Best way to send money from US to England

[Anonymous]

Usually I send my Godson an Amazon gift card or 20 pounds I have leftover from a trip there. This year though he turned 18 so this is the last Christmas I’m sending anything to him. I’m thinking about $100 but not sure if I can send an American check to him? Does anyone know? My Mum sends me a check in pounds and I take it to Bank of America, they convert it then put the American amount in my checking account. Not sure if it works the other way though. I am hesitant to send $100 cash thru the mail.

[Anonymous]

PayPal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PayPal.

any idea what the fees are? To send International?

[Anonymous]

For $100 rates and fees do not define the best way, convenience does. I would buy a prepaided visa card from their website and have them ship it directly to him and then send a separate nice card. If you have a friend in the UK ship both to them and ask them to combine them and put it in the post. You could also do paypal.

[Anonymous]

Don't send him a US check, it would be a hassle. I would buy an amazon gift card on amazon.co.uk with a credit card.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For $100 rates and fees do not define the best way, convenience does. I would buy a prepaided visa card from their website and have them ship it directly to him and then send a separate nice card. If you have a friend in the UK ship both to them and ask them to combine them and put it in the post. You could also do paypal.

prepaid Visa is perfect!! Thank you, see I didn’t think of this. I don’t use them here because of the fees , but with International it’s probably the way to go.

[Anonymous]

Except I can’t find prepaid Visa gift cards on Amazon.co.uk

[Anonymous]

Transferwise, it's super easy and cheap to send money. Whatever you do, don't send a cheque! Or mail him cash. I live in the UK and my US in-laws frequently send me $100 US cheques for my birthday and about 20% gets eaten as fees when I go to cash it.

[Anonymous]

Xoom

[Anonymous]

Look on fxcompared.com to find the easiest and cheapest way to do this.
Or just send him an Amazon.co.uk giftcard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look on fxcompared.com to find the easiest and cheapest way to do this.
Or just send him an Amazon.co.uk giftcard?

This is my plan B. I’m trying to send a card he can spend anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Amazon gift card from their UK site.

My parents in France bought me a gift card from the Amazon US site for my birthday. It worked great!

You're a thoughtful Godparent, OP, but I urge you to continue giving small presents for the next few years. 18 year olds are rarely physically or psychological independent. My Godmother stopped slipping me bills when I got married! And now she gives French chocolates to my kids whenever I bring them to Paris. The Godparent thing, like the parent thing, never really stops...

[Anonymous]

We sometimes purchase online gift cards from Amazon UK and send via email. We exchange money at Bank of America and send pounds notes or francs to nieces and nephews in England and Europe in Birthday or Christmas cards. So far we haven't had any issue. We usually do it in early December and calculate what we need for the whole next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Transferwise, it's super easy and cheap to send money. Whatever you do, don't send a cheque! Or mail him cash. I live in the UK and my US in-laws frequently send me $100 US cheques for my birthday and about 20% gets eaten as fees when I go to cash it.[/quote

Yes, Transferwise is easy and cheap.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/banking/transferwise-review

[Anonymous]

In a bottle.