Big currency transfer, best option/method?

[The Road Crew]

I need to recieve 50k from a Canadian friend (Canadian bank account) into my normal UK bank account?

What the most cost effective option/method to get it done?

I've never tackled anything of this sort previously in relation to foreign currency so don't even know where to start...

[22s]

We use wise.com for our foreign currency transactions. Recommend.

[Shnozz]

22s said:

We use wise.com for our foreign currency transactions. Recommend.

Ditto. Used it for chunky sums including house purchase and use it a few times a month and extremely efficient.

[zbc]

Shnozz said:

22s said:

We use wise.com for our foreign currency transactions. Recommend.

Ditto. Used it for chunky sums including house purchase and use it a few times a month and extremely efficient.

Ditto2. Used it to move our house sale money and it was easy but I'm now using a revolut account for smaller regular amounts between several different currencies

[Shnozz]

zbc said:

Ditto2. Used it to move our house sale money and it was easy but I'm now using a revolut account for smaller regular amounts between several different currencies

Could you outline the benefits of Revolut for that just out of interest? I pay over about £1k a month to euro for bills etc so worth keeping an eye out.

[zbc]

Shnozz said:

zbc said:

Ditto2. Used it to move our house sale money and it was easy but I'm now using a revolut account for smaller regular amounts between several different currencies

Could you outline the benefits of Revolut for that just out of interest? I pay over about £1k a month to euro for bills etc so worth keeping an eye out.

I'm currently spending a lot of time in Saudi but am English and live in France. Having sold my UK house and transferred almost all the money to France for a purchase there I then discovered my French bank card really wasn't working well in Saudi and of course there were all the little transfer costs every time I used it. It also meant that I often needed to use my UK card but I was draining the remaining funds there faster than I wanted. So I looked around for a solution.

I was recommended Revolut from a few sources and I've been really pleased with it for a few reasons. I have a basic Euro account and it's easy to move money between my French account and this one. I can use my card or transfer very easily. Then with Revolut I can also set up other foreign currency accounts and transfer money between them at my convenience or when I think the rate is good so I now also have a Saudi Riyal account and I will probably set up a UK account before I next go back. The card hasn't been declined at all in Saudi while my French card failed 50% of the time and the UK one about 10% too.

Lastly for me there is the fraud risk. I'm still new in Saudi and am a little nervous about some of the shops I go too. I also for a brief period had quite a sum of money in my French account and I was worried about using the card in Saudi and having my account compromised. I keep only a smallish sum in the Revolut account so not much to lose which brings peace of mind.

I don't know if that helps. I'm still quite new to Revolut but happy with what I've seen so far. It fits my circumstances better than I thought but I'm certainly no fintech expert and probably there are better solutions available.

[Shnozz]

Thanks for the detailed insight. I will have a close look at it - you know Wise do a card too? Just wondering if Revolut offers something more advantageous over the Wise card and account.

[zbc]

Shnozz said:

Thanks for the detailed insight. I will have a close look at it - you know Wise do a card too? Just wondering if Revolut offers something more advantageous over the Wise card and account.

Last time I looked they didn't offer Saudi Riyal and a colleague had a Revolut card which worked well here but yes as I said I'm sure there are better solutions available but I knew Revolut worked

[anonymous-user]

I used to use HIFX a few years ago, never had a problem.

We need to send a large sum in the next year or so to Australia as my girlfriend wants to pay off her mortgage over there. Not looking forward to it to be honest, if you are unlucky with the exchange rate on the day it could end up costing thousands.

Not a call I want to make.

[onny]

Joey Deacon said:

I used to use HIFX a few years ago, never had a problem.

We need to send a large sum in the next year or so to Australia as my girlfriend wants to pay off her mortgage over there. Not looking forward to it to be honest, if you are unlucky with the exchange rate on the day it could end up costing thousands.

Not a call I want to make.

for larger sums, try your normal banks first. my last couple of exchanges i was quoted a price that was 2 to 3 percent below spot rate by Wise and other exchange company list in this thread. i ended up going with my personal bank and got charged under 1%. Although these exchange company say they have no charge/fees etc. they get you on the exchange rate they offer.

Also, if you are transferring money into Australia, especially a large sum to pay off a mortgage. Expect a phone call from the Aust government or a call from your bank here. Even worst, have your bank here close all your accounts and black ban you without telling you why due to perceived anti money laundering. That is exactly what happened to me a number of years back when i paid off our mortgage in Australia from a transfer from my account here. I tried to explain to the banks but they won't tell me why i was black banned. To this day, i still can open another account with them. Not a big lost but could have caused a black mark on my records i have no chance of finding out event through a credit rating check..

[williaa68]

In my experience, wise have superior customer service, Revolut better rates, basically spot if you avoid weekends. Neither are banks so no FSCS protection.

[T697JVS]

Is wise.com still the best option for this?

French estate agent suggested Smart Currency but as they then proceeded to spam me with multiple emails a day before I'd even spoken to them, I am not that well disposed to them.

[Cheib]

I’ve been using Revolut for quite a few years now for personal use and now use it for some business banking as we need to do FX and Santander where our main corp bank account is are just dreadful for that. Never had a problem, have used it for some fairly significant payments over the years.