Best UK bank for sending money abroad?

Andybc1409

Hi, I wonder if anybody could help me please? My daughter is moving to Australia shortly, she has sold her house & whilst it's not millions she wants to transfer her money to her knew Australian bank account but most UK banks seem to want to charge a small fortune for transferring the money, does anybody know if it can be done cheaply or even free? We are not comfortable enough with a money transfer place before anybody suggests that.
Thank you in advance.

londoninvestor

Andybc1409 wrote: »

We are not comfortable enough with a money transfer place before anybody suggests that.

Sorry but I am going to suggest that, a la this thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5904881/transferring-funds-to-australia

Would you feel more comfortable if you transferred the money in small portions?

If you restrict yourself to banks, then pretty much any retail bank will be creaming off a few percent.

gt94sss2

HSBC would do it for free, if you're sending the money to another HSBC account.

Otherwise consider something like Monzo Bank - https://monzo.com/blog/2018/06/25/monzo-international-transfers/

londoninvestor

gt94sss2 wrote: »

HSBC would do it for free, if you had accounts with them in both countries.

Free as in, at the midmarket rate? Or as in no explicit fee, but a suboptimal exchange rate?

gt94sss2

londoninvestor wrote: »

Free as in, at the midmarket rate? Or as in no explicit fee, but a suboptimal exchange rate?

Free, as in at their exchange rate but its usually decent. They also only charge £4 for a international transfer if its not going to a HSBC account.

However, as has been said, using someone like Monzo or Transferwise can be a better value option

sal_III

I'm using Transferwise for both lump sums and regular payments. Never had an issue and the rates are exceptional both for currency conversion and the transfers.

One thing to watch out for is recipient bank incoming transfer fees, they can be quite substantial.

PRAISETHESUN

You're only shooting yourself in the foot if you restrict yourself to High Street banks. Either they charge you an extortionate % fee, or they offer sub-prime exchange rates that whilst "free" are usually several % worse that the inter-bank rate and end up costing more.

I'd suggest Transferwise or Revolut - I've used both to transfer money too and from Australia without issue and can highly recommend. Otherwise see the other reccomended options:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/foreign-currency-exchange/

londoninvestor

sal_III wrote: »

One thing to watch out for is recipient bank incoming transfer fees, they can be quite substantial.

An advantage of Transferwise is that it can use the Australian domestic payment system to credit an Australian account, which means there's very likely no charge from the receipient bank.

Voyager2002

For a sum like that, your daughter should try negotiating with her bank and see what they offer. She might be pleasantly surprised.


Otherwise, you might consider https://www.xe.com "Custom House", which is part of Western Union. It is such a vast organisation that it is unlikely to fail during the few days when it has your money.