How to pay deposits in France?

[Anniesantiago]

I need to send a deposit to the Gite in SJPP.
I live in California.
The Gite does not have Paypal, nor do they take a credit card.
They want me to wire transfer the deposit.

Problem is.. the deposit is 50 Euros and it will cost $35 to send it!!!

Does anybody know something I don't know... how to send a deposit to a business in France?
Xoom will only send to private parties.

Help?
Annie

 

[newfydog]

Not only will it cost $35, you will get a horrible exchange rate. I used to keep a bank account in France, from when I worked for a French company, just for this sort of thing, but closed it because of fees and IRS reporting hassles.

I've convinced Gite owners to trust me, and I sometimes offer them some of the fees as a bonus if they wait until I can pay them cash from an ATM (where the rates are really good). They like cash, so they tend to go along. I offered one gite owner some French references, and after actually phoning them, she decided I was good for the money.

 

[alipilgrim]

Hi Annie,

I've never tried it, but I believe you can wire transfer money from Walmart quite cheaply....

Allison

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Sleep elsewhere? This place does not seem to ask for a deposit. If it does, there are many others. One of them will trust you.

http://www.aubergedupelerin.com/

http://gitezuharpeta.wifeo.com/tarifs.php

 

[SabsP]

Annie, normally they should have an IBAN bankaccountnumber and a personal BIC number. With both of those you can go to your local bank and do the transfer. It works from Belgium to USA so I don't see why it wouldn't work vice versa.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Sab, that is what I tried to do.
To send 50 Euros was going to cost me $35!!!

Facon, I need space for 16 people who need private double accommodation, not dorms, but I'll check out the links.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Here is the link to all the gites. You can find hotels and chambres there as well:

http://www.saintjeanpieddeport-paysbasq ... erins.html

Fifteen fellow travelers! That may put you in the "glutton for punishment" category.

 

[SabsP]

Sab, that is what I tried to do.
To send 50 Euros was going to cost me $35!!!

Facon, I need space for 16 people who need private double accommodation, not dorms, but I'll check out the links.

Strange annie that it doesn't cost anything other way around...

 

[Anniesantiago]

Yes, our banks are greedy here!

 

[Kitsambler]

For 16 beds, it's quite reasonable to require a deposit or a pre-pay. So it really is a different situation from the single traveler.

 

[Anniesantiago]

I agree a deposit is well within the limits of reasonable.
However, not taking a credit card or Paypal makes it a little difficult for the traveler :lol:
I have sent them an email with a link to the French Paypal website, but so far no luck.

 

[anniethenurse]

Tim the Brit is the owner of a B&B in Sjpp.

 

[grayland]

I have had the same problem as Annie in trying to send money to South Africa. The wire transfer through the banks in the U.S. runs about $35.00 USD. Terrible system as we have no reasonable way to send money to an account with no paypal or credit card setup.
I do know that the reserse is not true and that other countries have a difficult time understanding the problem.
Annie is right.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

December 14, 2011. At time when millions of Americans are unemployed and with the poverty rate at record levels, new projections reveal that the bonus and compensation pool at the 7 big banks is estimated to reach $156 billion, an actual increase over last year’s all time record levels. Even Bank of America, who has seen a year of losses and a plummeting stock price, has increased their compensation set-asides by 7% over 2010.

Without the $35 fee, how would "the Man" get his bonus?

 

[Anniesantiago]

So true Falcon.

(now I'm venting)

Yesterday I went there to buy 1000 Euros as they advertise Euros are "free" if you purchase over 1000. When she told me it would be $1,390 I said, "but hey, the exchange is $1.29 today."

Oh.. said she.. that's the international rate.
This is Bank of America's rate.

Free indeed!

Nothing is free in the USA anymore.. not even freedom is free.

 

[newfydog]

So true Falcon.

Yesterday I went there to buy 1000 Euros as they advertise Euros are "free" if you purchase over 1000. When she told me it would be $1,390 I said, "but hey, the exchange is $1.29 today."

Oh.. said she.. that's the international rate.
This is Bank of America's rate.

.

Exchange rates are tough to deal with. For small amounts, US banks give the same rate as a hotel desk. You have to move huge amounts of money (as in enough to buy a house) to get anywhere near the official rate. Even then, you have to bargain with their trading desk, and often won't do as well as what you would get from an ATM. I built a house in Canada in part by maxing out four cards daily to avoid the extortion.

Most card companies have started to stick 2% fees on foreign transactions. Capital One does not, and I use their credit card overseas.

For cash from an ATM I don't know of a debit card without an exchange commision, anyone know of one?

As I said, I used to keep an account with a French bank, but while their wire fees were good, their monthly fees and annual debit card fees were awful, far more than a US bank.

Nearly all banks go through Bank of America, so if you absolutely must move move from the US you save by going through them directly.

 

[wdbillingsley]

Regarding ATMs and exchange commission fees...check your local bank or credit union. I have had two different banks in the last couple of years and neither charged an ATM fee or exchange fee for me to use ATMs in other countries including Spain.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

There are two fees. One is by the host bank (in Spain), and usually is a flat rate of approximately 4 Euro. The other is a fee from the pilgrim's bank, and it usually is a percentage (mine were 3%). I had a bank at one time that did not charge, but it changed its policy (ditto the credit card associated with it). You may be able to find a home bank with no fee, but the Spanish ATM fee is unavoidable without an account at that bank. The bank charges are nothing compared to the hotel or airport exchange vigorish. To the extent you can, avoid currency exchange (and travelers cheques are nearly useless). Anytime you exchange currency, someone will have to physically transport the bills somewhere at sometime. Electronic money transactions have virtually no incremental costs, so banks have some flexibility. To prevent anger at the apparent rip off, think of the fees as a taxi ride -- a charge for a service.

 

[Anniesantiago]

I'm quite used to accessing funds with my ATM while in Spain, and agree, the fees are much less than when you "buy" Euros here in the USA. The bank manager even commented on that and wasn't sure why it was the case.

My problem was paying the deposit in SJPP from the USA when the hotels/hostels/gites do not take a credit card or Paypal and expect you to do an international wire transfer of the cash into their bank account. The cost to me for doing that was (literally) double.

I've found a solution by having a friend pay the deposit in person for me. But it is curious to me why the hosteliers don't accommodate their customers with something as simple as Paypal. They could charge back the 4% fees and it would still be a lot less expensive than an international wire transfer.

Anyway, problem solved HOORAY!
I'll book rooms for the next walk while I'm there and pay the deposit in person.

 

[Kitsambler]

I think the short answer is that rural France is still a cash-based society, they still prefer to use personal checks over credit cards, and there is no business pressure on them to change this (low-cost) mode of operation. We have all commented on how few non-Europeans are seen walking the routes in France (easily less than 5% of walkers).

That being said, surely the trend is for more, and for more groups (which was the occasion that Annie needed a deposit - she would have been fine making a single reservation) in the future, especially in the coming year after the release of the movie "The Way" here recently.

It seems to me helpful if some local (to SJPP, where there would be the most and clearest need) organization (like the association of St Jacques, or the Chamber of Commerce, or the tourism office, or somesuch) would set up a PayPal account and then forward the deposits to the local innkeepers as needed. It is a great business-development opportunity!

 

[dutchpilgrim]

Perhaps the simplest of ways?
Put a 50 Euro bill, folded within a letter, in an envelope, and sent it to l'Esprit du Chemin?
I did so on booking a holiday in Spain, a few years ago.
There is some risk involved, but how big is that risk?
Nobody can see that there is money inside your letter, and 99.99 or so percent of all post is correctly delivered.
I asked the same thing from people when I was able to get hold of a dutch CD with pilgrims music, thus sending a dozen CD's the world over. Worked properly.

My two cents worth...

Ultreya,
Carli Di Bortolo

----
Edit: oops... didn't read that your problems were already solved.
But perhaps for future use...

 

[sillydoll]

Carli, I have done the same thing, many times, and the money has never been lost. I fold the notes into dark paper (usually black) so that even if the envelope is held up to the light, you can't see the notes through the paper.

 

[cajossy7]

yeh same issue but with womens shoes ( http://sparkah.com/2011/12/15/womens-ar ... -victoire/ ) not too bad