aribee

Hi Team,

I am looking to transfer money from Aus to the US and wondered if anyone had a recommendation for the best company to use? I have read through other threads and seen hifx suggested, but wasn't sure if that was just for UK -> US or if anyone had experience sending from Aus -> US

I'm obviously looking for the best rate but also reliable / safe and a short turnaround time.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Marc_ely

I don't have direct experience of AUS to USD, but all of the usual FX guys quote it.
I am getting ready to transfer the proceeds of my UK house sale over here and I am looking at:
TORFX
Transferwise
XE

XE had the best rate, until you joined up and got a proper quote, when it mysteriously dropped back down to the others. The TORFX guy I have been using for 2 years will rate match too.
Join a few of them and put in your transfer details. Then you can compare the quotes.

Pulaski

Search BE threads for xe.com, xoom, and transferwise, among others, and you should find the threads on the subject, which are many and about half seem to be in the US forum.

Most of the FX companies offer all the major industrial nation's currencies, and many of the popular "emerging markets" currencies too, if they are freely tradable.

FWIW xe.com belongs to Western Union, a well known and long established money service business, which may be important to you if you are concerned about a company you haven't previously heard of or done business with.

aribee

Thanks for the advice guys.

Marc_ely - I recently signed up for torfx and spoke with someone over the phone but in fact it took 2 weeks from initial inquiry to someone giving me a rate. They seemed to dance around giving you the rate a lot and the guy I spoke with was very rude and his attitude was really funky when I asked if they rate matched. At that point I decided to terminate my account with them because I didn't trust him. Maybe I just got a bad agent? He had that greasy salesperson vibe.

I will shop around some more.

Pulaski

All FX/remitters have account opening procedures similar to banks - they have to establish who you are (name, dob, ID, and an address) before they can do business with you, so this necessarily delays you first transaction, but any future transactions should be available on demand, with transfer of the funds within a few hours/days (experience varies, dependent on company, how you pay them (dd, wire, ACH) and direction of transfer).

So far as rate matching goes, it really isn't practical because the rates change every few seconds all day long, and as the market moves around the world, all night too, so which rate would they be matching? You couldn't expect them to match the rate from half an hour ago becuse the rate "now" could have moved enough to wipe out their profit.

aribee

I understand that, I had gone through their verification process and provided ID ect just seemed to be difficult to get information. As for rate matching, I can agree with that, and if the agent had just said no that would have been fine, it just felt like the guy had a really bad attitude altogether, enough to make me uncomfortable doing business with him.