I have just moved to Switzerland and my family is remaining in the States for another year. Each month I intend to transfer money from my UBS account back home, to help cover the mortgage amd other stuff there - I was about to make the first on-line transfer this morning and got nervous when it informed me, after I chose "Automatic" and it defaulted to "Breakdown of Costs", that "The order will be exceuted as a payment order abroad. A service charge of CHF $5 does not include additional costs due to the selected cost option." Does this mean they are going to charge me some other fee on my end? When I opened up the help window for this, I read the following about payment order abroad "Payment order abroad for all other international payments – for a price of CHF 5 plus an optional flat third-party fee of CHF 20." What does it mean an optional flat third party fee - if it is my option, I prefer to not have the CHF 20 fee! This sounds better if I have to pay CHF 25, "Payment order abroad extra for payments in Europe and the US – for a price of CHF 10 including third-party costs." Can anyone fill me in on the most cost-efficient method for this - I'm going to be transferring money every month for the next year, until they all get here.

Thanks!
Dennis

Have a look at this thread.

Searching the forum is often useful.

I searched the forum and didn't find anything with the same question, at least not to my economically untrained eyes. I just looked at the one you sent me and still don't have an answer.

You will have to pay all fees if the money is transferred between your accounts. In my experience, the charges in Switzerland are less than those charged in the US. Postfinance seems to be one of the cheaper ones where the total transaction costs 12chf. YMMV.

Thanks, I'll just check with UBS on Monday morning. Cheers!

no answer, but really interested in what you decide to do, we have to top up our bond in sa as well on a monthly basis and have been looking for some answers. will also find out more about postfinance have a look... http://www.postfinance.ch/pf/content...ay/abroad.html
let me know if you find any good alternatives...
sd

Don't let the banks load you up with fees.

I use XE Corporation for all my CH > US transfers and find their rates good and their fees non-existent.

http://www.xe.com/fx/?AdTracking=htt...e.com/&mission

Thanks Tomcat, but it looks to me like their fee is CHF 20.60 to wire and then my bank in the states take another $10 USD - it looks to me like I can transfer it through USB for CHF 10, maybe? Of course I understand that the exchange rate might be a bit different, but I wonder if it will make up for the extra $10 - not a lot, but an extra $10 a month is another bottle of wine!

Cheers,
dh