I'm moving to Japan in two weeks and I still have debts to pay in America. Thus, I need to be able to send money overseas. I know there are a number of ways to do this and I looked over this article as to what those ways are. I have my payments set up on a monthly plan and for automatic withdrawal on a specified date. Currently, the monthly payments cumulatively add up to several hundred dollars.
Based on my apparent options, I was planning on using PayPal (it seems like it would be the cheapest; after talking with PayPal it sounds like the fee for transferring money would be 3.9% of the amount I am transferring plus 30 cents). However, I read at the end of the article that I'm not able to transfer money from a Japanese bank account to a Japanese PayPal account:
"In other words, Paypal in Japan currently can't be used to remit funds overseas from your Japanese bank account. You can, however, link a credit card to the account (it doesn't have to be a Japanese credit card, but it does need a Japan-based billing address)." The last part of this "doesn't make as much sense to me: does this mean that I need to use a credit card connected to my bank account in Japan to transfer money to my Japanese PayPal account?
Somebody in the comments for in the aforementioned article also mentioned traveler's checks being a good way to send money overseas. Any thoughts or opinions on this?
In any case, I am looking for more direct advice concerning my situation. I'd especially like to hear from people who have been in a similar situation to mine and what they've done. Any advice or thoughts?
Based on my apparent options, I was planning on using PayPal (it seems like it would be the cheapest; after talking with PayPal it sounds like the fee for transferring money would be 3.9% of the amount I am transferring plus 30 cents). However, I read at the end of the article that I'm not able to transfer money from a Japanese bank account to a Japanese PayPal account:
"In other words, Paypal in Japan currently can't be used to remit funds overseas from your Japanese bank account. You can, however, link a credit card to the account (it doesn't have to be a Japanese credit card, but it does need a Japan-based billing address)." The last part of this "doesn't make as much sense to me: does this mean that I need to use a credit card connected to my bank account in Japan to transfer money to my Japanese PayPal account?
Somebody in the comments for in the aforementioned article also mentioned traveler's checks being a good way to send money overseas. Any thoughts or opinions on this?
In any case, I am looking for more direct advice concerning my situation. I'd especially like to hear from people who have been in a similar situation to mine and what they've done. Any advice or thoughts?