PayPal to transfer money

I noticed that a number of people have mentioned using PayPal to transfer money between their UK and US accounts.  Has anyone had difficulty with this?

I already had a PayPal account so my brother and I could send money back and forth.  That account is linked to my U.S. account.  My husband set up a PayPal account linked to our UK account, but when he entered my information and the amount of money to transfer, it said "We cannot send your money."  We have opened a case, but were wondering if we missed a step that we could easily fix.

I'm sure someone can give a better answer, but I solved that problem by calling the toll free number and having someone help me through the process.  A bit of a cheat perhaps, but my money got transferred in the end. 

These are the kinds of things I don't do often enough to remember exactly what the procedure is, and the person who helped me was very nice about it! 

I'm sure someone can give a better answer, but I solved that problem by calling the toll free number and having someone help me through the process.  A bit of a cheat perhaps, but my money got transferred in the end. 

These are the kinds of things I don't do often enough to remember exactly what the procedure is, and the person who helped me was very nice about it! 

I was considering that, especially since Skype is having a free one-month trial on unlimited calling plans.  Thanks

You're welcome! 

The great thing about calling with Skype is the US toll free phone numbers are still toll free - even when calling from the UK!  I've had some rather lengthy calls with the various financial and other institutions, but if they were 800 type numbers I didn't pay anything - yay!  I don't use Skype that often for other calls, but at 2.6 cents a minute those calls are pretty reasonable too.  The only downside I've found is when the call quality is poor - that's really frustrating, but thankfully doesn't happen too often.

We use xe.com to move money. There are several online companies that do this for about the same exchange rate. Little confusing the first time using....then fairly simple after that. Does not move money FAST though.....usually takes most of a week to move from our US bank account to our UK account.

I did look into xe.com and will keep it in mind.  I ended up creating a PayPal account with my British account.  I attempted the transfer and got the same message as my husband did when he tried it.  I called and it turns out it is a security issue.  They asked me a couple of security questions then they did something to allow the me to make the payment.  They suggested trying the payment again in half an hour and it went straight through!  Hopefully now that one has gone through, this will not be a problem again!

I'm glad you were able to get your Paypal figured out! My husband and I have been transferring money between our Paypal accounts, mine is US & his is UK, for about 2 years now. We did have our bank accounts verified, and a CC/Debit card verified though so that may be why it worked so smoothly.

And yes, Skype is amazing! Any 1800 to the US is free on Skype from the UK. I've been using that to my advantage, let me tell you. You can also just put $10.00 or so in Skype credit on your account and it'll last a REALLY long time. I've been here in the UK for about 16 months and I've only used like $8 or $9 of the original $10 I put on before I moved.

I'm glad you were able to get your Paypal figured out! My husband and I have been transferring money between our Paypal accounts, mine is US & his is UK, for about 2 years now. We did have our bank accounts verified, and a CC/Debit card verified though so that may be why it worked so smoothly.

And yes, Skype is amazing! Any 1800 to the US is free on Skype from the UK. I've been using that to my advantage, let me tell you. You can also just put $10.00 or so in Skype credit on your account and it'll last a REALLY long time. I've been here in the UK for about 16 months and I've only used like $8 or $9 of the original $10 I put on before I moved.

I am glad too because I think the bank would have charged a hefty fee for the transfer.  I think it was frustrating because we verified both accounts and my husband added an extra credit card that was verified and it still wouldn't go through.  The man on the phone said that I shouldn't have problems anymore since one payment has gone through, but did say it is an easy problem they can fix over the phone (assuming you don't have to wait an hour on hold).

And thanks for the information on Skype!  I have the free unlimited trial for a month, but after I cancel that, I will probably opt to just add some money like you suggest because it probably won't get used as much.  It's all coming together!