Chocolate eclair

Any recommendations for the best company to use to transfer the proceeds from the sale of our house etc. from our bank in NZ to our UK account ?
We haven't moved any money around for at least 5 years now, so we are somewhat out of touch.
We used to use HIFX before and never experienced any problems. Any things to watch out for?
Obviously we will let both banks know what we are doing in advance.
As always TIA.

old.sparkles

I've used OFX to transfer money in both directions - including proceeds of house sale.

You need to set up an account with them before hand but with large transfers, you can speak to a broker for the best rates.

Pulaski

If the amount is large enough, over maybe NZD50k-100, consider asking your bank about a "dealing desk rate", you might find that it is competitive, and you'd have the comfort of knowing your money will be traceable within the banking system if it doesn't show up in your account when expected.

Pollyana

Seconded for OFX, used them for many years. going in both directions

Chocolate eclair

It will be a wee bit higher than that 😉. Thanks for the info and also on my other thread. Much appreciated.

Chocolate eclair

Thanks for these recommendations. Despite having had an account with Hifx (now Xe) since 2005, they aren't proving to be very helpful!
He will take a look at OFX.

BEVS

ianandhelena

I used to use OFX but I usually find that Wise (formerly Transferwise) give me a better rate. We'll be transferring house sale proceeds and super balances to the UK from Aus this way.

https://wise.com/

old.sparkles

I'd double check when you are ready - and get a deal rate before deciding. I just did a quick compare on standard rates and OFX was better.

ianandhelena

Interesting.
I just logged in to both my OFX and Wise accounts and did a simultaneous comparison.
On AUD 100,000 to GBP, OFX=52,750, Wise= 53198 i.e. +0.85% better.
On AUD 500,000 to GBP, OFX=263,950, Wise=266,157 i.e. 1.01% better.

old.sparkles

I only have OFX so don't know if that impacted my result.

Thanks for posting your results - good to see the difference. Is the Wise account easy to set up?

ianandhelena

Same procedure as opening any other account with a financial institution.

old.sparkles

Thanks for that

ianandhelena

What are “standard rates”?

I would be interested to know how you did your comparison so that OFX came out ahead, given that comparing Wise and OFX’s front-page results (i.e. not logged in) say that Wise gives you more bang for your buck.

old.sparkles

Standard rates are the general ones that are on the website / app. If you have a large sum to transfer, you can speak to a broker and try and get a better rate.

On the rates, I can't repeat the result I had, so either I misread something - or misentered the value - or checked market rate not deal rate. Don't know, but every other time Wise has come out in front