chicagoblue

My wife and I (both British citizens) have lived and worked in Chicago for the past two years. However, at the end of august we will be returning to live in the UK. I was therefore wondering what is the best (ie. cheap and safe!) way of moving money from the US to the UK. By the time we have sold everything here, it will probably be around $20000 to $30000 that we want to transfer.

Thanks!

Englishmum

You will find that many expats on this site (myself) use xe.com. You can go to the search facility above to see the various threads if you type in xe or xetrade.

They give excellent rates, better than most banks in our experience and no extra fees either. You do have to set up an account with them about a week beforehand as they need to check that you're not an international money launderer! You will need access to a fax machine, but if not, contact them and see if you can work around that:

http://www.xe.com

http://www.xetrade.com

Good Luck with your move! (Which company are you using by the way? I have to get quotes from a company called Palmer Moving which is apparently part of NorthAmerican Van Lines).

Longy

As well as mentioned above XE which I use, apparantly UKForex gives better rates, so if you want to get the best rate it is probably worth checking them out as well

dh010447

I can vouch for xe.com...

Takes a little bit of effort to get an account set up with them, but once its done its great as its all one-line.

hifx.com is another one, but you have to phone them and wire money to them from the bank...

Nigs

Another option if you have relatives you just want to send money to for help with bills, birthdays etc, that is quick and relative easy to use is paypal.

If they are set up on e-bay (Who isn't?) they should be verified and you can safely send amounts to them securely.

Obviously large and regular amounts are going to become watched or flagged by them but a quick simple way to get it there when they might need it and as I come from a rural town no need for special transfers etc.

Perhaps not the answer to your question but helpful to others perhaps.

Good luck with the move!

dh010447

I looked at using ebay, but from what I remember - it was going to work out pretty expensive...

If its just a one off transaction, I would just use your bank. They'll charge you a wire fee (about $24 I think) and you should get a 1/2 decent exchange rate...

cindyabs

BOA here charges 35 bucks for dollars converted into pounds beforehand and 45 bucks for sending dollars to be converted there. The rate we got when it was 2.06 dollars to the pound was 2.12!!!!

Longy

For the size of transaction mentioned it is well worth opening an account with XE or UKForex to transfer. It could make quite a difference. Banks generally don't get you that great a rate.