win win situation - currency exchange
 

Hi guys

I'm back from oz. Issues with my employer. My advice, never accept a 457!

Anyways....I have a largish quantity of Aus dollars left which I have tried to exchange but get stung to the tune of 20% of the value!!!

so I got thinking, all these people going out to oz who want dollars are also gonna get stung on the exchange (as I did going out there). The currency exchanges do not run for charity! this also applies if you transfer to an aussie bank account from your uk account. they aint charities either! and you have to pay stamp duty to the Oz gov for doing it among other transfer charges.

so would anyone be interested in changing their sterling for my dollars. we would do it at the official exchange rate on the day (this can be found on many websites). this would cut out the middle man, all charges, and eliminates the spread that currency exchanges profit from. Everybody wins.

PM me if you want to know more.

thanks :)

Re: win win situation - currency exchange
 

how much are we talking?
how would you intend to carry out an exchange?
i am down in dorset.
thanks for the reply in advance.
she

Re: win win situation - currency exchange
 

Hi SheilaClare,

I have PM'd you.

Re: win win situation - currency exchange
 

You get a good rate going to pounds at the moment am confused as to why you would think differently. Ozforex are the way to go. We use tham all the time back and forth. I think its around 0.45 per $ very good. In a normal market this is around 0.40 if your lucky.

We never had to pay stamp duty on any of the money we brought over. Not sure what thats about.

Jo

Re: win win situation - currency exchange
 

Hi,

The rate you are quoting is indeed good. unfortunately it is the mid rate that
you are quoting. see below (from ozforex)
__________________________________________________ _____________

1 AUD = 0.4454 GBP Display Chart 1 GBP = 2.2452 AUD

Important Information
1The mid-market rates shown in our currency converter are neither "buy" rates nor "sell" rates. Mid-market rates are derived from mid-point between the buy and sell rates of large-value transactions in the global currency markets.

The buy or sell rate you would receive from OzForex would be close to the mid market rate but would include our margin that reflects the size of your transfer. The buy or sell rate OzForex offers will be better than your bank guaranteed!!

also - We charge a maximum fee of A$15.00 for payments
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

so yes it may be better than bank rates, but they still have a spread (ie not a charity) and commission

i would be changing the money at the mid price, which makes a big difference, and the transaction would be commission free.


The other point you made was about fees and stamp duty.

if someone wanted to transfer there sterling to australia, from their Uk bank account to an australian one, -will be a charge of approx £20 (depending on bank - in this case halifax), and as is the case with any exchange, a spread will apply.. and this applies transfering money back to the uk also. with regard to the stamp duty comment, i had been informed by commonwealth, that by transfering money from uk into commonwealth account i would have to pay a stamp duty charge. even if i was given incorrect information with regard to stamp duty fees, you can see that exchanging my dollars with someone going to aus will:

eliminate fees, commission
allow the exchange at mid price avoiding spread.

i fail to understand how oxforex, or any other exchange tool would be preferable to this?

i hope this helps your confusion caused by my original post :)

Re: win win situation - currency exchange
 

I still have no idea how you could lose '20%' on a largish transaction.

How do you arrive at 20%? I'm guessing you must have some numbers you can show?

Re: win win situation - currency exchange
 

my mistake. more like 10%.

mid price today with xe.com - 0.444
my local exchange (eg post office) today - 0.401

but my point is the same. it works out much cheaper and you avoid any transfer charges etc, if you exchange the dollars for sterling using the mid price and cut out the middleman

Re: win win situation - currency exchange
 

But who changes large sums of currency at the Post Office??

Actual Rate is currently 0.4451
Tranzfers/Ozforex is at the same time offering 0.4395 on a $10k transfer + $15 fee.

So that works out at 'losing' about $56 + $15 = $71 or about 0.7%.

Even for $500 they'd give you 0.4375.

Re: win win situation - currency exchange
 

But im not transferring money. can i use ozforex just to change my dollars now im back in UK?

Re: win win situation - currency exchange
 

Where's the money? In your pocket or in the bank?

And what's your defintion of 'largish'??

Re: win win situation - currency exchange
 

If you change with a company like HiFX or Ozforex, there are no transfer charges AND you get a much better exchange rate than say the post office or the local bank.

Gina

Re: win win situation - currency exchange
 

Must be talking about cash in pocket.

Transfering Oz to UK using Ozforex is a good way to go for electronic transactions. We use them for all our exchanges. 10% loss is way off.

Re: win win situation - currency exchange
 

Use XE Trade and you can change either way with no fees. I would exchange with you but I cannot see how it would be risk free.

cj

Re: win win situation - currency exchange
 

To the OP. You are talking out of your arse and probably frightening some people. Obviously your large amount of money isnt that much. Ozforex charge no fee if its over a certain amount (not sure how much $10k ish I think) thats what I would consider largish. You do not pay any tax or stamp duty on money transfered to oz if it is your savings or profits from your house or just plain old spending money. The rate from oz to uk is fantastic and even a price of 0.42 is good compared to the 'normal' rate in a 'normal' market. I used a TSB too commonwealth before I found out about ozforex and it was a complete waste of time and money I would agree. I use forex both ways now and even family who come to me for a holiday put their spending money in my TSB account and I transfer it using ozforex into my commonwealth account. I have never been taxed or stampdutied on their amounts. I moved £10k for a friend same again. No probs good rate and a very small fee. which you more than recoup on the better rate.

As for swaping money with you, unless its a face to face exchange which we are still not clear on then I wouldnt have anything to do with that for you or anyone else I didnt know.

Jo

Re: win win situation - currency exchange
 

I have the cash in hand, unfortunately I did not get the opportunity to use a service like forex before i returned to UK. the amount is $5725 which i feel is a largish amount to be holding in cash.

it would be great to take advantage of oxforex etc, but unfortunately Im not making a transfer.

I would also not be comfortable making a exchange with an individual unless it was meeting face to face. which is why i was asking for people to get in touch so we could arrange to meet face to face with appropriate id, proof of address etc.

Jo, please keep your comments civil. And i apologise if i am scaring anyone. In my situation holding the cash and not having it in my aussie bank account to transfer back to the UK, I dont believe I have many options to change the dollars other than going to a local bureau de change, in which case i would be looking at paying a hefty spread. If anyone has a suggestion for a ozforex type exchange service available to people in the UK holding dollars I would love to hear about it.

my suggestion of a cash exchange would cut out all middleman charges, which would benefit both parties.