fraze1987

Well we've just accepted an offer on our house and I'm starting to think about how to get our money to Oz. I know there are certain traders that will allow you to buy large amounts of currency up front but just wondered if anyone could recommend where to start looking?

Thanks,
Fraze

Jacko1

We have opened an Australian Bank Account and will be transferring our money through the London Branch.

PJ

The Thorpes

Hi Fraze

We have used Halewood to forward book our currency.

Try www.hifx.co.uk

There are some others, Moneycorp I think was another one.

Bye for now

Sam

Big 'X'

When we sold our house we deposited the lump sum in a london branch of the Commonwealth Bank,...transferring from the London branch to Australia is plain sailing; go into the commonwealth when in Oz and get yer money!! good exchange rates also!

Big 'X'

fraze1987

Thanks for all the suggestions - much appreciated

Ozbound7

Has anyone tried ISXFX at http://www.isxfx.com. They seem to have the lowest margins around and state what they are.

walla

Hi

We opened an account with the Commonwealth in London, dead easy. When house sold our solicitor sent house sale cash straight to that account where in turn we sent it straight to Oz where it is currently earning 4.5% before tax.

Only one problem, the cash is sitting there and we can't access it because our visas aren't here yet :scared:

Walla

alison_g

Hi
Do you mind me asking if you have done this recently and what rate they gave you. I have made some initial enquries with them and their rate didn't seem as attractive as xe.com or hifx.... any info gratefully recd... the margins make a huge difference when transferring.
Cheers
Ali

dingdong

Hi, whats the rate like with these large currency companies at the moment, its about 2.43 in the travel agents, do you know how much above that rate these people offer??

Cheers in advance,
Dingdong.

walla

Hi Dingdong

We got 2.55 but it has fluctuated a lot since July

Walla

The Thorpes

Yesterday the rate with HIFX was 2.55, but this is the interbank rate and you get a couple of points below this. For example, when we changed up ours a few weeks back we were lucky that the rate had got up to about 2.66 and we got a rate of 2.6405.

I think it can also depend slightly on how much you are going to be exchanging. Most of these companies you can register with, get the information pack and speak to a broker without any obligation.

Sam

shecha

Hi Bix,
We are going to open an account with the Commonwealth Bank prior to emigrating coz they've got a good reputation with new migrants and wondered wether they will give us a credit card immediately, or whether we will have to wait until we have resided in Oz 2 yrs and have a credit rating.
Do you know whether they offer credit cards immediately to new migrants??
I have e-mailed them directly but they haven't got back to me yet
Cheers
Shell

JAJ

You shouldn't have to wait two years but might have to wait a few months for a credit card. In the meantime keep your UK credit cards.

Jeremy

shecha

Hi Jeremy,
We considered keeping our UK credit card and paying it through a Uk bank account, but wanted to avioid to due to isues over transferring money over into the Uk account (charged etc), but looks like it might be the only way until we get an Oz credit card.
Cheers fo the advice.
Shell