TJW

Where is the best place to get foreign currency from?

I need to make payments abroad for cleaning and maintenance etc on a regular basis but I want to avoid the extortionate charges

ABCDiamond

Where are you paying to and from ? The cheapest option costs about $0.77 per transfer.

TJW

UK to Australia (Dollars),
and UK to Ireland (Euros)

I would like advice on the best exchange rates also please?

ABCDiamond

Rates change all the time, so difficult to compare.

Currently this is one:

TJW

Hi,

Thanks for the charges and rates, but where can I find this service?

billtyre

I've started to use NoBanx for making payments to Ireland.

They charge £1 per exchange and then any bank charges they incur, BUT YOU SET YOUR OWN RATE.

You exchange your money with someone that wants the opposite exchange.
This means you can get the quoted exchange rates and not the buy and sell rates offered by the banks (which is where they make their money)

I believe they only offer UK, Euro, Australia and New Zealand at the moment but will be starting US and Canadian and otherrs soon.

You can also receive payments from abroad using this system.

CH2Canada2010

I use UKforex who are excellent but tend to be more cost effective for larger transactions

backinuk65

cost of transfer is pretty irrelevant compared to the exchange rates. always found currencyuk and moneycorp to be really good

TJW

Hi,

Thanks for all the feedback.
I investigated all your suggestions and found that the best was NoBanx in terms of rates and charges.

Interestingly as the Nobanx system is an exchange between members when you want an exchange you ask for your own rate. In reality I actually received a rate of exchange not only higher that the rate I asked for but also higher than the interbank rate!

Investigating the service further they also payment and receipt facilities between nobanx accounts without charges.

I had posted my original comment on another forum and one user called nobanx a well kept secret. I would suggest to everyone that the secret should start to be let out in the wild and then everyone can start keeping more of their money rather than passing it to the banks and their banker bonuses