Mikelesley

Can anyone make suggestions on whether we should leave our money in uk and wait for a better exchange rate - if there is going to be one - or should we pack it all up lock stock and barrel with the rest of our effects and bring it over with us. Have you got any good recommendations for money companies? - apart from your own account numbers that is!!!!!!!!

moondevil

try hifix and if you do a search on the forum this has been talked about alot.
People use all different methods, id depends if you can hold out on transfering the money or if you need it when you land??

Gill

Beebop

You would need to search on the main forum and not the Maple Leaf as all the relevent threads would be on there. Moneycorp is also mentioned lots and maybe read

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=442788

if you haven't already.

philandhev

The best option we found was to open an HSBC account over in Canada. This is the only bank (we believe) that allows you to have a Sterling account sitting next to your dollars. The interest rate is pretty good as well. It is internet banking so when we need to top up our dollars for things over here we can check the exchange rate and transfer it online. You get the HSBC spot rate for the transfer and it is immediate. We investigated the various hifx type companies and found they struggled to match the HSBC rate on each occasion we wanted to shift some funds, also it was a bit of a nightmare of signatures, faxing, emailing etc. Good luck.

Judy in Calgary

There is a Wiki article on Transferring Money. There wasn't when you started this thread, but there is now.

moondevil

Judy

Another thing we have learnt is that if you speak to your uk branch manager and play them off with other companys they will match the offer.

If you speak to the normal call cetre you wont get the same deal.
I feel safer knowing that our bank can deal with it and have tested it out and the money is sat in our canadian account, so thumbs up for lloydstsb for once


Gill

JonboyE

If no one has any objection I would like to make a couple of changes to the wiki.

The first is that there are quite a lot of branches of HSBC around the Metro Vancouver area. Equivalent to any other of the big chartered banks. Also, in my experience, their service at a retail level is excellent.

The second is a strategy for changing money that another poster suggested (I can't remember who unfortunately) that I thought was a good idea if someone is prepared to take a bit of risk. If the cash is not needed in Canada straight away why not change it in, say, three separate transactions a few months apart. This eliminates some of the risk of the exchange rate worsening, and still leaves some opportunity for profit if the rate improves.

Judy in Calgary

Anyone is welcome to edit a Wiki at any time. The whole concept of a Wiki is that it's a collaborative effort and, if one doesn't like have one's work edited, one shouldn't get involved in the first place. I've noticed that Hobbess has added some info since I created the Wiki in question. I think it would be great if you added to it, JBE.

Hmmm ....... in Calgary HSBC is not as prevalent as the other "mainstream" banks (RBC, TD, BMO, CIBC, and Scotiabank). Perhaps a suitable compromise would be, "A disadvantage of HSBC is that in some cities it has fewer branches than Canada's 'high street' banks.

Edited to add that, in order to be fair, I checked whether or not my intuitive guess about the number of HSBC branches in Calgary had been correct. What I mean is that my previous statement was based on my loose memory of how many different banks I'd seen when I was out and about. A look at the Calgary phone directory has confirmed that there are 5 branches of HSBC, whereas there are 38 branches of TD Canada Trust, just by way of example.

Hmmm ....... It's difficult to know what to say. How does one discount the reports of negative experiences, which apparently have been very real for some people? Perhaps another compromise would be in order. Maybe, "Another potential disadvantage of HSBC, which some members of the BE forum have reported, is that it provides less then stellar service on the Canadian end -- although other forum members have reported complete satisfaction."

By the way, I'm not suggesting that the additions be typed in bold, italic font in the article itself. I'm just using that font to make the suggested changes more obvious here.

Yes, that's a great idea, and I actually thought of it while I was typing. However, I wanted to think some more about the wording of it before I included it.

I also was going to have another read of the famous / notorious foreign exchange thread, to which beebop provide a link earlier in this thread, to harvest any other useful ideas that I'd missed.

Gill_andy_grew's suggestion of playing banks off against each other also seems to merit inclusion in the Wiki article.

But, if you want to go ahead and do any of that before I get around to it, JBE (or anyone else), please feel free.

Flossie and Jim

TD Canada Trust do a sterling account but you have to ask and they have to find someone who knows how to set it up - it took us about an hour sitting down with their representative to do all the paperwork!!!

Apparently there are no fees but you get no interest either - it is basically somewhere to hold your money. I guess it would also allow you to pay in any UK cheques you may get e.g. birthdays, utility provider refunds (they take aaaages!)

We are still waiting for confirmation on the account number, etc after about three weeks so they aren't in a rush for our money at all!

You can then bide your time until you feel the exchange rate is at the sort of rate you are happy with.

Some people spread out the 'risk' by changing their money up in smaller batches and you may win or lose some but its always a gamble.
Good luck
Flossie

sans

We have paid uk cheques into our RBC and they have been fine.
If OP doesn't need money straight away, i would personally bang it in a high interest account in the Uk, Halifax for one were offering 6. something on theirs acouple of days ago. We had ours sat briefly in a high interest acc here and best they could offer was 4% at that time.

JonboyE

I have just used the search function in the 'phone book tab of MyTelus homepage. I searched on the bank's initials and Vancouver and this is what came up:

HSBC - 26
RBC - 9
CIBC - 25
Scotiabank - 25

Danny B

How many times do you actually need to physically visit the branch though? Maybe once a month? My biggest concern was the lack of HSBC cash machines until I realised you could get cash back via Interac

JonboyE

For personal banking I seem to stroll up every few years to renew my mortgage and ... that's about it.

For work at least once a week. That is why I am so pleased with the service I get from the HSBC branch I use. Everyone in the branch knows my name, I am made to feel that my business is highly valued by everyone, nothing I need is ever too much trouble, and so on. If only their commercial banking department downtown was half as good.

Biiiiink

Multiple HSBC branch locations are a pleasant surprise to those of us who used to bank with them in Scotland

(1 in Aberdeen, 1 in Glasgow, 1 in Edinburgh)

Beebop

BTW, if you are back for a visit, it's moved to Princes St and is completely cashier-free....I'm only saying this as after lots of internet banking, I was left perplexed staring at the closed branch on Hanover St!!