Transferring money from abroad

yorica

Hi gang

My girlfriend is coming over from Japan to study at a British university. The university requires payment (£5000) via a banker's draft or similar money transfer method. This will obviously incur bank charges - Abbey told me that it is £25 in this country but it could be any amount in Japan.

Do you know of a (legal & safe) way she can get the money to me from Japan for under approx £25.

I have already thought about credit cards but the institute do not accept them.

Any advice is obviously gratefully received.

loobs40

I was going to be caught by the bank fees when paying the deposit for an apartment in Barcelona. In the end I persuaded the owner to open up a paypal account and I sent the money through paypal. Think the transaction cost a few euros in all

yorica

Thanks for you advice.

That's interesting as I already have a paypal account for receiving payments via websites like Quidco.

I imagine that Paypal will make some money through the conversion from Japanese Yen to British Sterling plus transaction fees.

They state on the website that the transaction fee is 3.4% which works out at £170. Ouch!

THRIFTY1_3

Hi Yorica

Why not check out some of the online currency sites, they offer much better rates of exchange compared to the banks and I imagine better than Paypal. I recommend contacting a company called Just Euros Ltd, I use them quite a bit and have never found a better rate elsewhere. The added bonus is that they don't charge any of thosee hidden admin fees for transfering the sterling to your own or your specifed account. Check out their website at http://www.justeuros.co.uk

bonzojake

Hi,
I would try the company below - they have good rates of exchange too.
http://www.interchangefx.co.uk

yorica

Thanks for that, I will compare with shop around for decent rates.

I still would like further advice on getting the money from Japan with out having my girlfriend travel to the UK with a suitcase full of reddies.

jonesMUFCforever

Has she though of buying Travellers cheques?
I think Amex do cheques up to £500 in value so that would be 10 cheques.If she has them in sterling then exchange rate would have already been worked out in Japan with no further costs over here, just sign them over in the middle to University.

yorica

No that's a good idea... thanks

THRIFTY1_3

Hi again Yorica

When I suggested the online currency site, I meant that your girlfriend could instruct her bank to transfer the money in Yen to their client account, they would then convert to sterling and forward to your specified account (your girlfriends UK a/c or the Uni a/c) thus avoiding the risk of travelling with large amounts of cash. Its worth checkin what rate your girlfriends bank would charge to convert to sterling 1st (knowing most banks it wont be too competitive!!), otherwise she can send over Yen (probably incur same fee for transfer whether in yen or sterling) and then benefit from preferential exchange rate and free deposit into desired sterling account.

noraa

hi
i used to be a international student.
the cheapest way was to get a bank draft in pounds with the university as the payee.

it is just like a personal cheque. get 2 of it. one for the university and the other for her daily spending. banks don't charge for bank draft.

things could be different as i am from singapore not japan