ireland2canada

Well, I just bought $CAD (cash) for 1.9413 with ICE currency exchange. I am really pleased with that rate considering it was down to the 1.7's not so long ago. Thank goodness I can now stop obsessing over the rates every day, best of luck to those who are waiting it out.

chumley

I got $1.996 overnight with HSBC

dont know if anyone else is doing the same but having a chunk currently chilling out in Iceland I am trying to reduce my risks

I am taking at least the minimum required for proof of funds for PR out of the UK and parking it in Canada. ( in seperate accounts to spread in any risk)

Imagine the nightmare if your proof of funds amount was tied up in a collapsed bank that you had no access to for months on end.... and it messed up the last lap of immigration

interest rates in Canada are dire but the feeling of security outweighs this by far

good luck all

chumley

and last night got slightly over $2 with hsbc got to make hay while the sunshines

good luck all with the exchange rate rollercoaster

scottymallo

On the rise again up to 2.025 on XE.com. HSBC offering 2.017.

this info given by UKforex

Some calm seems to have been restored to financial markets in the past 24 hours. The UK Government yesterday announced that it would invest £37 billion in to 3 large UK high street banks through the purchase of share capital. It is effectively part nationalisation of the UK banking sector, which has left the government with control over just under half of the UK mortgage market. Meanwhile, The US Fed and European officials have announced they will attempt to shore up the banking sector with further liquidity injections, with the Fed announcing a $250 billion bail out. This has seen some risk appetite return to financial markets and equity markets have bounced on the news. The FTSE rose by over 8% yesterday and it has continued to rise today, having risen by a further 3.5% already. The Pound has pushed higher as a result and is up against the Dollar this morning. This info is refering to the USD.

The £ is also fairing well against the CD and the Euro

IckleHelen

I sorry to ask this question as I'm sure the answer will be somewhere within the 1579 previous posts to this thread, but which one!

That is a really good rate from HSBC. I used HiFX last week and the rate I got was 0.02 below what xe.com was showing. We will be doing future trades, and I think I might be better using HSBC. Can someone advise how to use HSBC for exchanges? We have HSBC bank accounts in the UK. Do we need to open a HSBC account in Canada?

Thanks again, and sorry to go over old ground.

scottymallo

HI,


if you are still in the UK you can call your HSBC branch tell them you want to open a $CD account. They will then set this up for you you may need to go in to sign paperwork. You will then get a call from HSBC international who will ask you for your nearest branch in the city you are going to live in in Canada.
They will then set this up but you will need to go and sign up for the account when you get to Canada to activate the account!

If your are already in Canada make an appointment with you local HSBC, take details of your uk HSBC account with you. Open a $CD account. Ask them to attach to your UK account. It will take approx a week. You can then view both accounts online via global view. Transfer money can be done online only takes 2 working days. It gives you a rate before you proceed if happy, press accept in your $CD account within 2 days no fees great stuff!

G77

This is only true if you're with HSBC Premier - for those of us with peasant HSBC accounts, you CANNOT use globalview - I can only log into hsbc.co.uk and hsbc.ca separately, I also have no facility to transfer directly between accounts, I have to call them and generally don't get as good a rate as you get as a premier customer...

scottymallo

Anyone can open a premier account if savings of less than £50000 there is a monthly fee of £25 which is pretty reasonable for the services offered which includes free world wide travel insurance and lots of other services.
I opened the premier account with £0 deposit you have 6 months free if you account balance does not get above the £50000 mark or you are not earning more than £75,000 a year. You will start getting charged £25 a month.
So basically you can transfer money across for 6 months at the best rates for free!

G77

When I asked about Premier, they just said to me, you don't meet the criteria, sorry.... There was no suggestion of being able to pay 25 quid a month.... Bit late now anyway as I've transferred the majority of my capital over.

IckleHelen

Thanks for explaining. Not sure whether to bother for the amount we've got to transfer it sounds like a lot of hassle for a possible better rate. We've already opened Bank Accounts with TD in Canada so it's not like we would need to do that anyway. I might pop into the branch tomorrow and find out about this 6 months free business. We are going to Canada next week for a trip so could open the account with HSBC while we are there, and we still need to sort out travel insurance for the trip too, so it might be worth it. Thanks for the info.

scottymallo

Most of the info is available on the HSBC website. It does not state on the website that it s six months free. It is written in the premier manual you get when you open the account. So you can quote that if they try and brush the six months free under the carpet!
I ve had my account for 3 months now and do not have the required funds in at the moment. As i'm in Canada i have been transferring once a week from my other uk account to the limits online banking allows. i ve had no problems using any of the services! Enjoy your trip.

chumley

i dint have to go to a hsbc branch in canada to activiate anything all was up and running and i did some transfers before we came to canada

geedee

Goodness.... up over 2.05 this morning!!

Cnelred, what happened there? Do we change anything now or do you think it has more steam???

G77

Up to 2.068 now.... maybe the traders don't like the Tories

dexdaw

roll on 2.5!