My great-nephew and I are staying with an older lady in Madrid for 11 days during early April. She owns a five-bedroom apartment on Arturo Soria and rents out several of the bedrooms to students in order to supplement her income. I first met her in 2004 while I was attending classes in the city and have stayed with her once again since then. I would like to send her payment in advance for this April stay and at the same time keep things simple for her (eg not having to ask her for a bank account number in order to wire a funds transfer).
Is it possible for me to purchase a money order in the US possibly from American Express and payable to her in Euros?
Also is the appropriate Spanish word for "money order" "giro"?
Thanks.

Arthurg .. the correct term is giro postal .. I guess since these are most often purchased at the post office ... A bank transfer done from the US would not be difficult. We do it often from here. I beleive it costs around 35 dollars at your local bank. All you would need from her are her "20 digitos".

We Americans would need to be tortured before we would give up our bank account numbers but it is often a common thing in Spain.. I was just asked for it when I signed up for a new cell phone at Vodafone ...

I would think however that she might just want cash .. Why dont you ask her what she would prefer?

Arthur:

type in Google: "sending money to Spain".

One of the sites is : https://www.emoneygram.com/eMoneyGram/index.dot

It is 10 bucks for 100 dls. 14 for same day delivery/pick up.

In NYC you find it (moneygram) in many pharmacies in midtown.

Good luck.

JA