Large International Money Transfers Discussion area

Robin00

The banks in Cyprus are vastly more competitive than in the UK so if you are using your UK bank to send Cyprus Pounds to Cyprus then stop and send GBP instead to be converted there!

For large amounts a currency broker will still be your best bet but anything under around GBP10,000 there will be little in it.

widow43

I have just bought a house in Austria and have a paypal account - as i need to transfer money on a regular basis can i send myself money from here to my account in Austria with just the one e-mail address????

Cornwall2000

I have used Xetrade twice for sending cash to Australia and the US, once for £100 and once for £3000. Each time I got an excellent rate which was only 1% below the mid-market rate. (Half way between the buy and sell rate)

They have no minimum transaction charges and I paid no extra charges! To deposit into a non-US/Canada bank account by "wire" costs a nominal fee (about £10 I think), but I sent a bankers draft to Australia for nothing.
You transfer money form your bank account to their (UK) bank account to start the transfer.

The only downside was that it took a week to setup an account due to their stringent checking procedures. I suppose it's the post 9/11 money laundering rules.

They can send money to (nearly) all countries by the way.

https://www.xe.com/fx/ :T

wozz

Me and a few other members of my family are buying a property in bulgaria. Can anyone recommend a good money transfer service which has a realistic rate of euro to pound? New to the site so any suggestions/help would be appreciated.

AndyLacey

I don't know any way of bringing something to Martin's attaention other than posting to the chat forum, so here goes.

The latest bulletin on sending money overseas (25 April) refers to sending money overseas as having the "Obvious" charge and the "Hidden" charge (ie a poor exchange rate). I'd like to add a 3rd category, the "Lucky Dip" charge. This occurs when you ask your bank to do a transfer and one organisation in the chain between your bank and the recipient decides to take some of your money as it passes through. This is my experience.

I had to send $480 to a b&b in New York. They didn’t take cc and wouldn’t create a Paypl account just for me. Bank transfer seemed the way ahead. I checked with Nationwide and Alliance & Leicester who charge £20 and £30 respectively, so naturally I went with Nationwide. I went into my branch, agreed that I knew about the £20 charge, signed the forms and assumed that was that. A couple of days later the b&b email to say they’ve only received $460. I assumed their bank had taken a charge but no, I was assured, that their bank do charge but not by deducting from the payment amount. Well, to cut a lot of phoning and emailing short, I eventually established that Nationwide use HSBC as an agent. They in turn transfer the money to HSBC in the USA and, before sending the money on, they elect to deduct a charge, the missing $20.

I must admit here to some carelessness. At the bottom of the form that I signed in my Nationwide branch, in point 6 of the small print, is a paragraph that basically gives carte blanche to anyone who wants to take some of my money. When I rang Nationwide they pointed this out, but I countered that no-one at the branch had drawn my attention to this and anyway if they use HSBC for transfers to the US then they, HSBC, must ALWAYS levy a charge (I don’t really think I was singled out) and it’s up to Nationwide to make their customers aware in advance what that charge is. The customer can then decide whether he/she wishes to proceed. Whether the same would have arisen with A&L I’ve no idea, but it’s possible that the £30 they quote would have worked out cheaper.

The good news is that, to their credit, my branch agreed with my complaints and have compensated me. But, before you use your bank to transfer money to an overseas account, ask them to detail ALL charges. Caveat sender.

steverockers

I am supporting a student at university in Indonesia and need to transfer money to him about every two months. I am having difficulty finding anyone who deals with Indonesia, Can anyone help?

adycooney1

I have heard that any payment over £7000 is flagged by the bank and reported to the Inland revenue for investigation.

Robin00

Referring to the 'lucky dip' charges, these are unavoidable in most cases as your money goes through a 'routing bank' to get to the destination bank and they will charge for handling it. This varies from country to country but if you use a currency broker instead of a bank you should be able to get some advice on likely charges as your account manager will be experienced enough to know what to expect.

Some banks also charge 'receiving charges', specially in Spain where the norm is 0.5%. Needless to say if you send EUR100,000 you don't want to lose EUR500 as a 'receiving charge' - again check with your broker. If it is a decent currency broker (ahem) they will be able to get round these charges wheras your bank are unlikely to know anything about them.

maggiemartin

It would be really good if we could find out who offers the best exchange rate for sterling to euros and which Spanish banks charge to transfer from another country.
We have paid our deposit and although we got a good rate from Currencies4less, we were hit with bank charges in Spain.
The next amount we need to transfer is a lot larger and we are looking not only for the best rate but also free banking if possible.

grumbler

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Citibank ?