i'll be flying to the US soon on my K-1 and was wondering what the best way is to go about transfering my money from my barclays account to a US bank. I am probably going to open up a Chase account there. Is it as simple as opening a chase account, then contacting barclays via telephone and asking to transfer? or would I need to do something with barclays in person before I go to US? I was going to keep my english account and use it at atms for the first 3 months until we are married and can set up an account in a joint name. Also, are there any charges for exchanging to US dollars? is so what are they likely to be?

advice appriciated

thanks

Getting Barclay's to do it will probably be quite costly. I used http://www.xe.com/fx/ and got a very good rate.

Gillian

another vote for XE.com

It takes a bit of setting up - its a few days process - but once its set up and you know what you're doing its great.

Thirded on XE!

What sort of slice do XE take, roughly? Just curious like.


Stu

I think it's about $20

there is also xoom, which have lower fees but I have never used it


https://www.xoom.com/sendmoneynow/home.xoom...iveCountryCode=

Have you thought about doing a bank to bank transfer via Barclays? What I would do is go into your local Barclays when you can, ask them for an international transfer form, fill it in in advance and hold on to it until you are ready to make the transfer to your new bank acct. Either you can fax it to them or post in the mail to Barclays. Barclays had advised me to do that though this was a different payment for something else.. They use the exchange rate on the actual day it is transferred. You have priority rate charges or standard rate charges which I think if I can remember is roughly £15.

Hope that helped. Good luck!!

They don't charge any fixed fee, they just take a shade on the exchange rates they offer.

Their trading system is pretty damn cool, though, when you're setting up a trade you get to see the rate they're offering, and how much USD or GBP it translates to, and there's a "refresh rates" button which you can press to get the latest.

So as the mid-market rates change on the global forex markets, the rate they offer changes.

It can be quite addictive, pressing that button

how great to have so many people recommend this service - i have just signed up, as i was wondering what to do about transferring my money to the states once we're moved. looks like a cool service and if it can save us some cash then
so once i have this set up and linked to my UK bank account what happens next? i'll be joining my husband's bank account when we get to the states - do i just need to provide them with those details and a transfer can be set up?
thanks!
emma.

Another vote for XE from me... cheaper than nearly all banks, and a great rate.

I used Interchange FX -- great service from them, with really good rates. I chose them at the recommendation of some other UK VJers, who also praised them highly. I thought the sign up procedure looked a little simpler than at XE, but that may just be my own thickness!

i have just been told by a friend who moved to canada recently that i should keep my UK paypal, set up a US paypal that's linked to our US bank account and i can transfer money for free! anyone know if this is right? would there be a limit to the amount of money i could move that way? sounds too good to be true...

I used to use paypal to transfer money via paypal - it used to be easy (it was never free) but it became too complicated so I switched to XE. I think there was a limit on the amount of money you could transfer without becoming a business user, if memory serves.

PayPal takes a slice of the transfer, and their rates aren't always the best. Not too bad if you're transferring small amounts but once you get into the '000s, you are losing money. You're much better off with a broker. I've used both methods and I recommend the hassle of registering with one of the brokers.

Another vote for XE! Total pain in the arse to set up but once that is done you're all set!

I used InterchangeFX and they were very good.

thanks for the replies - i've started the registration process with XE - said they'd call me on the 17th so hopefully will be set up and functioning soon. can someone tell me, what happens next - once i've registered my UK bank account with them and it's all set up, do i simply need to give them the US bank details of the account i want to transfer to, or will i need to go through the same process once again when i'm in america with the US bank account?
thanks.

I don't know about XE as I haven't used them but with InterchangeFX you phone them up with the amount you want to transfer and they quote you the amount of dollars that it will buy. if you wish to proceed they will email you a form which has your customer ref, a transaction ref and details of their account. You then contact your bank to arrange the transfer to their account making sure that they quote your customer and deal reference. You sign the form agreeing to the exchange and fill in another form with details of the destination account number and name and IBAN (Sort Code) reference. You then return these to your exchange broker and the transfer can proceed as soon as they receive the funds from your bank.

hi
question about xe trade - i have it all set up for transferring money between my uk and us bank accounts... and have initiated a trade with them but now they want me to wire the money to them but haven't given me any info about how i do it!! what do i do next?! have been searching my bank's website in vain trying to figure out how to wire money to a company that haven't provided me with any account number or anything for doing this... and they say i have to get them the money in 3 days and now i'm panicking! can anyone who's used them pm me asap with what to do??! my uk bank is nationwide...
thank you!!! emma.