Currency Exchange
 

Has anyone had experience of exchanging semi-large amounts (we ain't rich folks, lol) of British Sterling to US dollars? What were your experiences? Were the exchange rates decent for the time when you emigrated? Did you pay a service fee or commission? We are currently looking at a company called Bamex with no fees and no commissions. They're offering wholesale rates rather than retail. A little web research shows a bit of a shady past with other business ventures and we are wary. Any other companies like this out there?

TIA

Cheers,

Leslie & Pete

Re: Currency Exchange
 

We just used the an priority payment at the bank (HSBC), the rate we got was 1.592 and they charged £15. The bank at the other end charged $22. They said it may take a week but it took a day.

Patrick

Patrick, did you just get this rate? Lately the bank rates are around 1.54 or 1.56. Was this rate guaranteed at 1.592 before hand? TIA

Cheers,

Leslie & Pete

Thats the rate you would get if you went into a travel agent and changed your holiday money! The bank rate today is 1 pound = 1.62286 dollars which means if you went to a bank and did a transfer today you would probable get 1.61 at best and 1.60 at worst.

Patrick

Patrick, is this the HSBC rate? Did you have an account there? Pete's bank Lloyd's is quoting about 1.55 as their rate.

Cheers,

Leslie

*it's just that the rates are pretty good lately so me way want to move it ASAP.

Re: Currency Exchange
 

Is the money still in a UK bank account?

We still have a UK based bank account in addition to our US account. Sending deposits via International Money Order were costing us $25 a pop - in addition to the time it took in the mail. We did it twice and then decided it wasn't worth it.

Then I got the bright idea to open two Paypal accounts with two different e-mail addresses - there is no charge.

We set one Paypal account up with our US bank information (checking or savings) and the other Paypal account up with the UK bank information (checking or savings).

Now all we need to do is deposit any money into our US bank account and then do an instant money transfer to via Paypal to the UK bank account. The current rate of exchange applies and there is a one pound (£1.00) fee to deposit into an International bank account.

It's so much easier, cost effective and it only takes about 7 days for the transfer to go through.

The initial set up will take a couple days as they have to do verification via your bank account. If you bank online it's a breeze.

I can honestly say we've yet to have any problems with this system and we've been using it since August.

1.55 sounds like the holiday exchange rate. If you ask them what the rate would be on a priority payment. They are giving dollars in your hand, everything is electronic so they can give you a better rate, something closer to the actual exchange rate (which today is 1.62).

Patrick

Re: Currency Exchange
 

I sure like Jennifer's PayPal idea!
You can also check out services through xe.com, which looked good to us as we were considering what to do.

An alternate idea is hooking up with other transfering folk. We brought back many euros and traded them for dollars with my folks, who were on their way over to Spain. I've also bought dollars/pounds in Europe from travellers and acquaintences. I usually look up the rate on xe and everyone saves commissions.

Unfortunately, I think Paypal is only for smaller amounts. We are talking about the proceeds from the sale of a couple of houses.

Cheers,

Leslie

Well, you could do it in installments, but it might take you a while! We often send fairly large sums of money back and forth.

I'm not sure what the regulations are, but we haven't had any problems.

The regulations are that you can bring as much money as you want into the US but any amount over £10,000 has to be declared to customs. If you do it through a bank they will declare it to customs for you.

Patrick

The rate the bank will give you depends to some extent on the amount you are transferring. For example, you will get a higher rate for 10,000 pounds + and an even higher rate for 100,000 pounds +. The bank transfer which Patrick suggests was ceratinly the best way for me and I did research it pretty extensively.

BTW if you are maintaining a UK bank account and have a UK credit card, this could solve any problems you may have about having no credit record in the USA. I continue to use mu UK credit card and pay it off through my UK bank account........works fine.

Re: Currency Exchange
 

OMG!! This is brilliant. I can't tell you how much money you're going to
save us... you're definitely on my Christmas list for the rest of my life!!!

Thank you Jennifer or (even better) Jeninifer.

Dana


"jeninifer" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Is the money still in a UK bank account?
    > We still have a UK based bank account in addition to our US account.
    > Sending deposits via International Money Order were costing us $25 a pop
    > - in addition to the time it took in the mail. We did it twice and then
    > decided it wasn't worth it.
    > Then I got the bright idea to open two Paypal accounts with two
    > different e-mail addresses - there is no charge.
    > We set one Paypal account up with our US bank information (checking or
    > savings) and the other Paypal account up with the UK bank information
    > (checking or savings).
    > Now all we need to do is deposit any money into our US bank account and
    > then do an instant money transfer to via Paypal to the UK bank account.
    > The current rate of exchange applies and there is a one pound (£1.00)
    > fee to deposit into an International bank account.
    > It's so much easier, cost effective and it only takes about 7 days for
    > the transfer to go through.
    > The initial set up will take a couple days as they have to do
    > verification via your bank account. If you bank online it's a breeze.
    > I can honestly say we've yet to have any problems with this system and
    > we've been using it since August.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Thank you everyone for your help. We went to XE as suggested and found thaty they now have a foreign exchange service. Looks like that may just be the ticket for us. Patrick we tried Lloyds and they don't seem to be too consumer friendly as HSBC is...........good for you and bad for us, lol.

Cheers,

Leslie & Pete

How does having a UK credit card and UK bank account help your US credit history?

There are very few exceptions (*after* one has moved to the US) that an American credit provider will accept a British credit report. Perhaps, there are no examples, but I may be mistaken.


NC Penguin