Looking for advice from fellow Canadians on how they deal with money transfers to Portugal when paying for villa rentals. For the first 6 years I have dealt with a travel agent and tour opperator, no problems using a credit card. Last year I booked everything on my own and I am doing the same this year. Last year I paid the rental agent via PayPal because my bank (BMO) did not do bank transfers to commercial accounts in Portugal. PayPal worked but the cost is steep for the reciever, and I would rather work through the banks. I guess Western Union is also an option.

The smaller rental agencies do not use credit cards.

Thanks.


John

You could try sending them a cheque. I do that quite often, UK Sterling cheque which gets converted to Euros when they pay it in and better than tourist rate exchange rates

Well, with a little detective work, I have been able to answer my own question. The bank I deal with will not do a bank transfer to a commercial account in Portugal. Something to do with security processes put in place a couple of years back.

What the bank branch manager failed to suggest was the setting up of a Global Money Transfer Account that will allow me to send money to an account in Portugal, personal or commercial. Seems that this is only way they will do a transfer.

Once the GMT account is set up, the transfer can be done via an ATM, telephone banking or on line. Cost seems to be very reasonalbe as well.

To bad I have to be the one to educate the bank manager! Oh well, it's worth the hassel becasue I get to spend the month of March relaxing in Carvoeiro!

Hope this helps others.

John

When we paid for our accomodation for a trip several years ago, we did it by means of a wire transfer to the UK account of the apartment owner. It was done through our local TD Canada Trust and seemed to take only a day or two (although it took about 10 minutes or so for the teller to figure out the process). Since we are planning on heading back to Portugal for a couple of months next winter, I checked on the bank's website to see if that option is still available and it seems to be. I would have thought that any one of the major banks would offer similar services.

Alas, for this winter, though, rather than Carvoeiro it's a trip to Vancouver and the Winter Olympics.

Quite a few years ago I on the advice of a Portuguese travel agency in Ottawa obtained an international money order from RBC. I mailed it to the owner of the rental unit about a month before leaving for Portugal. To my surprise a month after we had been in Carvoiero, our unit owner (resident of Portugal) still had not received the funds from his Portugal bank. He told us they were still trying to clear the cheque through the system. Finally he got the money. Since then every year, we go to the ATM machine in Carvoeiro upon arrival and wthdraw the money and give it to our rental unit owner. It makes it easier and cheaper for all. No extra charges. Simple too.

That's a good way to do it, if you can. However, the owners that we have dealt with normally require a deposit (25% to 40%) upon confirmation of the rental and then the balance usually 8 weeks or so before arrival. Paying in advance like that to someone you don't know is a bit of a risk, I suppose, but with a little due diligence we've had no problems. I can certainly see the owners point of view.

A couple of years ago when we rented a private villa, we did a bank to bank money transfer for the deposit and it cost about 34 Euros on either side - which the agent deducted from our rent. He understood the problem and let us pay the balance on arrival (trusting soul!)

Canada, don't worry too much about transfering money to Cvo because we're meeting up, I'll buy you a couple of drinks and some grub when we meet, money isn't everything you know!

Thanks pato! Look forward to that. This topic was just how to get larger sums of money to CVO prior to arrival for villa rentals. ATMs work just fine while we are there. See you in Feb. will PM cell phone # later.

Just want to provide an update on this topic. The GMT was success. It took about 5 business days from the time I initiated the transfer until it showed up in the account in Portugal. Once the GMT account is set up, the process for making the transfer is simple and easy. Cost to the sender (me) was $25. I do not know if there was a cost at the recieving end, but I don't think so.

Thanks for everyones input.

JOhn

Marginally on topic. I made a transfer from the UK to the property owner in CVO through my bank. It took about 40 minutes to be seen, fill in the form, queue again, have a point cleared up, then to be told that it would cost £39 to transfer €300! What surprised me is that the teller wasn't wearing a mask...

I guess it would have been much cheaper to have Fedex'ed the cash over.