Wire Transfer/Banks
 

Hi,

I did a search and read a few good posts, but I was wondering what your experience was of transferring money to/from UK.

I will be sending money back to the UK on the monthly basis. I understand there are forex companies, but how is the money transferred to them from the bank account?

I looked into bank accounts in the US and they are quoting fees of $20-50 to send an international wire and most charge for accepting an international wire. Who in your opinion is the cheapest bank? I'm favouring WaMu at the moment, even with all the problems it's had. They don't seem to charge for domestic wires, and only charge $20 for incoming/outgoing international wires.

And while i'm ranting, what's with all the checking fees?? are there any good comparison websites? I'm still looking for the equivilent to moneysupermarket.com and moneysavingexpert.com. Or have I stumbled across a superb business idea??

I'm having to go to each website and draw up a spreadsheet..

Re: Wire Transfer/Banks
 

We use HSBC - no fee to transfer from UK/US or US/UK.

Re: Wire Transfer/Banks
 

We have a Citibank Private Bank account with no fees for international wires. I think our company has to pay though for the Private Bank account. I think HSBC has a similar set up as well.

Re: Wire Transfer/Banks
 

popular one is XE.com as it has good rates and doesn't have a fee or minimum amounts, but I don't think it can do auto monthly set up.

Re: Wire Transfer/Banks
 

I've been using UKforex.co.uk. It's free for xfers over £3000 and so far I haven't had any fees from my bank in the USA, either.

The way it work is I BACS the money from my UK account to their UK account, then they wire money from their US account to my US account. Which is, presumably why I haven't had any international wire fees, as all my accounts see are domestic xfers.

I know this is the opposite way to what the OP wanted, but I don't see why it couldn't work the same in reverse.