So I am trying to pay my college loans from Canada, and it is a rather large pain in my butt as none of my loan servicers accept canadian bank accounts or will let me pay with my Visa card. I have been looking into ways to easily transfer money from a canadian to a US bank account, and it looks like paypal might be the best way, but it seems almost too good to be true as their rates as far as I understand are free when transferring between bank accounts where other ways require a ~15% charge for money orders.

Can anyone who knows more about paypal tell me a little more on the legality/fees/things I may not know about transferring money internationally with paypal?

edit: THIS IS IN TOTALLY THE WRONG SECTION. MY BAD.

Hey, bankers are thieves, but 15% fee seems quite outrageous even for a bank. While I can't really tell what the fees over in Canada are, I would not expect more than 2-3 dollars at most.

Over here, if you provide the proper IBAN/BIC, pan-European orders in euro up to €50,000 are the same as national orders (i.e. free), outside EU costs €1.50 extra if you provide the proper information (around €10-15 if you don't).

In any case, whether it costs a few dollars or not, I would greatly prefer doing a direct bank transfer instead of going over an unreliable, untrustworthy middleman. You have a receipt, and a guarantee.

Although the money will be gone from your account, you have no guarantee that PayPal will ever deliver your money. And before you tell me to put on my tinfoil hat, there have been many examples of people running entirely legitimate businesses who went bankrupt simply because PayPal froze their assets under the pretext of "fraud prevention" and "money laundry prevention". That happened to a car parts dealer not far from where I live some years ago. From one day to the other, they found themselves unable to do online business, and worse, pay their component suppliers, because PayPal decided over night to freeze their account (keeping the money, of course). The problem when you run a business is that your suppliers just don't really care, "fuck you, pay me" is all you'll get. They eventually got their account back after some months, but that's enough to break someone's neck.

Plus, PayPal "is no bank" (although it very clearly is), to avoid the minimum regulatory requirements for banks. Which means, in other words, if your bank goes bankrupt tomorrow, your money may be gone, but with some luck you get at least some of it back (from the reinsurance or governmental parachute, whatever). If PayPal files bankruptcy while they have your money, your money is gone, end of story.

Hey, bankers are thieves, but 15% fee seems quite outrageous even for a bank. While I can't really tell what the fees over in Canada are, I would not expect more than 2-3 dollars at most.

Over here, if you provide the proper IBAN/BIC, pan-European orders in euro up to €50,000 are the same as national orders (i.e. free), outside EU costs €1.50 extra if you provide the proper information (around €10-15 if you don't).

I imagine transferring funds in europe is a lot easier as the countries are smaller and so many people commute across borders frequently.

In any case, whether it costs a few dollars or not, I would greatly prefer doing a direct bank transfer instead of going over an unreliable, untrustworthy middleman. You have a receipt, and a guarantee.[/quote]
this costs close to 15% for the amount of money I'd be transferring monthly. This I am pretty sure of as I have talked to my Canadian bank and my loan servicers.

Although the money will be gone from your account, you have no guarantee that PayPal will ever deliver your money. And before you tell me to put on my tinfoil hat, there have been many examples of people running entirely legitimate businesses who went bankrupt simply because PayPal froze their assets under the pretext of "fraud prevention" and "money laundry prevention". That happened to a car parts dealer not far from where I live some years ago. From one day to the other, they found themselves unable to do online business, and worse, pay their component suppliers, because PayPal decided over night to freeze their account (keeping the money, of course). The problem when you run a business is that your suppliers just don't really care, "fuck you, pay me" is all you'll get. They eventually got their account back after some months, but that's enough to break someone's neck.

Plus, PayPal "is no bank" (although it very clearly is), to avoid the minimum regulatory requirements for banks. Which means, in other words, if your bank goes bankrupt tomorrow, your money may be gone, but with some luck you get at least some of it back (from the reinsurance or governmental parachute, whatever). If PayPal files bankruptcy while they have your money, your money is gone, end of story.
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I am aware of the horror stories related to pay pal. I'm not planning on storing huge amounts of money with them. Just transfer money in then immediately transfer it back out into my US bank account then pay my loans from that account. I mostly want to know if there are any hidden fees or account cancellation problems that might come up.

Posted this in the wrong section and had it moved. Just bumping to make it seeable as it started down the page.

I have used PayPal to accept payments from outside my country on many occasions in the past. It works pretty smoothly, except that the fees are pretty high ($29 on a $400 transaction, including fees for currency change).

I have used PayPal to accept payments from outside my country on many occasions in the past. It works pretty smoothly, except that the fees are pretty high ($29 on a $400 transaction, including fees for currency change).

can you elaborate on the fees? Did you transfer from bank account to bank account or from visa to something or what? If I am reading correctly bank account to bank account is free, but fees go up once you use other methods.

[quote name='samoth' timestamp='1301328893' post='4791371']
Hey, bankers are thieves, but 15% fee seems quite outrageous even for a bank. While I can't really tell what the fees over in Canada are, I would not expect more than 2-3 dollars at most.

Over here, if you provide the proper IBAN/BIC, pan-European orders in euro up to €50,000 are the same as national orders (i.e. free), outside EU costs €1.50 extra if you provide the proper information (around €10-15 if you don't).

I imagine transferring funds in europe is a lot easier as the countries are smaller and so many people commute across borders frequently.[/quote]You think they rely on people carrying the money across in suit-cases?
I can send a money transfer to rather uncommon countries like Ukraine and Romania for about $30, even several thousand dollars. $3-4 is low but 15% is just not right, 1-3% would be more common. I've paid money to many countries and been paid from several countries too (US, Hong Kong) and this is fairly consistent.

You think they rely on people carrying the money across in suit-cases?
I can send a money transfer to rather uncommon countries like Ukraine and Romania for about $30, even several thousand dollars. $3-4 is low but 15% is just not right, 1-3% would be more common. I've paid money to many countries and been paid from several countries too (US, Hong Kong) and this is fairly consistent.

Why would you jump to that conclusion? It seems logical to me that European banks would be much more open to transferring funds internationally because more customers find it necessary. For the amounts of money i would be transferring monthly wire transferring it would be around 10% through western union, 15% through my bank, and 15% if I pay by visa over the phone.

This is why I made the thread. Because if I am reading correctly PayPal should allow you to transfer from bank account to bank account for free, which is highly desirable as I am not sending huge amounts of money.