📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Sending money overseas discussion area

Options
1121315171828

Comments

  • Biggles
    Biggles Posts: 8,209 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I had to send a friend a reasonable amount of money to NZ a few years ago, and LTSB charged £10 for a bank draft in NZD, cashed free at his end.
  • JohalaReewi
    JohalaReewi Posts: 2,614 Forumite
    You can have a look at TIPANETs or EuroGiro.

    Smile (and the Coop) do TIPANET and charge £8 (but Ireland doesn't seem to be covered). A&L do EuroGiro and charge £7.50.

    http://www.smile.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Smile/Page/smView&inifile=futuretense.ini&c=Page&cid=1027951510454

    http://www.eurogiro.com/
    http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/otherservices/index.asp?page=international-payments&content=send
  • regularsaver1
    regularsaver1 Posts: 4,930 Forumite
    Halifax's telegrahic transfer fee is £17.50

    you are paying for the service

    Its cheaper than doing a CHAPS transfer in this country as that is £25
  • pamaris
    pamaris Posts: 441 Forumite
    I use xetrade.com to send money to America and vice versa. There are different options as far as wiring money or using electronic transfers or bank drafts for the transaction, but there is one option that is free, and the exchange rates are very competitive. I have not had any problems with it.
  • Biggles
    Biggles Posts: 8,209 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    pamaris wrote: »
    there is one option that is free, and the exchange rates are very competitive
    Exactly how competitive is 'very competitive', Pamaris?

    I have to admit to a certain scepticism re firms that are coy about displaying their exchange rates to the public; if they were that good, why aren't they visible to all, like several other online moneychangers? You'd think it would bring in trade.

    Just as an example, what are their buy and sell rates for the USD today?
  • teddyco
    teddyco Posts: 397 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    bandraoi,

    PayPal has a very inexpensive way of moving money from one account to another. I have heard of folks using PayPal to transfer money from the UK to the USA and they don't charge a transfer fee.

    Stay away from the banks if you can, they are too expensive!

    PayPal's exchange rate is currently 5 points off the going rate. For example if the rate is 2.00 USD for 1 GBP, they will exchange your pounds at 1.95.

    Take a PayPal UK account that is linked with a UK current account, move the money you want to transfer into that PayPal account, then send that money to a PayPal US account that is linked with a US checking account. PayPal UK to PayPal US is instant and you can then move it into the US checking account or account that is linked to PayPal....easy peasy.

    Make sure that both PayPal accounts are only for personal use and not "business accounts" or they will charge you a fee to receive the money as if you were using it to conduct business.

    Once the money is sent to the US account, it will ask the person to accept or decline the transfer and tell you how many dollars you will get for your pounds if you accept it.

    Do check with PayPal to confirm that my information is up-to-date, since these companies are always changing their rules and regulations.

    Hope this helps?
  • bandraoi
    bandraoi Posts: 1,261 Forumite
    It's not a US account though, it's an Irish account.

    From Martin's article the cost is a 2.5% loading on the exchange rate and a 3.9% loading on the actual transaction to be used by the lender.
    Since in this case I've to absorb both costs, the total cost = 2.5+3.9 = 6%.

    The 2.5% loading is £17.50 and the 3.9% loading is £27.30, or £44.80 total.

    The cheapest way I've found is to send her a cheque, it'll be a E6 (£4) charge for her to lodge a sterling cheque to her account. Even allowing for an extra few points in the exchange rate, that'll be the cheapest.
  • I did a lot of research before I finally found the best rates for sending money to the Philippines with https://www.suremoney.swift-cash.com. It does require you to have a Barclays online Bank account but there is a flat rate of £4.50 per transaction into any 'Banco de Oro' or 'Bank of the Philippine Islands' or door-to-door delivery in Manila. Cash usually arrives the next day but never takes more than 2 days (Public Holidays excepted). Their most expensive transaction is a door-to-door delivery in the provinces at £7. Every 5th transaction is free. I have used them for over two years and have found the staff very helpful and have never had any problems.

    I hope this might help some of our Filipino nurses who want to send cash home to their families.
  • peter999
    peter999 Posts: 7,102 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Is there a cheap way to do an International Money Transfer to an EU bank account, in this case Germany.

    I want to buy something from Germany & send 50 Euros (~£35).

    My bank charges £21 minimum (!!) for international money transfer, which is ridiculous if you only want to send small amount.
    I have sent money abroad many times by Cash/Paypal & I know what my bank charges (£21).

    But I would like to find cheap way to transfer money to EU bank account, if possible.

    peter999
  • peter999
    peter999 Posts: 7,102 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    any ideas ??
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 351.1K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.6K Spending & Discounts
  • 244.1K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 599.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177K Life & Family
  • 257.5K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.