How easy is it to transfer money from overseas' account to UK account?

TimBear

Hello!

To cut a long story short, we have a friend who is British but moved to Australia last year.

He owes us some money but says he has been having real troubles sending it to us from his Australian account to our UK account, and I wondered just how difficult it actually is (or isn't, as the case may be), since I've never had to do it.

Should it really be this difficult?

Lith

i would send it via paypal

the fees are A LOT less than the actual bank fees...


i've had someone send me money from china via paypal and the fees where like 1 to 3 pound max where a bank would charge you 20...

TimBear

Ah I didn't realise there would be fees to pay! Will suggest PayPal, thanks. Does it take long for the money to arrive or is it the same as any other PayPal transaction you'd make?

coolesticeking

TimBear wrote: »

Ah I didn't realise there would be fees to pay! Will suggest PayPal, thanks. Does it take long for the money to arrive or is it the same as any other PayPal transaction you'd make?

Very much the same as any other transaction, as soon as the person sends the money it should be within your account in seconds.

TimBear

Brilliant, thank you. I'll suggest that!

RetiredInThailand

With PayPal, it all depends on the amount involved and what the receiver intends doing with it.

If it's just a few tens or hundreds of Pounds then PayPal is OK, but they do charge a weighting for the exchange and they also charge a few % as a fee if you withdraw the cash rather than just use it via PayPal for other purchases/payments. If it's more than a few hundred Pounds and you want to withdraw it then it's probably better to send it another way.

PayPal certainly is easy and very fast though.

RobTang

TimBear wrote: »

Hello!

To cut a long story short, we have a friend who is British but moved to Australia last year.

He owes us some money but says he has been having real troubles sending it to us from his Australian account to our UK account, and I wondered just how difficult it actually is (or isn't, as the case may be), since I've never had to do it.

Should it really be this difficult?

It depends if his bank allows IBAN tranfers, otherwise he may need a few more details from you, his bank should tell him what he needs. NB both banks will charge you fees so you might want to check what they actually are before transfering.

PayPal might be easier if both of you already have accounts setup however there are plenty of other companies which will do money transfers at much lower fees

agrinnall

He's talking utter rubbish, every bank in Australia will have the ability to transfer money anywhere in the world. There will be a charge for it so you might have to agree between you whether you split that or one of you pays it, but to be honest it sounds to me like he is making up reasons for not paying you and you may well struggle to get the money from him - out of sight, out of mind!

TimBear

agrinnall wrote: »

He's talking utter rubbish, every bank in Australia will have the ability to transfer money anywhere in the world. There will be a charge for it so you might have to agree between you whether you split that or one of you pays it, but to be honest it sounds to me like he is making up reasons for not paying you and you may well struggle to get the money from him - out of sight, out of mind!

I was waiting for a comment like that! I realise it sounds like that may be the case (and perhaps he is trying to delay paying us for whatever reason), but I know we will get it back.

agrinnall

TimBear wrote: »

I was waiting for a comment like that! I realise it sounds like that may be the case (and perhaps he is trying to delay paying us for whatever reason), but I know we will get it back.

The bank will be more than happy to help him make the payment if he is having some difficulty, after all, there's a profit for them in it. If that doesn't happen then you'll know it's down to him, and any attempt to blame the bank means that he is covering up the real reason. You'll obviously have a better idea than us what that reason might be, we can only guess.

NFH

TimBear wrote: »

He owes us some money but says he has been having real troubles sending it to us from his Australian account to our UK account, and I wondered just how difficult it actually is (or isn't, as the case may be), since I've never had to do it.

Online banking often doesn't support international payments. Therefore the "difficulty" to which he refers is probably with his online banking. He will probably have a visit a branch, which could be a time-consuing matter. If he's British, he must have a UK account. Why not just send it from that? It would be easier and avoid charges.