Effective way to fund BTC-e?

[avulhop]

I'm modestly interested in trying to trade currency on BTC-e and perhaps take advantage of some arbitrage opportunities every now and then. The tricky part for me is getting my fiat USD into BTC-e. Virtually every avenue of funding an account has people shouting about how they have lost their money or are taking forever.

So, how does one fund a BTC-e account without spending an arm and a leg in fees, waiting a week for it to clear, or having some shady Russian site run off with my cash?