Paychecks?

My son-in-law mentioned a couple of weeks ago that he doesn't trust paypal like he used to. Apparently they are in some kind of financial trouble. He sells on ebay, and has starting taking his money out of paypal daily instead of letting it accumulate. Sorry I don't know the details, but you might want to research it.

robo841,
Wire transfer, your funds are available immediately (all banks)!

Lizard:

That's good to know - I thought I heard something about the banks even holding wire transfers, or at least delaying the funding.

robo841,
What you heard is urban legends, Social Security, VA Compensation, US Military Retired Pay, Fed Employee's Pay and Retired Pay are all Wire Transfers. Any wire transfer, the monies are immediately credited to your account.

Great - thanks for the info!

You better check on wire transfer. They usually cost either the payer or the payee and you may not get your entire amount.

Social Security, et al are not actually wire transfered. They are actually electronic transfers (ACH)

I had a wire transfer last year and BP HELD IT.
I believe ACH is treated differently than wire transfer.

Now granted BP has their own rules (most of which astound me) and it was last year, so your bank might actually have reasonable rules concerning availability.

I use paypal and haven't had any issues thusfar. I had not heard anything about financial trouble however. That would be odd since they pretty much are the exclusive payment method for Ebay.

Edited to add: BP= Banco Popular and Paypal charges 3% to the receipient of funds

Promoguy,
You're correct the difference is (ACH), Automated Clearing House used by the Federal Reserve Bank only. However the funds that are wired are credited to the account immediately. Payment for this service is usually the sender's cost.

I use the Bank of St Croix, never had a problem with wire transfers. Banks all have specific routing numbers!
My experience is with Bank to Bank, never paid fee's for receipt of funds and was credited exactly what was wired.

Even wire transfer isn't perfect in the virgin islands. the only time i tried it, the wire got lost for a week. apparently it goes through puerto rico, and just like checked baggage it can sometimes get in trouble.
had to postpone the closing, but it did finally come through.
never tried it again, so haven't had experience with it working correctly.

Yes senders cost and usually deducted from the total paid the payee. Wife has music publishing business and wire transfers are always less then the amount due. Wire transfers are not a good use of money for personal banking issues on an ongoing basis. They are best used for a one time big transaction.

I have been using Paypal for many years with no trouble. You can take the money out the day you receive it (it does, however, pass through the fed's hands for a few days). Or if you have a Paypal credit card you can spend immediately that way. Seems like less trouble than wiring, which isn't cheap.

Best of luck,

Let

Letahl:

You said, "you take the money out the day you receive it"............HOW? I guess that's the part I don't understand.

For the record, PayPal is wholly owned by eBay. Any rumors related to potential PayPal insolvency are just that; Rumors. eBay is very well capitalized. Now customer service issues are a totally different subject...

When I receive $ thru Paypal, I immediately initiate a transfer. It arrives in my BP account ususally in 2-3 bus days

I have both my stateside retirement check and my on-island paycheck deposited into my Banco Popular account and they are immediately available.

Oh wow - more confused than ever!

Robo,

When you have a paypal account and someone sends you money, you see the money nearly immediately (within minutes). There is a small fee for the transfer, and the fee varies on what kind of account you have with them (personal or business). The fee is charged to the person receiving the money (in this case: you). You then "initiate a transfer" by telling Paypal, through an automated system, to move the money to your bank account. Paypal immediately does so, but the money goes through the Federal Government for a couple of days before you can go get cash from your stateside bank. Interest off your transfers is one way the Federal Government makes money, and its annoying, but thats an aside.

I believe you meant how it works when you said you are confused. Hope this helps.

Let

robo841,
When you use paypal you have to open an account with them. Read their policy on hold funds very carefully, that would be the very small print. The sender of the paypal funds can stop payment just like you can stop payment on your bank check . You are dealing with an offshore employer subject only to the banking laws of that country. Once an international wire transfer is accomplished and credited to your account its yours. Check with your bank and your employers offshore bank regarding fee's, and bank to bank transfers that are low fee's to no fee's.

PS; The Feds don't hold or look at anything under $5,000.00 The receiving institution reports only deposits greater than $5000.00 because wire transfers are cash ,its reported. Some Banks will report as low as $3000.00 cash deposits (That Banks Policy).

Letahl,
Maybe you can explain how the Fed makes money off an Internet based e-commerce account. Why they would hold that money and how would they get it? The only one that could make money off the float from the Internet transaction would be paypal the receiver of the funds via electronic transfer.

I just bought a car down here and had the money wired to the seller from a US bank to a STT bank. It worked out fine but it wasn't immediate. It took about 4 business days to go through as it did have to go through Puerto Rico. Other than that it worked out fine. And there was a small charge from both my bank and I'm prettty sure to the seller as well. Hope I didn't cause any more confusion!

Kaytee,
Not all banks are members of the Federal Reserve so they use the services of a commercial bank that is a member bank to transfer funds. If a bank is on the receiving side of the wire transfer and is a member of the Federal Reserve they must clear the Federal Reserve Bank of New York District two which is in PR. That's what takes the time and fee's into account. Some Wire Transfers are done in hours some in weeks. The banks that do the transfer can tell you in advance time and cost.

In transactions where the money passes through the Feds (with certain online banks, transfers to brick and mortar accounts go this way), they make interest for the one or two days that it passes through their accounts. It sounds like not much, but it adds up when lots of dollars are transferred this way.

Lethal,
Paypal is a third party payer, The "Feds" are not in the loop on their end! the bulk of their business is Credit Card, ATM's, Debit Cards which is a debit/credit account or Echecks authorized by the payer to deduct amounts up to a certain amount by a written agreement. There is no float by the "Feds" on this type account!

Paypal gets the float!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Robo,

Sorry to prompt babbling. I think you will find Paypal easy to use and reliable. One more option is to open a local account and have them automatically deposit the money. You can use an ATM/debit card and checks from stateside.

Let