Just thinking out loud

Has anyone any experience on moving large sums of money back to the UK?

It is something I would take professional advice on but curious about other's experiences.

Not think of moving back myself for a year or two but planning to buy a house and cash in on current exchange rate

Where are you moving from?

I've moved enough money to buy a detached house without a problem. Don't know about the Oz end though.

Edit: The only problem I had was transferring the money from my Nat West account to my solicitor to pay for the house. Before they would transfer it I had to go into the bank in person and produce my passport as ID...had to do the same with the solicitor. Apparently that's the law now when you transfer large amounts of money in the UK.

I don't think there would be any problems ... I have been in touch with Moneycorp and will be transferring a large amount from car and house sale here and they did not raise any issues.

You have to send them a copy of your passport and one recent household bill with your name and address and that seems to be it.

When I first came back I met with an IFA for advice on mortgages, ISAs, etc. Halfway through our meeting, he said "Of course, you'll get taxed on any money you brought into the UK".

Not only did he give me rubbish advice on mortgages (which I ignored, thank goodness), but his comment on being taxed on bringing money into the UK was also stupid. It was more a case of poorly worded advice. What he meant was that any interest I gained on money brought into the UK would be subject to taxation. Well, no sh*t ... that's why I have given up seeking advice from IFAs.

My understanding is that simply bringing or sending your money to the UK will not incur taxation. Only subsequent earnings on that money would be taxed (and if you are still in the US, the dual taxation agreement would apply).

THanks for the replies. This is certainly something we are taking seriously.

I certainly do not want to live here when I retire

You're going to miss all that sun and surf and sand and sun and surf and sand and sun and surf and sand and sun and surf and sand. Or you could pop over for a nice weekend in the South of France.

I think I might hate you a bit at the moment.

I'm with Grayling on this one. Australia is a great place to bring up a family, but could not retire here. South of France sounds good to me. Just enough distance away from the rellies.

Just to confirm that you wont be charged any transfer fees if you register with Moneycorp via the Exchange rate page on this site.

Its free transfer fees for all British Expat members.

http://exchangerates.britishexpats.com/

Once your account is opened you will be allocated your personal dealer who can monitor the market for you. When the time comes to trade funds can be sent quickly and efficiently.

If you open an account with the HSBC in your own country and then an HSBC account in the UK, you can transfer the money yourself on line without any fee. You can negotiate the exchange rate when moving large sums which will equal what any currency transfer company pays.

When using currency transfer companies, think about what may happpen if that company goes bust while your money is in transit. It has happened and your money is not protected by any government scheme.

That's what worries me, too - considering the number of big banks that have gone under in the past few years (what's that saying - "Too big to fail"?). Doesn't matter how many successful transfers have been made in the past, I worry it would be just my luck that they go bust just when they've got control of my cash.

That's why we transfer bank to bank. Bank transfers are usually done within 24/48 hours...using a transfer company can take several days.

Why are they allowed to set themselves up as self-declared "BE currency exchange advisors" and advertise in threads like this (see Post #9)? I see these self-promoting posts crop up every time a thread mentions transferring money. I thought there were site rules about advertising?

So do we get the exchange as per this page, which obviously fluctuates, I get that. I mean the printed rate on that day and not the tourist rate you'd get from the bank?

But do you get the same exchange rate from the bank?