Sending money overseas is something so few of us do that it's helpful to have a good guide.
Paul Stewart-Day, a former investigator with an Australian consumer protection agency, is that guide. He became interested in money transfers partly out of personal curiosity and partly in response to a United Nations report detailing how many methods of moving money were disappearing as a result of the war on terrorism. He began investigating, and found little information that was helpful.
''What I did find was either patchy, or simply advertising by the providers of international money transfer services," Stewart-Day said.
So he created an international money transfer consumer guide, which is available for free at www.international-money-transfer-consumer-guide.info. Much of the guide caters to people who are sending money home to families in other countries, but there is also information that could be helpful to world travelers. I asked Stewart-Day to recommend, for example, the best ways for a parent to send money to a child traveling abroad who needs cash right away.
The cheapest option, he said, is to transfer or deposit money into an account linked to the child's check or debit card. The child can then withdraw the money at an automated teller machine overseas in the local currency.
A debit card, as long as it has a Visa (also Plus) or MasterCard (also Maestro or Cirrus) logo on it, can be used in most countries and generally will garner a good exchange rate. Stewart-Day recommends checking the card before leaving on a trip abroad to make sure it has a four-digit personal identification number, since some ATM machines overseas don't have alphabetical keypads and limit PINs to four characters.
Owning a debit card issued by a large bank has some advantages for foreign travel. Bank of America, which is in the process of acquiring FleetBoston Financial Corp., is affiliated with a group of banks called the Global ATM Alliance. The group allows any customer of any bank in the alliance to use his or her debit card at any of the 12,000 foreign ATMs owned by the bank group without being charged a fee. Visa, however, charges a 1 percent foreign currency conversion fee.
The participating banks include Deutsche Bank in Germany, BNP Parnibus in France, Barclays in the United Kingdom, Scotia Bank in Canada, and Westpac in Australia and New Zealand.
It costs more to use an ATM belonging to a bank outside a network like the alliance, but the price is still reasonable. Travelers generally get charged $1.50 to $2.50 by their own bank for each withdrawal at another bank's ATM, pay a fee ranging from $2 to $5 to the bank owning the ATM they are using, and incur a foreign currency adjustment fee that is typically a percentage of the transaction. Bank of America charges 3 percent, collecting 1 percent itself and turning 2 percent over to Visa.
The other important option for sending money is a cash transfer. The parents would pay for an electronic fund transfer to the child and the child would pick it up in the local currency at a local office abroad of the transferring agent. Cash transfers are quick and easy as long as the parties have an office of the transferring agent nearby.
The cost of cash transfers can, however, be substantial. Fees vary by the amount being sent and by destination. Sending $500 from Boston to Rome costs $43 with Western Union and $40 with Travelers Express/Money Gram. By contrast, sending $500 from Boston to Mexico City costs $25 with Western Union and $15 with Travelers Express/Money Gram.
Western Union has a fee calculator on its website (www.westernunion.com).
Snowbound cruiser given no relief
Matthew S. Blum of Manchester has a cautionary tale for anyone taking a cruise.
Blum and his wife were scheduled to take a Princess Cruise departing on Sunday, Dec. 7, from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A snowstorm enveloped Boston that weekend, dumping more than 2 feet of snow and grounding all departing planes. The Blums spent much of the weekend at the airport trying, and failing, to get out.
Blum said American Airlines was gracious and accommodating. His fare was nonrefundable and any alteration in the itinerary theoretically triggered a change fee, but Blum said American gave him the option of rebooking his flight with no change fee or obtaining a refund for the price of his ticket.
Princess, however, would not refund any of his money or allow him to take a trip at another time. A representative explained to Blum that the cruise line had no control over the weather or the airlines, and that is why it offers travel insurance. Blum had not purchased the insurance, called Princess Travel Care.
That did not sit well with Blum, who believes the company needs to be more explicit about the terms and conditions of its cruises in its literature.
''If failure to purchase Princess Travel Care means that Princess considers itself absolved from all responsibility to behave reasonably in extraordinary circumstances, then I would respond that their posted rate, exclusive of Princess Travel Care, is highly misleading," he wrote in a letter to the cruise line. ''It is like advertising the price of a car with wheels as an optional extra."
Bruce Mohl can be reached by e-mail at mohl@globe.com.
