AndyR

DAM!! But was it possible anyway?

Wasn't prepared for this to happen else I would have got my AUS account setup ready just in case.

comet555

I think if you want to lock a rate in you have to part with a bit of cash up front, a percentage of how much you want to transfer.

comet555

Details here:
http://www.ozforex.com.au/forwardPayments.htm

It is binding and the deposit is 5% (with Ozforex anyway). Not sure how much it would be with other companies.

If there was no deposit there is nothing to stop you from locking in a rate today, and then cancelling next week if the rate is in your favour.

AndyR

Thanks, thats just what i need but typical, Ozforex are not taking new customers until Monday 13th October!! NOOOOOOOOO

Knew I should have looked into all this sooner. May have to get a Aus bank setup asap me thinks and pray this all continues until Monday.

Flutterby

Andy

HIFX are still taking customers, I just opened an account with them half an hour ago. You do not need an Aussie bank account to transfer, they will hold the money until you tell them where you want it to go.

F

AndyR

Ooooh!!! Thanks I'll go over there now and have a look.

We were going to move our savings into an account over here but would only get a few hundred £ interest in 6-9months, but by changing now we could get a lot more benefit.

Just hope the exchange rate stays around a bit longer!

Thx!

moneypenny20

We always got better rates with First Direct than we were ever offered by either OxForex or HiFX.

4lex

Struth. Just in time for me then - mind you I note they won't accept any more limit orders at this point.

Damn I hope these guys don't fold with all our cash now...

savanna454

Thanks everyone for all your replies. 2.05 to 2.66 in a few months - mind boggling!

I guess the markets are factoring in the knock on effect on commodity exports when and if China stops selling to a world in recession

Why aren't OZforex taking new customers its how they make their money after all?

Very odd that - think I'll use FD after what Moneypen20 and Grayling have said as I still have an account with FD in the UK and the house money is substantial.

louie

Probably because the volume of transactions at the moment means they are struggling to keep up. I've changed some money online with Ozforex today though and still got the call to confirm within a couple of hours.

BATS666

HSBC Premier also gave better exchange rates than the well known currency dealers. There wasn't much in it tho, unless you're changing tons !

mgilmour

Hi Everyone,

Just a note on our not taking new customers for a few days. The level of activity we have experienced in the last week has been extraordinary, our daily turnover is fivefold our average and we are getting triple our usual daily new customer registrations. We have taken a view that we would rather keep the service level as high as possible for existing customers than giving poor service to old and new customers. We will have cleared the backlog of new customers that need to be setup by Monday and will start taking on new customers again. Our staff in Sydney/London/Toronto are working extremely long hours to keep up with demand and I am sure its the same with the other FX brokers.

We have no debt and are not exposed to the banking crisis - I guess we are one of the few sectors that remains profitable in times like these.

Apologies for the inconvenience and thanks for the continued support of the BE community

Regards,
Matt Gilmour
Managing Director

AndyR

Nice of you to reply on here

Think I may have missed the boat a bit here but hopefully it will still be good on Monday so I can register then. Do Ozforex offer a facility where I can change funds on a lock in rate basis but have the converted funds held until a date as I don't have an Oz bank account yet, and probably won't have my visa for 9 months

mgilmour

Yes you can book a forward contract, which is an agreement for you to sell GBP to us for AUD at a rate agreed today applicable at a future date, in your case 9 months. These should not be entered into lightly because you need to realise these contracts are binding, and so if you cannot emigrate for some reason you will still have this contract with us. The other factor is that you need to provide an initial 5% deposit, in addition if the rate keeps moving up we would ask you to top up the deposit to the extent that the exchange rate has moved higher. This protects us against clients walking away from forward contracts which as you can imagine is tempting!

Regards,
Matt

datamile

Matt,

Thanks for taking time out to reply in what I can only guess at madness at your fx desks.