Sending Money Overseas article discussion

grumbler

politicfool wrote: »

For most currencies you get the interbank rate, less a spread of around 0.02%, and you just pay a fixed charge for OANDA to send a wire transfer to your overseas bank account.

Well, for £2000-->$ I see ATM 1.6713 against 1.6627 interbank shown on the same Oanda that makes 0.52% difference, not 0.02%.

I see 1.6736 available with £5 flat fee or 1.6653 with £3 fee.

http://www.fxcompared.com/Content/money-transfer-from-UK-USA-below-3000-amount-1000

What companies advertise interbank rate on their websites?

retirednurse

I just transferred £20,000 to the USA. I was going to use my bank following Martins advice and would have got $32,636 with a £5 fee
As I buy my holiday money from Travelex I did a last check on what they would give me.

Travelex tell me they have a lowest rate guarantee and are covered by the FSA they use UKForex Limited who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority under the Payment Service Regulations 2009 (registration number 521566) and is a registered Money Service Business with HM Revenue & Customs - (MLR No. 12219180).

They gave me $33092 with no fees. The transaction took me just 30 mins to register as a customer, call them to set up the transfer and to make an instant payment from my Bank account.

Very easy with no real effort and I made $450 more for my Brother in the USA and all with no risk to my money.

grumbler

retirednurse wrote: »

...Travelex tell me they have a lowest rate guarantee and are covered by the FSA

Covered?
Regulated - yes, but it's not a synonym of 'covered'.

They gave me $33092 with no fees.

Well, unless you "just transferred" not today, I see $33258 in other places.

BTW, where does Martin advise to use banks?

Fran.Guester

Can these only transfer the money if the foreign account exists already? My issue is i want to transfer a considerable amount into AUS$ for a trip travelling there later this year but so far the best opetion I have found is to upload into paypal then withdraw it once I have opened a new bank account in oz.
any thoughts?

aramo

barbary_coaster wrote: »

The Guide suggests opening a Nationwide Bank Account to get a debit card for free cash withdrawals abroad.

I decided to do this, but have noticed that you need to have the account open for 7 months before they will give you a debit card.

Is this something new that Nationwide have brought in to discourage folks like me from opening an account, for use abroad only??

You can get the Flex debit card if you lodge over (iirc) £750/mth for seven months OR you can upgrade to the Flex current account (£10/mth fee) which has a lot of bonus items - mostly insurance things like phone insurance, car breakdown cover and a decent world wide with winter sports travel insurance package (account holder AND partner). I'm slow to give banks money but I thought this was well worth. You can also get the Flex credit card with 0% world wide loading.
I recently used the debit card in Switzerland at three different banks ATMs, the true rate I received was about 0.5% off the midmarket XE quoted rate for those days.

aramo

I've posted a couple of times about getting a good euro/gbp rate, the best methods involved taking euros to London and dealing in cash. I'm happy to report those days are over

www.CurrencyFair.com gives me the best net rate EVER and I don't have to leave the house. I'm mentioning it here because no one else has and I think it's a great service for anyone who needs bank-to-bank FX at a very good rate .. and the rate is good, approx 0.25% plus £3 for the outgoing bank transfer. That's 0.25% not 2.5% ;-) The FX transaction is instant if you accept to current offered rate or you can set your own rate, transfers from CurrencyFair [Bank Of America account in Dublin] to Nationwide in London happen within the same day if instruction is give before 11-ish, well it impressed me when I saw it.

If your interesting in Euro/Sterling or other major currency give it a look - it WILL save you money. I should point out I've not worked out how much (if any) government protection there is for money left overnight with the company. They do have a few webpages devoted to financial security which I should re-read.

I don't work for CurrencyFair.com, just a happy customer.

aramo

Fran.Guester wrote: »

Can these only transfer the money if the foreign account exists already? My issue is i want to transfer a considerable amount into AUS$ for a trip travelling there later this year but so far the best opetion I have found is to upload into paypal then withdraw it once I have opened a new bank account in oz.
any thoughts?

You could do this ..
1. Open an account with www.CurrencyFair.com
2. Open an bank account in Oz
3. Transfer money to CurrencyFair, do FX and transfer AUD to Oz

Step 3 should take no more than 3 days in total and cost 4 AUD in fees, if it's your first transaction with them having the same name on the Oz account as the source one would be a good idea.

I just posted an item on CurrencyFair and then saw your post so a little serendipity is going on. Hope Oz treats you well.
PS it's not neccessary but if it was me I'd transfer a tenner from my bank to CurrencyFare.com before leaving the home country just to be sure everything was setup correctly, you could even convert it to AUD and let it sit in your CurrencyFair account while you travelled south.

DK-ExPat

Hi,

I've just completed a £60k international money transfer from my UK current account with Lloyds Bank, to my Danish current account with Sydbank, using Currencies Direct.

I found Currencies Direct to be very efficient, the account setup process was simple and quick, and the company was easily accessible via email and telephone with excellent response times to my queries.

I was very impressed with the exchange rate Currencies Direct offered after I had spent time studying the currency market on a daily basis. The company contacted me immediately once the rate had risen to my requested figure, at which point I committed to completing the transfer . The service they offer is fee free. The only charge I incurred was a fee of 40DKK (£4.50) from my Danish bank.

I had to transfer the £60k to Currencies Direct over three days due to the internet-banking daily transfer limits imposed by Lloyds Bank. However, once the transfers were complete, the money landed in my Danish bank account within 24 hours.

At the end of the day I was £862.00 better-off because I chose to take MSE's advice and NOT use the high street banks to transfer my money.

Thank you MSE And thank you Currencies Direct for a very professional service, as well as the £75.00 Amazon gift voucher :beer:

Regards,

DK-ExPat

m5rcc

Does anyone know of a (cheap) way to make a payment in Brazilian Reals (BRL) at all?

Im trying to pay the deposit on a holiday and the owner of a flat has sent me a invoice via PayPal. Although I can see it and I'm verified and wish to pay with my credit card (Santander Zero) there is no way to complete it. Some error on their side and there's no PP compliance to 'push it through'...

Most of the FX brokers and P2P online exchanges do not do BRL...

Am i left with just Western Union and the like?

koru

I'm just wondering if the following advice in the article is still valid:

"Sending larger amounts (£5,000+)

When the amount you wish to transfer jumps to the 'serious' level, the only players able to give a good rate are specialised foreign exchange brokers. "

From what I can see, the peer-to-peer options, TransferWise and CurrencyFair, offer better rates than brokers, even for big amounts.