AnneMarieC

would you use these big fx companies for small amounts to? Say <£5K? Just wondering what's the best way to tsf our meagre savings over. We're not there yet and haven't opened a bank acct in ON yet.

- should we just bring over a certified chq and pop it in the bank when we open the acct? or would it be better to tsf via a company like sgm, we'll need access to our funds pretty quickly
- we'll have funds going into our UK acct after we've moved to ON that we'd like to bring over ... same suggestion? to use a company like SGM?
- is it easier to set up with sgm before we leave the uk/need to do any transfers?

tia

Lloyd.B

Hi AnneMarieC,

We are the new currency partners of BE so will be able to help you with all your needs of sending money to Canada before and after you jump on the plane!

In regards to taking a cheque with you, it is both time consuming waiting for the cheque to clear and also costly as you will still receive typical bank rates of exchange.

For further advice feel free to pm me and check out our vendor forum!

Lloyd

Aviator

This is not always the case. I have often negotiated the amount with the bank and got the same rate as an FX house. Bank cheque rate is better than the cash rate and it is very easy to deposit a cheque into an CDN account.

In 20 years I have never found it hard, costly or time consuming. For under $5k this is how I have always done it and with ease and without any additional cost. In addition, my account offers a 1% premium on the FX. I have never had holds on FX cheques, always available funds immediately. To be sure if one deposits a certified cheque or bankers draft, that is cleared funds.

We do regular FX trades as well for larger amounts directly to our suppliers, here we often get better rates and it is paid directly to their bank, I can also book a rate when the FX is in my favour.

Lloyd.B

Hi Aviator

Thanks for your response...each client's situation differs depending on their circumstances and the bank they use, it's good to hear you haven't been falling victim to the usual high street bank rates the majority of people get!

In regards to the cheque situation, we deal with this query a lot with expats. With normal cheques drawn up abroad and deposited in another country, the usual banking process is for the actual cheque to be routed back to the country of origin, verified and then sent back to the recipient bank in the country it is deposited in...which all in all can take quite a while as you can imagine and when dealing with certified cheques, some banks can take longer than others..

As a company we specialise in achieving the best rates of exchange possible for clients so in AnneMarieC’s situation, all in the same day we can:

• Secure a very competitive exchange rate over the phone/email
• When the funds come into your account we exchange GBP>CAD at the rate agreed
• We then send funds directly to your CAD account with no extra charge

One thing I do suggest is that you register for online banking before you go to Canada, online banking in the UK now runs on the ‘faster payment system’ which allows you to wire funds from one account to another domestically within two hours…it usually takes around 15/20 minutes to turn up, but they say 2 hours just to cover themselves….this means that if you are in Canada, and need to get some money across (whether you are buying below $5k or above…we have no minimum or maximum amounts of transfer), you can log in…do an immediate transfer to your account with us…we can get the funds exchanged and sent directly over to you all in the same day!

If you are currently using a bank to pay your suppliers Aviator, maybe it would be a possibility to do a quick rate comparison to see if you could benefit from our services?

Lloyd

chiefmissile

What is your typical spread when exchanging currency, I get approx 1c or less spread on the CAD market rate with SGMFX. If the amount is under £20,000 then there is a £5 transfer fee?

Regards

Andrew

Lloyd.B

Hi Andrew,

Yes we can definitely come inside this spread on your future transfers.....

To make you aware Andrew, as the new currency partners of British Expats...we are currently offering all BE members Cost Price on their first transfer through us (*on any trade under £ 10,000)...

...we won't make a single penny on your first transfer through us so that you can test our services out!

Lloyd

chiefmissile

Hi,

That sounds really good, so if I make my first transfer I will get the market rate at the time of the order?

How do I go about setting up an account?

Regards

Andrew

chiefmissile

When I say market rate, I mean the world FX market, not yours?

Andrew

Lloyd.B

As a company even we cannot buy at the mid-market rate you see online so you will receive a rate not too far off this Andrew....

To get an account set up all you need to do is follow the Excel Currencies link in my signature and click on 'sign up'. It's all very simple and only takes a couple of minutes.

When setting up the account...in the 'how did you hear about us' section enter 'BEVIP - LB' and you will be signed up for the promotion!

Aviator

Thanks, we get cross rates every day from our currency brokers and bank. Don't often use the bank to do anything over $5k, use our FX brokers for over $5k.

Lloyd.B

Apologies for late response..didn't get notification that you had posted again & haven't really had chance to mooch around BE too much the past week or so!

That's absolutely fine, if you do ever want to do a quick comparison feel free to drop me an email, a comparison only takes a couple of minutes! We specialise in giving clients the best rates on any amounts...even below $5k which means you will be able to use one provider no matter what amount you are looking to pay!

withabix

I transferred by first £10,000 into $CAD using Excel Currencies last week and everything went smoothly, despite the 'Personal Banking Officer' at Scotiabank writing down the SWIFT code 'that she knew off by heart' incorrectly.

Great personal service from Lloyd and his colleagues.

Can thoroughly recommend!

john.w.68

I was pointed in the direction of Moneycorp and have used them 3 times for the transfer of savings with no hitches at all. I wanted to try smaller amounts before being confident about transferring the positive equity from the sale of our UK home.

You will be given a 'private client dealer' with whom you deal direct. Mine explained the process and how to set up the accounts etc.

The main reason for doing it this way is simple:
current exchange rate for £1 (29 Nov):
CAD 1.73
Moneycorp rate CAD 1.70
UK High Street Bank CAD 1.425

My advice would be Google 'international monetary transfers' and see what grabs you. The only caveat would be check what the fees are first. You may be exempt the transfer charge if you are/were a member of a uniformed service for example, just ask the question.......

not2old

what kind of fees did you pay at this end or the other end?

Lloyd.B

Hi guys...I'm Excel Currencies CAD specialist so though was worth butting my nose in

Just a quick one to say that you shouldn't be charged any fees to wire your funds to another UK bank account as 90% of UK bank transfers are done via the faster payment system online which is instant and free. There may be a small receiving fee when the CAD hit your account the other end as there is with most almost any Dollar payment worldwide.

Also..this morning (29th Nov) I didn't book a GBPvCAD rate for any of my clients that was below 1.7050 so it will definitely be worth doing a comparison with your current providers or banks to show how competitive our rates actually are.

You can also try our service out for free by taking advantage of our special BE promotion..all you have to do is enter the promotion code 'BEVIP-LB' when setting up your free trading account and you will get your first trade at our cost price on anything up to £ 10,000.

To get an account set up all you need to do is follow the Excel Currencies link in my signature and click on 'sign up'. It's all very simple and only takes a couple of minutes.

If you have any other questions please feel free to chuck them on the wall!

Lloyd