# Moving Euros to US dollars



## jgombos (Mar 27, 2009)

I need to move money from europe to a USD account in the states. What's the cheapest way to do this? There are so many hidden fees with all the brokers out there. Has anyone done this research? 

Sites that specialize in one-way exchanges use convenience as a selling point - targeting laypeople who wouldn't know all the ways fees are hidden. So I'm thinking a forex account is the way to go. The challenge is finding one that doesn't require you to use leverage (so you can exchange strictly the money you have), and also doesn't charge commissions (I would rather just pay a spread).


----------



## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

A little more information might help stimulate some suggestions.

Are you looking to make one big transfer of money, or regular transfers over time? If these are bank to bank transfers, always with the same sending and receiving banks, you might start by having a discussion with the banks on either side of the transaction to see what the best is they can do. At least it gives you a starting point.
Cheers,
Bev


----------



## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

XEtrade - Overview


----------



## jgombos (Mar 27, 2009)

Bevdeforges said:


> A little more information might help stimulate some suggestions.
> 
> Are you looking to make one big transfer of money, or regular transfers over time?


I'm looking for the cheapest way to move small amounts on a regular basis.

In a crowd sourcing effort, I have created a wiki page to collect this information - but I'm not allowed to post it because I'm a new member. 

Anyone who has transferred euros to USD, please update the wiki with your actual overhead. (I'll post the link to it after I make four posts and gain the privilege to post links)


----------



## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

jgombos said:


> I'm looking for the cheapest way to move small amounts on a regular basis.
> 
> In a crowd sourcing effort, I have created a wiki page to collect this information - but I'm not allowed to post it because I'm a new member.
> 
> Anyone who has transferred euros to USD, please update the wiki with your actual overhead. (I'll post the link to it after I make four posts and gain the privilege to post links)


In addition to the fees, you have to take into account the amount and the spread or the analysis is worthless.


----------



## jgombos (Mar 27, 2009)

Fatbrit said:


> In addition to the fees, you have to take into account the amount and the spread or the analysis is worthless.


I intend to take it a step past that. It's possible for two forex brokers to have the same spread, but still have a variance in the bid/ask, depending on the market. So the wiki page collects actual rates, directing contributors to use the calculator on the xe website, so there's a standard wholesale rate for comparison.


----------



## jgombos (Mar 27, 2009)

Fatbrit said:


> XEtrade - Overview


I just read a post where someone said that exchange service charges $19.50 for wires to and from a euro account - although they're free on the US side of the transaction. It's a high enough fee to make xe trade not so appealing.

I believe CMC Markets is the way to go. They have a European IBAN/Swift number, so free on the EU side of the fence. They have no commissions or fees, and profit strictly from the spread. And they don't charge anything to wire money to the US, or write a foreign check. Although foreign checks are slow, it turns out they are at least usually free to deposit into a US acct.


----------



## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

jgombos said:


> I just read a post where someone said that exchange service charges $19.50 for wires to and from a euro account - although they're free on the US side of the transaction. It's a high enough fee to make xe trade not so appealing.
> 
> I believe CMC Markets is the way to go. They have a European IBAN/Swift number, so free on the EU side of the fence. They have no commissions or fees, and profit strictly from the spread. And they don't charge anything to wire money to the US, or write a foreign check. Although foreign checks are slow, it turns out they are at least usually free to deposit into a US acct.


Xetrade charges nothing AFAIK for the transaction -- they make their money on the spread. The charges probably arose with one of the banks. You have to carefully set up your route to avoid these. There's guidance on their website.


----------



## jgombos (Mar 27, 2009)

Fatbrit said:


> Xetrade charges nothing AFAIK for the transaction -- they make their money on the spread. The charges probably arose with one of the banks. You have to carefully set up your route to avoid these. There's guidance on their website.


The thing is, banks in the EU do not charge for European wires. So the only way for the charge to come from the account holders bank account would be if XE Trade is outside of eurozone. 

The rationale doesn't matter so much as the fact that there is a charge. I suspect that XE Trade does not have an EU based bank; or it does, but it's adding the fee merely for profit.

BTW, this is the wiki I was talking about for folks to update with rates:

Moving Money - Personal Finance


----------



## frankmartin (Apr 16, 2009)

Options are important when you need to keep the value of the existing fixed-income portfolio. Options are also considered as insurance during bad price movements with a versatile feature of being beneficial during favorable price movements. Also, one should remember that exercising the option is not decided by the buyer. The person or purchaser of the option loses only the initial investment of premiums plus commissions and fees that does not apply to a futures contract buyer. Lastly, margin calls do not pertain to an option buyer. The purchaser has the advantage to keep up to the market position without having to be subject to extra funds in spite of market conditions.


----------



## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

What amount are you talking about?


----------



## jgombos (Mar 27, 2009)

twostep said:


> What amount are you talking about?


Small amounts. Eg. 500-1000, for example.

Here's the wiki I was talking about:

Moving Money - Personal Finance - a Wikia wiki

This is very tricky. Banks at each end of the transfer will only disclose what they charge; they refuse to disclose what all the intermediate banks charge. Intermediate banks in Europe can siphon whatever they want as money passes through. It's a misconception that eurozone wires are necessarily free. 

Does anyone know from experience of a forex broker that can receive funding in europe and result in no wire fee, and will also not charge to send a wire? A lot of them make that claim, and state that they only make money on the spread, but then they arrange partnerships with banks that skim money as it moves.


----------



## barryd (May 26, 2009)

transfermate are cheaper than xe in the long run, always compare though and with your bank


----------



## Davis1 (Feb 20, 2009)

barryd said:


> transfermate are cheaper than xe in the long run, always compare though and with your bank


Clever Spamming Barry ..3 post ..3 diffferent recommendation 
all to the same company


----------



## barryd (May 26, 2009)

Hi Davis,
J1jobs opens bank accounts, transfermate does transfers, they are not the same companies but i see your point in spamming.

The bank account service is a very handy service which i am currently looking to advertise on the website instead of promoting it this way. Please put it down to a classic newbie error


----------



## bradleyt (Jun 5, 2009)

I have not bothered to read what anyone else has said but I can think of two ways. The first being to open a US account then transfer funds via online from one to the other. Exchange will automatically occur. The other option - paypal. I know it sounds silly but PayPal will charge very minimal fees and can wire large sums of money. Just avoid Western Union.


----------



## jsflynn603 (Aug 13, 2008)

I've heard over and over again "oh, this way is cheap...their fee is low" But then eventually you find that there is a 2% Euro to US$ loss, and so even if the fee was free, it is not cheap. Some places will not even quote you an accurate currency to currency quote so you can look at current bank rates to see what the exchange rate really is. Many are by and large petty scammers at best. At least Western Union gives you actual exchange rates and fixed fees, but they are not good for amounts of less than several hundred Euros.

A possibility might be to open a brokerage account who has offices in your country an in America. Many allow free brokerage to bank/bank to brokerage transfers (not wires). IB (Interactive Brokers) charge amazingly small exchange rates, whereas E*trade charges you about 1.25% and a wire fee. 

It's a question that I've tried to research several times and for small amount until recently I was very happy with Western Union because there was a code that reduced the fee to only $2US, and the transfer rate was less than 1/2% (US to Philippine peso). But recently the code stopped working and now it is $12. 

$100 at $2+0.50 = $2.50 or 2.5% which I thought was good.
$100 at $12 + 0.50 = $12.50 which is 12.5% which sucks.
They do have the same fee lately up to $1000 so $12 + $5 = 1.7% is pretty good.

But you are right, too much is hidden, even in the so-called forex places.

I hope you put up your link.


----------



## jgombos (Mar 27, 2009)

jsflynn603 said:


> IB (Interactive Brokers) charge amazingly small exchange rates, whereas E*trade charges you about 1.25% and a wire fee.


IB seems to be one of a kind. It's the only broker that supports deliverable FX trading with realtime quotes, and no funding costs. All other brokers run a wire siphoning scam. 

It's free to fund an IB account from a SEPA account, and the assets are deliverable in the US. There's an ACH fee of $1, plus a commission of $2.50 on the trade. It seems to blow every other option out of the water. 

I will mention a comparison site that I found:

International Money Transfer - Send Money Online

Folks who don't want the hassle of IB's ~10+ page application process could get a quote from sendmoneyhome.org, and use that figure to negotiate with brokers at ozforex.com.


----------

