Tranfer US Dollars into a UK bank account - UKFOREX?

Return_from_USA

Hi,

I've worked in the US for a couple of years and am now returning to the UK, as a result I wish to transfer cash from my US bank account into my UK bank account.

I've never done this before and I am a little nervous about sending cash to a company I don't know!!!

Money saving expert recommends using FOREX companies to transfer cash abroad but does not give much advice about sending cash to the UK.

I've looked up UKFOREX and they do seem to give a good exchange rate but I would like some unbiased feedback on the company to give me some confidence before giving them my cash.

Has anybody used UKFOREX to transfer cash to the UK?

Were there any problems?

Is there any other FOREX company you would recommend?

Thanks in advance,

Return from USA

westy22

It is far more important to research the SENDING company rather than the RECEIVING company. For that reason you would be better researching a solid US company rather than a UK one.

wriggly

westy22 wrote: »

It is far more important to research the SENDING company rather than the RECEIVING company.

UKForex perform the currency transfer so they are both the sending and the receiving company.

I used UKForex for AUD-GBP transfers and had no problems. They generally seemed to charge about 1% for the transfer, which is much better than the banks. To be pedantic, they have no charge for reasonably large transfers, but their exchange rate is about 1% less than the mid-rate you get quoted on websites.

In my experience UKForex were cheaper than MoneyCorp and xe.com. For any of these, once you confirm a quote, you have a short amount of time to transfer your money from your source account, then a few days until they transfer it to your destination account. These companies are regulated by certain regulatory authorities (FSA in the UK) and I believe your money is in a separate client account.

More recently I have started using CurrencyFair, which matches your money with someone trying to change money in the opposite direction. This is even cheaper, typically equivalent to a 0.3-0.5% fee if you accept the going rate, and possibly even better if you're willing to offer a rate rather than accept one.

However, in both cases you need to deposit your money in advance. If you choose to offer a rate rather than accept the going rate, you may need to wait until someone takes it, and that may never happen. You also pay a small fee to transfer from CurrencyFair to your bank (£3/transfer).