Receiving foreign currency options

MellSimp243

Hello,

I'm hoping to be able to move a fairly large amount of foreign currency (a mix of US and Canadian) over a 3 month period to the UK to build up my deposit to buy a home. I've done a bit of research and online platforms like Wise and Revolut seem to be options, as well as Lloyds and HSBC. Has anyone done this before and have any advice on the best way to do this?

Thanks.

WastedWords

Recent USD to GBP transaction
receive in HSBC USD Currency, zero costs
to HSBC USD GMA for onward transfer in USD without charges
to T212 for conversion to GBP. Zero charges to receive USD.
to UK GBP. 

Net conversion comparison.  

No experience with CAD.

sausage_time

WastedWords said:

Recent USD to GBP transaction
receive in HSBC USD Currency, zero costs
to HSBC USD GMA for onward transfer in USD without charges
to T212 for conversion to GBP. Zero charges to receive USD.
to UK GBP. 

Net conversion comparison.  

No experience with CAD.

How do you pay $12k into T212 @WastedWords?  The only way I can see to select currency is to use a card as the source, but that is limited to £2k before charges apply.  I'm probably missing something!  Thanks.

WastedWords

sausage_time said:

How do you pay $12k into T212 @WastedWords?  The only way I can see to select currency is to use a card as the source, but that is limited to £2k before charges apply.  I'm probably missing something!  Thanks.

In your T212 account, go to Manage Funds -> Deposit -> Add new bank account -> enter the Account#/sort code or IBAN.

Select the newly added account

Select the currency 

You will be presented with the T212 account details for that currency along with a payment reference code (your T212 account no.).

Go to the bank you are transferring from and add the T212 payment details. Remember you must include the payment reference code.

Make the transfer. 

In the case of HSBC GMA it says it may take up to 3 days. In reality, the transfers I have made have taken 2-3 hours during banking hours.

sausage_time

WastedWords said:

sausage_time said:

How do you pay $12k into T212 @WastedWords?  The only way I can see to select currency is to use a card as the source, but that is limited to £2k before charges apply.  I'm probably missing something!  Thanks.

In your T212 account, go to Manage Funds -> Deposit -> Add new bank account -> enter the Account#/sort code or IBAN.

Select the newly added account

Select the currency 

You will be presented with the T212 account details for that currency along with a payment reference code (your T212 account no.).

Go to the bank you are transferring from and add the T212 payment details. Remember you must include the payment reference code.

Make the transfer. 

In the case of HSBC GMA it says it may take up to 3 days. In reality, the transfers I have made have taken 2-3 hours during banking hours.

Thanks for that!  I'd want to transfer from a US bank (or Stockbroker perhaps), and they don't know about IBANs (or sort codes), just ACH routing numbers etc.  Looks like even for US$ transfers T212 are looking for UK/Euro bank details?  Does that seem correct?

HSBC look like it could be an option based on your reposonse.  My usual fall-back Wise only has US domiciled details for transfers.  And Zing don't allow external US$ transfers.

WastedWords

I receive USD from Fidelity in the US to HSBC Currency using IBAN no. 

sausage_time

MellSimp243 said:

Hello,

I'm hoping to be able to move a fairly large amount of foreign currency (a mix of US and Canadian) over a 3 month period to the UK to build up my deposit to buy a home. I've done a bit of research and online platforms like Wise and Revolut seem to be options, as well as Lloyds and HSBC. Has anyone done this before and have any advice on the best way to do this?

Thanks.

Hi @MellSimp243, I have used Wise for US$ transfers and it has worked well for me, with reasonable costs (see @WastedWords table).  For a while Wise stopped issuing new US$ bank details (account and ACH routing numbers) but looking at their web site that seem to be back for non-business accounts.

https://wise.com/gb/account/usd-account

Many US institutions (banks, stock brokers) will send to these details for zero cost.  I'd argue the this is probably the lowest touch way of setting up your transfers.  I know of someone who uses for CAD$ transactions using their Wise account number and Transit number, and is very happy with that too.

MellSimp243

Thanks so very much @WastedWords and @sausage_time!! Really appreciate the advice!! I didn't know about T212, will do some more research before moving forward  

All the best!