rpal

We have been extremely pleased with the XETrade on-line currency brokerage at https://www.xe.com/fx/ They are a Canadian firm making use of a well-established Canadian currency exchange house. Some of the things we like: * multiple recipient accounts (we can transfer funds to our own French account or our daughter's at Strasbourg * No minimums. Great for monthly expenses. We transfer quarterly to save on wire transfer fees, which are still reasonable. * Monitor the progress of every transaction on line. * Capability to place forwards and bids. * All major currencies, competitive rates. On-line demo at: https://www.xe.com/fx/demo.htm

We have been extremely pleased with the XETrade on-line currency brokerage at https://www.xe.com/fx/ They are a Canadian firm making use of a well-established Canadian currency exchange house. Some of the things we like: * multiple recipient accounts (we can transfer funds to our own French account or our daughter's at Strasbourg * No minimums. Great for monthly expenses. We transfer quarterly to save on wire transfer fees, which are still reasonable. * Monitor the progress of every transaction on line. * Capability to place forwards and bids. * All major currencies, competitive rates. On-line demo at: https://www.xe.com/fx/demo.htm

When we were buying I stayed at a lovely inexpensive B&B in Boussac (in Creuse 23)... La Courtepoint. Mme. Gros is charming, the place has a wonderful view of the Chateau, and you can get to quite a lot of areas from there. She even takes bookings by Internet... http://perso.wanadoo.fr/courtepointe/ Good luck!

Haven't been here for some time, but would like to post info about the solution I have found, even though the thread is a little old. Have a look at www.xe.com/fx/ --and check out their on-line demo at https://www.xe.com/fx/demo.htm This is a Canadian company. They can exchange practically any currency and transfer it anywhere. They tell me they can even transfer from my Russian wife's Ruble account in St. Petersburg to our daughter's account in Strasbourg. I admit we didn't try that yet but from our US account to Credit Agricole it's just been duck soup. They have no minimum order, and the rates are the best I've found. You do pay a wire transfer fee if you opt to have onrward payments done by wire (you can opt for bank draft but it takes longer). You can set up an account online at no charge. Within your XE account, you set up (via the Web + some faxed signature forms) direct debit authorization for the bank account(s) you want to use to when selling currency, and also the account(s) to receive the onward payment of converted currency. You can place orders, track the progress, and view your history via the Web. They have really solved a lot of problems for us!