International payments

Hello all, I was wondering if anyone could give a little advice or share some experiences trying to pay someone overseas. The short version of my problem is, I am trying to make a wire transfer from the US to a bank in Great Britain. Myself and the persons involved had looked up the common exchange rates, knowing they vary daily, and worked out the pricing. Right now as I type this, the exchange rate appears to be £1.00 to $1.57, negating the extra decimals. When trying to set up a transfer through my bank, Bank of America, thier current exchange rate is £1.00 to almost $1.64. Plus a $35 or $45 fee for the exchange or transfer. Now that may not sound like much, but this is not exactly a cheap purchase, and it adds up to enough to make me look at other options.

Are there better ways to transfer money internationally without have so much extra skimmed off the exchange rate? Has anyone done this through paypal? I had heard that they have even higher fees for international payments. Or Western union or a place like that? Anyplace that will just give the exact exchange rate with a flat fee for the service?

And before anyone asks I have confidence in the people I'm dealing with, this isn't a squirrelly deal, I'm just trying to figure out the cheapest way to actually get the money to the UK without all the excess skimming.

Thanks for any advice,

Dave