Anybody used ozforex
 

Hi All

Has anybody used http://www.ozforex.com.au/ if so how where they, any bad/good experiences?

Thanks Daz :D

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

we used commonwealth bank over last two days mate
they were excellent
its real scary waiting for your money to get there though we were checking the rates every two minutes got 2.4255 in the end ( about mid day today )

its dropped to 2.3990 at six pm six hours later would have lost us 2560 dollars :scared:

still shaking :scared:

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Great rate mate, glad you got that, I know what you mean about scary :scared:

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Hi

Not personally, but they have a good reputation on here.

Jim

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

We're using them, reserved the rate on Monday at 2.42, complete on house tomorrow, so will transfer money then. So far, have no complaints with them, they have been very polite and helpful, despite me asking some stupid questions!!

Will try and keep you posted when transfer is complete and let you know more then.

Jo

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Hi Jo,
we are hoping to use broker when we sell, our house would appreciate, all the tips that you can give us , we dont know if we should change all the money in one go or, is it better to do in two or stages. so clueless :confused:

fari

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Hi

Your decision will probably be guided by the rate of exchange at the time, your financial circumstances (ie how much you will require initially in Australia), whether you intend to rent or buy straight away out here and one thousand and one other criteria.

Can I suggest you do various searches in this particular forum - these issues have been covered at length at other times and there will be a lot you can pick up.

One thing I can confirm - the Australian dollar is notoriously fickle and your timing has to be dead right - a "forward contract" may be the way to go if you don't want to rely on a good rate of exchange at the time you are ready to deal. Any of the usual FX dealer websites will give you the rundown on the various ways to trade the deal. In order to be best placed to take advantage of any sudden spikes in the rate, you may consider it worthwile in opening an account with one or two FX dealers, even if it is months in advance of when you are likely to trade.

For what it is worth, the Australian dollar is currently at its lowest against the Pound in almost a year (approx $2.435 at present) so that should also come into your considerations if you have any spare cash to trade at the moment. Bear in mind that the mid market rate - as shown above - is not what you will be offered by the dealer - unless you have many hundreds of thousands to trade - but you should be able to manage somewhere round 1 - 2 cents less again depending on how much you have to trade..

None of us on here are financial experts - we wouldn't be sat at our PCs on BE if we were - although a lot of us have had the experience of going through this particular nightmare!

Good luck :D

Jim

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Thanks for everybodys input, its great advice and I need it :confused:

Daz :D

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Used HIFX (UK based) on Tuesday. Excellent service and good rate.

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Aren't they the same as Tranzfers.com? They get good press and so if they are the same thing then should be fine

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Hi Jim,
thank you so much for going into such details, you have been great help.
farideh :)

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Yep - one and the same.

I've used them a couple of times. If you bank with Barclays you can have the money in your Aus account the following day (well I did anyway!).

Currently got a forward contract I set up in November when it hit 2.40. All you pay is 5% deposit when it's set up. The balance on maturity which can be anything up to 2 years ahead.

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

We've just registered with OzForex.com.au today and I will be emailing them my ID details tomorrow.

My question is, do they always require a 5% deposit before providing a spot-rate? Can anything be done BEFORE the account activation takes place as I am worried that the rate will drop back down again before we get a chance to be offered a current spot-rate?

Also, do we have to transfer the money on a specified date or are we free to transfer away when we are ready?

Cheers.

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Spot rate is buying at the rate know, and payment normally paid in 7 days with 5%/10% paid when you buy.
If you forward buy you set a rate that you are happy with, you also set the amount you want to exchange. When the exchange rate gets to the rate you want they will buy the amount you requested, you will need to pay 10% deposite when this happens and the balance when you are ready for it.
This helps if just say you are waiting for funds from a sale of a house. You can keep rolling on for upto 2 years

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Hi all,

thought I would post definitive answers to these questions as I know lots of people will read this thread. Many thanks to the people of who have used the service and given the information so far.

1. No deposit required for transactions where settlement will occur in under 7 days (a spot transaction), or the funds are coming in a sequence of transfers (eg. internet transfer limit might be 10k per day and you need to transfer 70k). 5% deposit if you are going to do a forward contract - 1 week to 1 year.

2. You can book a rate with us after registration and we have spoken with you (we will try and call you soon after registration). We can't pay out the funds you have bought until we have your ID docs though. So you could book a binding rate within 10 minutes of registering if you call us up after registering instead of waiting for our call.

3. We do send an activation letter to your address but that does not affect the first transfer at all.

4. The rates you see when register are the actual dealing rates that you can lock in - they change every 30 seconds with the underlying market. There are no fees or other charges if the amount is over GBP 4000. If under GBP 4000 the fee would be 7 pounds. Minimum amount is GBP 1000 (our other service Transfers.com you can do amounts down to GBP 50). There are no receiving bank fees.

I hope this response will not discourage people from expressing their opinions on our service, good or bad, I just thought it would be useful to make it clear how the service works.

Regards,
Matt Gilmour
www.ozforex.com.au
www.tranzfers.com

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

We are using them just now and they have been very helpful. Explained everything fully and you can always get them on the phone if you have any queries. We are happy with them so far.

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Thanks Matt ;) , after posting this I decided to registar, I had a very friendly phone call the day after, which was very helpfull.

I will now be sending off my ID etc, we are not in a position yet to exchange money but we hope to in the near future.

Thanks Daz

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Great stuff, thanks for the clarification. :)

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Hi thank you for the informative response.

So, given that we don't have sufficient funds at the moment to pay a 5%-10% deposit and we will be waiting another 8-10 weeks for the completion on our property (and hence funds), how would you advise that we move ahead so that we can take advantage of the current favourable exchange rate?

Cheers.

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

On a case by case basis we can look at reducing the deposit (I will PM you). Anybody else in this situation feel free to PM me - it's a pretty common situation.

As a side note the deposit protects banks/brokers against a client walking away from a forward contract. Eg. they book at 2.4200, the market jumps 10% to 2.6620 and the customer may 'dissappear'. The incidence of this is very low but that's the rational for the deposit.

Regards
Matt Gilmour
www.ozforex.com.au
www.tranzfers.com

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

How long do you hold a transaction rate after grabbing but before confirmation?

Regards

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Hi Jumbo,

The website allows you to book the rate but it is subject to a verbal confirmation for security, in other words we ring you. Normally this happens within 15 minutes of booking the deal, if we can't reach you and you don't call us (which is what we request if for some reason we cannot get hold of you) then we reserve the right to void the deal. Once it is booked and verbally confirmed it becomes binding on OzForex and the customer - neither party can walk away from it after that point.

I hope that answers your question?

Matt Gilmour
www.ozforex.com.au
www.tranzfers.com

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

So hypothetically, if I say did not verbally confirm say because the rate had risen, I could walk away?

Regards

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Hi Jumbo,

This is a rare event so I dont want to give it more attention that its worth but here is the full answer.

Conversely if the rate falls, we can't reach you and you ring us an hour after booking the deal we would not honour the rate from an hour before - it needs to be confirmed before being locked in. In 99.9% of cases a deal is booked and then we talk and confirm. If it moves down a little (against us) in the 0-15 minutes between the booking and the confirming we don't change the rate and in the spirit of fairness ask the client not to cancel and rebook or become uncontactable.

As a side note - we would probably decline to quote that client again if we felt the system was being used opportunistically.

Regards,
Matt Gilmour
www.ozforex.com.au
www.tranzfers.com

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

To answer the original question, I have just registered with OzForex and HIFX. When I'm ready to transfer the cash, I'll be comparing both company's rates and going with the best I can get.

Matt Gilmore phoned me as soon as my registration was complete with OzForex (literally within 10 minutes) and was extremely helpful. He talked me through the logistics of everything in plain English, and how to provide id by uploading onto their secure site (which I did yesterday with no problems at all).

L

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

Cheers L, Matt does explains things very well.

Daz :)

Re: Anybody used ozforex
 

I have used them 5 times and have had no problems at all. They are a bit chattier in the UK but always pleasant and give better rates then HIFX. Let them know how much you have to tranfer. Because we have a large amount we are on a 'corporate' rate and get a better rate even if I am just transfering £1000. Michelle.