moving money from the UK to the US

Hi everyone-

I have a question. We do not have a credit card in the UK as we have no established credit history here. This is not a problem as we pay cash for the things that we need, and for the occasional big purchase expense (flights back to the US) we use our US credit card which is set to a paperless statement.

We need to send money from our UK account to our US account to pay for these flights etc. on our US credit card.

Is there any easy way to do this?  Is wire transfer the best way to handle something like this? Someone in an older thread suggested paypal, which I have set up for my US bank and also for my UK bank, but there are fees there as well. Are these paypal fees the cheapest way of handling it? A previous poster said that paypal may flag this as suspicious activity. Is that right?

Someone else in a previous post suggested western union, but I am reluctant to go that route as it will require big sums of cash around and I don't want to do that.

Our flights were about 4K and so I need to make payments of about 1000 each time.

Suggestions? Is the traditional bank to bank wire transfer the best and most secure approach?
Thanks!

Do you know if your US credit card provider would accept UK payment and do the exchange on their end? Sometimes using your UK debit card on a foreign website will only result in a small foreign transaction fee on the UK end (shouldn't be more than a pound or two).

I've only done a few UK to US wire transfers, and both times I've done it directly through my bank. The fees you get charged are going to depend on your bank, so it's worth calling them and asking (note that you can call US 800 numbers on Skype for free). Paypal might charge fewer fees or offer a better rate - someone else here can probably confirm that. But I can confirm that the bank to bank wires are secure - I've never had a problem going that route.

I actually have a joint account with my mother so she can handle any finances for me in the US, and she has suggested I could write her a check - in pounds - and send it to her to be cashed into the US bank. She thinks this would avoid all charges on the UK side and only result in charges at the US bank (my US bank has minimal charges). We haven't tried this yet but possibly will in a few months' time when I need to transfer more money. If you have someone in the US who could deposit a check and then transfer the money to your account, that could be an option.

Otherwise, I'm also interested to hear some responses since I have to transfer money about once a year to pay off my student loans in the US.

Do you have a US American Express card? They will transfer it to a GBP card in the UK to help you start establishing credit and you would eliminate this problem. 

I have also only done wire transfers through the bank as I've only needed to move money twice to my US account.  I plan to look into xe.com the next time though.  It's highly recommended by users on a this site.

I've used XE.com for moving money back and forth.  There aren't any fees if you do it all electronically; the catch is their exchange rate is slightly worse, and they make money on the difference.  You'd have to see how much you'd pay in fees and compare the difference to see which is the better option for you.

Thanks everyone.
Does anyone know if the collection fees for mailing a paper UK cheque to the US is ridiculously high? I like the idea of avoiding fees from one bank altogether.

I would have thought it unlikely that your US c/card company would accept a sterling cheque but even if they did, the time it would take to clear could mean that you incur further interest charges. Some US banks don't clear UK cheques in a timely manner and it could take up to 10 weeks.

Wouldn't it be easier to just buy the tickets using your UK debit card? I do this frequently and don't run into any problems.

DH & I use Xoom.com to transfer money back and forth.  There is a $4.99 flat fee but no other fees from either bank.  It is fast - money available in around an hour.

Thanks everyone.
Does anyone know if the collection fees for mailing a paper UK cheque to the US is ridiculously high? I like the idea of avoiding fees from one bank altogether.

I'd call your US bank and ask. If you tell them exactly how much you intend to send in GBP they should be able to provide a fairly accurate quote.

I know I had to do this once quite a few years ago, but it was a relatively small amount in GBP. I can't remember exactly how it all worked out, but I want to say it was something like a $5.00 processing fee for every cheque they did.

I would have thought it unlikely that your US c/card company would accept a sterling cheque but even if they did, the time it would take to clear could mean that you incur further interest charges. Some US banks don't clear UK cheques in a timely manner and it could take up to 10 weeks.

Wouldn't it be easier to just buy the tickets using your UK debit card? I do this frequently and don't run into any problems.

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice.

I was thinking about sending a UK cheque to our US bank, not to our US credit card company. We are renting our house out in the states and also have a good savings account there. It is not always convenient to use our british pounds account for a big purchase like 3 flights to the US.

I will call Amer Exp too about converting our account. I had not thought of this and I wasn't even aware that such a thing was possible.

Sounds like the US/UK paypal transfer option is not any cheaper than the others? Is that right?

Thanks!