TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Best way to transfer money to France?

I'm trying to rent a condo on the French side. The landlord wants me to make payment to his bank account in France. Do you guys know what the best way is to get it done? Thanks!

I suggest getting the EXACT wiring instructions for the incoming bank and the account holder and provide that information to your bank (outgoing bank). It takes time to complete the transaction but it is typically the most secure method.

In theory, this shouldn’t be that hard. As suggested, just give your bank the exact information you’ve been given. Unfortunately, it’s still not guaranteed. We rented a place in Martinique that required a wire transfer a few years ago. We printed off the instructions and gave them to our bank. It still didn’t go through. We trusted the owner and they (luckily) trusted us, so we just paid everything on arrival. Everything was fine, but it wasn’t without worry.

I still don’t know what went wrong, but do all you can to put the responsibility with your bank. You’re likely going to get charged a fee for the transfer, so hopefully they don’t charge you if it doesn’t work. Of course, ideally it will be pain free.

Wiring funds in Europe is easy. All you need is the IBAN of the target account and the money arrives the same day or the next day for European transfers. Unfortunately I sometimes wait a week for funds to clear when transferring funds to or from a US bank account.

The USA still uses old-fashioned SWIFT and clearing banks methods, but just talk to your bank's customer service if your online form doesn't allow input of the IBAN.

https://transferwise.com/us
This is what we have used when renting a villa in Orient Bay Village.

Are yoiu sure the french person is an owner of the condo in SXM ?
One needs to be careful sending money out of the country.

Thanks so much for your replies! I think I'll go for the transferwise path. It gives me the best exchange rate+fee.

@WLE, Thanks for the reminder. What should I do to make sure the French person owns the property?

Ask to see the deed.
Local Notary may help.

XE money transfer. I use them all the time. Great to deal with. Just make sure you send the right type of currency to the right type of account. They will exchange the money for you and you will see right away how many dollars-Euros as an example.

Thanks! I have transferred money using TransferWise. It worked very smoothly. The landlord received money almost immediately, and the exchange rate and the fee are the best so far.