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Money transfer from UK
Hello. Has anyone used a currency service to get a better exchange rate when bringing money over? (Please excuse the vague terminology, I’m not very financially literate). I sold my house in the UK and need to bring the money over to the US. The exchange rate’s crappy and I was wondering if the currency services are ok to use? There doesn’t seem to be a guarantee though, that you money is safe in the process. Anyway, wondering if anyone here had used anyone other than a bank, especially for a big transfer, and if so, who? |
Re: Money transfer from UK
There are several posts about this topic if you search the forum.
Must admit I was old school until fairly recently, I was having my in-laws deposit a check from my US bank account into my UK bank account to cover my UK mortgage and other expenses, but this was never more than $5k. The downside to this approach is the exchange rate is crappy, so definitely not recommended for large sums. I just recently discovered Xoom, now part of Paypal, and I have been using them to send my money to the UK instead of checks deposited by the in-laws. But I think other folks on here use TransferWise (or something like that). |
Re: Money transfer from UK
:lol:
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Re: Money transfer from UK
Originally Posted by kevntrace
(Post 12669523)
There are several posts about this topic if you search the forum.
Must admit I was old school until fairly recently, I was having my in-laws deposit a check from my US bank account into my UK bank account to cover my UK mortgage and other expenses, but this was never more than $5k. The downside to this approach is the exchange rate is crappy, so definitely not recommended for large sums. I just recently discovered Xoom, now part of Paypal, and I have been using them to send my money to the UK instead of checks deposited by the in-laws. But I think other folks on here use TransferWise (or something like that). https://www.mycurrencytransfer.com/m...o-USA/5000-GBP |
Re: Money transfer from UK
Originally Posted by Pandorica
(Post 12669517)
Hello. Has anyone used a currency service to get a better exchange rate when bringing money over? .... Try to find anyone who posts here who doesn't use an on-line FX broker- remitter! :lol: That said for the sort of sums that result from the sale of houses, (say £50,000 up), you need to go to your bank and ask them for a "dealing desk rate" (use those words), and you will get a real-time rate comparable with the rate that corporations get, and you'll likely only a minute or two at most to decide if you want to exchange at that rate. The rate will he comparable with the on-line FX brokers, and may even be better. |
Re: Money transfer from UK
Thank you for the replies. I’ll look at the links and on the forum. |
Re: Money transfer from UK
I've been using Circle recently. It's similar to TransferWise but no fees. Only issue is that you're limited in how much you can send a week. If you can plan accordingly, worth a look.
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Re: Money transfer from UK
No fees? How do they make their money?
You've indicated that they're far cheaper than Transferwise. That's interesting. |
Re: Money transfer from UK
Originally Posted by Hotscot
(Post 12670412)
No fees? How do they make their money?
You've indicated that they're far cheaper than Transferwise. That's interesting. |
Re: Money transfer from UK
Originally Posted by Pulaski
(Post 12670525)
They're a "crypto-finance company" and the Wikipedia article is rather hard to summarize, but they apparently have grand plans. What they seem to have done so far is consume a lot of venture capital.
That said, even pricing things at a very tight spread is likely to make them money if they have enough users. It may appear close to a wholesale mid rate but it's not so there's still money for them to make there. |
Re: Money transfer from UK
Originally Posted by SpeshK
(Post 12671868)
Agree. They're probably burning through cash but it's worked for me. I just spread my transfers out to work within their limits. I did apply (successfully) to have my limit raised too.
That said, even pricing things at a very tight spread is likely to make them money if they have enough users. It may appear close to a wholesale mid rate but it's not so there's still money for them to make there. |
Re: Money transfer from UK
Originally Posted by vespucci
(Post 12671930)
I haven't used them and don't know anything about them, but either what you're saying now is correct, or what you said before, it can't be both.
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Re: Money transfer from UK
Originally Posted by vespucci
(Post 12671930)
I haven't used them and don't know anything about them, but either what you're saying now is correct, or what you said before, it can't be both.
Providers of exchange services often have a habit of trying to mislead the public by bragging that one or two of the ways of extracting their revenue is low or zero , and hoping that the customer doesn't notice that they're being screwed on the third type of charge - with the classic one being "we charge no commission", but the spread is enough for them to get their share. In truth no provider of FX services can truly charge no fees and exchange at the mid rate*, other wise they have no revenue and can't stay in business. * There are some rare examples where this might be possible in one direction (e.g. sell but not buy) and/or where there are government exchange controls and the FX service is taking advantage of people looking to trade at unofficial rates and/or transfer money out of a currency of out of a country illegally, where customers wanting to exchange in one direction will accept an artificially poor exchange rate, so there is a buy-sell spread, but it just isn't centered on the official mid-rate. |
Re: Money transfer from UK
Originally Posted by SpeshK
(Post 12671936)
…. It can with rounding. They show a rate to a lessor degree of accuracy than available in wholesale markets. It’s still mid by retail standards but there’s still a tiny spread they can make.
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Re: Money transfer from UK
Originally Posted by Pulaski
(Post 12671937)
Agreed. Banks, bureau de change, and on-line FX brokers all have to make their money some how, and it is through one or more of (i) fixed fee, (ii) percentage fee (iii) buy-sell spread (i.e. buy at less than the mid rate, sell at more than the mid rate).
Providers of exchange services often have a habit of trying to mislead the public by bragging that one or two of the ways of extracting their revenue is low or zero , and hoping that the customer doesn't notice that they're being screwed on the third type of charge - with the classic one being "we charge no commission", but the spread is enough for them to get their share. In truth no provider of FX services can truly charge no fees and exchange at the mid rate*, other wise they have no revenue and can't stay in business. * There are some rare examples where this might be possible in one direction (e.g. sell but not buy) and/or where there are government exchange controls and the FX service is taking advantage of people looking to trade at unofficial rates and/or transfer money out of a currency of out of a country illegally, where customers wanting to exchange in one direction will accept an artificially poor exchange rate, so there is a buy-sell spread, but it just isn't centered on the official mid-rate. There are ways to make money by becoming the dominant player. You’re gonna gain lots of independent, uncorrelated aggressive order flow. It’s gonna be retail sized but with enough of it, sure. I don’t claim to know their business model but I can see money being made there. |
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