buy as many dollars as a year ago. Use Google Finance to keep track if you have some flexibility as to when you transfer funds back or forth.

homer911

nb20 wrote: »

That sounds very convenient! I'll also have to look into this! You use them often!?

I've used them about five times over the summer

They give you a preliminary quote when you are transferring a specific amount of foreign currency. As rates vary, this covers them for any movement in the rate before receiving your funds. Each time I got a rebate credited to my account where they had asked for more than was necessary.

I was pretty secptical at first but have been very impressed with both the service and the rates

nb20

Again thanks everyone! I'll have to really research some companies! Good to know there are other ways besides paying the banks to rob me!

tomfoolery60

nb20 wrote: »

That sounds very convenient! I'll also have to look into this! You use them often!?

I also use TransferWise (about once a month) after discovering it on Boards. It is perfect for loan repayments, you can pay a fixed USD amount and use your debit card so it's very quick. I have also used CurrencyFair and they are good but not as cheap and I find TransferWise's interface a lot better.

I use it for GBP and EUR and it is fantastic, have saved a fortune so far.

If you want a referral link for a free transfer feel free to PM me.

nb20

tomfoolery60 wrote: »

I also use TransferWise (about once a month) after discovering it on Boards. It is perfect for loan repayments, you can pay a fixed USD amount and use your debit card so it's very quick. I have also used CurrencyFair and they are good but not as cheap and I find TransferWise's interface a lot better.

I use it for GBP and EUR and it is fantastic, have saved a fortune so far.

If you want a referral link for a free transfer feel free to PM me.

Thanks! The referral link can't hurt!!

crushproof

I originally used CurrencyFair but I discovered TransferWise a while back and have used them constantly since for transferring money between Ireland and numerous other countries.
They consistently have the best rates and all you can simply use your debit card for the transaction. In some cases the money was available in the other account the next, very very swift!