Money Transfer Question

[timsk]

Hi folks,
My wife is in the process of booking our annual 2 weeks of Spanish sun. The owner of the converted chicken shed we'll be renting has, not unreasonably, asked for a deposit of 200 euros to be paid direct into her spanish account. My wife duly popped into her local branch of Barclays with whom she has banked all her life and they were happy to oblige. Their commission?
15%!!!!!!!!!
To pay 30 euros to transfer just 200 is outrageous. Anyone got any suggestions, please?
Cheers,
Tim.

 

[rols]

Hi folks,
My wife is in the process of booking our annual 2 weeks of Spanish sun. The owner of the converted chicken shed we'll be renting has, not unreasonably, asked for a deposit of 200 euros to be paid direct into her spanish account. My wife duly popped into her local branch of Barclays with whom she has banked all her life and they were happy to oblige. Their commission?
15%!!!!!!!!!
To pay 30 euros to transfer just 200 is outrageous. Anyone got any suggestions, please?
Cheers,
Tim.

Use PaypaI. I believe you can transfer cash to foreign accounts.

Sending Payments

Use your PayPal account to send money to 45 countries. To send a payment, log in to your PayPal account, and go to the "Send Money" tab. You can send money using a credit card, bank account or funds already in your PayPal account. You can even choose the currency of your payment: Canadian Dollars, Euros, Pounds Sterling, Yen or US Dollars. We send recipients an email to let them know you've paid, so they can claim their money at PayPal.

 

[Directional]

do they accept switch/maestro payments? pay by card if you can, as you usually pay close to interbank rates.

Paypal are cheaper than the 15% fee barclays were quoting, but their spreads are still outrageous.
www.paypalsucks.com and www.paypalwarning.com