Sending Money Overseas article discussion

Eenymeeny

Eenymeeny wrote: »

Thanks Blueberry, xe looks good but I'm a bit confused over transfer options. Would you mind advising me please? I understand that BACS will take a few days but that wouldn't be a problem. FPS is faster but I know that Lloyds charged me £40 once for sending it quickly. Am a bit confused about EFT, Bpay, Internet and Payanyone. Am I right in thinking that EFT/ACH is probably the best option for me? Thanks again:)

Can anyone else advise please? I've looked at their videos but don't know if I have to wire the money to them? Thanks:)

blueberrypie

Eenymeeny wrote: »

Thanks Blueberry, xe looks good but I'm a bit confused over transfer options. Would you mind advising me please? I understand that BACS will take a few days but that wouldn't be a problem. FPS is faster but I know that Lloyds charged me £40 once for sending it quickly. Am a bit confused about EFT, Bpay, Internet and Payanyone. Am I right in thinking that EFT/ACH is probably the best option for me? Thanks again:)

You can choose how to send the funds - wire, Faster Payments, BACS or CHAPS. The charge you had from Lloyds would have been for wire or CHAPS, but Lloyds now does Faster Payments so there's no need to incur a fee.

Have a look at the FAQS at http://www.xe.com/fx/faq.php - number 5 in the Trading Information section gives all the info re sending funds

Eenymeeny

:TThanks so much Blueberry I understand now. (Doh!) I thought that I had a choice of fps which would cost me more,apparently it doesn't. Great advice thanks I'm going to use XE.

Eenymeeny

Just to say XE were great, thanks again Blueberry. I was authorised within about three hours (opening account, no phone call or fax needed) Arranged payment to XE and notified them when I'd done it (FPS so instant.. LTSB to Barclay's) Money transferred from within about half an hour of them receiving it to bank account in NZ. Son says it could take 3 to 4 days for funds to be available but that is NZ's banking system. I'd certainly recommend them.:T:j

tik33

hi all, not sure whether this is the right thread as you all have big sums to transfer. basically I want to stay in an Italian b&b this summer and they have asked for a deposit (they haven't said how much yet - but i suppose somewhere between 50 and 100 euros). I'm not worried about rates at that level - more about fees - anyone got any tips?

thanks in advance,

Gus

MrChips

Hi there. I'd be grateful if anyone has any comments on the following.

My parents have decided to sell a small flat they have in Tenerife. The purchaser will be transferring €120,000 to them in June in respect of this sale. He paid a deposit of €20,000 last month by transfer to their HSBC current account and I calculated that the exchange rate used had been loaded against them by about 2%. I have offered to come up with an alternative method for the remaining funds as to lose 2% on this would cost them about £2,000!

At the moment I am thinking of opening an Citibank Euro account so that at least they don't lose any money on the transfer. They can then try and get a better exchange rate via one of the currency brokers mentioned in Martin's guide, or on this forum.

Any comments? Any pitfalls I have overlooked? Any better suggestions?

Many thanks!

lkel

Hi there

I'm moving to Australia for a couple of years but will still need to transfer money regularly back to the UK. xe.com seem like the best company to use for this, but does anybody know if Australian bank accounts charge to send the money to xe.com? I've used ANZ in the past and Australian banks seem to charge for all manner of things that are free in UK banks. I'd just like to check this so I don't get any nasty surprises!

Many thanks
Laura

dtl

I need to transfer a reasonably large sum of money from the US to the UK and using a broker seem like the sensible thing to do. I have read elsewhere of people having all kinds of trouble sending money internationally from Bank of America (the US bank where our money is). Has anyone had any experiences (good or bad) of transferring money from Bank of America using a broker.

jefferina

I have $5000 in cash from working on cruise ships which I now need to put into a US dollar account. I will be moving out there to take a course and need to be able to prove I have enough money in order to get a visa so changing the money into sterling is not an option. I looked at Citibank but in order to apply you need to prove you earn a minimum of £20,000 which I don't. I can open an account with Wells Fargo in the US over the internet but am stuck on how to get my money in there! I don't mind how long it takes I jsut want to get my money there as cheaply as possible! Does anyone have any ideas?

scoutkim3870

Although the article mentions that Western Union may not be the cheapest, nothing is said about a fatal flaw in their advertised "reliability".Their slogan is "Quick and reliable". They ARE NEITHER. The word "reliable" should be changed to UNRELIABLE. I was waiting urgently for a payment from France. The sender paid a high fee to send 1100 euro "instantly" to me in Brixham, England, rather than waiting until the next day. I looked up my nearest Western Union agent, which was First Choice travel in Brixham. I phoned them. They asked me how much I was expecting. I told them. They asked me to come down and bring 2 forms of identification. When I arrived I had to fill in a form. The staff member then spent five minutes on the computer. She started to count out the money and then told me they didn't have enough and I would have to go somewhere else. There was one other agent in Brixham. I went there. They had an enormous metal sign blocking the pavement outside saying "Western Union - send and receive money here." They told me their password hadn't been working for a week (so why did they put that sign out there that morning??). I went back to venue A and asked them when they would get the money. They told me they would have to wait until they had collected it by enough people paying them in cash, which could be some days. They said they would ring me but didnt take my phone number. I rang Western Union and explained that this was not a reliable same day service. In fact there was absolutely 0 reliability in it at all. They pointed out that the terms and conditions effectively say that someone can only have the money that has been sent to them if they can find an agent who has enough to give it to them. WHAT AN ABSOLUTE FARCE AND WASTE OF TIME. This "reliable" service therefore contains the ultimate seeds of complete unreliability: If the agent doesnt have enough money, they can't give it to you and according to Western Union customer services there is no requirement for any of their agents to get it from a bank or indeed to supply your "received" money, ever! You could do a tour of 100 agents for 6 weeks and if none of them had it on the premises, you would never get it. The agent suggested that I should ask my sender to request a refund (although his "service charge" would not be refunded) and get him to send me the money "by some other means". I was speechless!