mickpower75

Hi guys i know there is a lot of threads on here about transferring money but can anyone help me.

i am getting conflicting reports and i am shall we say PARANOID BIG TIME

i have a Clydesdale account here in the UK and have been told to open a Westpac account on line which is fine

but transferring money whats the best way to do this.

for talking sake if i have £50,000 pounds to transfer to my westpac account how much would it cost to do that in total ?
Would i be charged a one of a payment for transferring and converting the money into AUD.

Also i know a lot of people have transferred money from Pounds to AUD but is there anything i need to look out for.

Basicallyi have been ripped of before and dont want it to happen again

Thanks

Mick
Please help

ozhappy981

If you use Ozforex of HIFX, there will be no charge for transferring that amount of money. We have used both and found them excellent (Ozforex was a little easier to set up than HiFX).

www.ozforex.com.au
www.hifx.co.uk

You need to set it up with them (identity checks) now.

Then when you want to transfer the money, you just phone them up. You transfer the money into their UK Bank account (from memory they both use Barclays).

You can transfer the money with internet banking (which will cost you nothing).

Ozforex and HiFX then transfer it into your Westpac account. If you have internet banking set up with Westpac, you can check the money is there. From memorty it took the usual three days for the money to go from our UK bank account into the UK Barclays account with internet banking. Then it took two days to arrive in Oz.

mickpower75

Do you not get charged for the converting from BP to AUD?

futureaussie

As you have a Clydesdale Bank account I would suggest the easiest and cheapest is to contact NAB Migrant Banking.They own Clydesdale Bank and can all be done in UK.Once in Australia you can keep Clydesdale account as long as you want and transfer funds when required.This is what I did when moving from Scotland to Victoria.NAB details are available online.

Tuxtrip

As you are with the Clydesdale, I agree with opening a NAB account. Get NAB to email you their daily exchange rate. Also, as you are in Scotland, you should look at contacting No. 1 Currency in Edinburgh to get them to email your best daily rate as well. Keep an eye on them both and watch for trends. You can also book a rate and once it gets there it will secure it for you, (even at midnight!) saving you the hassle of having to check all the time. Not a great time to be exchanging £ to $, so if you are in no great hurry, booking a rate might be the way to go.

kevncarlz

Hi mick
We used HIFX and really cant fault their service, we have used them all along since the start of our visa application and everytime I called they were always happy to answer any questions I had. I also opened a Westpac account while i was in the UK and transferred money from Halifax into Hifx then into Westpac account in about 5 working days, the only thing is with a westpac account is you can make payments into it, but you cant make withdrawls until your in oz and have been into the branch to have your 100 point check (dont worry not as bad as it sounds, you just show your passport and your account details which they will email you).

Also one other thing to note is ask your bank if they have a limit on what you can send as Halifax would only let me send £5k per day, by BACS (3 working days to process and free)or as much as I wanted through CHAPS (same day process before 2pm iirc and £25 payment)

Hope this helps

Kev

slipshot

Very good point - few banks if any will allow you to trasnfer that amount of money for free in one go. Probabaly better to pay.

Main thing for that amount of dosh would be to search everywhere to get the best rate. Do not just register with one transfer agent. I'd register with 4 or 5 and then, when you are ready to move the cash, check them all oout as they will ALL have different rates. And that could make a big difference.

For example, rate at 1.9866 = $99,330

Rate at 1.9666 = $98,330 ($1,000 difference)

Not a lot in the rate but big difference in the result.

I use xe.com - always provided the best rates when I did my comprison and have now been using them for years and, when I compare, they are generally the best. There is a charge to send the money (About £10 normally) but a better rate more than makes up for it...

Beachband

ya well said there above.

Its all about the pips and the points.

Still trying to decide who to use transferring 20k(to start off with).
I will prob go with ukforex.
I have set up an ANZ account and they were on to me recently by email to let me know about transferring money with them.
I told them I was going to use a broker(as they were cheaper).
So I asked them how would the transfer go, i.e - Irish bank - Broker bank - ANZ.

.....Heard nothing back, this was about 3 weeks ago!

ozhappy981

No. Ozforex and HiFX do not charge you for large amounts (you mentioned GPB50,000).

If you go with a bank, the UK bank will charge you for sending the money and the Oz bank will charge you for receiving it.

If you read the Ozforex and HiFX terms and conditions: they say that they bear the charges. Because they are large scale currency traders, they also usually have much better rates than your ordinary High Street bank. I would never use a bank for an amount such as GBP50,000. I would always use a currency trader.

With a High Street bank:
You can walk into the bank and do the transfer there and then. You will pay fees at both ends. You will get less Aus$ for your GBP.

With Ozforex or HiFX:
You need to register with them in advance. (That means form filling and sending off, because they need to make sure that you are not a money-laundering crook.)
When you are ready to transfer the money, you do this over the phone (with email confirmations from them). Then you use internet banking to move your money from your account into their UK account. (They then do the rest.)
There are no fees. You get more Aus$$$ for your GBP.

comet555

We used Ozforex to transfer all of our money over in one shot, it was over the amount you have mentioned. They were very easy to use, got a great rate and was much better than dealing with the bank.

As the person before me said just make sure you set up your account before you're ready to use it. Then you can sit back and watch the interest rates and wait for the right time.