Best way to transport money from abroad

laserattack

Im currently working abroad but due to move back to the UK soon.
Does anyone know what would be the best way to transfer my money home?
What seems to be the most logical way to me would be to just take it with me on the plane- I have well under 10k so no legal hoo-hah involved.
But here is it best to change it into pounds abroad or when I get home?

Or would a bank transfer end up being cheaper? Ive heard of people using something called go llyods but it apprently charges you 20 pounds a go and uses less than great exchange rates.

hmmdy. hmm hmm.

benjus

"Abroad" is a bit of a vague word... there are some countries where specific advice varies, but for now let's assume that's not the case.

Your options are basically:

1. Send the money by electronic transfer into your UK account. See this site for some options: http://www.fxcompared.com/ - bear in mind that FX brokers offer pretty much zero protection against them going bankrupt, but on the other hand they only hold your money for a day or so (sometimes just a few hours) so the chances of anything going wrong are quite slim (unlike in the case a couple of years ago where people were paying in advance for currency to be delivered in the future). Once you've got an idea of what a competitive exchange rate looks like, you could try contacting your bank too see if they will negotiate their rate - so you would have the protection of using a bank.
2. Bring the money back in cash, and look here: http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/buy-back/ for the best rate for converting it to pounds.

Have a look at those links and see how rates for electronic transfer compare with rates for cash exchange.

laserattack

I say just from abroad as this is a UK forum and it'd be more forums for expats in various places for specific countries. I'm just looking for something general from anyone with any sort of experience in this.

No special rules apply that I've heard of, I'm not anywhere dodgy.

benjus

There are plenty of people on this forum with experience in a wide range of different countries.

Anyway, the links I posted will give you an idea of how electronic transfers compare with exchanging cash in the UK. The only alternative would be to change it to pounds in whichever country you're in before you leave. Without knowing what country that is it's hard to give advice, but I would be surprised if that option turned out to be better.

hartcjhart

so are YOU needing the info,OR are you asking so you can post it on another forum,or are you getting ready to spam the site with your transfer service,
Benjus has given you direct advice and you are not answering him in a way that makes it seem the advice is for you personally

laserattack

Will investigate them. Those companies seem rather scary though, sending off thousands of pounds into the aether like that...

I'm in Japan though don't think that means anything special. Seems the sort of thing that would be similar in most countries. I can never remember which is which with buy and sell and which one is usually the higher.

hartcjhart wrote: »

so are YOU needing the info,OR are you asking so you can post it on another forum,or are you getting ready to spam the site with your transfer service,
Benjus has given you direct advice and you are not answering him in a way that makes it seem the advice is for you personally

err.....!!!!!!?

mgdavid

laserattack wrote: »

........... I can never remember which is which with buy and sell and which one is usually the higher.........

oh well, you're not going to notice if you get a crap rate then, are you? Just stick it in the bank and do an IBAN transfer back to a UK account...

benjus

Whether the buy rate is higher or lower than the sell rate depends on whether you are looking from the perspective of buying/selling the base currency or the quoted currency (e.g. if you say 1 GBP = 1.25 EUR then GBP is base and EUR is quoted, while if you say 1 EUR = 80p then EUR is base and GBP is quoted)

An easier way to think of it is to look at the difference between the buy and sell rates - if they are closer together at one place than another, it indicates that the rates are better.

Voyager2002

Do you have a bank account in Japan? If so, I would recommend an electronic transfer rather than carrying cash.

There is nothing scary about the on-line currency brokers (except that if the business were to fail during the day or so they have your money, no scheme would protect you). Otherwise, contact a bank and try to negotiate special terms for the size of your transfer.

Incidentally, the answer depends on where in the world you are. There are special problems involved in using the banking system in Iran (which is still "abroad").

laserattack

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Do you have a bank account in Japan? If so, I would recommend an electronic transfer rather than carrying cash.

Purely for safety or does bringing the money over and changing it not work out any better?

There is nothing scary about the on-line currency brokers (except that if the business were to fail during the day or so they have your money, no scheme would protect you). Otherwise, contact a bank and try to negotiate special terms for the size of your transfer.

Sending my money to some company with no proof that they have it, through the post (I've had many a letter broken into) worries me.

benjus

laserattack wrote: »

Sending my money to some company with no proof that they have it, through the post (I've had many a letter broken into) worries me.

You seem to be getting mixed up between the two options here.


Using an online currency broker works as follows:

1. You book the transfer, agreeing the amount you will pay them in JPY and the amount that they will pay out in GBP.
2. You transfer the agreed JPY amount to their JPY bank account via a direct bank transfer (no cash involved).
3. They transfer the agreed GBP amount from their GBP account to your GBP account (again, no cash involved).

The only time you would need to send cash in the post is if you brought JPY cash back to the UK but were unable to get to a good bureau de change in person (most of the good rates are in central London), in which case you could post them the JPY cash and they would credit your GBP account with the agreed amount. If you were to do this, you would need to use a secure, insured delivery service like Royal Mail Special Delivery.