dave_j

Not so.
Exchanging money through banks is not a good idea.. and the idea that a bank would treat anyone but themselves with any generosity is cloud cuckoo thinking.

Davita

Well my bank HSBC does.
I collect my UK pensions in my HSBC GBP Account in the Channel Islands where they sit on a very low interest rate.
If I notice the currency exchange is beneficial, looking at other exchange mechanisms, not only in CDN$ but other currencies that I have accounts, .... I email my personal relationship manager in the currency account I have an interest and ask their rate. I usually get offered an equal, if not better, managerial rate.
I then internet transfer those GBP to the other foreign account and it is immediately accepted at the rate quoted....or the manager advises the rate has changed. I then get a managerial interest rate slightly better than the public rate.

There is no charge as I'm an HSBC Premier Account holder.

I've no doubt that there are other currency exchangers that offer better rates but imo they cannot make transferring money easier than I just explained.

BristolUK

So you email, wait for a response, do your transfer bits if you like the rate and then sometimes you might have something additional to do as well.

As opposed to signing on to a an appropriate transfer site - as you would do with your bank - see the rate immediately and doing nothing more than saying transfer this much from there to here - the transfer bits. No emailing, no waiting for email response and no occasional bit extra to do.

The transfer site is easier. Maybe not all of them. Perhaps there's a bit more involved if the sums are bigger than those I transfer.

Davita

Are you willing to tell us who you use to transfer money so we can all compare....and some may get some benefits?

BristolUK

I've done that every time the subject comes up

I'm not the only one using TransferWise. I did the whole comparison thing with several sites. A lot depends on the amount involved.

When I bought my house here I used the bank to transfer money to the lawyer. The fee was a % but there was a maximum so it worked out decently.

Recently I had some money to transfer over and one company (can't recall who) advertised a fixed fee of £9 and a rate that was the same as that on xe.com. but then I found TransferWise and their 0.5%. On £1100 it was £5.50 and their rate was also the same as that on xe.com (who also do transfers!).

I've since done smaller amounts - £500/£300 for £2.50/£1.50 (no other charges involved) - and it's very easy. Takes 3 working days.

Of course if you're sending a couple of thou and more, then an alternative with the fixed fee option is better, assuming they don't make up for it with a lower rate

I don't think there's any hard and fast rule - except, maybe, that banks are not the best. But then banks may have more discretion. Certainly there are a couple of posters here who reference this from time to time.

A couple of people have suggested that some banks actually block these transfers.

I could understand that. For convenience* I was previously withdrawing a couple of hundred ££ worth of $$ from cash machines (when available/needed) and my bank was charging about £7 with the Canadian bank charging £2 as well. But at least I got the rate that xe.com shows.

If I do £200 now it costs £1 and still the xe rate.


*I say convenience because I have three different local banks to walk to to get it. But since I always knew when I was going to be doing it in advance, it was no big deal do it on line and walk to my bank (or cashback at the local store) a few days later.

I wish I could have all those bank fees back. I'd throw a party.

Davita

RE: post #65 by BristoUK

Thanks for that good info.
I registered with Transferwise and did a dummy run as I plan to exchange some UK£10,000 into Indonesian IDR as I'm currently in Bali.
The XE mid-rate is £1=IDR15,953 and Transferwise, including the fee, is £1=IDR15,791....which I think is a pretty good rate. I didn't want to register with XE as they want too much personal info so couldn't assume the actual rate...but clearly Transferwise is superior and I hope that 'ookie123' sees your post.

It's night here so I'll run the same again tomorrow and 'WhatsAPP' my HSBC manager to see what exchange rate she offers and request the best Fixed Deposit (FD) rate of interest....one month is currently 5.75% but she may do better.

My reality is...once I've decided it will be instantaneous to transfer, exchange and place as an FD with a couple of clicks whereas Transferwise would take a couple of days before the funds are placed.

I didn't want to advocate that using the bank is better...I was responding to someone who said "Not so....Exchanging money through banks is not a good idea.. and the idea that a bank would treat anyone but themselves with any generosity is cloud cuckoo thinking."

I've found having a good relationship with banks (particularly Midland/HSBC) has helped me become fairly wealthy by lending money for lucrative projects....when I had no tangible collateral.

BristolUK

Out of curiosity did the fee still work out as 0.5%?

Just wondered if they had different fees for different currencies. I mean the 0.5% rate is so low (at the lower end) I thought they might make it up on other currencies.

Obviously they can make it up on larger amounts but then one assumes at higher levels people would shop around and go for fixed fee transfers instead.

If I was doing more than £2000 then I'd go hunting for the one that does it for £9, so long as the rate was still worth it.

Edited to add
One other thing about TransferWise. I've done it 3 or 4 times now and each time the initial confirmation was arrival in three working days time and then the day after there was a further email saying "taking longer, now a day later" than originally said.

In each case, the payment arrived on the original stated day and not the later one.

If you had absolutely relied on the money as originally stated, it might be a little problematic if it doesn't make it that day...as I said, though, it did.

Davita

I just did it again for £10,000 and the fee was £80.29p....no mention of any % fee.

BristolUK

I should have said you have to make your own % calculation.

0.8% of £10k is £80.

I did a dry run, 10k worth of IDR for £80 and then 10k worth of CAD and it was £50 which is 0.5%.

So it seems 0.8% for IDR but 0.5% for CAD.

(there is a pricing page and it seems the fee is determined by what currency you select)

Davita

Thanks BristolUK...I got it you did your own %. I did the same and you are correct.
Today.....
From my HSBC manager, £1 = IDR15,983.
Transferwise right now is £1 = IDR15,834....net of charges.
Both assumed £10,000 being transferred.

The difference is negligible so...Transferwise is certainly a good way for those that do not have my banking facility but, puts paid to the argument that banks are not as good as currency exchangers.

Off theme of the thread...I decided to wait as there will be some mob rally in Jakarta on Friday which can easily get out of control here. This may negatively effect the IDR value.

BristolUK

I think it may be HiFX with the fixed fee that was £9 when I was doing my comparisons. Of course that was based on CAD and maybe their rate increases for other currencies similarly to TW's fee.

hydrographer2004

Interesting article that says the £ will cover up to 2017...

https://www.poundsterlinglive.com/ca...cibc-economics

Now I dont know what to think - some articles say that the rate will drop to 1.5 between no and when article 50 is triggered in March and now this one says it will increase.

For those of us that needs to transfer £xxxxx's this is really confusing.....

when to take the leap....

Davita

Thanks for that link hydro...very interesting but the pundits didn't explain how the GBP was going to rise...they said 'verbal intervention' whatever that means.
It suggests they're going to 'talk the pound up' which begs the question......who do they think they are...Donald Trump!

The traditional way they can intervene is to increase the interest rate....but that increases inflation and prevents growth. It then becomes too expensive for SME's to expand.
The best way for the GBP to return to its glory is for the UK to have a new government and a new referendum and I'd bet the result would be massively different.
Intervention from the Queen would probably be needed if this became a constitutional dilemma.

Then UK would be in an unenviable position to shake up those bureaucrats in Brussels and reform the EU. The global markets and currencies would then stabilize...'till the next stupid idea.

Davita

The High Court in UK said that Brexit decisions must be made by Parliament and not just the Government. This has been appealed to the Supreme Court.
This has caused some dismay to the Government but the GBP rose to more than CDN$ 1.66.
It may go higher, given the economic facts by the BOE Governor today re: inflation and growth.


btw edit to my previous post #73. I meant to say 'but that increases borrowing costs and prevents growth'...not 'inflation'.

Yorkiechef

Have you been to the bank yet?