Chocolate eclair

Anyone used this company to transfer large sums of currency from one country to another?
When doing large money transfers eg. from a house sale, have you done it in one lump sum or broken it down into smaller amounts? Just feeling a bit nervous about getting it "wrong" ie. money going missing.
We have set up accounts with a couple of different companies, OFX seems to be our "favourite" currently.

ianandhelena

Whenever I compare rates, Wise usually beats OFX. e.g. sending AUD 500,000 to GBP, OFX gets you £265,100, Wise= £265,945 (doing a comparison as I write this).

We'll be transferring our house proceeds and the contents of two super funds.

durham_lad

Same here, did similar comparisons and always found Wise to be better value.

In January our daughter sent hundreds of thousands of GBP from her US bank account via Wise to the solicitor handling her house purchase. She had previously used Wise to send money to the solicitor to pay for searches etc, so she was confident the account details were correct. Whichever option the OP decides on I would first transfer a much smaller sum to ensure the receiving bank details are correct. (And confirm with the recipient that they received the funds).

Pulaski

If you're concerned, and having concerns about transferring a very large amount of money (whatever that means to you) is entirely reasonable, then be aware that using a bank wire transfer is a good option. If the sum is over £50k-£100k, ask your bank for "a dealing desk rate" (use those words), and your bank should be able to give you the sort of rate their commercial customers get for transferring large sums. ... The larger the sum, the closer you will get to the "mid rate". When you are given the rate you will likely only be given a minute or two to accept the rate as the market rate changes minute-by-minute throughout the day. You can always ask for a new rate, at a later time or date. Using a bank wire will give you the comfort of knowing that your money is transferred from regulated bank to bank, so should be easily traceable if it doesn't show up in your account when you expect it.

While breaking your transfer down into several smaller transfers does have some advantages, obviously spreading the risk if a transfer isn't received when expected, but also as the exchange rate moves up and down, overall you will get an averaged rate - although you won't get the highest possible rate (transferring the whole sum at the highest rate around the time you are making your transfer(s)), you can be sure that you didn't get the worst rate either. But be aware that some remitters, including banks sending wires, offer better exchange rates for larger sums.

The one thing I would warn you against is sending multiple round amounts, especially at or just below $10,000/$10,000/€10,000, as these transfers may be deemed "suspicious" by either the sending or receiving bank. Which reminds me, be sure to let your banks know ahead that you will be making one or several transfers, and the purpose of the transfers - especially make sure the receiving bank knows the money is is coming, where it is coming from (country), and where you got it (sale of home, liquidation of investments, etc.). DO NOT attempt to discuss with either the sending or receiving banks their monitoring of transfers or if/when transfers might be reported, as that is the surest way that your account will be scrutinized by the monitoring and reporting department.

Please note that all banks in the industrialized world require their banks to look for suspicious activity in customer accounts and activities. and report it if deemed "suspicious", to try to detect money laundering and terrorist financing, and any attempts you make to try to avoid attention are more likely to attract attention, so ignore the possibility, and do what you need to do. .... Except as mentioned above that 10k or other round amounts tend to attract attention and are best avoided. Your best defence is full and open disclosure with your banks, so they can be comfortable that you're not trying to hide anything or do anything improper.

Chocolate eclair

I'm finding Wise very confusing. I seem to need to get some physical card but we don't have a permanent address as yet. Nor have I been prompted to provide any proof of verification. It feels very scammy.
Infact, we are not impressed with any of the companies we've been in touch with. Done one small transfer as a test with OFX which seems to have gone through but it throws up lots of different emails, all saying different things.
It wasn't this hard back in 2006!!!!!!

durham_lad

You don’t need to get any physical card, I don’t have one and have done dozens of transactions with them, so not sure what you are seeing.

Pulaski

A lot has changed since 2006, not just with online remitters, but for banks and stockbrokers too.

A result of the screws tightening on crooks and money launderers, is that all financial services companies are putting a lot more effort and resources into checking and documenting identifying information of new customers, and doing at least rudimentary background checks, the reason being that the fines for providing services to drug dealers and terrorists, and flouting laws on laundering, identification, and sanctions can cost hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars, and in some cases put the company out of business entirely.

So, in short, be cautious about believing anyone who says how easy it is to open an account if they have been a customer for 10-15 years or longer, because that person would find opening a new account today a lot harder than they experienced years earlier. .... I makes me laugh every time I see someone here on BE complaining about how difficult it is to open a bank account in the country they have just moved to (wherever that is), as "they hadn't had that much trouble opening an account in the UK" (no doubt several- many years earlier), not realizing that it is every bit as difficult for a new immigrant arriving in the UK today to open a bank account, as it now is for them in another country.

Chocolate eclair

Unfortunately it won't let me get past that point. So I don't know why it's asking me for that either. I don't like that it hasn't asked for any ID proof either.
Ho hum!

Chocolate eclair

I absolutely take your point as to the reasons why banks have tightened up on security etc. I'm grateful that we kept our UK bank account open all this time.
The bank knows we are coming home, has changed our address and don't need to know that we plan to deposit the money from our house sale etc. shortly.
It's Wise's lack of checks that's giving me cause for concern. Yet lots of folk rate them highly.

durham_lad

Don’t know why it is asking you for what?

Our daughter moved back from the USA in November. She moved there with us when she was aged 6 so had been in the USA for over 35 years and she had no problem at all creating a Wise account and using it to send money to solicitors and building inspectors and such while buying a house. (We had helped with the searches and then did a FaceTime visit with her around the most promising house so she could see it in detail and talk to the owner).

She couldn’t open a UK bank account until she arrived back and had a UK address. She moved in with us for 3 or 4 months while the purchase of her house was progressing. Our son had done the same thing in 2017 and when he came to open a UK bank account he needed to jump through hoops including ourselves providing a signed statement that he was living with us, with a utility bill in our name to prove our address. When she opened an account with Chase.co.uk it was incredibly simple so things had changed a lot in past few years (we had walked into our bank, HSBC, to ask and they told us that proof of address is no longer needed). She sat on the couch in our living room, downloaded the Chase app and within an hour had a fully functioning UK bank account, no proof of address needed, and she read out her sort code and account number to me so I could send her £10 as a test. She said that when questioned by the app if she was a UK resident she simply clicked “yes” and provided an address.

However, if you don’t feel comfortable in dealing with Wise or any forex company then don’t follow the advice of some guy on the internet like myself or anyone else, go through your own bank and do international wire transfers as Pulaski suggests.

Chocolate eclair

Thanks for everyone's input. We have used OFX and TORFX, the latter being far less hassle than the former and great for communicating. Still got quite a bit to transfer but the rates changed and not in our favour the day we left NZ!!! Ho hum!