Free/cheap ways to transfer $$USD to UK?

Yateley

Does anyone know how to transfer US dollars to the UK with no or low charges to both sender and recipient? I've just taken on a work project working with an American company - we tried a test of $50 using Paypal but charges weren't insignificant and the exchange rate was poor.

blueberrypie

xe.com - look for the xetrade link - fast, excellent service and best-rate guarantee.

jhorsfieldbradbury

There is a very cheap way to transfer money from the US to the UK by getting a "checking account" (equivalent of a current account) with an ATM card. You can then use the ATM card in the UK to take out cash at a cash machine (can set up to get up to $2000 per account per day) and the rate used is the interbank rate from the day before. There is no fee at all, not even the normal 1%-2% "visa fee" that gets charged. It's a bit like how Nationwide used to be in the UK before the new system where they pass on the visa fee.

Getting checking account requires being a "US resident", however, so not that easy. I was at graduate school as a student in the US for a year and qualified easily. Without an address you probably can't get the account.

I can't yet post links to banks, and another site that has a summary, because I'm a new user. Once I can I'll update this post. Two banks I use are Commerce Bank and State Farm.