synthie

I'm not sure if there's a thread for this already - if so I haven't found it.

What's the cheapest way to get money from either the UK or Germany to NZ?

As far as I can see it's

1. Swift - seems to be far to expensive
2. Get Cash using the debit card - for mine it's a flat 3.75% fee I'm paying each time and I only get up to 350 pounds / day
3. I could get money from the UK to a German online bank and then use a debit card in NZ to get it from cash machines there - higher daily limit and no fee

At the moment 3 looks the most hasselsome but also the cheapest plus I'd still need to get the money from the UK to Germany first (which I assume will be cheaper though).

At the moment I haven't got a NZ bank account but intend to create one before we go down either with the BNZ or Kiwibank as both seem to be quite common and don't charge a monthly fee.

Can anyone give me any hints or tips how to transfer the money from the UK?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Pulaski

Arrgggh! None of the above!

You need the services of an online FX broker, such as Transferwise or Worldfirst (there are actually dozens of them, but those two are often recommended here on BE).

An FX broker should be able to get money to NZ at very close to the mid rate i.e. a cost of less than 1% of the money transferred. Other routes will likely cost you anything from 3% to 5% or more, not to mention a lot of faffing around.

synthie

I had no idea what these brokers actually charged so didn't go there. I'll look at these two now, thanks!

Pulaski

You're welcome.

MrsFychan

some do not charge over a certain amount. think HiFx is no charge over 3k

MOSO

Of course they do, it's built into the exchange rate they give you. No bank/finance company work for nothing!

Moneycorp is another similar company which we used.

Pulaski

Exchanging money is a racket - as to most people it is far from clear how the charges are calculated and what the rates mean. It is certainly a common misperception that someone offering "low commission", "fixed commission", or even "no commission" is necessarily offering a good deal, when all they do is increase the spread (meaning they give you less foreign currency in exchange for your home currency, and if/when you come back they give you less of your home currency in exchange for your foreign currency).

BEVS

How much are you looking to exchange and from which country will you be doing that.

Is it hundreds. Thousands or tens of thousands.

synthie

It would be £10k max from the UK.

MrsFychan

well obviously they recover the cost they just don't charge you extra for the pleasure of just using them over a certain amount, and offer a better rate than a bank.

Kotare

For that (relatively) small amount I would recommend Transferwise as easy to set up. Hifx, Xetrade etc take you round the houses in terms of proof of identity/address etc due to money laundering regs.

MrsFychan

so what you are saying is that Transferwise do not adhere to the legal requirements of a money broker?

Pulaski

HiFX appears to be American owned/based, xetrade is Canadian and belongs to Western Union, which is American too, whereas Transferwise is based and regulated in London.

Therefore Transferwise has a slightly different set of regulations to follow, and is allowed to prove that it is adhering to appropriate "know your customer" standards in a different way from US and Canadian businesses, which follow a more rigid set of requirements. I suspect that that is what Kotare has experienced or heard about.

Kotare

Experienced. I use Transferwise for small amounts (up to £5k) and Xetrade for large sums. Both are good, but Transferwise is quicker and easier to set up on line (as Xetrade wants certified copies of docs) and gives a slightly better net rate in my experience than Xetrade (not a lot).

MrsFychan

Hi Fx uses Barclay's in the UK so would hope all checks are made