CatLady1234

Hi there

I'm moving to new Zealand to work in 6 days! I have stupidly left things rather late on organising my finances. I thought I could do a simple bank transfer from my UK bank account to a nz account but this seems to carry a lot of charges. I was told by my bank I could use a special app unique to them which wouldn't charge for transfers but this app isn't available in nz dollars.
I've heard about such things as transfer wise but do not really understand it and am worried about the security. I really don't know what to do. I need to transfer around £5000.
Can anyone advise?
Thanks a lot.

Bo-Jangles

There's been tons of recommendations on here - Transferwise being just one of them but not sure how best to figure out if one is better or cheaper than another as you have to weigh up fees v exchange rate offered on the day.

I doubt if there'll be much to save on GBP 5k anyway but if transferring big money it would pay to shop around

We used; XE Money Transfer | Send Money Online | Bank Wire Transfers another popular one is: https://www.hifx.co.uk/

inkedneonurse

I use TransferWise, it uses the live exchange rate from google and the fee is most defo cheaper than most other places.

Pulaski

Not only will a bank charge a wire fee to send a wire, the receiving bank will also likely charge another fee (usually somewhere around half the sending fee).

Worse still, sending £5,000 is only in the range of "tourist" (i.e. small) amounts, so any bank will sçrew you on the exchange rate too - so expect lose around 5% to the exchange rate "spread". If you use TransferWise you will not lose that 5%, and I think the only fee is ½%.

born_bred_red

Ive used transferwise which was an easy straightforward process.

CatLady1234

Ok great thanks everyone.

So this transfer wise....I just go onto their site, and would do I do exactly? I pay them a set amount for this service? How long does it take to get money across from uk to nz account? I have yet to set my nz account up but will do as soon as I arrive. Should I wait till that is set up before I do anything with transferwise? Do they move money quickly? And it is secure as can be?

inkedneonurse

Go into their site and register (there is also a phone app, very user friendly

CatLady1234

Thanks a lot 😊

Pulaski

As you can go on-line to make a transfer, and you need to give them a destination account what you should do is, in this order:

(i) register with TransferWise, do that now

(ii) move to NZ

(iii) open a bank account in NZ

(iv) go to TransferWise's web site/ app and schedule your transfer.

If you transfer £5,000 I believe that the fee will be £50, but you will get about £250 worth more NZ$ than if you used a bank, AND using a bank, the total wire fees would be around £50 (about £30-£35 in the UK, and the rest in NZ).

I have never heard of an issue with TransferWise - if they lost people's money word would get out very quickly and they would go out of business as as there are numerous, several dozen similar on-line FX broker-remitters offering the same type of service, usually with slightly higher fees. .... Is there a risk?, sure, but a very small one, so small that I don't think anyone has yet lost their money using TransferWise.

Most people report that their money arrives in the destination account the next day, but technically TransferWise doesn't actually move the money at all in most cases - they take your £5,000 and put it in their account in London then take NZ$8,855.50 (at today's rate of NZ$1.78/£1, less 0.5,%) from their account in NZ and transfer it into your account, so they aren't paying the wire fees either. They will of course need to transfer some money one way or the other from time to time if their accounts get out of balance - if more money is moving one way than the other.

If you are still unsure, there is nothing to stop you making a test transfer of say £100 to see how the web site/ app works, and then moving the rest of your money a few days later. I haven't used TransferWise myself but I have used a similar service several times, including to move the net proceeds of the sale of my house in London.

MrsFychan

you can set up a NZ bank account from the UK, then you just need to go into a branch with your passport and residential address for them to finish setting it up and giving you a cash till card.
I use HiFX, and as said you just need to have a bank account to send the money to. HiFx use Barclays in the UK and I have not had any trouble with them transferring over to NZ or from NZ to UK. Takes about 3 days from the day you confirm the purchase. Also HiFx has no transfer fee from UK account.

stevie_p

Similar to other people I have used transfer wise which was a straightforward process. However I would also recommend WeSwap who also have an app. Its another currency exchange card. They will send you a out a credit card and a pin, similar to a bank card.

You basically have your loading wallet which would be GBP and then you can transfer to a number of different currencies. I used this card quite frequently for my first few weeks in New Zealand. It also came in handy when I had a long stopover in Singapore when I could exchange currency instantly via the app.
You don't need to upload funds via a bank transfer either. You can upload via your debit card.
The exchange rate is a lot better.

gun1986uk

Transferwise is definitely the way to go.

Holwell

Another vote for Trasferwise (used it for my research trip in 2017).

Any advice on transferring several £M? (selling the farm to buy one in NZ)

Pulaski

Go to your bank and ask for a "dealing desk rate" - your bank will be used to moving £millions for businesses, and the dealing desk rate is what businesses get for large exchanges.

The wire fee is fixed regardless of the amount of the wire, so £25-£35 to send a wire is entirely immaterial if your wire is for £millions.

Holwell