Receiving foreign currency. Which bank?

goat_man

I want a bank account for receiving $20k USD, but I have no idea which one will give me the best exchange rate. Can't seem to find this info anywhere. On banking websites it says a lot about making international payments, but very little about receiving them.

Is there a website I can use for comparing rates? Or if someone is able to tell me straight up which would be the best, that would be awesome too .

Thanks alot,
Goat_man

missile

Use a currency broker e.g. Moneycorp

benjus

Whatever you do, don't just take the default exchange rate offered by the bank. Talk to them and ask what kind of rate they can offer if you pre-arrange the transfer. Then compare this with the rate offered by a broker (e.g. http://www.fxcompared.com/Content/money-transfer-from-USA-UK-above-3000-amount-20000 ).

Using a bank is lower risk than using a broker, so take this into account when deciding.

Zorz_2

goat_man wrote: »

Can't seem to find this info anywhere. On banking websites it says a lot about making international payments, but very little about receiving them.

This is what surprises me about UK banks as well. Abroad, banks openly publicise their rates, typically with a link right on their homepages.

Over here, at least with Lloyds Group, the rates GBP-->other currency seem to be buried deep inside their online banking, and the other way around are not online at all. You actually have to call them! :eek:

benjus wrote: »

Whatever you do, don't just take the default exchange rate offered by the bank. Talk to them and ask what kind of rate they can offer if you pre-arrange the transfer.

This is good advice. Usually, the rates used by banks are negotiable for transactions from a certain limit and upwards. However -in my limited experience- they are only marginally better than te published ones, and still worse than those of FX brokers.