Best Method of Making International Payments

[H18 ENF]

Hi All,

What do you suggest is the best method for making an international transfer.

I've got a small(ish) transfer to send to Hong Kong (In USD) but my bank, Barclays, has just given me a crap rate of exchange and suggested they would like to charge me £25 for the privilege.

They were unwilling to adjust the exchange rate or to waive the charge.

Anyone any better suggestion or shall I just bend over now...?

[Dr Interceptor]

I use a foreign exchange company - HiFX, although there are lots out there.

No fees on transfers over £3k, £9 charge below £3k, and a much better rate than we'd get from the bank.

[AMDB9]

We have recently started to use: https://transferwise.com

From the makers of Skype and Paypal it's brilliant and all done sitting at my desk.

Set up the international payment online. Then transfer the money to a UK barclays bank account (owned by transferwise) and they then send the money next day. Easy set up and hardly any fees with exchange rates the best I can find anywhere!

[H18 ENF]

Good options both of them,

I've had a look and they both seem more in line with what I would be expecting to pay!

Bloomin' banks... *mutters incoherently about archaic nature of banking industry...*

[jammy_basturd]

Another happy HiFX customer here. Don't expect your account to be set up within minutes though. Like any financial institution it takes a while to send in ID and have it verified, etc.

[H18 ENF]

jammy_basturd said:

Another happy HiFX customer here. Don't expect your account to be set up within minutes though. Like any financial institution it takes a while to send in ID and have it verified, etc.

Mine was done instantly, confirmation of payment made within 5 minutes

Decided to use HiFX instead of Transferwise simply because, despite a better exchange rate, I could not send USD to Hong Kong, could only send HKD - a teething issue I'm sure as I guess TW is quite new.

Thanks for the help!

[Noblebenn]

I have used HI-FX and they are very good but now use a gentleman called Chris, forget his surname, at Argentex. Great service, better rates and no fees at all. Much much better then any bank.

[RegMolehusband]

I'm pleased I started to use HiFX a few months ago following a little research because they seem to come highly recommended by PHers

[Dr Interceptor]

RegMolehusband said:

I'm pleased I started to use HiFX a few months ago following a little research because they seem to come highly recommended by PHers

Likewise... I started this thread back in March...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[arguti]

I tried making a number of payments last night via transferwise - looks easy enough but kept having problems with the website and eventually gave up trying, especially after 5pm the quoted charge per transaction had doubled.

Called Chris Canning at http://www.argentex-private.com/ this morning, all sorted after a few brief emails and a call or tow, totally painless and once again, pistonheads to the rescue!

[BertieWooster]

I used Transferwise for the first time a couple of days ago to move money from the UK to my US account. Their fee was far cheaper than my bank and I got a better rate than if I had used HiFx. An additional bonus was that Transferwise sent the money to my US account via ACH (similar to Bacs in the UK) which meant no incoming wire fee.

[ReaderScars]

I can also recommend Transferwise - cheap, efficient, secure, no probs.

[RegMolehusband]

I did look at Transferwise before HiFX. However I need to pay USD into a Canadian supplier's Ontario account and Transferwise couldn't do that.

I will check them out again soon to see if that has changed.