We just recently bought our second contract, we paid using TransferWise, they charged me £38 in fee's. It was massively straight forward though and much easier AND cheaper than doing it through my bank. This is dependent though on the title company accepting an ACH payment (automated clearing house), frustratingly, and someone may correct me if i'm wrong, not all title companies accept these payments and you can't guarantee which title company a broker will use.
Just to try and answer a couple of others points raised, in terms of 'protection', I guess there is an element of risk, like there is with any major purchase, but you have to remember that you aren't paying directly to the seller, or even the broker that has the contract listed, the money is going to a title company who handle the deal, and they provide full banking details which in my experience has made it really straight forward, and as safe as it can be.
I bought my contracts from Fidelity, but have scoured 5 or 6 different sites to find the contracts that suit our needs, I won't list them here as some of them can't be mentioned on these forums without breaking DIS board guidelines, but a quick google of 'best dvc resale sites' brings up a lot of threads including one from this forum.
As for Direct Vs Resale, we bought a small amount of points (I think 75 is the minimum to get a 'blue card' and the associated discounts), and then larger contracts (both at the Poly) through resale, that has given us the best of both worlds. If you aren't that bothered about the blue card discounts, resale is probably the way to go, the main reason for buying direct is access to future resorts, but with the cancellation of Reflections resort, the only resort that you can't use resale points at currently is the Riviera, so, unless you're desperate to stay there, no reason to not buy resale.
I am a little bit more unsure about finance options, I know buying direct, Disney don't offer finance to UK buyers, so you would need to take a loan out here, pay off the contract with that money and then repay the loan, I am not sure if it is the same for buying resale.
Happy to answer any questions though, just sent me a private message or post in here.