Paying off US credit card from UK

Since moving to the UK 2 years ago, I've unfortunately managed to let my US credit card balance get out of control (around $12k).  I've been trying to pay it back, but it's been difficult since we've been paying for the wedding and a new flat, etcetera, etcetera...  The stress and the guilt has been driving me nuts, so DH decided we should take advantage of the weak dollar and get a personal loan here to pay it all off and be done with it once and for all. 

So, we're signing off on the loan today, but I'm not sure of the best way to get the money to the credit card company.  Normally I use XE Trade, but this will take forever because I've got to move the money from DH's account to mine (which is set up for XE) to XE to my US account and then pay my credit card online.  Ugh.  But at least it's free and I know I'll get a fair exchange rate.  Option two is a wire transfer from DH's bank to my US account and from there pay the credit card company.  But we may not get the best exchange rate. 

Argh.  I know some of you folks on this board have gotten UK loans to pay for US debts and I'd like to know how you did it.  Any advice would be appreciated!  Thanks.

Ugh, I'm still figuring mine out- I'm probably going to go with XEtrade for monthly payments, but haven't set up an account yet.  Until then I'm stuck doing wire transfers- the one good thing though is that wire transfers are fast (at least they have been for me!)

I've moved quite a large amount of money between the US and UK (student loans) although it was in the other direction.  for moving a lump sum without a lot of bother, a wire transfer ended up being my best bet and only cost me $45 to move something like $15,000. The exchange rate wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either (just about $2/£1 in late 2006 when the exchange rate was something like $1.90/£1 or something similar.)

Springhaze, thanks for the reply.  It's an absolute pain in the butt, isn't it?   I'm not looking forward to paying back my student loan...

DH is pushing for the wire transfer as well, for the same reason you mentioned--it's fast and the pain will be over quickly.  I'd just hate the idea of not getting the best exhange rate.

But I highly recommend XE Trade.  The set-up isn't that complicated and it really is easy to use. 

For a large sum of money ($12000) use Moneycorp.  I've used both XE and Moneycorp and like them both but XE is better on small trades while Moneycorp will give a better exchange on large amounts.

Plus, Moneycorp is quicker to set up and the money gets to your US account the day they receive it in the UK, much quicker.