Transferring Money Abroad Using Moneybookers?

HARTJA1991

Hi,

I'm going to Australia next month and I've had an idea to save bank charges sending money abroad.

Basically, I use Moneybookers and have a fully verified UK account with no limits (well limits in the tens of thousands) on it, and I've just added an Australian Bank account to it.

Now my thinking it, I can simply deposit like £3,000 through an online Bank Transfer into my Moneybookers account and then withdraw it to my Australian bank account and it'll send it there in Australian Dollars.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of doing this? I'd have thought if it was so easy it'd be popular among internet searches and stuff so I'm worried there'll be some sort of catch but it certainly seems easy!

Replies will be appreciated.

Thanks

innovate

Yes, I do it all the time - not with Oz but with Euros, same principle. Been doing it since 2006. Both bank accounts, as well as the MB account, are in my name - I assume that's the case for you, too.

The exchange rates are decent, and the costs negligable. If you are a VIP, you even get the withdrawal costs refunded.

You need to have your bank accounts fully verified for things to work without a hitch - but you probably know that already.

As long as you can legitimately hold your bank accounts in different countries, Moneybookers/Skrill is a splendid way of transferring your funds economically.

The only potential drawback I can think of is that you may have to wait a couple of days until the withdrawal actually clears into your bank. As long as you know that, you can plan this in - it's never been an issue for me. If you need instant(-ish) money, you might have to pay a currency broker or a bank a lot of money.

HARTJA1991

Thanks so much for the reply!

Yeah they're both in my name so it's great to hear it can be done! I'm not a VIP but the withdrawal costs are minimal so that's real great to hear!

Yeah I'll do it that was, I'll be sending the payment to my bank on the 2nd of April, if I do it using Online Banking there's an option to send it instantly and for free, so once that's with Moneybookers I can withdraw is to the Australian account and I don't arrive for another 8 days so that should have cleared and that, and I'm taking cash with me anwyay to pay for my initial hostel and survive for a few days and stuff

Really appreciate the reply

RetiredInThailand

Moneybookers is nowhere near as good a deal as it appears on the surface. They charge 1.99% weighting on foreign exchange.

HARTJA1991

Is that 1.99% on the official exchange rate because that's basically just what FX websites do anyway isn't it? And it'd still be better than the banks and that who charge and still have a buy/sell margin right?

benjus

Moneybookers/Skrill is great for transfers that are too small for the FX brokers to be interested in, and 2% is a perfectly reasonable markup for relatively small amounts. It also has the advantage of being completely online and very quick to use.

Once you get above about £1000, alternatives such as FX brokers tend to make more sense.

RetiredInThailand

I get a much better rate for booked transfers from my bank than Moneybookers offers, and they usually match the FX brokers too. That is for larger amounts though. For small amounts I use a credit card with no weighting.

The disadvantage of brokers is that if they collapse whilst your money is in transit you could lose the whole lot.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=202

innovate

I have never found any xfer deal that could beat MB for GBP/Euro xfers. My transactions ranged from several hundred to a couple of tens of thousands pounds.

Yes, they do charge 1.99% (and 2.49% from May 25 onwards) but my experience is that the basic rate they apply this %age to is a lot lower than with other outfits. May be it varies from currency to currency - I only have experience with Euros and GBP.

General MB fees

You will know exactly how much the transaction costs you, before you accept the transaction - so, provided you have the full details of other transfer mechanisms, you can do a direct comparison.

One of the big advantages of MB for me is that I can do my transactions whenever I like, without any need to involve a third party, and the whole thing takes just a couple of minutes.

(NB. I am in no way associated with MB/Skrill, just a happy customer).

benjus

innovate wrote: »

I have never found any xfer deal that could beat MB for GBP/Euro xfers. My transactions ranged from several hundred to a couple of tens of thousands pounds.

To be honest, I don't think you could have looked very hard if you've never found a better option for larger transfers. Here's a quick comparison for a GBP/EUR transfer of £4000: http://www.fxcompared.com/Content/money-transfer-from-UK-France-above-3000-amount-4000 - the cheapest give you about €60 more than MB/Skrill.

I do agree that MB/Skrill is good for ease of use and convenience though.

benjus

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

I get a much better rate for booked transfers from my bank than Moneybookers offers, and they usually match the FX brokers too. That is for larger amounts though. For small amounts I use a credit card with no weighting.

The disadvantage of brokers is that if they collapse whilst your money is in transit you could lose the whole lot.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=202

FX brokers are a risk, but the risk is a lot higher in cases like Crown Currency Exchange where people were buying currency far in advance at forward rates. If you use a broker that will credit the destination account as soon as they receive your funds, the risk is much lower.

If you can get your bank to match an FX broker, then that's definitely the best of both worlds.

Fee-free credit cards are great, but sometimes you need to pay into a bank account.

HARTJA1991

I'm going with The FX Firm, they don't charge any fees, they just make their money via the buy/sell margin, and the rate is good as well (around 1.47 to buy atm when the official rate is 1.49), so I'm happy with that, will make the transaction on the 2nd April