Thought you mite like this information. I was trying to sort out how to get my money out of my English bank Without paying the masses of money you end up paying the banks going from one account to another. Well I found Paypal to be the cheapest I sent money from my Paypal account connected to my Bank account to my Wifes Paypal account. Took a few days but only cost me £3.50 about $7.00. My babe just wrote me a cheque and I put it in my American Bank account.

That's the best ticket going right now because you come out of pocket a lot more any other way. Like you have noted, there is some lag time in transferring the funds back into the appropriate bank account, but that's it. No biggie and thanks for posting this...

That's exactly what my husband and I are going to do.

I thought that other exchange places were better? I can't tell you their names though cause I forgot them already If PayPal works out better then I can save myself a whole lot of hassle...

Or you could use Custom House or XE and pay nothing.

Those are the ones I was on about!

I have used Customhouse for 3 yrs now, and its great! Takes a bit to initially set up the account, but NO fees when u transfer Electronically (EFT). Takes 3-4 business days for a transaction. They do offer a wire service which is very quick, but it costs a few $$.

They get my vote too.

do they offer the same rates of exchange?

I just know that custom house gave a a much better exchange route than my USA bank (wachovia)

I know in the past we have used PayPal for smaller amounts because they had a really good exchange rate but not sure how this compares to everything else..

The way the system works is that the online exchange house considers your electronic transfers from account to account as trades. In their eyes you are purchasing and/or selling foreign currency.... not simply moving it from account to account. So, for example, let's say you wanted to move money from your account in the UK to your account in the US. You would pick a rate, lock it in, and make the "trade". There are no additional service fees associated with the transaction unless you require same-day service. The wire fee for same-day service is $20 at Custom House. Which is still far cheaper than the service fees that the banks in the US charge.

With Custom House, you choose your own rate as the market goes up and down. You have two options:

1) Choose a rate and have them inform you once it reaches that point.
2) Watch the rates fluctuate and lock in when it hits an amount you're happy with.

The other variable lies in the amount. If you have a significant amount to move, then you would work with a broker and this will get you the better rate. In my case, my first transaction was significant so they assigned me a broker who worked with me in setting up the account and informing me.... based on his expert opinion.... when the market had reached its best available rate and recommending that I act now. When I was ready to move smaller amounts, my original broker set me up with a Vantage account where you do your own trades. The person who helped me with the new account said my original broker had arranged for me to receive a higher exchange rate than regular Vantage users due to my initial trade. This is why it's a bit difficult to say what rate of exchange you are going to receive. The best way to confirm it is to call the banks and ask them for their current rates, then check with Custom House/Vantage to see what their going rates are. Now, mind you, the bank does not update their rates every 30 seconds (or whatever the refresh rate is) like the online exchange houses do. The banks work on a daily rate.... their rates aren't fluctuating with the market..... so you will never see the same rate for both. Also, the banks are going to take their cut so they will increase/decrease the exchange rate to their advantage, whereas the exchange house effectively cuts out the middleman in order to give you a preferred rate.

For those who are concerned with the rumours of having to declare amounts greater than 10k.... this does not apply. All transactions are verified by the banks involved, leaving you out of having to get involved..... in effect they are saying that this is legitimate money and to proceed with the transaction.

Phew. I hope I haven't muddied the waters further. My best advice is to call the 1-800 # and speak with an advisor. They are very pleasant and very helpful, and will walk you through every step of the way. It sounds a lot more complicated than it really is.



Ditto. Plus my bank charges a hefty fee for the "service". Which they know is a total ripoff because they told me, themselves, to do it my way.

Okay, seriously now. I pour my heart and soul into a dissertation on the merits of online trades and all I get is silence? Where is the applause? Where are the accolades? Where are my chocolate-covered Easter Bunnies? I'm going back to the popcorn threads.

Well, when I read your response I was sincerely impressed! I guess I was just so awestruck that I was left speechless!

Huzzah! Bravo!! You are the best!!

Seriously, it was a great response. Unfortunately we don't seem to see a lot of acknowledgement for great posts around here.

Still waiting for the chocolate-covered Easter Bunny. Click to view attachment

Here you go.

Happy now?



Or maybe you like this since its less cute and more realistic?

Happy now.

These are my favourite.....



Mmmmmm. Chocolate-covered Easter Bunnies.

wow, that was an awesome post, thanks Kritkrit!! you got your chocolate bunnies already, so i'll just give your 5 star post rating now:

Great response by Krikit. In addition to her #2 pint, one can hit REFRESH, and the exchange rate may go up, down, or stay the same, its a tiny change if any, but can be kind of fun,lol almost like gambling, and off course one doesant have to accept that rate, one can just cancel and try again at a later time. Im going to be using it this week to send $$ from my USA acct to my Canadian one, as Im heading home for 3 weeks.

You guys are awesome. Thank you.

And Flames is right. It is kind of like gambling, and it is kind of fun.

You deserve some more cute chocolate bunnies Krikit!!

Those make me laugh. I would so lick their faces.

I think they look like little windmill bunnies! I would bite off the ears!!

Here you go

Thanks. Are you guys just trying to get rid of the ones you got for Easter?

These are just tooo cute!! I want some!! Where can you buy them - I'll tell Jeremy that I want a divorce if he doesn't get me any

Thanks Krikit very handy post will sign up for an account I will have to move some AUD over to USD do you think a broker is the best bet or if I am buying a house is there any else I should look to do apart from strapping the cash to my body :-)

Hmmm I just recieved an email from paypal to inform me that they will be introducing new policy in July that means there will be no fee for recieving funds if the transaction is designated a Personal Payment?

Do I understand that correctly in thinking that if I were to try and make a Uk to US transfer using paypal, there would be no charge? or would there be a charge to me as the sender in the first instance? I appreciate that my US bank will most likely charge for recipet of funds,
will paypal charge for the sending of said funds to my US bank?, or am I completely wrong in my understanding of this new policy? does anyone else have an understanding of how it might work?

"no charge" is a relative term. if one company offers a much better exchange rate than another, then the company offering the less favourable exchange rate is effectively charging you for the transaction.

Wow, thanks for the info. I'm trying to transfer a good chunk of change from the sale of my house from my canadian account into a u.s. bank account, and I could just cry at how much I'll be loosing by using the Royal Bank. I've been cheking their website hourly, but with their poor rates, I'm looking to loose thousands in the conversion. That could buy a lot of shoes! So I'm going to check out those other sites right away!! Thanks so much!!

Rah rah sis boom bah! (just cheering for krikit's post about Custom House)

I too am a happy Customhouse user. They have saved me a nice chunk of change from the various transfers. They were also handy for income tax time when I got my Canada Revenue refund.

Hurrah for Krikit! Only a month late but she's a shining star amongst some that are not so bright. Well, slightly less sparkly anyway.

Awwwww. Thanks guys.

Has anyone had personal experience of both xe.com and custom house?
Is there any reason you would choose one over another for either large one off payments or smaller regular payments?

Thanks

XE and Custom House are affiliated with one another so I'm thinking they're both the same. I believe the UK customers use XE and the Canadians use Custom House. I'm actually in the process of setting up an account with CH for my bank account in the UK (we're travelling there in a week) as I need to transfer money from my bank in Canada. What I'm finding out is that I cannot do a straight e-transfer from Canada to the UK.... it has to be a wire transfer and there is a $25 charge. But it's still worth it to me. (Canada-to-US and US-to-Canada there are no fees.) So I'm thinking XE is a better option for the UK people. Any UK'ers out there who have experience using XE?

I'm not one of them, but I've seen at least 3 VJer's with only good things to say about XE, and none with complaints. The consensus seems to be that it's a bugger to set up, but once it's done, the actual transferring is a breeze.

it was in the mail the costom official may have eaten it but it was a very informative post