Jump to content

Anyone used these for transfer?


PaulT
 Share

Recommended Posts

[quote user="PaulT"]http://tinyurl.com/ngavee8[/quote]

No, but I have recently switched to "Transferwise"  from my pension payer's contract with "Western Union " and am absolutely delighted .   Transfers are consistently made at an all-in cost of about0.06centimes per £.   Take a look at their website.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="parsnips"][quote user="PaulT"]http://tinyurl.com/ngavee8[/quote]

No, but I have recently switched to "Transferwise"  from my pension payer's contract with "Western Union " and am absolutely delighted .   Transfers are consistently made at an all-in cost of about0.06centimes per £.   Take a look at their website.

[/quote]

Paul T's link is to the Transferwise website, Parsnips......

I've recently started using CurrencyFair which is a Peer-to-Peer FX operation. So far their rates have seemed pretty good too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="nectarine"]I've used Transferwise ... got the best rate out of the lot, easy to use, efficient, good communication. We don't transfer very often but will definitely use them again.[/quote]

What I am delighted about is the fact that, after so many years of inflated charges by either banks or exchange companies, the consumer now has a genuine choice of who to use without huge cost. Plus being able to exchange where and when you want and not being tied to office hours. An added bonus is the amount of time saved too.

Sue - a confirmed CF user for over 2 years

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am still not sure that you get absolutely the best rate from CurrencyFair (my transfer yesterday - 5th December- was done at the rate of €1.1976), because it's very difficult to do a fair comparison - the rate changes all the time. But it does appear to be better than the people I used previously, who would often give me two or three centimes less than the Reuters published rates. The maximum rate yesterday was (I think) €1.21.

On the other hand:

1. CF don't make any separate charges.

2. They do the exchange very quickly indeed: the money left my UK account yesterday and it's shown today on my French account as a credit on the 5th (ie the same day).

3. They will happily accept a regular order: I have a standing order each month to pay them, and they transfer it automatically to my French account without me needing to remember.

4. They don't seem to give you a bad rate if you're doing a small transfer (but again it's difficult to compare).

And of course I can only approve of the business model, peer-to-peer transfers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Araucaria, the rate changed quite considerably BEFORE and AFTER Osborne's statement.  To my surprise, it went down a fair few notches in the afternoon.

So, what you got might have been reflected by that fall.

What I try to do is, if I think I need to change, I allow myself lots of time, I clear funds into my CF account and, when the rate is favourable (well, relatively speaking), I do a quick transfer.

If I need the funds quickly, I might just change some of my cleared funds and wait a few days or even weeks to see if the rate falls or rises before changing the rest.

BTW, I don't watch the rates obsessively (don't want to give that impression [:-))]) but I do watch closely when I think I might be needing funds in the short term.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just got a quote from them to exchange £1000 and straight away did the same thing again with Currencyfair, nothing in it between them.

1.1875 from whatevertheirnameis and 1.19039 from Currencyfair, take away the €3 charge and they would give you about 20cts more than Currencyfair, transfer more money and the advantage would swing the other way.

It is great to be able to do this though isnt it, I dread to think how much money I lost paying for my place via the HSBC but I knew nothing of currency transfer companies then and time was of the essence.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have used Transferwise a couple of times in the last few days, and can confirm all the nice things reported above. Sent this morning in French account this afternoon. Their rates are especially good for small amounts, as long as it's more than £200.

Has anyone who has used them encountered charges from the French, receiving, bank?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
+1 for Currency Fair, gave them a try yesterday afternoon after reading about them here (thanks for the heads up). Money in CA today. Total cost 3 euros compared to the 38 we were paying plus a 7 day wait. If you play on the market page, you can try for a higher rate than their normal transfer.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, Lehaut, I too changed some money this morning with CF and got their best rate.

What I do is, I deposite cleared funds with them when I think I shall be needing money soon or when I think the rate is on the rise.  Then, I watch the rates and, when I judge it a "good" time (please note the quotation marks[:-))]), I change.

As deposit accounts bring in zilch as far as interest is concerned and I have now known CF for a few years, I am just as happy to leave some money sitting in my CF account so that I can change whenever I want and I don't have to wait to send money from my bank first.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all your replies.

Of course did nothing about registering with either provider and ol and behold I needed to transfer money today.

Perhaps TWs Q&A section was clearler than CF but it stated that I could upload my identification documents. Did phone to enquire if it would be possible to register and for checks to be completed so that I could transfer funds today. Got through to someone who took calls to be passed on for a call back.

Decided to register with TW, uploaded scanned documents and it seemed I could transfer money so proceeded to do so. When I checked the address document was not acceptable as it was more than 6 months old (car reg doc) so scanned and uploaded a recent gas bill.

Then got a call back and told the person that I was enquiring if checks could be completed today but it seemed it could and I had submitted funds for transfer. She replied that the converted funds were on their way to my French bank account.

A subsequent email shows that the rate was good:

'The final rate was 1 GBP Pound Sterling = 1.2072 EUR Euro, and we charged you £12.39 for the service.'

The £12.39 was £2.39 fee plus £10 so that the transfer would go in the following banking day.

Then registered on CF and discovered that from info provided (Driving Licence number) I could have made a one off transfer of up to £1000. Above that they required similar documentation to TW so uploaded that but takes up to 24 hours for verification.

When in France we have been drawing the equivalent of £250 from ATMs using our N&P debit card each time we were near an ATM and then paying a chunk of money into the French account. Think we will use either CF or TW in future - far easier.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="PaulT"]Then registered on CF and discovered that from info provided (Driving Licence number) I could have made a one off transfer of up to £1000. Above that they required similar documentation to TW so uploaded that but takes up to 24 hours for verification. .[/quote]

Not they Paul, the money laundering regulations, same for all companies or they risk a massive fine for breach or the regulations on record taking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for this thread. I wanted to transfer a £1000 to my bank account and using my regular company would have had 1160 euros and would have been charged £9 for doing so. I used Currencyfair and had 1209 euros and was only charged 3 euros transfer fee.

I haven't had a look at Transferwise yet but am happy to have saved 49 euros today - every little helps.

Thanks again

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...