US vs. German cash remittance process

[cobram at juno.com]

 "ccohen5" <ccohen5 at compuserve.com> writes:

> have to do it.  Western Union could do it for pennies, but do they?
> Hell no, they know they are the only game in town for you and everyone
> who has family South of the border.

There are alternatives, plenty of them.  Transfer services are
everywhere, these places usually sell plane tickets, translation
services, phone cards etc. via storefronts with a flag or two out front
corresponding to the country they do business with.  South of the border
they use two exchange rates, the buy and the sell rate, and the transfer
services profit from the difference.  Some do charge a minimal fee
depending on how you want the funds delivered in the destination country.
  When I have funds overseas and need them stateside, I have the funds
deposited in local currency to (a) bank account(s) as ordered by the
transfer service here in the US, these funds are available to me in U$
immediately in the States.
Not just South America either, I've also gone this route with Asia,
Africa and the Middle East over the years.
I can echo the statements others have made about bank transfers, nothing
but problems and ridiculous fees when transferring directly from my bank
to a foreign bank, on one occasion an Italian bank tried to screw me out
of U$900, long story short, I had to cancel the entire transaction, ended
up costing me $100 in fees...for nothing.  Things are much improved with
the new Euro currency,  banks can't play around with the exchange rate
like they used to.

BCNU,
http://www.geocities.com/cobramsri/

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