Sending money to family in the US without using PayPal or XE

Hi

I may have to send money home to my Mom soon and was trying to find an alternative other than using my sister (I would normally send money to her via pp and then she would send a check to my mom) to send money back. The only down side with using my sister is that shes flaky and cheap - she asks that I pay for everything down to the envelopes and stamps she is using to send the check, something I wouldnt because its less than $1.

I cant use paypal as my mother refuses to use it and looked at XE and it appears that they want my US banking info, but I dont have any. When I moved over in 2005, I closed all my bank accounts down.  

I know I could do a wire transfer through the bank, but its expensive and my mothers bank branch (BoA) is less than helpful with getting IBAC info and all that. I could send a check but dont trust it going in transit and checks cant be insured.

Do I have any other easy options or should I just stick with using my sister being the middle man?

Thanks.

You could try Western Union.

Or an alternative:

Can you create a paypal account for your mom that way you can do all the online stuff for her & it will just show up in her bank account?

When we've sent money from here to the US we've only done paypal or xe so no new suggestions for you.  Weby's suggestion of setting up a paypal account for your Mom seems the best option (keeping your sister out of the equasion).

You could try Western Union.

Or an alternative:

Can you create a paypal account for your mom that way you can do all the online stuff for her & it will just show up in her bank account?

Western union (for the amount <$100 at a time) wouldnt be worth it for the fees involved, though it would be there faster than probably even a bank transfer..

I may ask her if I set up the account and she didnt have to access it at all if it would be an option....

Thank you both

It would be pretty simple to set up for her really, all you would need were her bank account details and the ability to access the account online (so you can confirm the account with paypal). 

According to XE (http://www.xe.com/fx/help/id.htm) it sounds like you should be able to register as long as you supply bank details (backed up by a statement) from an account in your country of residence, so for you this would be the UK. If you continue to get prompted for US bank details, I'd recommend you send an email to XE customer support. Their service is very good and should be able to help you sort it out.

If you want XE to direct deposit the transfer into your mom's US account, you'll need her bank details of course. However, they will also send her a check if you prefer, at no extra charge, if she prefers that for any reason.

If this does not work you could also try OANDA which gives much better exchange rates than XE but is somewhat more clunky.

According to XE (http://www.xe.com/fx/help/id.htm) it sounds like you should be able to register as long as you supply bank details (backed up by a statement) from an account in your country of residence, so for you this would be the UK. If you continue to get prompted for US bank details, I'd recommend you send an email to XE customer support. Their service is very good and should be able to help you sort it out.

If you want XE to direct deposit the transfer into your mom's US account, you'll need her bank details of course. However, they will also send her a check if you prefer, at no extra charge, if she prefers that for any reason.

If this does not work you could also try OANDA which gives much better exchange rates than XE but is somewhat more clunky.

Thank you!! I will try this when I need to send money (which will probably be soon...)

I do a monthly wire and because of the type it is only 10 gbp. You don't need ibac info anymore, just the routing and account numbers. Also has been set up you can have paypal withdrawal money from your pp account and directly deposited into a bank account. I do this as well and it is very easy.