How did you transfer funds for DVC Membership?

[Desire 2b a princess]

Hi Guys,

We have gone ahead and agreed on a contract with the Timeshare Store but we are not quite sure how we are going to transfer the funds.
Can any of you fellow DVC members tell me how you transferred funds internationally.
Has anyone sent the full amount rather than sending the deposit then the rest of the funds later? I believe this could save money as you will not incur fees twice for sending it.
Any banks that you can recommend?
Any input would be gratefully received.
Anyone paid by paypal is this possible?

 

[susieh]

We paid all in one go (bought direct from Disney from the UK). We used HSBC to transfer the money directly. It was simple, efficient and not too expensive (I cant remember how much it cost us but it was in 1996 so it's probably gone up a bit now )

 

[gilld]

We just paid by CC and paid the bill when it came in.

 

[Miffy2003]

I paid it all by Credit Card. I made sure I had put enough money in the CC account to cover it first as the transaction was over my credit limit.

DVC put it through in 2 separate transactions to keep within my credit limit (although the money was there in my CC account already to pay for it, my CC provider said they automatically bar any transactions over the limit)

ETA: I am so sorry I have just re-read your post and realise you can;t do this as you've not bought from Disney! I'm really sorry, please ignore what I have said

 

[Halo]

We paid in one go for the same reason.

We paid using travellers cheques because we got those commission free HOWEVER I would urge anyone not to use this route. The letter containing them, although sent Royal Mail Special Delivery, or the international version at least, disappeared for 4 weeks in US Customs at Miami, and I found out that even though they were made payable to The Timeshare Store that anyone could have cashed them. They were finally received and all was well but it took 2-days to go from London to Miami and 4 weeks to go from Miami to Orlando!

The only safe way to send them money is by an International Transfer from your bank to theirs. This can be standard transfer which takes 2-weeks, or urgent transfer which is more expensive but takes 5 days. What is important under either route is that you make clear to your bank that you need to pay ALL the charges so that you are sure that the amount they receive is what they were expecting - if you don't do this, you will only be charged the UK bank charges and the US bank's charges will be taken from the amount they receive: this means that you will still be short, and will have to transfer further money to make it up!

 

[susieh]

As stated in my previous post that is the way we did it. We just went in to the bank and told them how much money Disney needed to receive from us (in dollars). They handled the exchange rate, the charges each end and the actual transfer. It was very simple and safe - we felt very comfortable that we knew exactly what was happening although we did not know the cost until afterwards as it depended on the exchange rate on the day.

We didnt pay using our CC as we were paying roughly $16000 and that was above the limits of what we could pay by card

 

[Halo]

We didnt pay using our CC as we were paying roughly $16000 and that was above the limits of what we could pay by card

For anyone buying from Disney, which takes credit cards, unlike Timeshare Store which doesn't, the best way to pay is by credit card. Susie what you could have done was pay the money from your bank into your credit card - so that your credit card account goes into credit. Then contact the credit card company and let them know that you intend to pay $X to the US so that they know its not a fraud, and can pre-authorise it. Then you can just phone Disney up and pay it over the phone. This way you would have no foreign transfer charges, would get a better exchange rate AND would attract points/miles on your credit card. The credit card company would charge a hidden commission on the transaction but you would still be better off than a bank transfer. If you used a Nationwide credit card you would even save on some of this commission (Nationwide's element) but you would not attract any miles/points.

 

[ElenaP]

We bought from the Timeshare Store from Italy, and I think I was told (by them, not by the bank) that paying by cheque was preferable and less expensive for them, while they charged (I think) $100 for each wire transfer.
My suggestion is to ask them directly: they were extremely helpful with us, and we only went the wire transfer way because it was quicker (our bank needed TWO WEEKS to produce a US$ cheque!!!)
Consider also that you will send your money and papers not directly to the Timeshare Store, but to their title company, for us it was the Timeshare Closing Services.

ElenaP from Italy

 

[TinkTatoo]

We opened a US bank account when we were in Florida so we just transferred the money to our US bank and sent a cheque (or check ) as Elena said - they needed two weeks for the cheque to clear.

 

[leise]

We bought from Timeshare store last year, and as previously stated they would only take a cheque, or wire transfer which cost $100. We opted for the cheque option, and got our bank to make out an International money order, payable to The Timeshare Store which I think cost £8, though I might be wrong. We did send it in two bits, so I sent the deposit first, and made the mistake of sending it Royal Mail Recorded Delivery. It took weeks, and we were convinced it was lost or stolen. Timeshare Store were quite relaxed about it, as they seem to get the problem all the time with UK buyers! But we were having kittens!
So when we had to send the balance I sent it with Fed Ex, cost £35 but got there in about 3 days.

Good luck! The Timeshare Store were very helpful and kept us informed about what was going on , so if you have any questions I'm sure they would help.
Leise

P.S. TinkTatoo, hope you don't mind me asking but how did you open a US bank account? Do you have to be a resident, or have a certain amount of dosh? It seems such a sensible thing to do!

 

[TinkTatoo]

.............P.S. TinkTatoo, hope you don't mind me asking but how did you open a US bank account? Do you have to be a resident, or have a certain amount of dosh? It seems such a sensible thing to do!

Hi Leise

you don't have to be a resident and it is very easy to do. We picked Wachovia as they offer free banking and I just went in with my passport and $200 to open the account. I have a check book - and a visa (delta type) card which I can use to pay for things or get cash from the cash points. We transfer money into the account before we go or if the exchange rate is good. It saves taking travelers cheques and is handy for paying our DVC dues.

They send monthly statements and I use on-line banking to check the account. It is very straight forward

 

[Desire 2b a princess]

Hi all,

Thanks for your input. We wired the deposit over via my bank so hopefully all is well.

 

[leise]

Thanks for that info Tink Tattoo, definitely worth considering.

Good luck Desire 2b a Princess, I hope it all goes through quickly, and we can all say WELCOME HOME!

 

[Bexx]

We picked Wachovia as they offer free banking and I just went in with my passport and $200 to open the account. I have a check book - and a visa (delta type) card which I can use to pay for things or get cash from the cash points. We transfer money into the account before we go or if the exchange rate is good.

Jakki - this sounds very interesting!! Could you use it to may DVC dues monthly rather than the dreadful yearly lump sum? How much does it cost to transfer money into your account?

 

[TinkTatoo]

Jakki - this sounds very interesting!! Could you use it to may DVC dues monthly rather than the dreadful yearly lump sum? How much does it cost to transfer money into your account?

My bank only charges €15 which is reasonable, but you'd need to check with your bank as the charges from the UK might be higher

 

[Bexx]

Thanks Jakki!

 

[TinkTatoo]

Thanks Jakki!

You're welcome

 

[Stuart D]

For our resale we had to do an international transfer from Lloyds TSB. They charge £10 per transaction for standard service, but there is a maximum limit of something like £3000. Its £30 for the premier service which allows us to transfer more money to pay in full.

My wife is a staff member though so we get the standard transaction free of charge....

 

[Sarnia]

I know this thread is a bit old, but i've just read it

I was amazed to read that The Timeshare Store charged people USD 100 if they wire funds to them. I work in banking, and i've never heard of someone being charged by the receiver of a bank payment! If you make a payment there is a charge, but if you receive one it just goes straight into your bank account. This is usually the preferred method of payment as it is so fast and secure.

It may be that there is a charge in the US for receiving funds, but if so that suprises me.

 

[Halo]

I was amazed to read that The Timeshare Store charged people USD 100 if they wire funds to them. I work in banking, and i've never heard of someone being charged by the receiver of a bank payment!

Not quite Sarnia

The bank sending the money charges for sending it.
The bank receiving the money (which is a correspondent bank of the sending bank - not necessarilly the payee's bank) charges for receiving it and passing it on to the payee's bank.
Where the payee's bank is the correspondent bank they will still charge due to the work involved (it involves nostro and vostro settlement a/cs).

See NatWest's website for an example of the differing methods of international payments.

So....if you are sending say $16,000 for example, unless you specify that you want to pay both sets of charges to ensure that the recipient actually receives the full $16,000 you will find that they receive less. Timeshare Store has apparently averaged this cost out to $100 per transaction.

.