Paying for trailer from the US

[Seef]

Originally Posted by Bilbo

I worked too golly dang (sorry for the profanity!) hard to earn that money, and I didn't want to wake up the next day and learn my financial electrons went rogue and now manifested themselves in the form of a new Hummer for someone on the other side of the planet.

Jim

Damn, that’s too bad, i was in need of a brand new Hummer 😜

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by Seef

Damn, that’s too bad, i was in need of a brand new Hummer 😜

Hi: Seef... Humm 'er? Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[vanwinkp]

Hello Bilbo,
So, I went to my bank yesterday to inquire bout transferring money-was told that there was a $35 wire transfer fee. But.....when they input the numbers into their software the amount I was going to have to send was $805 over the cost of the trailer. So, this amount would be their fee for the conversion.

Did you experience this uncharge as well?
Bobby

[Upfisk]

That is almost a 3% fee to convert from US$ to Can$. Might be better in your case to send US$ and put up with Escape's bank conversion fee. Someone else on the forum mentioned an e-transfer via a company on the web. Our credit union will not convert currency, most banks in our area will not convert currency. They keep citing the money laundering laws as why they cannot.

[earlejk]

We used TransferWise to make our second (and final) payment. It was a learning process, and the first time I had done any wire transfer, but it turned out well and we essentially got the "official" exchange rate that gets posted to the internet (there is a small fee). My recommendation to anyone beginning the purchase process would be to make the initial deposit using TransferWise (less anxiety about the dollar amount). Then subsequent payments using them will be pretty straightforward. Like others, I was determined to keep as many of my hard-earned dollars as possible.

[vanwinkp]

Thank you earlejk for your response and Upfisk. It is scary territory to delve into when you are working with that much money. Earlejk- you said you used Transferwise and sent smaller amounts-which sounds less scary to me. Ill look into that option.

Thanks!

[Bilbo]

Vanwinkp, No I didn't encounter any fee like you mention, just the $35 wire transfer fee that Well Fargo charged. Did they give you any explanation what that fee was?

Jim aka: Bilbo

[vanwinkp]

akmacs-that is what we are going to do also after much research and also having two months out. What was the FEDEX charge if you don't mind me asking?

Bobby

[vanwinkp]

BILBO-no, they just typed in the amount owed to ETI and gave me a number. I knew it was about $800 more than I owed so I went home and did some research. Concluded it was an uncharge of about 3% for their service. So, since we're two months out will send personal check via FEDEX.

[Oldtimer]

We are doing the same thing van later this week. Sending check overnight,proof of delivery and acceptance required with email and paper notification when it is delivered

[vanwinkp]

Good to hear OLD-TIMER-I see you are in DFW area also-our pickup date is Sept. 13. I see yours is 9-21! We actually live in Midlothian south of Dallas.

Bobby

[Oldtimer]

Yep more are starting to show up in the Dfw area. we pick ours up on the morning of sept 7th staying 2 nights at Leyden KOA, then heading home route to be determined coming home lol

[cpaharley2008]

Just sent a check to ETI tonite from a local DHL office, cost me $30 and it will be there Monday by noon.

[CarlNH]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Just sent a check to ETI tonite from a local DHL office, cost me $30 and it will be there Monday by noon.

Did you get the published exchange rate or one with an exchange fee built into it? Not that I'll be buying another trailer in the foreseeable future:-) Just curious.

[cpaharley2008]

did not do any exchange, just a personal check to Escape, I'll post what they gave me credit for...

[the5reeds]

I just recently sent in a personal check (via Fedex) for $10,000 usd, and it ended up as 12,917 CAD on my build sheet, so an exchange rate of .774.

[MikeS]

I sent a check to ETI via USPS. It was amusing watching the tracking.

Wisconsin to New Jersey (yup East)
New Jersey to New York
New York to Arizona
Arizona to Vancouver

[cpaharley2008]

I'm sending my final payment today, going to use DHL, cost is $30 and will be there Monday, cob.

[Tam2004]

I went through a long day this week - that would have been quite easy had I understood something important about Transferwise and about wiring money from my bank. I wanted to share what I learned. First off: Transferwise is better than most of us realize and I will tell you why. I worked through transferring the needed funds from the US to Escape. When I saw the instructions to print out and then take to my bank to wire the funds to Transferwise directly, I cancelled the transfer after talking to Escape staff and hearing that no one ever told them they had to do this. So, I asked the bank how much they would charge to do the transfer directly, they said $25. So I started the wire process with my bank (credit union). Right before she completed the transfer she wrote down the exact US dollars that she would take from my account. She explained that all US Banks must go through Wells Fargo for international transfers. When she was about ready to send the funds from my account to pay the exact CAD dollars needed - she carefully had me proof all the documents. WELL the US dollars were $881 MORE than Transfer wise was asking and that included Transferwises fees!!!!!!! The amount we were transferring was CAD $38,200. I saw all of this in black and white or I would never have known. These fees are hidden. So - I recommend you use the FAST AND EASY method with TRANSFERWISE. After you set up your account - which involves uploading two documents to prove who you are (this was easy too) - the "extra step" is the final step. I printed out their easy instructions to my banker and took it to the bank. This saved me $881 which I think was worth a trip to the bank. As I said, I would never have known that WellsFargo had such a big split percentage if I hadn't known exactly what the conversion amount plus fees was from Transferwise. It worked well. Transferwise shows you what step your process is in - ours was that the money cleared our bank on Friday and it shows that it will clear Transferwise on Monday and get to Escape on Tuesday. I didn't have time to read the whole long thread - so I hope this is helpful. I am headed out of town and may or may not be able to check this for awhile - but I will be back when I can. BTW - the fees from Transferwise for this method which I believe is their cheapest - is a small percentage plus a flat fee. Our flat fee was about $174 I think. I lost track of the Transferwise fees at the point I saw I was saving $881!!! I just did it.

[Upfisk]

Have been watching exchange rates for awhile, Monday decided the exchange rate was as low as it was going. Converted US$ to CAD$ in our brokerage account. Paid 1% for the conversion, about $140. During the week the rate changed, sometimes the account showed more $ or less $ for the worth of that CAN$ compared to US$. Wired the CAN$ to Escape on Friday, no fee to wire. Exchange rate had changed more, the CAN$ now had cost me only $85 US for the conversion. This came out much better than sending about the same amount as US$ to Escape directly way back in May, that once ended up costing around $300 US. Converting currency to CAN$ is the best way to go. Although, watching the value of the CAN$ fluctuate for 5 days gave a new dimension to cost of the trailer.