While recently (yet again!) looking for a reasonably priced, easy and quick way to send some money to Germany my Google searches turned up a new Visa service called "Visa Direct".
From what I've found out it was started in 2003 and the basic service allows payments directly from one Visa card to another, across borders or whatever, with the same sort of charges as you would get using your card for normal payments. Then just recently they've added a further service which allows payments directly into bank accounts from your Visa card (within the Euro zone I think).
This is almost perfect for the typical £50 to £500 pound sort of payment I want to make a few times a year to France, Germany, Spain, etc.
Of course not a single Visa card provider in the UK offers "Visa Direct" yet, but Visa themselves told me that there will be a UK bank offering this in the not too distant future.
Does anyone alse know anything about this service and the likelihood of it really becoming available here in the UK?