suzeandmatt

Hi folks!

Question I'm hoping someone can help with.
Basically we have things back in the UK we need to pay each month. We'd like to transfer around $1000 a month from our Canadian bank account to our U.K. Bank account. Does anyone recommend the cheapest and most convenient way of doing that?

Thanks guys. :-)

Hurlabrick

My opinion? Transferwise. Ill be using them for all my money in the next six months.

https://transferwise.com/

suzeandmatt

Thank you- husband has just looked on the website & said it looks ideal for what we need so he's going to set that up.
Thanks- appreciate your help.

Oliviald

You can do a Wire transfer from your canadian bank account to your UK bank account, I have done it a few times, very easy and no charge. You have to go into the bank and give them your UK bank details - branch Swift number (can be found on google), bank account number and address of the branch your with in the UK

sharkus

Wire transfers from your bank account in Canada are possible. As others mentioned it usually means a trip to the bank as they don't have the option in their online system. HSBC, who I initially used in 2003 *did* have a section in their online site that allowed you to initiate a wire transfer, which was very useful. You did need to go into the bank once to set it all up, but after that, it was all online.

I wonder if they allowed this as they had branches in the UK, whereas the other banks here don't?

suzeandmatt

Hi, thanks, yeah. We initially looked into that with it being the simplest way possible. (We thought) but bank to bank the exchange rate is awful! We were going to lose loads each time. (From Scotiabank to Lloyds in UK)
In the end my husband found a company (I can't remember it's name off the top of my head & he isn't here to ask) but you basically pay them in Canada from the Canadian bank and they pay your Uk bank account. So no money is going over borders and as such the exchange rate is really good. We're barely losing anything. Used it twice now since I posted this original thread and so far no issues! :-)

Hurlabrick

Yep - that will be Transferwise. They give you the prevailing FOREX rate then have a single explicit charge of 0.5% of the value of the transfer. I will be using them going forward for sure.


Precisely the problem with using regular banks is the cr*ppy exchange rate they give you.


None of which is a major issue if you are only talking about hundreds or even low thousands of GBP / CAD - now do the same sums with £100k's and see what the difference is!

suzeandmatt

Yeah that name sounds about right! We're really happy with them. We transfer $1000 a month back. If we did that through the bank as a wire transfer we were looking at losing £80-£100 per transfer! Crazy!! It's nowhere near that with Transferwise. & it was super easy to set up. :-)

MidAtlantic

+1

Novocastrian

-1. Use HSBC Global.

FromUKtoBC

Many thanks for this!
have spent ages looking for cheaper option of transferring GBP to other currencies, including e-currencies

BristolUK

Transferwise is great with a low % fee and a very good rate.

But I think there comes a point where the % fee on a bigger sum is more than one of the fixed fee services would be and then it's less clear what the best overall deal is.

suzeandmatt

Doesn't work for me as I'm not eligible for the accounts that allows this service.

Hurlabrick

I don't think that there is a point / size of transfer where this is true.

I have just done the sums for £300k comparing transferwise to HiFX (one of the most competitive conventional FOREX companies I have come across.

The difference even with the .5% fee for TransferWise was $8k better. The rate HiFX used was $0.04 less that the commercial rate TransferWise uses.

BristolUK

Ah, so TransferWise's better rate more than made up for a higher fee then.

Before I started using TW I took note of the fixed rates of other services - I remember one was £9 and another £5 or £6 - so just remembered that around the £2000 level, the TW fee would be higher by a few quid.

Since I was unlikely to transfer amounts larger than that I never actually looked at the rates others used and thought they'd be closer.

4c lost on every £? Blimey.

Go back a couple of years and there were three or four companies like HiFX that people on BE used to swear by. But it was noticeable that nobody ever seemed to quote the rate used or reference a fee, just saying how great it was that they could book the rate and get that rate on the transfer day even if it had fallen.

Maybe before the emergence of TransferWise those others were the best
I do remember someone saying they actually got a favourable rate from whoever they used.