catpea33

Hey,

I hope someone on here can help answer this question I have. Basically I have to head back to the UK for about 6 or 7 months for financial and job-related reasons. My Canadian bank account is in extremely poor health after almost an entire year of unemployment. Is there a way for me to transfer money into it while I'm in the UK? All the methods I know about require me to effectively hand-carry the money / draft / cheque to a Canadian bank to pay in, which obviously I won't be able to do.

Thanks in advance for any advice / answers you can give!
Catherine

rivingtonpike

If you open an account with HSBC (not my favourite but hey!) you can have a "global view" with accounts in any country/currency (as far as I know). We have Canadian $, UK £, and US $. We can shift money between them instantly.

Bemsee

Hi Catpea33

I would go to your bank in England and ask them. My sister did the same and they transferred once she gave them the details. Expect a lot of questions though as they are hot on detecting money laundering. Hope this helps

bemsee

spookylady

you can do money transfers but its expensive. Also speak to your local bank an see if you can post cheques to them

Aviator

Transferring money is easy and not expensive. You can do a transfer through a FX house, tell them the ammount and the account details and book the exchange. Transfer the money from your UK account online to their account and the money appears in your CAD account in a day or so.

You can also mail cheques to your institution and have them deposit them for you.

Lloyd.B

Hi Catpea,

I am the CAD specialist for Excel Currencies and we specialise in sending money overseas for clients. We are the official currency partners of Bristishexpats.com!

We offer very quick transfers and specialise in beating the banks awful exchange rates that they will give. We send Canadian Dollars directly to your Canadian bank account for you and we don't charge you a transfer fee either.

We are offering all BE members cost price on their first transfer through us so that you can test our services out.

All you have to do is enter 'BEVIP-LB' into the 'how did you hear about us' section when opening a free account on our website and you will be automatically signed up for your free transfer!

If you have any questions please feel free to post them or send me a pm!

Lloyd

cbrown89

Yes there are lots of ways. I use UKFOREX for my last transaction after shopping around quite a bit.

The rate they give you gets better with larger deposits. Anything under 3000 GBP usually incurs a charge. Anything over $10,000 must be declared, some companies do this for you.

catpea33

OMG thank you so much everyone for your responses! I really thought I'd be out of luck but it seems not. I realise now that there's actually lots of options so thank you!! My bank account thanks you too.

Catherine

Scrapcat

We used xetrade recently and they were very quick and efficient.

segaste

The post office offer this type of service. I've used it a few times now with no problems. They offer a good exchange rate and fast transfer. No charges either.

Pete S

Be VERY VERY careful on charges. Before I knew differently i just used Barclays in the UK to wire money and losta fortune. I now use HSBC but always insist on negotiating the rate. Believe me when I say it's worth the effort - its going to take me a long time to earn the money i lost in ForEx fee's.

J-A-UK

Can you not set up online banking for both accounts and do it on line?

That's how I do it from Halifax UK account to BMO Canada account - Sit in my PJ's and press a few buttons

not2old

the kicker is the FX rate & the fees.

Pete S

To be a bit clearer:

I set up an HSBC account in Canada for £ and another for CAD$. I then transfer online the money in sterling from the UK to canada free of charge to my canadian £ account.

I then talk tot he local branch of HSBC when I want to exchange, they ring treasury and I get a decent rate.

With Barclays, they were several cents off the sport rate as well as charging fee's to do it, and then being charged fee's by the receiving bank!

not2old

good info on HSBC

Is that always the case that you can negotiate the rate (then self compare to other FX providers)?

On the amounts, does it matter how much, is there a minimum or suggested transfer amount - are you advising small amounts under $10,000 or larger to say $100,000?