Large International Money Transfers Discussion area

Colinwr5

I'm looking to send regular monthly payments from my UK bank account to one I have in South Africa. Does anyone have any experience with Currencies Direct Ltd? (www.currenciesdirect.com) Any suggestions for better alternatives?

buglawton

spinks wrote: »

.....
The interest they are making on my money is probably a drop in the ocean to them but it makes you wonder if they are trying to hang on to every little drop for as long as possible.

It's not just the interest - the customer's cash they hold is important for their cash flow...

greencode

Colinwr5 wrote: »

I'm looking to send regular monthly payments from my UK bank account to one I have in South Africa. Does anyone have any experience with Currencies Direct Ltd? (www.currenciesdirect.com) Any suggestions for better alternatives?

I, too, am looking for a way to make a regular payment, around £1500 to a bank account in South Africa - £35 to do it through the bank seems quite a lot of money. I've just called Currencies Direct and it sounds a really good proposition. At today's rate it's around R15 to every pound.

poolprouk

Hi there,

This is probably a dumb idea of mine but i was wondering if people think it's worth exploring.

My gf and i bought a house here in the uk last year, my Gf is an aussie and her Father took a loan out from his own business in australia and then sent the money onto us to use as a deposit and we agreed to repay that loan to him.

With the current financial crisis the £ has risen steadily against the Aussie $ and it's back up to the level it was at a year ago (after plummeting and causing me sleepless nights thinking i was going to have to pay a lot more in £'s).

we've been saving to pay him off and so now seems to be a good time to send a payment back (approx 5K).

Obviously there's the forex route but do you think it's viable for me to pay the money direct to his business using my visa debit card?

I suppose there are two things to consider here,

(1) the exchange rate difference between using visa debit card and the rate + fees of a Forex. this would kill it stone dead if the debit card rate is poor compared to what i'd get at a forex company. does anyone know how the rate on a nationwide debit card transaction compares to the rates given by forex' companies or the interbank rate?

(2) tax implications on his business if i transfer the money direct to it, do you think he would be able to declare this as a loan repayment in his accounts rather than a payment for goods which would attract GST (Aussie equivalent of VAT).

Is there anything i've missed?

If anyone can advise that would be great,

Cheers.

julio69

Hi All. Is anyone thinking it might be a good time to change pounds into euros if you are a non uk resident? I have my savings in pounds but as I have set up my life here in Spain now, they will eventually be spent in euros. Shall I wait a little or change now, I see the pound getting a little stronger against the euro over the past few days?

spinks

julio69 wrote: »

Hi All. Is anyone thinking it might be a good time to change pounds into euros if you are a non uk resident? I have my savings in pounds but as I have set up my life here in Spain now, they will eventually be spent in euros. Shall I wait a little or change now, I see the pound getting a little stronger against the euro over the past few days?

I'm no expert but I'm not so sure the pound will be getting stronger.

I was looking to change a considerable amount of money just before last months BOE interest rates announcement and the advice I got was that should the BOE decide to lower the interest rate then it could have an adverse effect on the currency exchange rate as it shows the UK economy is weak. But, I may have just been given duff advice, I'm not sure how it all works.

I'm not sure if you are aware but the BOE has just announced a 0.5% cut.

julio69

Not sure how it all works either, but have been watching the pound against the euro since last Friday and the rate's gone up from around 1.24 to nearly 1.29 last night, and now kind of fluctuating around 1.28. The thing is economy is weak everywhere, so could be worth watching what the effect would be.

spinks

julio69 wrote: »

Not sure how it all works either, but have been watching the pound against the euro since last Friday and the rate's gone up from around 1.24 to nearly 1.29 last night, and now kind of fluctuating around 1.28. The thing is economy is weak everywhere, so could be worth watching what the effect would be.

I'm sure you know those rates are the interbank rates and you won't actually be getting those. These fluctuations are quite normal and I think something significant would have to happen for the rate to increase drastically.

It really depends on how soon you need the money, it is a gamble.

julio69

Yeah, don't need the money right now, just kicking myself I never changed them into euros back when it was 1.44 just under 2 years ago.

spinks

julio69 wrote: »

Yeah, don't need the money right now, just kicking myself I never changed them into euros back when it was 1.44 just under 2 years ago.

I know how you feel on that one.

Good luck and I hope your decision turns out to be the right one.