Inheritance

Hollieberries

I need to transfer a small inheritance to a relative in australia,  what are my options

Morglin

Hollieberries said:

I need to transfer a small inheritance to a relative in australia,  what are my options

When I need to transfer money to my son in America, I just transfer it over the NatWest banking system.  It needs the full details of their bank and account etc, including the SWIFT (?) code, and can be done in the branch, or online.  It does carry a fee to do it, both ends, and you can either transfer in Sterling or in the currency of wherever you’re transferring to. 

The first time we did it, we sent a relatively small amount, just to make sure we’d done it right.  Once he confirmed receipt, we sent the rest.  It meant two fees, but better safe than sorry.

macman

You need to define 'small'. £100, £1,000?
Assuming that the relative's account is in AUS$, then the cheapest method by far is Transferwise. Their fees will be a fraction of what any of the high street banks will charge, and the payment will arrive in the local currency, so no additional conversion fee at that end. For example, I sent £50 to a relative in NZ last week. The fee charged was 64p, and it took 2 days. For £1K, the fee today would be  £3.96.
Natwest don't charge a separate fee for standard transfers, but the exchange rate you will get will be very uncompetitive: the fee is effectively hidden in that.

Morglin

NatWest charge me approx £30 per transfer, to send sterling payments to America.  My son draws it out in dollars, so he gets whatever the exchange rate is at Chase Manhattan bank when it arrives.

redpete

Try one of the many currency transfer firms, torfx, currenciesdirect, OFX, XE Money...  Most have no fees.  Check the exchange rate you get and compare with what your bank can offer (with a fee).
There is a MSE article on sending money abroad here.

sweetsand

Dear OP
To be very safe, use a ban tranfers from a well established bank to bank/s. Do a test run of a few pence to ensure the money goes into the right account then use the same details from your bank site to tranfer the main amount as this will ensure no mistakes are made

ATB

The_Fat_Controller

Transferwise : Good rates, small fees and fast.

pollypenny

We used Torfx when we gave son a contribution to his house deposit. All well organised and we were kept informed at very stage.  

When he'd sold up to move to the USA, he was charged a lot by HSBC. 

[Deleted User]

I regularly transfer money between Australia and the UK and I use TransferWise.  

sazaccount

I've used transferwise - takes between 3-5 days depending on where the money was going no issues, I've also used the banks own system which was more expensive but the same service and western union depending on what "offers" were available at the time