paula&lee

Thanks for all your replies and have just done the deed

Just got to go to bank in the morning to do the xfer

so far so good


will rest more when money in anz account

Paula

Neil51

Can someone help because I am confused by all this?
I am also wary of using Ozforex, but decided to rsik it (if there is a risk at all). I am still in the UK, and went to my bank (Abbey) today to ask about transferring to an Ozforex account. They said that they charge £25.00 for this, but more importantly, they can only do this while I am in the UK. Once I emigrate to Australia I cannot transfer any money because I need to visit the branch personally to make the transaction. How therefore can money be transferred from the UK to Australia once I arrive in Oz????
Is there a way, and if not, how can these exchangers like Ozforex and HiFX offer these services wheer you pre-set an exchange rate and only transfer your money when the currency exchange reaches this rate.
Any advice would be appreciated on what to do and what people have done that worked.
Many thanks.

Gethy

Hi,

They way we have done it is to set up a forward contract with Ozforex, we watched the rates and when we were happy we took a small loan to cover the deposit.

Our account is with Nationwide and with them you can transfer funds to Ozforex (in amounts no greater than £9,999.00) electronically from your account to theirs with no charge.

What we will do is take the bulk of our money with us and leave some here in the UK to pay for initial set up costs etc because using our nationwide card abroad incurs no cost.

Hope this helps

Babsw

we opened an account with the Commonwealth Bank in London ( by post) before we left UK and they arranged to transfer our money to a local branch when we arrived in Aus. on the date we wanted, either all of it or in small amounts depending on what we wanted. They also held the money in sterling until it reached the rate we wanted. Found them great, easy to get hold of and deal with and branches all over in Aus. babs.

datamile

OK, abbey National/ozforex . Get internet access to your abbey account, this means you can do a 3 day transfer for free to ozforex etc.

When I've dealt with ozforez they've been happy to wait the 3 days trans. I'd email to confirm with them.

3 days transfer= free= BACS. Can be done via internet
Same Day=£25=chaps, need to go to back.

Caroline G

Anyone got any theories or inside knowledge on what's likely to happen to the interest rate in May?

DrWho

"The prospect of an interest rate rise to 6.5 per cent is now being estimated by financial markets at 65 per cent."

From today's Australian...

arkon

Personally I would bin the Abbey national. The wife had an abbey current account and it was almost impossible to use when you are abroad. The internet access even seems to know you are dialing in from Oz and blocks the request. They refused to send mail like statements abroad and all in all a very shabby experience was had by all. They only let you keep the account open while you have a primary address in the UK so you need a good freinds address at least.

I on the other hand had a Virgin account through the Royal bank of scotland and the differences are amazing. They send my statements here, allow me to transfer back and forwards with minimal fees, excelent inter bank rates that were better than Ozforex (without having to haggle) and they even gave me a special number to ring as I was living abroad, specially for people in our situation.

To send money abroad using them the procedure is:- Write a letter to the international transfer dept to OK the amount, destination, date and an acceptence of the fee plus a phone number they can contact you on in Oz. On the day of the transfer they phone you up in Oz and you need to verbally ok the transaction and bobs your uncle, it apears in your Oz acount about 2 or 3 days latter. I give the RBS 10/10 for making it all so easy and a big thumbs down for the backwards thinking Abbey for their anal retentive behaviour when it comes to living or working abroad.

Bin the Abbey of your moving here and give your money to a bank that lives in the 21st century.

arkon

Well I need them to go to 1:1 so I can move back home, so that means they will be 1:3 for the rest of eternity.

paulhill

Hi,

We used HiFex and they were great. Transferred money over the internet and when we arrived in Oz it was here. No charges and we got $2.50 to the £. Hope this helps.#

Cheers Sue

joho

We had more hassle using the commonwealth immigrant account. Now use ozforex both ways.

Jo

Babsw

which way does that send the xchange rate? never can get this sorted right! babs.

datamile

When the interest rate goes up, then in theory money wants to move to it, therefore the fx rate goes down.. 2.4->2.3

ed_the_lad

I transferred my funds from an Irish account to a euro account i setup here in Oz with HSBC, i'm also waiting for the exchange rate to get better. The only problem with HSBC is that they will charge me $200 dollars to transfer the euro out of my account.I have also been hesitant about Ozforex, first time i heard about them was here, if anything went wrong and someone asked where did you hear about Ozforex and i said the internet, just imagine the looks i'd get.
I still must send the required docs to Ozforex which is also a worry, give them a copy of my Id, my signature and my bank account details.
But i'll have to bite the bullet soon!

wafc

I've used Ozforex on a number of occassions before we got to Oz and they provide an excellent service. I wouldn't worry about using them at all, they are very safe and give good rates.