Moving Money from UK to NZ
 

mods - I didnt post this in the money section on purpose Please don't move it.

Hi all,

This topic has featured often but I have still not drawn a solid conclusion. I find it staggering how bad / difficult it is to move money abroad - this is not just a NZ thing. There is a lot of archived info from this site in particular which is simply incorrect and I would like to try to promote a sticky for the best and right answers to this problem as we all have to do it.

I have spent the whole time since I have arrived (4 days) researching this topic. Its even more interesting as I am a part time forex trader.

Here is my story.... Before I left the UK I went to setup a SWIFT payment (£25 charge) on my Nationwide online account only for Nationwide to turn round and tell me I need to print off the form it generates and post it. I cannot believe how antequated Nationwide are.

I also tried Travelex who cannot process my payment (which would have been on a fairly good rate and only 99p commission and pay by debit card) because they cannot find me on the electoral register in the UK (they use experian search).

I looked at Western Union but thought it wasn't for me (xe is actually owned by western union)

On top of this, as I study the financial markets I saw NZD was pushing upto $2 so left it and came over to NZ.

Now I am here I have researched this forum and several others regarding money transfers. The top suggested people were xe.com and hifx and ozforex.

I looked at hifx but they are now charging for moving amounts under £3000 (which is what I will be moving). I then read further into this that the Post Office are actually using hifx - so I have signed up with the uk postoffice - they have 0 charges - they use the hifx rate of course and will refund ANY charges on your receiving bank - this looks like a winner to me so am pressing ahead - beware that you still need to get a validation code sent to your UK address - so if you don't have a uk address or not getting mail redelivered to here forget it - you will need to use xe or ozforex.

Here is my take on xe.com and ozforex - you will get stung £25 by Nationwide or your particular bank for an EFT - electronic funds transfer - you may as well call it SWIFT. You will also get stung $25 by Westpac NZ if it comes in NZD. If its in a foreign currency then you will get stung $50. So the money you save on the exchange rate can in some cases (say £3000 or under) be eaten up.

As I am a nationwide customer (arrgh) you may have read some archived posts about card transactions being free abroad etc. Not true - you are charged 2% of any transaction and at the rate they provide from HSBC (intermediary). This is upto 500 pips worse than the market rate so be aware. If you withdraw cash they put £1 on top as well. The easiest thing for me to do is use an ATM over here and withdraw all my money that way but still works out at £61 in charges and whatever rate they decide on the day!!.....

It is incredibly expensive here if all you money is in GBP and if you don't have much of it.

The postoffice looks the best option for me as there will be no charges - I just have to see what exchange rate I will end up with - I am annoyed I couldn't push this through this week when it was $2 to the £1. Current rate is 1.9599 and what with artificial currency wars I am seriously thinking of not bothering to move it and wait for my first pay packet and the end of November.

If anyone has any better suggestions or tips or if I am wrong please point it out! btw - I dont work nor am affiliated with the postoffice or any of the sites I have mentioned.

Best "send money" people if you have a uk address for them to send you a validation code - the post office uk

Next best "send money" people - ozforex - make sure they put you on the better rate - you have to haggle

Others to consider - xe


I am well versed in forex trading brokers and what crooks most of them are - it seems like this is another minefield - I suggest you thoroughly research before you move your money. I cannot believe in this day and age these charges and difficulties are occurring.

Re: Moving Money from UK to NZ
 

One of the benefits of hifx was being able to use my debit card for my UK bank. I had heard that the rate is often better when you bring more over so it might be worth checking to see if it is different.

I've used both hifx and xe and they were fine. XE actually screwed up and closed my account in error, but they apologised and carried out the trade as requested so I would use them again.