I tried this a few weeks back and had my bitcoin within half an hour (could have been sooner if I was more organised!) Head over to bitcoinbargain dot co dot uk. It has a list of current live bitcoin sellers, who are verified. You need online banking or basic telephone banking to do this. Basically you transfer the money required to their bank account, then they pay you straight into a bitcoin wallet (it's a temporary wallet!) You then empty this wallet as soon as possible (they start charging for storage after a week!). If you are a member of an online shop, transfer the funds to it straight away. In the UK you can transfer cash either online or by phone 24hrs a day. If your credit is less than perfect I would use the co-operative bank if you don't have a bank account. The only reason why i'm mentioning this is because it took me ages to find a half decent place to buy bitcoin quickly! One question, for international users - how do you purchase bitcoin and how fast does it take you?