Hurlabrick

Just for fun, I did a quote on TransferWise for moving say £10,000 to CAD.

XE.COM mid rate quoted as £1 = $173755

TW take a £45.10 fee off the £10k, then use a rate of $1.73621. Means $CAD17,283.80 will arrive in a Canadian bank account. If you want to 'net' the fee into an exchange rate, that is 17283.80 / 10000 = $1.72838.

I believe that Knightsbridge FX use the same model and have keen rates, but what I don't like about them is that they always want you to call them, so not as transparent as TW.

i_Seeker

I hoped it would have been the Google rate, but damn! It was soooooo off, it's not even competitive

i_Seeker

Thanks, I think I'll be using xe.com and similar companies from now on.

Hurlabrick

Just to be clear, I was quoting XE merely to show the mid rate. I know they also do transfers, but I have no idea what rates they use for actual transfers.

Pulaski

I used to use xe but they last time I looked they were a good bit away from the best available, about 2% off IIRC.

i_Seeker

Agreed. I think we can agree that whether it's xe.com or another company, it won't be HSBC!

I checked now and the rate is 1.7314. This is before they take their slice.

I don't want to trash talk HSBC, they have been awesome and have suited us perfectly. But, their exchange rate is no where near competitive.

Siouxie

https://online.royalbank.com/cgi-bin...ator/start.cgi
Even RBC are offering 1.71330 - you pay a flat rate $17 transfer fee inbound.

eversmannx

I found this thread very useful, with all the replies and opinions. Thanks!
Firstly I hope your move went well before covid19. ironically lot has changed since February... I hopefully get to move in a couple of months or so, and preparing for the same things. Any advice from your experience would be greatly appreciated!

1. Although the HSBC setup is nice having accounts in UK and Canada, I gather it wasn't attractive after considering the exchange rates they offered. Is TransferWise the clear winner, or do you have one or two other options to consider?
2. If all Canadian banks are more or less the same, I would prefer to go with RBC... they seem to offer some free transfer in's within the first 6 months. Is this fee a consideration at all when you're transferring £100-150K?
3. I won't sell the UK house for a couple more years, so the bulk of the cash i will need to transfer will be down the line. Is TransferWise still the best option for sending 500K.

@Hurlabrick Your experience was also very helpful from this thread + ISAs before you moved --- any further tips based on your experience would be much appreciated. In relation to the ISAs, I figured I will have enough cash to fill RRSP and TFSA allowances within the first couple of years. So thinking of keeping the ISAs as they are and pay capital gains in Canada (only on 50% of capital gains). If i am not mistaken this would have the same affect of selling my stocks/etfs in UK and investing in Canada as I've already filled in RRSP/TFSA?

Many Thanks everyone!

Hurlabrick

I certainly used TransferWise to move considerably more than £150k from our own house sale proceeds!

Danny B

I brought mine over packed in ice.

I paid for everything in 'cold hard cash'

eversmannx

I think you mentioned, you've done it in 50k lumps. Is there a particular reason for it (either based on TW side or receiving side)?. Like I said, my house sale money would probably come in a couple of years later, but the international transfer in fee of $17 dollars is not significant when you send £50k, but any other limitations would affect my choice.
p.s. Any suggestion on my other question regarding keeping ISAs open?

Many Thanks

Hurlabrick

Yes, I did it in £50k lumps, partially me being a worry-wart and partially because I used Nationwides 'faster payment' on-line transaction which is limited to £10 per transaction (although you can do multiple transactions one after another, it is a transaction limit, not a daily limit). I would track that £50k until it arrived in my account in Canada, then trigger another until I had what I needed for the house purchase over here.

Personally, I would surrender the UK ISA and bring the money over, then max out you (and your wifes?) annual allowance in Canada and if any left over, hold it in a savings account then do the same next year etc. (or an RRSP if that is a driver). All we now have left in the UK is my Income Drawdown and my wife's Personal Pension holdings. There is currently no ROPS approved RRIF for me to transfer to and my wife will hit age 55 in the next few years, so we may as well leave her PP's in the UK then roll them into a UK Income Drawdown at that time.

eversmannx

Thank you. Like you said, i am planning to max out contributions for myself and partner with TFSA and RRSP without touching the funds in my ISA. if i can do it, would it still be better advice to close it and put into a savings acc in Canada like you suggested (as opposed to keeping it open for a year or two and decide then).

Hurlabrick

Kinda six of one half a dozen of the other. Personally, I would close out the ISA and buy into stock market or tracker mutual funds in Canada if you dont plan on needing it for a couple of years. Bit of a gamble, but thats me, prices are lowish now.....