Owen778

Maybe. The problem with that is that most people are transferring rates between different companies, not comparing to the mid-market rate directly.

Pulaski

Another problem is that the spread each company quotes may be size-dependent, so if the mid rate is 1.510, you might get 1.505 for £50,000, 1.50 for £10,000, but only 1.49 for £1,000.

Making comparisons is extremely difficult, but unless you're Yorkieabroad, suffice to say you're going to get a better, probably much better, rate from an on-line remitter than from your bank.

LotusEater33

Indeed, but the reader can make that evaluation.

I just think it's better than saying "XXX were great"!

Owen778

I do think more details are helpful. Saying "XXX were great!" could mean anything from "I got my money eventually. I didn't compare the rate." to "Exactly at mid-market rate with a fee of $1, five minutes after sending. And a box of chocolates."

dunroving

I was going to add another perk but then I thought I might get banned.

davidtheprof

I've used transferwise, easy and low cost. Paypal is simple but relatively high cost, fees and poor FX rate, around 5% cost altogether. I used to use Oanda for larger amounts (you could also short the pound to lock in an Fx rate for future transfer), but they have tightened up restrictions and made it tougher for US residents.

lansbury

Waste of time unless you are transferring huge sums of money. The companies that are regularly recommend on here are invariably within at most half a cent of each other, and usually less than that.

A difference of 2/10ths of a cent is $200 when transferring £100k and most people here would not be doing that on a regular basis. I would suggest for most people being told a company is reliable, safe to trust your money with, and does speedy transfers is what most would like to know.

For myself it is more important to be able to go online and easily book a contract and to be able to book forward contracts, than it is to save 2/10ths of cent on the exchange rate.

LotusEater33

Well, I have to transfer $1400 a month - and I don't want to waste around 40-50 quid each month.

Pulaski

£40-£50 is $60-$75, which is 4.3%-5.3% of $1,400, and a whole order of magnitude greater than the range of rates & fees that the on-line remitters charge. If you're overpaying by .5% it's only $6-$7 not the $60-$75 you're worried about.

To put that in context, just a couple of days timing because of rate fluctuations would cause larger differences in the amount of GBP you receive for your USD. Be glad that you now have the on-line remitters to serve you because until a few years ago there was little choice to accepting the lousy rates and excessive fees of the banks for sending international wires!

lansbury

I transfer about £6500 a month, and have done so since 2007. Having wasted time checking between the various brokers each time someone on BE says one company has an exchange rate better than the others, I have learned from that experience that the difference isn't worth the time and trouble trying to exploit it. All the commercial brokers mentioned on here are very competitive to each other, by the time you allow for their exchange rates and fees whichever is applicable for each. I have a company I like and have used for sometime, and the fact they are reputable and reliable is more important than wasting time checking who has the best rate each time I do a transfer to save a few bucks.

A difference of 2/10ths of a cent on £1400 is about $3, hardly £40 - £50 a month.

YouWantFriesWithThat

Lansbury

That's pretty much how I see it, too.

I once moved over a lot of money from UK to US and spent months researching because we were talking about $1000s of (potential) difference between who i used.

Can I be nosey and ask who you use please?

lansbury

I use World First. They have an office in the US so time wise it is easier if I do want speak to someone. I find their online trading easy to use and clear about what I need to pay, when I have to pay, and what the total I will receive in dollars. If I transfer the money to them by daily close of bank business in the UK (6pm), the money is in my account the next morning in Oregon.

Ktnewell

Does anyone have any advice on how to do the opposite. Transfer money from the US to the UK. I have bills to pay in the UK and my company is paying me directly to my US account. When I tried to transfer through Wells Fargo it is not a simple case of online banking and they are telling me to go into the banks.

Any advice would be appreciated as I don't want to go in there blind!

Owen778

All (almost all?) of the online foreign exchange companies listed in this thread transfer money in both directions.

Ktnewell

I went with currency direct (I read these forums prior) but the issue I am having is that the contact details they have given me to pay them, doesn't include a US address so my bank wont let me set up the payment.

I feel like there must be an easier way than what I am doing at the moment....