Large International Money Transfers Discussion area

markymark33

There is a whole list of them with their offers on the robbie save link above, at least you can hold them to whats advertised, although i did noticed currencies direct on it.

Robin00

Hi all, I have posted many tips on here for sending money abroad (or bringing back to the UK), please contact me for any advice on the procedure.

We will make a donation to Martin's charity fund, for any orders placed with Currency Index Ltd quoting "Money Saving Expert".

We also run a blog with currency news updated through the day: http://currencyindex.blogspot.com/

Robin00

PS - to answer an earlier question - with a broker you can secure and agree a rate BEFORE you send money to them. That way you know what you are getting before you commit to a deal, and any fluctuations while money is in transit are irrelevant.

bibi_neko

Hi all, some advice would be greatly appreciated.

I need to send about £6k to Hong Kong in the next month or so, i've used Barclays money transfer for the first time about 4 months ago (again sending 6k sterling) but i was wondering if i did another payment or send a higher amount would it look suspicious? for example, would i be investigated for money laundering since i have large amounts coming in and going out. I earn about £2k each month after tax and NI.

I'm helping a number of relatives send an altogether lump sum payment. and may need to do a few more large transfers. I'm not sure about using a broker method and would rather pay extra for the peaceful sleep.

Also Barclays charge a one off £35 for each transfer, are there any other hidden fees or lower rates i keep reading? since i'm sending in sterling it would only be converted when it reaches to the receivers account?

Thanks in advance

IanMorley68

joujou wrote: »

Anyone used to sending large'ish amounts of money to France?

I'd like to send about £13K to France and have the recipient account receive them in euros.

There are half a dozen forex services on the 'net, and I am slightly concerned about their honesty and speed.

You should definitely consider using a specialist foreign exchange broker for your transfer.

Not only can you save on the fees but you will definitely get a much better exchange rate than with the bank.

I am a Barclays customer and was faced with a £35 fee for sending a large chunk of money to America.

However i then shopped around and got several quotes from currency brokers through a comparison website called Currency Compared. (http://currencycompared.com/foreignexchangetransfers.aspx)

All featured companies are reviewed and regulated by Customs and Revenue.

The company i ended up using gave me about $670 more dollars for my pounds than if i had used the bank, and of course saved me that £35 fee!

Check it out, http://www.currencycompared.com

lillyjet

I am buying a flat in the Uk. I got a french mortgage.
Could you tell me the cheapest way to process with the bank.
I need to transfer each month €600 to the bank in France from the UK.

Thank you

buglawton

buglawton wrote: »

What with all the banks in trouble, not to mention half of the City financial services co's, I would be extremely wary of using a Forex co that does not somehow have a watertight guarantee behind it (similar in quality to say, ABTA is for travel). I am not aware that any such scheme exists (it ought to...) though.

Your Forex co might be keeping it's cash float (assuming it even has one) with who-knows-what offshore bank, then what will happen if your money is in transit somethere when things go wrong?

No-one has answered above point in this thread satisfactorily yet - "Regulated by Customs & Revenue" as spammed in prior newbie post does not constitute any guarantee. What happened to Crown Currency Exchange this weekend could I suppose happen to any of the companies mentioned in this thread and unlike with banks, there's no Govt. underwriting of exchange companies.

Meanwhile currency exchange situation is astonishingly uncompetitive in UK - recently I received a rate of 0.75 GBP to the EURO when selling some Euros at the Post Office. Roll on membership in the EURO for UK please!

dan1242

lillyjet wrote: »

I am buying a flat in the Uk. I got a french mortgage.
Could you tell me the cheapest way to process with the bank.
I need to transfer each month €600 to the bank in France from the UK.

Thank you

Fascinating thread. For what it's worth, we would like to address buglawton and lillyjet's posts. We run the editorial desk at FX price comparison site MyCurrencyTransfer.com and as 'independents' in this often complex arena of deliverable foreign exchange, I hope what we suggest and our views help!

Firstly, we posted an article on our blog titled: Crown Currency Exchange Goes into Administration: The lessons Learned

It is well worth for all to read and answers many questions in this thread (we are new to the forum so copy and paste into the browser):

mycurrencytransfer.com/blog/2010/10/crown-currency-exchange-goes-into-administration-the-lessons-learned

Buglawton - The first thing to mention is that Crown were travel money operators rather than deliverable foreign exchange specialists (i.e. overseas bank account to bank account transfers). In theory, YES, any company and not just in this arena can get themselves into financial difficulties. However, with careful planning and asking the 'right' questions, you can eliminate the risk of the devastation caused by Crown.

When sending money overseas, the following questions are perhaps more essential than standard registration with HMRC: How strong is my brokers balance sheet?, has my broker got Fsa AUTHORISATION (and not merely registration)?, how long has the business been in operation?, do they operate segregated client accounts?, what bank are the segregated accounts with?, is the rate I am offered above inter-bank ('if it's too good to be true, it most probably is')?

Without question specialist currency firms offer a fantastic and cost effective alternative to the traditional channel of a high street bank. However, it is a case of asking these questions and understanding that whilst every business in any industry is fallable, picking the 'good eggs' can be extremely cost-efficient.

LilyJet - FX brokers offer a 'regular overseas payment plan' . Google this and any reputable currency firm can talk about the cost savings to be made on fixed fees and rate. Also, a key benefit of a ROP is the effective way it can manage and automate the regular payment sum hitting your French account each month

Editorial Team

MyCurrencyTransfer.com

buglawton

Nice update Dan1242 BUT:

- I suspect if you wish your posts & links to remain up, you should apply for Company Rep status on MSE.

- Were I to need a big foreign transfer, I could do due diligence on a range of alternative exchange brokers but would not bother. The situation is so totally different from the way UK banks are Govt underwritten or even how, say ABTA bonding works. I would never risk using (or recommending to my relatives) a private agency/broker for a capital transfer.

Meanwhile Govt has no incentive to introduce an official bonding scheme or underwriting such companies.
The big banks continue to cash in big time on foreign transfers and UK citizens (inmates?) continue to be not-too incentivised to move their capital abroad! I think it is called 'maintaining the status quo'.