Job Discussion Forums

[doreenp]

Has anyone ever sent money back to their home country from Costa Rica?
Last month i wired, via Western Union, some money to Canada and lost a small fortune in wire fees and transferring from colones to U.S and back to Canadian.

I could buy a money order and mail it back, with UPS, but again the currency conversion is a killer. Has anyone used Paypal ? Any other ideas ?

Cheers
D.

[ambitiouspear]

I've never sent money from CR, but I have from other foreign countries. I have heard that Western Union is very pricey. I used my foreign bank once, which had a big fee, but they gave a good rate, were fast (1 day), and secure. I'm surprised to hear that a postal m/o would not give a good rate. Anyways, if you're not sending big bucks, then fees are going to be significant.

I've never used paypal to send foreign currency, but with they're credit card payments, they take a percentage (1% and up i think) so they'd probably do the same with foreign currency.

[doreenp]

What do you mean ��I used my foreign bank once��

i don�t know if you can get a postal money order. I can�t even find a post office here. They don�t use mail systems here in most places, everything is hand delivered. I had an easier time in Nicaragua.! The only post office i�m aware of is the central one in San Jose. Has anyone done this?

A bank will only issue a money order in colones or U.S. dollars. I get paid in Colones and i�m Canadian so sending home a bank wire in colones will take forever to clear, if the Canadian bank will even accept it. and changing to u.s. then to Cdn. will cause big losses!
thanks for the reply
cheers
d