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I submitted a query about sending money from England to Peru. The results were virtually useless - every single one updated over 30 days ago, meaning the exchange rates were incorrect by a factor of over 10%! Only 4 alternatives were offered, the rest showing 'No Rate Available'. The whole exercise is just a brain-dump of ideas for transferring money - you could just do a search on a search engine and get similar results.

I recently signed up to Currencies Direct as it came top of the recommended list on Sendmoneyhome.org i.e. best exchange rate and listed as not charging a transfer fee. No fees were mentioned on the paperwork received from them; only when I was on the telephone requesting a transfer was I told there is a £15 fee for any amount under £5000. It's not that unreasonable since they did offer a fair exchange rate and they do have to make some money on the deal. However, it was not made clear until that point that there is a standard fee and Sendmoneyhome.org may wish to include that information in future.

I used the Sendmoneyhome website as listed on this website and found that Smart Currency Exchange offered the best rate to transfer 4000GBP into Australian dollars as I've just moved over here.

As soon as I registered with Smart Currency Exchange, they were super-efficient in sending me emails and telephoning me straight away to confirm setting up my account. The staff were friendly and helpful and assured me that the transfer could take place within 2-3 working days. I was reassured even further when my account was set up within 24 hours with no mistakes or hassle. I immediately received the straightforward paperwork required to outline my onward transfer and the details of my Australian bank account for the deposit.

Following this lead, I immediately transferred the money into their UK account for processing.

Then nothing.

Once the money had cleared out of my UK bank account I heard absolutely nothing by way of confirmation (either email or telephone). Seemingly, once they have your money, they have no interest in keeping in touch or continuing the expediency of the transfer.

A full week passed before my nerves got the better of me and I had to make an international phonecall in the middle of the night to chase up progress. I was told that my money had not yet cleared into their UK account (suspicious) but that the transfer should be complete within 2/3days.

3 days later, still nothing. Except for two jovial marketing messages offering to up-sell me more services in the confident assumption that I was enjoying a wealthy glow from the service provided so far. Needless to say, this prompted a strongly worded email from me in response. Surprisingly, this resulted in an immediate pacifying phonecall by my client relationship manager (who had no information and merely apologised, promising to call me straight back). The phonecall never came.

So a sleepless night followed and I did have an email in the morning. Although this was a standard service message (that I could have done with receiving a week earlier) stating that the transfer was underway and should clear my Australian account within 2/3 days (familiar?). It also advised chasing my Australian bank if the funds didn't show up as "we often find that banks aren't as quick and effficient as Smart Currency Exchange". Had I have had a sense of humour by that point, I would have laughed.

My money did eventually come through - two weeks after it left my UK bank account. This is considerably longer than the 2/3 working days I was quoted. I feel that I lost out on a not insignificant amount of interest and also incurred large costs from being forced to survive on expensive credit cards during the process. No compensation was offered for this, nor for the anxiety I suffered throughout the process.

I was very disappointed with my experience with Smart Currency Exchange and would not recommend them to anyone. Unless the transfer is not urgent and you are prepared to wait for an unspecified amount of time until they have finished playing around with your money.