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I can not imagine it is that good of a deal as I get calls about people wanting to help me with my foreign exchange on a monthly basis for many years now. Ther

I can not imagine it is that good of a deal as I get calls about people wanting to help me with my foreign exchange on a monthly basis for many years now. There is not topic that I get more cold calls on than this. This suggests to me, this means it must be fairly profitable for those companies offering it, and that profit likely would come out of my pockets, but I haven't done the analysis. That said, I know my bank has pretty shitty exchange rates: http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/cgi-bin/travel/currency-converter.pl http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/cgi-bin/travel/currency-converte...

Symbiote 11y ago
I transferred some savings last year, because I emigrated. All the normal British banks offered very poor exchange rates. Traditional money exchange sites, which seemed to target people making large foreign purchases (houses etc) or people looking to invest in foreign currency were better, but as soon as I signed up on the website I received calls from their staff, which annoyed me. In any case, the rates were still beaten by http://www.TransferWise.com/ http://www.TransferWise.com/ (London startup). Transfers with TransferWise aren't instant, they wait until there's a transfer in the opposite direction. But I wanted a relatively obscure European currency, and my transaction was only in the queue for about 45 minutes.
- bboreham 11y ago
  > Transfers with TransferWise aren't instant, they wait Do note that if the market moves a long way while they are waiting they will cancel the entire transaction. This is a very different product to the one offered by your bank. Your bank takes some risk (and they charge a huge premium which more than covers it); TransferWise makes you keep the market risk. Most days this makes no difference. On a day when everybody is trying to move money in the same direction, you will notice.
- simonhudson 11y ago
  I've been studying on the continent now (from the UK) for the past year and a half and I've mainly used TransferWise to send money. When I first used it about a year and a half ago they took 2 to 3 days to send money, now if I order in the morning I usually get it just after lunch. Incredibly fast and competitive rates for low prices. For example: Natwest charge you something like £30 to send money within the EU urgently within 1 to 2 business days. Their slow one take 2 to 4 days and still costs £10. By contrast TransferWise charged me £2.50 last time I sent £450. Presently TransferWise offer a GBP to EUR rate of £1 to € 1.3404, by contrast Natwest offers £1 to €1.3077.
- ant6n 11y ago
  I wish their "see how" section would explain how it actually worked (including what the source and destinations can be), rather than just telling me it's cheaper than the banks. The site seems to want me to sign up before even giving any hint what's required; that's not an on-boarding experience that my 15seconds of curiosity will work with.
  - Symbiote 11y ago
    That's true. TransferWise ran a lot of poster advertisements in London, but I think I realised how it worked from a competitor's advertisements — https://www.weswap.com/ https://www.weswap.com/ (slightly worse rates, and works by using a card, but they have a better website). TransferWise have a well-buried FAQ item: https://transferwise.com/support/customer/en/portal/articles/1570199-member-matching https://transferwise.com/support/customer/en/portal/articles...
- ramchip 11y ago
  You can also use a plain old brokerage account. My broker charges 0.2% commission, less than half TransferWise's lowest rate, and it's direct access to the interbank market so there's no margin, execution delay, etc. The downside is you need to own the account you send money to, due to AML laws.
  - Symbiote 11y ago
    Would they transfer, say, £1000, or only much larger amounts? I tried to find brokerage accounts, but either the rates were bad, or the minimum amounts too high. It could be useful next year though, if I buy a house here.
    - ramchip 11y ago
      You can transfer as little as you wish, but you're right, there's a minimum to open and hold the account.
- hackerboos 11y ago
  >All the normal British banks offered very poor exchange rates. Nationwide offer some of the best rates, before that I used to use Norwich Peterborough which actually allowed fee free withdrawals abroad at spot rate.
- phillc73 11y ago
  I also emigrated form the UK to another European country a while ago. Previously, I've always been transfering GBP to EUR, using a broker. This has been cost effective, but a bit of a pain to submit the order, deal with the broker etc. I just used TransferWise to transfer some EUR back to GBP and I must say it's been the easiest, most painless forex transaction I've ever undertaken (also completed a lot of GBP to AUD back and forth over the years). The website UI and process flow was straightforward and intuitive. Obviously the money hasn't arrived in my UK account yet, so one must reserve final judgement. Thanks for raising my awareness of this service.
mootothemax 11y ago
While I use TransferWise for getting paid by clients in other countries, I rely on http://currencyfair.com http://currencyfair.com for my own money movements. The typical "catch" in most FX services is a hidden 2.5% - 5% fee in the exchange rate itself. You might be offered free, better rates than your bank! and will still be paying 2%. The likes of CF or TW have got this fee down to well under 1%, although TF certainly give every impression of skimming off the rate for amounts under $1,000. (at least, that's the impression the rate on their website calculator gives; I've only used larger transfer than that, and can't say anything from experience)
- hackerboos 11y ago
  The problem with CurrencyFair is that you are still left paying the wire fee in a lot of jurisdictions. Sometimes this fee is larger than local banks. In Canada for example I can wire money for $13.50 CAD ($9.50 US) up to $2500 CAD to almost anywhere in the world. CurrencyFair wrongly estimates Canadian bank fees at $35.00 CAD. They also only have bank accounts in certain jurisdictions. For example they ask customers in Canada to wire money to their bank in New York rather than say by Interac which would cost Canadian a lot customers nothing. I also find it strange they ignore what I would have thought was the largest market for remittance. Namely India and the Philippines. They also don't support the US because of the state licensing mess that the US requires for money transfer services [1]. [1] - https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/licenses https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/licenses
  - mootothemax 11y ago
    >They also don't support the US because of the state licensing mess that the US requires for money transfer services. It's been a while since I last accepted a payment from a US client - maybe a year? - into CF's US account, and I didn't have any issues then. Do you know how recently this changed?
    - hackerboos 11y ago
      I think that's allowed. My impression is that you as the end receiver are not allowed to be in the US. >I live in the US can I still use you? >Unfortunately at this time we are not licensed to receive business from United States residents. We do hope this will change in the future but for now we are unable to provide a timeline as to when this might happen.

Symbiote 11y ago

I transferred some savings last year, because I emigrated. All the normal British banks offered very poor exchange rates. Traditional money exchange sites, which seemed to target people making large foreign purchases (houses etc) or people looking to invest in foreign currency were better, but as soon as I signed up on the website I received calls from their staff, which annoyed me. In any case, the rates were still beaten by http://www.TransferWise.com/ http://www.TransferWise.com/ (London startup). Transfers with TransferWise aren't instant, they wait until there's a transfer in the opposite direction. But I wanted a relatively obscure European currency, and my transaction was only in the queue for about 45 minutes.

bboreham 11y ago
> Transfers with TransferWise aren't instant, they wait Do note that if the market moves a long way while they are waiting they will cancel the entire transaction. This is a very different product to the one offered by your bank. Your bank takes some risk (and they charge a huge premium which more than covers it); TransferWise makes you keep the market risk. Most days this makes no difference. On a day when everybody is trying to move money in the same direction, you will notice.
simonhudson 11y ago
I've been studying on the continent now (from the UK) for the past year and a half and I've mainly used TransferWise to send money. When I first used it about a year and a half ago they took 2 to 3 days to send money, now if I order in the morning I usually get it just after lunch. Incredibly fast and competitive rates for low prices. For example: Natwest charge you something like £30 to send money within the EU urgently within 1 to 2 business days. Their slow one take 2 to 4 days and still costs £10. By contrast TransferWise charged me £2.50 last time I sent £450. Presently TransferWise offer a GBP to EUR rate of £1 to € 1.3404, by contrast Natwest offers £1 to €1.3077.
ant6n 11y ago
I wish their "see how" section would explain how it actually worked (including what the source and destinations can be), rather than just telling me it's cheaper than the banks. The site seems to want me to sign up before even giving any hint what's required; that's not an on-boarding experience that my 15seconds of curiosity will work with.
- Symbiote 11y ago
  That's true. TransferWise ran a lot of poster advertisements in London, but I think I realised how it worked from a competitor's advertisements — https://www.weswap.com/ https://www.weswap.com/ (slightly worse rates, and works by using a card, but they have a better website). TransferWise have a well-buried FAQ item: https://transferwise.com/support/customer/en/portal/articles/1570199-member-matching https://transferwise.com/support/customer/en/portal/articles...
ramchip 11y ago
You can also use a plain old brokerage account. My broker charges 0.2% commission, less than half TransferWise's lowest rate, and it's direct access to the interbank market so there's no margin, execution delay, etc. The downside is you need to own the account you send money to, due to AML laws.
- Symbiote 11y ago
  Would they transfer, say, £1000, or only much larger amounts? I tried to find brokerage accounts, but either the rates were bad, or the minimum amounts too high. It could be useful next year though, if I buy a house here.
  - ramchip 11y ago
    You can transfer as little as you wish, but you're right, there's a minimum to open and hold the account.
hackerboos 11y ago
>All the normal British banks offered very poor exchange rates. Nationwide offer some of the best rates, before that I used to use Norwich Peterborough which actually allowed fee free withdrawals abroad at spot rate.
phillc73 11y ago
I also emigrated form the UK to another European country a while ago. Previously, I've always been transfering GBP to EUR, using a broker. This has been cost effective, but a bit of a pain to submit the order, deal with the broker etc. I just used TransferWise to transfer some EUR back to GBP and I must say it's been the easiest, most painless forex transaction I've ever undertaken (also completed a lot of GBP to AUD back and forth over the years). The website UI and process flow was straightforward and intuitive. Obviously the money hasn't arrived in my UK account yet, so one must reserve final judgement. Thanks for raising my awareness of this service.

mootothemax 11y ago

While I use TransferWise for getting paid by clients in other countries, I rely on http://currencyfair.com http://currencyfair.com for my own money movements. The typical "catch" in most FX services is a hidden 2.5% - 5% fee in the exchange rate itself. You might be offered free, better rates than your bank! and will still be paying 2%. The likes of CF or TW have got this fee down to well under 1%, although TF certainly give every impression of skimming off the rate for amounts under $1,000. (at least, that's the impression the rate on their website calculator gives; I've only used larger transfer than that, and can't say anything from experience)

hackerboos 11y ago
The problem with CurrencyFair is that you are still left paying the wire fee in a lot of jurisdictions. Sometimes this fee is larger than local banks. In Canada for example I can wire money for $13.50 CAD ($9.50 US) up to $2500 CAD to almost anywhere in the world. CurrencyFair wrongly estimates Canadian bank fees at $35.00 CAD. They also only have bank accounts in certain jurisdictions. For example they ask customers in Canada to wire money to their bank in New York rather than say by Interac which would cost Canadian a lot customers nothing. I also find it strange they ignore what I would have thought was the largest market for remittance. Namely India and the Philippines. They also don't support the US because of the state licensing mess that the US requires for money transfer services [1]. [1] - https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/licenses https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/licenses
- mootothemax 11y ago
  >They also don't support the US because of the state licensing mess that the US requires for money transfer services. It's been a while since I last accepted a payment from a US client - maybe a year? - into CF's US account, and I didn't have any issues then. Do you know how recently this changed?
  - hackerboos 11y ago
    I think that's allowed. My impression is that you as the end receiver are not allowed to be in the US. >I live in the US can I still use you? >Unfortunately at this time we are not licensed to receive business from United States residents. We do hope this will change in the future but for now we are unable to provide a timeline as to when this might happen.