wallabywannabies

Id be interested to know how many of you sent your money from the sale of your homes e.c.t. to oz.

cheers steve.

lynnlovessun

Just purchased Oz $ off Moneycorp to the value of my savings - they then transfer the money into my Australian HSBC bank account - I don't fly till October but didn't want to risk the exchange rate getting any worse before October. We weren't transferring enough money to agree a 'forward contract' - so just watched the exchange rate and did a 'spot buy'

Lynn

Stitch

Hi Lynn,

Did they charge a big commission or something for purchasing the Oz $?

Cheers

Ginny

Centurion

Using our Commonwealth Bank Migrant Account in London. Of course, after agreeing a rate

lynnlovessun

No, No comission at all!

Lynn

spalen

Here are some options.

And what you should do is ring them or look at their rates and compare them online before deciding how to move your money.

Nationwide bank in UK , open a UK account, leave hte money in it, and use a Nationwide card in Aus. NAtionwide use the global visa rate which is VERY close to the inter-bank trading rates and they do not charge a surcharge. Barclaycard for example charges 2.75% surcharge on the currency rate.

HIFX.COM are big and reputable - to trade with them you have to register in UK and again in Aus if you want to trade after you arrive, you phone them up, get a quote, they buy the money, you send them your money wihtin 3 days, and you get your money in your account 2 days later here in Aus.
www.hifx.com. GIve them a ring and talk to them they are very helpful.

Tranzfers.com are also good, they charge 7pounds per transaction but are good for smaller transactions, I havent checked their rate for big deals. You register with them , its all online trading so its convenient and easy. You setup a trade online by clicking on a few things, they email you to confirm you really want to do it, you confirm, you send them the money, 24-48hrs later the money is in your account in Aus. You dont need to re-register when you get to Aus and they are totally online so you dont have to phnoe them. You can with them just 'lodge' the money and then decide later when to convert it. I use them a lot - if you're going to use them be nice and register with my referral id ! they do loyalty points (!). Again ring them they're helpful onthe phone. They'll talk you through the whole thing & you get a call from them anyway when you first register to make sure you are ok with it all.
http://www.tranzfers.com/refer.asp?r=ijcollins

Remember when leaving money in a UK bank that you need to check how much you can move around and get access to over the internet. For example my UK barclays account has a 2k per day limit on transfers - so if you want to move 10k pounds over it will take you 5 days and 5 trades.

And opening a bank account here can take 15 minutes. Seriously - we had our eftpos cards in our hands 15 minutes after first walking into a branch. Passport, UK Drivers licence, UK Visa/Credit card, Lease Agreement on flat/rental unit (even short term), and you are in.

Finally - Dont trust the rates these guys publish on their websites, the only rate that you can compare is one that they tell you on the phone or one that you get when you get a 'trade' quote inside the tranzfers website. They all put different rates on their front-pages which wont vary compared to how much you are trading - but in real life if you trade 1m$ you get a better rate than if you trade 10$ of course...
Good luck.

Stitch

Nothing! Can't believe it. Will be contacting them.

Cheers for that Lynn

Ginny