UKC

I am moving back to the UK next month and will need to transfer the bulk of my earnings over the last year into GBP. What is the best/cheapest way to exchange a sum in the £1000's range?

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:

Well it seems that sending emails to hundreds of people saying you are a Russian prince with a dead uncle seems to work for the people that email me?

(Not particularly helpful but bumps you up to the top)

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:
there are lots of exchange services out there that will give you a much better rate than the bank, I ve used ozforex a few times and they were pretty good. Register with 2 or 3 and then get them to give you a rate for an amount similar to what you will want to exchange, to start getting a feel for the rate you can get over and above the bank. Compare and contrast the service they are offering. You may decide to exchange the money in several transactions to balance out fluctuations in rate. Try to get a feel for the way the rate is moving, for you or against you. They will not offer advice. Essentially you phone a broker, who hopefully you have spoken to before and ask him/her for a rate to by £xxx, you then repeat the process with a couple of different companies , you may be surprised at the difference in rate. the exchange company makes their margin by buying the currency at a slightly lower rate than they give you, so the more you buy the better rate you should be able to get. They will buy the pounds for you when you ask them to. If you thought the rate was definitly getting worse you might change all the money asap, if you thought it was improving then you might decide to wait.
Of course people have made and lost fortunes doing this, so you may decide to go all in one, on one day and be happy with getting a much better rate than the bank .
off for a spin. hth.

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:
I use Moneycorp, I've had no problems - negligible charges and at least you get a rate over the phone which they are locked in to - if it changes while the process is going on you still have the agreed rates, with banks you don't generally. Everything is done over the phone and by emails. You can follow exchange rates on Yahoo to see if the rate they offer is reasonable. The difference between bank rate and what you get is about 1 to 1.5% IIRC.

There are other companies and there was a long thread on the subject not long ago on ukc which you might be able to find still using the "search" function.

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:

I've always been happy with HIFX

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:

Used World First a couple of times - very straightforward...

In reply to Bruce Hooker:

Cheers. I probably should have searched before I started a new topic. My coworkers are suggesting using Paypal. Has anybody tried that?

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:


If you want to pay probably a considerable fraction of it in withdrawal fees, then yes?

You could try the 'travel money maximiser'?
http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/

You could probably get something slightly better from a suitable exchange service, but it might not be worth the hassle.

When I had to change a similar amount of money (not my money, sadly!) for someone moving to another country, weirdly the cheapest way to do it was to stop at Heathrow airport on the way out (driving), go to the little exchange place in the Underground station, and change it there. The rates were truly awful, unless you had a printed-off voucher from the Internet - at which point the rates became those of their parent specialist currency broker, with a few other London branches.

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:
If you are not bothered about legality Bob , there are a few well known gangsters in fancy houses close to my elderly mother that might be able to help. Living cheek to jowl with a football club director of a well known Scottish football club, also well known for their financial schemes. Either might cut you a good deal

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:

Where are you transferring from Bob?

In reply to mariechen:


Been using World First for about 8 years - they are excellent.

On 10k GBP to Euros we'll get about 1% less than the actually daily currency rate which I've never been able to beat.

Paypal? - you'd be mad.

E

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:

Just make sure the company isn't going to go bust, because if it's not a bank, it doesn't have FSCS equivalent protection. So if it went bust while it had your money, you'd likely lose everything.

During the crash, there was a couple who lost their life savings doing that trying to buy a property in France.

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:

Sent you an email.

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:


Can't speak personally, but my wife is pretty thorough in looking into how to do things like that, and she opted to use paypal to transfer thousands of dollars into pounds.

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:

But the best option is to think about whether you might know and trust anybody who needs to go in the opposite direction, and cut a deal with them. You never know - I know a number of people who have gone abroad for work and have mortgages to pay in their home country...

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:


Transferwise

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:

Be really careful who yuo use.Make sure they are FCA approved, there have been a couple of dealers going bust and clients funds have been " lost " in the system. I find it staggering that people pass money to currency dealers who they have never heard of or checked out.I only use Western Union. Haggle hard with your bank....its the safest way.

In reply to Bob_the_Builder:

I use to convert my sterling into euros via paypal, but oddly enough, I got an excellent conversion rate at eurochange, so I tend to just change it there (1.21 last week!).

In reply to neilh:

Or use cash at a brokers, if you have that option (easiest if you live in London).

In reply to RomTheBear:

Second that - have just used them for several grand to NZ and they were excellent. Works by no money actually changing countries so seem to get a better rate than most and fees are minimal. Can send you a link to get a fee-free first transfer too.

In reply to andrewmcleod:

My accountant gave me a lecture once on using dealers , as he had dealt with the consequences of clients losing thousands of £'s with fraudulent dealers. All I can say is that people stand to lose alot of money for saving a couple of £'s.