yzf.shaun

I have used these. http://www.canadianforex.ca/

Paypal has also been useful for smaller amounts

carley_jackson

My husband and I used the Post Office in the Uk to send money - have to set up an account on their website, its deposited directly to our TD account here, free of charge (if you sent over 300pound I think). Easy!! And if Scotia does charge you (which they will) you can get that reimbursed by the Post Office.

carley_jackson

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/finance/...aignid=TIP1001 here's the link.

dgagitw

I've used various routes. Linked HSBC accounts in Canada/UK used to be the best (very close to spot) but became less competetive recently. It's still better than most FX brokers though (e.g. HiFX). Best I've found overall for price, if not convenience, is Oanda.ca. One piece of advice though: if you're doing a reasonable chunk (10K and up), you can nearly always get a better rate from your own bank just by asking. Sit there with xe.com open and, when they quote you 3% off spot, call them on it. The result will usually be a call to someone on the bank's FX desk followed by an offer of 1.5%.

ramblingsue

I understood when I talked to HSBC in Canada that you can have a Canadian and Sterling account and transfer money between the two - presumably at a reasonable rate. They did not mention 50K sterling minimum. I know 2 happy bunnies who have this set up... and I plan to do the same.

tim010

Another vote for HSBC.....Instant transfers either way and good rates.....You need to have a UK and Canadian account with them though.

Tim

Back2UK

I have used Canadian Forex on many occasions they have been good.

dartd27

I transfer money regularly between Canada and the UK.

Paypal charge about 3% on whatever your sending.
I have an account with RBC and they charge $13.50 to make an international remittance. I can only do that on my personal account for some strange reason and not my business account. It takes around 2-3 days depending on who they bank with.
The exchange rate they gave though wasnt very good though. 1 pound was 1.65 dollars and when i checked paypals rate it was 1.58 to every pound.
Usually paypals rate is terrible compared to xe.com.

My last transfer via Western Union for 350quid cost me $50 or $60 to send which i thought was way too much.

The post office sounds interesting though. I was going to look into money orders.

And lastly the other option is to send a bank card directly over there for them to use. We use our Canadian bank cards there. I think it cost a couple of bucks per transaction. No idea what the exchange rate is but they could take out $10 to try it and compare it to the current exchange rates on XE to see how it fares.

dartd27

So does HSBC work? I have been looking into that as well. I went to the expat hsbc website and it says you need 25k sterling for a basic account and 60k sterling for a premium account. Im setting up a business venture that will be aimed at the UK but i would like to have all the cash coming through my registered business here.

http://www.expat.hsbc.com/1/2/hsbc-e...count/eligible

lf1

Dart

I have just sent you a PM

dartd27

Thanks for the info. I replied back.

lf1

good luck. Lloyds also have an offshore banking operation, but their website only refers to US, Euro and GBP, but it may be worth enquiring as on a quick look their min balances are less than HSBC.

Hawk13

http://www.hsbc.ca/1/2/en/personal/hsbcpremier

Looked into this myself but maintaining a $100,000 balance just for the service was a little ridiculous.

Checked all the other Canadian banks and didn't find anything. Even tried ING Direct but nope. Now if you were in the States, I think you could do it.