Forums » Netherlands » Americans in the Netherlands

• ratkat

  
   

  December 11, 2009 11:04:42 PM CET

  I'm in the US now and need to transfer some US$ to my ABN AMRO account to pay some bills.... my two best options seem to be bank transfer or paypal - I'm curious if anyone recommends the best way to proceed (i.e. let my US bank convert to euros or let the ABN convert it?)- I also suspect paypal's conversion rate may be lower than a banks.....I don't do this often so am curious to hear from people who do and know the best way to avoid unnecessary fees/conversion charges. I know the bank will charge a flat $30 transfer fee (and I'm looking at transferring around $1500).
  
  Thanks much..
• mvn

  

  • 3963 posts
   

  December 12, 2009 12:29:03 AM CET

  
  

  ratkat (Dec 11 2009, 11:04 PM) said: > original post
  I'm in the US now and need to transfer some US$ to my ABN AMRO account to pay some bills.... my two best options seem to be bank transfer or paypal - I'm curious if anyone recommends the best way to proceed (i.e. let my US bank convert to euros or let the ABN convert it?)- I also suspect paypal's conversion rate may be lower than a banks.....I don't do this often so am curious to hear from people who do and know the best way to avoid unnecessary fees/conversion charges. I know the bank will charge a flat $30 transfer fee (and I'm looking at transferring around $1500).
  
  Thanks much..

  
  
  Sheeesh, well the larger the amount, the less of a hit it will be. It is always better to let the receiving bank convert the currency unless the receiver is charging the most hideous rates. However, why is there not enough money in the account to cover these bills, you must have known such a large amount was coming.
• theoneawaited

  

  • 29 posts
   

  December 12, 2009 1:13:22 PM CET

  I mostly use paypal for my money transfer and from experience:
  
  - Paypal usually has a lower exchange rate (This is usually 1% - 2% difference)
  - Transferring the money will take about $30 - $35
  - The setup time for creating a Paypal account takes about 3 days if you haven't added your bank yet.
  - Transferring money from paypal account to another paypal account is instant
  - Transferring money from paypal account to your bank takes another 3 days
  
  So it is really up to you how you want to do it. More than likely, the process will be the same either way. Hope that helped
• cmhsieh54

  
   

  December 28, 2009 5:05:10 PM CET

  You can find some discussion of this at the flyertalk.com forums.
  
  I've heard that one of the best services to use is XE Trade at xe.com, and that it's more cost-effective than Paypal.