Tai wrote:
Penny Gaines wrote:
Tai wrote:
Anne Rogers wrote:
My gran has asked if there is anywhere online she can deposit
money, so that we can then choose some gifts for the kids. I'm
guessing that the only mechanism for doing something like this
would be to purchase a gift card to an online store, which is
something we're unfamiliar with, can you do this totally
electronically? Any ideas of stores that might do
them?

I don't know about stores but why can't your gran just get her bank
to transmit the money into your bank account? Where I live I can do
that via internet banking myself or arrange it over the counter at a
nearby bank branch. Our parents live in another country and they
just send money for their grandchildren directly into an account
here by going into their bank and organising a foreign currency
transfer which usually arrives promptly the next day. All you'd have
to do is give your gran your bank, branch and account numbers,
wouldn't you? Another option would be for her to pay the money
directly into your
credit card account.

If you still have a UK credit card which you can use where you are,
this is probably the best option. Gran sends a cheque to your
credit card issuer (or uses telephone or internet banking) and you
buy something in dollars on that credit card.

(Or even she pays some money into a UK credit card, you use that
credit card to buy a present from a UK shop for someone else, and buy
a present from Gran on a US credit card.)

Another option - although not as secure - is for Gran to get some
US dollars from eg a travel agent, and just put them through the
post. I have occasionally done this and never had any problems.

Yes, although it's probably not legal to send notes through the mail
in most countries so a banker's draft or money order would be a
better option. They take about the same amount of time to have issued
from a bureau de change or bank as buying foreign currency does
unless you're at an airport.

Just to follow myself up I remembered my mother once had a senior moment and
wrote a cheque on her own account in her currency and posted it for
someone's birthday. I thought "what the heck, I'll see what the bank says"
and to my surprise they cheerfully processed it. It took about a week before
it cleared and they took a small commission to do it but in the end it
probably cost the same as if my mother had bought a bank draft in the right
currency!