Transferring money USA to UK.
Discussion
Looking to move money from the USA to the UK.
Around 12k GBP from my wife's US bank account to her newly opened UK account. It's a one off transfer rather than a regular thing.
Just wondering what people's experiences and recommendations are in trans-Atlantic transfers?
Looking at all options and it seems a currency broker is better value than direct transfers between banks. Is this accurate?
Around 12k GBP from my wife's US bank account to her newly opened UK account. It's a one off transfer rather than a regular thing.
Just wondering what people's experiences and recommendations are in trans-Atlantic transfers?
Looking at all options and it seems a currency broker is better value than direct transfers between banks. Is this accurate?
In theory it is but as physical fx is unregulated then the ability to be ripped off is quite impressive.
It's a dirty side of the market as you can quote what you like and say what you like.
A good physical broker will be much cheaper than your bank. There are quite a few threads on here about physical fx and the wheezes they get up to. Primarily from me.
It's a dirty side of the market as you can quote what you like and say what you like.
A good physical broker will be much cheaper than your bank. There are quite a few threads on here about physical fx and the wheezes they get up to. Primarily from me.
I've used XE.com to send money from the UK to the US numerous times and that includes a sum large enough to purchase a brand new viper Acr. Their rates aren't bad but you will get a buy rate when you trade rather than the mid market rate published on their public web page, the only way to get the buy rate is to start a dummy trade.
Where i fell down with XE though was trying to get money back from the US, I don't have a US address and am not resident, so much of the US banking system seems to be locked out for me. XE wont let me set up direct debit from my wells fargo account as i have a UK based XE account (goes with my residence country) and told me to use direct deposit/wire from my US account. Wells fargo wont let me set up direct deposits outside of wells fargo without being a resident citing regulations which they cant name, which is really frustrating.
If you have a fully featured US account because she is a US resident (or at least have a us address) so you can use direct debit/deposit then i don't think you will have any problems with XE and their rates are fairly good.
To get around the above problems i looked into transferwise as they allow the US payment to be made with my debit card, it all looked like it would work but i got the impression that the actual exchange rate wouldn't be known until the transaction was complete. They were also a little more expensive in their quotes for US>UK transfers than XE which they said was because they charge a higher commission for US>UK than UK>US due to higher banking fees in the US.
I did some research on them though and reviews were great until there were reviews claiming most of them were from the same person or used the same word's/sentences with only minor changes, This was countered by claims that it was just someone trying to get their referral link out there (transferwise pay for referrals) but that was enough to give me doubt at the time. it wasn't until a few weeks later after i wanted to do a transfer that someone started a thread here about sending money to the EU and the first half dozen posts from standing PH members were to use transferwise, so whilst i cant give a personal recommendation for them, i will likely use them next time i have to get money out of my US account back to the UK, but if you aren't limited by the above residency problems use XE.
ETA - there you go a ph recommendation for TW whilst i was typing, XE's raters are possibly slightly better though.
Where i fell down with XE though was trying to get money back from the US, I don't have a US address and am not resident, so much of the US banking system seems to be locked out for me. XE wont let me set up direct debit from my wells fargo account as i have a UK based XE account (goes with my residence country) and told me to use direct deposit/wire from my US account. Wells fargo wont let me set up direct deposits outside of wells fargo without being a resident citing regulations which they cant name, which is really frustrating.
If you have a fully featured US account because she is a US resident (or at least have a us address) so you can use direct debit/deposit then i don't think you will have any problems with XE and their rates are fairly good.
To get around the above problems i looked into transferwise as they allow the US payment to be made with my debit card, it all looked like it would work but i got the impression that the actual exchange rate wouldn't be known until the transaction was complete. They were also a little more expensive in their quotes for US>UK transfers than XE which they said was because they charge a higher commission for US>UK than UK>US due to higher banking fees in the US.
I did some research on them though and reviews were great until there were reviews claiming most of them were from the same person or used the same word's/sentences with only minor changes, This was countered by claims that it was just someone trying to get their referral link out there (transferwise pay for referrals) but that was enough to give me doubt at the time. it wasn't until a few weeks later after i wanted to do a transfer that someone started a thread here about sending money to the EU and the first half dozen posts from standing PH members were to use transferwise, so whilst i cant give a personal recommendation for them, i will likely use them next time i have to get money out of my US account back to the UK, but if you aren't limited by the above residency problems use XE.
ETA - there you go a ph recommendation for TW whilst i was typing, XE's raters are possibly slightly better though.
Edited by ViperDave on Friday 20th March 08:29
For comparison here are the actual trade rates for both just now and the google spot rate
XE 1 USD = 0.6662 GBP
TW 1 USD = 0.6586 GBP
google 1 USD = 0.68 GBP
if you want to go for transferwise here is my invite link. You should get a free trade also so that may make things even cheaper with them
https://transferwise.com/u/f4e5b5
XE 1 USD = 0.6662 GBP
TW 1 USD = 0.6586 GBP
google 1 USD = 0.68 GBP
if you want to go for transferwise here is my invite link. You should get a free trade also so that may make things even cheaper with them
https://transferwise.com/u/f4e5b5
I've used UKForex for years, good rates and service - they're doing a £50 Amazon signup bonus for referrals if you wanted to get a quote: http://refer.ukforex.co.uk/v2/share/61282421219722...
ViperDave said:
For comparison here are the actual trade rates for both just now and the google spot rate
XE 1 USD = 0.6662 GBP
TW 1 USD = 0.6586 GBP
google 1 USD = 0.68 GBP
if you want to go for transferwise here is my invite link. You should get a free trade also so that may make things even cheaper with them
https://transferwise.com/u/f4e5b5
A bad rate would be around 50 pips away from an amalgamated bid. XE 1 USD = 0.6662 GBP
TW 1 USD = 0.6586 GBP
google 1 USD = 0.68 GBP
if you want to go for transferwise here is my invite link. You should get a free trade also so that may make things even cheaper with them
https://transferwise.com/u/f4e5b5
v15ben said:
Thanks for all the advice folks.
Signed up to Transferwise now.
I presume that the exchange rate is better through TW than it would be through a US credit union?
You wouldn't really know until you asked for a two way quote from either. Signed up to Transferwise now.
I presume that the exchange rate is better through TW than it would be through a US credit union?
You see, if I know you are a buyer I can quote you the tightest spread imaginable but 300 pips off mid. The joys of being unregulated.
The only upside to using your bank is that their spread will be around the true mid as they are regulated.
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