Paying for trailer from the US

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by Ronn

If your bank can do that, it seems like a good alternative to prepaying like we did. For those prepaying, we didn't get into what was the cheapest alternative (fees and exchange rate), rather we felt that the exchange rate was favorable and we just sent payments by check through the US Mail, didn't seem long we received an updated build sheet reflecting our payment. We sent a payment of $4000 on 3/15/19 and was credited Canadian $5220.80 on 3/25/19. One US stamp and our postman picked it up at our house. EASY-PEASY

You are lucky, international requires double postage, I sent a check years ago and it took like 2 weeks, one stamp, postage due at Escape. Double stamps are required for canadian mail from US, about one week.

[Ronn]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

You are lucky, international requires double postage, I sent a check years ago and it took like 2 weeks, one stamp, postage due at Escape. Double stamps are required for canadian mail from US, about one week.

We have sent 4 payments so far, Colleen just sent a 5th today, all went with just one stamp. If postage was due we never heard anything from ETI. Hopefully today's mailing isn't the exception.

[jumboscott]

Was going to send personal checks like others have done, but after USPS lost my Priority Mail with Tracking and Signature Required to the IRS last month, decided to try a wire transfer. Was a little nervous about doing an International wire. Used USAA International Wire Transfer Service. USAA charges $45, NO other fees. USAA converted to CAD and you accept or reject the rate given. They do mark-up the rate a little, but rate was close to what Google had listed for the day. You can't do online, International Wire's done over the phone. Two pieces of information USAA required that ETI didn't provide were the 3 Digit Institution Code and 5 digit Transit Number (not on PDF doc ETI sends you). Sent wire on Wens, and ETI sent me an updated Build Sheet on Monday. Checked the amount ETI received, no hidden fees, same as what USAA sent, minus the 17.50 CAD ETI charges for a wire. So happy with the transaction and will use it again.

[Robert Platt Bell]

Most banks can do wire transfers for $25 to $40 flat fee. Bank of America charged me $35 provided I transferred in Canadian funds, which worked out for me.

[Rrgramps]

On our first phone call with ETI, we put the $2500 down payment on our credit card. The next month, we mailed them a personal check for $10,000 USD, with two stamps. When our personal check arrived, ETI exchanged it to CDN. That transaction took a couple of weeks, but we were in the early stages of build sheet then.

For the last payment, ETI told us it was ok to bring a bank draft, AKA, Cashier’s Check. ($4).

[PeterK]

So we went through AmeriCU credit union here in NY, 3000 miles from Escape. Our Credit Union called Escape and was sent a bill of sale in US value. They promptly approved 115 % of the value given. That was sent to Esacape via mail, from the bank. Bad idea. International mail took two weeks to arrive. That delayed our delivery, as the delivery company cannot pick it up, without payment in full to both them and Escape.
Once the check arrived delivery was initiated quickly. I thought in todays age it would be electronically transferred. I was wrong. I think you need to request that special. Hope our experience helps others. We love our new Escape, and are headed on our maiden voyage next week.

[Robert Platt Bell]

Originally Posted by Robert Platt Bell

Most banks can do wire transfers for $25 to $40 flat fee. Bank of America charged me $35 provided I transferred in Canadian funds, which worked out for me.

Bank of America is running a special this month and refunded the $35 fee for the wire transfer. I'm not sure how long this promotion is going on for or whether it's just limited to platinum customers or not. But free is a good price.

[Tam2004]

Originally Posted by Robert Platt Bell

Bank of America is running a special this month and refunded the $35 fee for the wire transfer. I'm not sure how long this promotion is going on for or whether it's just limited to platinum customers or not. But free is a good price.

It just pains me how the banks can rip off so many of you by telling you that the transfer fee is "only" $25 or $35 or that they have "saved" you money by no fee! Trust me, I am a retired Finance MBA, Accounting degree on top of that, and I had to learn the hard way that we would save about $900 using TRANSFERWISE. I would not know this if I had not backed out of our bank transfer at the last minute and gone home and done transferwise the exact same day. The dollars that would have gone out of my bank account from a simple $25 transfer through Wells Fargo (the only bank allowed to do international transfers) and the TRANSFERWISE exact dollars that went out of my bank account were different by almost $900. SAME DAY. The fees are hidden. I had a long talk with my banker that day. Search this thread for Tam2004 and Transferwise - though I do get discouraged by how many people do not take the time to read what others have learned the hard way. AND yes it remains true that if you have time to send a check to Escape that is an excellent way to go. So don't post that again. I give up.

[Robert Platt Bell]

I'm not sure what you're getting at. Are you suggesting that somehow they're fudging the exchange rates to skim some money off the top? I checked the exchange rates they are using and they seem to be consistent with with what other banks are offering. I'm not sure how you could save $900.

Wire transfers are wire transfers - it's what businesses have been using for decades to transfer money overseas and what I used in my practice to pay my clients overseas and to receive money from them. If they were such a rip-off I would think that most businesses would not use them.

Our local bank charges $40 for a wire transfer which is pretty excessive, but their conversion rates were right in line with everybody else's. Like I said Bank of America charges $35 if you transfer in Canadian dollars and this month they are offering to do this for free.

I've done the math on this six ways from Sunday and I'm not seeing where I could save $900 on a $30,000 purchase.

[jnfrombigt]

The bank fees are chump change compared to what the county and state hit me with. I had to pay over $1100 USD to get the thing registered.

[Robert Platt Bell]

Originally Posted by jnfrombigt

The bank fees are chump change compared to what the county and state hit me with. I had to pay over $1100 USD to get the thing registered.

Tell me about it. We had to pay $2,200 and plus we have to pay an annual tax of 3% on the declining value of the trailer.

Sending checks through the mail is problematic not just because of losing checks, but because most banks charge foreign check cashing fees. I am sure the people at Escape must have deducted this amount from the payment applied to the trailer.

I have had clients send me checks in foreign currencies, and my local bank would accept them but they charged me a $50 foreign check acceptance fee. I am sure Escape must be zinged with a similar fee when you send them a check in u.s. dollars.

While there are no such things as official currency conversion rates, most banks and credit card companies charge pretty standard rates. With credit cards that can be problematic. Bank of America, for example charges a 3% conversion fee for foreign transactions which is broken out separately. For platinum customers they will waive this fee, but only if you call and ask. I found it easier to use a Capital One card which does not have any foreign conversion fee, when traveling in a foreign country.

And in many foreign countries, I find that Merchants try to be very helpful by offering to run the charges in US Dollars. Don't fall for this. What they're doing is converting the local currency to u.s. Dollars using their own conversion rate, which is advantageous to them. This is perfectly legal. Again there's no such thing as an official conversion rate, only what people can get away with or what most banks and Traders agree upon. And it varies on a moment-to-moment basis of course.

But I am skeptical that you can save $900 which is an awful big chunk of change on a $30,000 transaction. And I get very skeptical on forums when people who are not using their real names post advertisements for certain services and products. I'm not saying that there's some sort of skullduggery going on, but I use my real name on my posting so people know who I am.

Wire transfers have been used for dozens of years to transfer sums of money across International borders, by both major corporations and individuals. All my European friends use them, even for domestic transactions. Apparently they use them like ATM cards over there.

[Tam2004]

Originally Posted by Robert Platt Bell

I'm not sure what you're getting at. Are you suggesting that somehow they're fudging the exchange rates to skim some money off the top? I checked the exchange rates they are using and they seem to be consistent with with what other banks are offering. I'm not sure how you could save $900.

Wire transfers are wire transfers - it's what businesses have been using for decades to transfer money overseas and what I used in my practice to pay my clients overseas and to receive money from them. If they were such a rip-off I would think that most businesses would not use them.

Our local bank charges $40 for a wire transfer which is pretty excessive, but their conversion rates were right in line with everybody else's. Like I said Bank of America charges $35 if you transfer in Canadian dollars and this month they are offering to do this for free.

I've done the math on this six ways from Sunday and I'm not seeing where I could save $900 on a $30,000 purchase.

The facts are the facts. The spread on a US Bank to wire your money (the fee you can see is the small fee) is large. I have paperwork to prove what happened. No US bank can transfer money without using Wells Fargo (well at least this was true last Fall when I went through this). I also did the math every which way to Sunday but I could not see the issue as to why my bank's fee of $25 wasn't the great way to go, but I also actually tested the bank printout (pulled out of transaction) and tested the Transferwise transfer on the SAME DAY and the actual comparison of the amount of cash that would be taken from my bank account. Going through the US banks would have cost me close to $900 more for an Escape 19 in 2018. Why do you think these online services thrive? I was lucky enough to live within walking distance of my bank as I was actually running back and forth between the bank and the Transferwise screen which I backed out of 3 times before finally using it. Read this. https://www.finder.com/international...oney-to-canada

[Tam2004]

Also read this if you want to know why we saved money this way - and no the system is set up to make you think you know what is happening. After I had the two black and white documents showing the exact draw on my bank account between our two decisions: the banker told me they are not to talk about this. I successfully saved myself a lot of money, but I can't do more than try to let the rest of you know. I am correct. I am a retired finance professional with advanced degrees. I am also a soft heart and angry at the way our banks rip us off. But, even our credit union has to be in this same system. :https://transferwise.com/us/blog/tra...bank-transfers

[jnfrombigt]

Just went through my transaction records. The best rate was the initial order with the credit card. I think that was less than 1%. The wire transfer cost me about 1% plus $45 fee. I'm not complaining. I also sent a check to Escape and that cost me about 2.5% above the CD-USD conversion rate for that day. I'm going to pay the balance with wire less $500 CD which will be paid to Escape by credit card per their payment policy. Oh, I was an accounting major which enabled me to balance my check book and fill out the blank spaces on Turbo Tax.

Update: The three banks involved: My Bank, Bank of NYC, Toronto Dominion

[Robert Platt Bell]

I did a Google search on the terms "transferwise" and" "scam" and it was quite interesting the results that turned up. Apparently a lot of people have lost thousands of dollars through this unregulated money transfer system.

Also I'm not sure where you get this assertion that every International wire transfer has to go through Wells Fargo. I think this would be a big surprise to Bank of America as well as most New York Banks.

I did find a page on the transferwise site which is almost a word for word recitation of your posting. They use the example of Wells Fargo, which undoubtedly is probably the most expensive Bank to use. Are you shilling for transferwise? I ask seriously as I've been on a number of forums over the last few decades and I found people selling products and services on these forums claiming to be word-of-mouth endorsements when in fact the people promoting these things are actually shills for the company involved.

I learned long ago that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I'm sure the people at transferwise are not running a charity but are charging fees. And I cannot believe that their fees will be $900 less than major banks in the United States.

I also learned long ago to be suspicious of product and service endorsements on the internet, particularly from Anonymous users.

I still owe Escape Industries $21 Canadian. I'll pay them with Bitcoin, after all that's the currency of the future.

[jnfrombigt]

Please don't pay in BitCoin. The BitCoin miners have driven the cost of decent computer RAM and graphics cards through the roof.

[Robert Platt Bell]

I did some more searching online and the horror stories are pretty bad. Apparently they can freeze your account for no reason whatsoever and that money stays there for a long time if you ever get it back at all. Others claim that people can try to send you money and then claim a chargeback and drain your account. Hopefully they fixed this problem. The company is based in Estonia so if you ever have a problem with them good luck getting it resolved.

I did find some articles online that said it was a really super duper great service, but these were basically advertisements placed in various newspapers. They were not very critical articles but instead talked about this new Super fun way to send money.

In fact, a lot of the article sound like your postings which makes me wonder...

[Robert Platt Bell]

It gets weirder and weirder. Transferwise was founded in Estonia by two guys who wanted to transfer money to London. What they do is play the float between currency exchange rates. The rate they quote their customers is the mid Bankrate, as opposed to the technique that Banks use where they use the buy and sell quotes and pocket the difference.

This does mean, however, that transferwise could be on the hook if currency rates fluctuate once an order has been placed and before it's consummated.

This may explain why some people find their accounts being arbitrarily Frozen for days or weeks on end. Transferwise might be waiting for more favorable exchange rates before consummating the transaction.

It sounds like another dot com nightmare to me.

I'm glad it worked out for you. But check out some of the reviews online. Even the Better Business Bureau has a low opinion of them. And that's saying a lot.

[Robert Platt Bell]

Originally Posted by jnfrombigt

Please don't pay in BitCoin. The BitCoin miners have driven the cost of decent computer RAM and graphics cards through the roof.

I was being sarcastic. It cost $25 to $30 to consummate a Bitcoin transaction these days so using Bitcoin to pay $21 Canadian would make no sense at all. Plus Bitcoin is even less secure than transferwise.

One reason I'm retired as I got sick of writing patent applications for these internet start-up companies that had revolutionary new ways that they were going to change the world by doing the things that we've done for hundreds of years but only on the internet. And most of their business models make no sense whatsoever Bitcoin is Just an Illusion. And this transferwise thing doesn't seem to be panning out either, as they constantly need cash infusions to keep the company going.

You don't have to worry I'm not going to give 30 grand to the people of Bitcoin, nor to two dudes from Estonia.

[jnfrombigt]

Hey, I was just kidding. It does cost me a lot more to get good computer performance because of the digital monetary system which makes no sense to me.