Recommended UK currency exchange company?

[Guest Big Move]

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a UK based currency exchange company to me which they have used?

I am migrating to Adelaide in Feb 2010 and wish to exchange £ for AUD and I am worried about handing my hard earnt cash over to a company which as not been recommended to me. Thanks in anticipation.

[Guest Chelseadownunder]

Hi Big Move in Donny,

I had some good service from Hifx and Commonwealth Bank in London.

Commonwealth Bank actually have a branch you can deal with and open one account in the UK and one in Australia and then basically transfer funds when you want to.

Give both a call and get an idea of their exchange rates. I think HiFX rates are pretty good.

Good luck on the move.

Steve

[Guest Guest5035]

The NAB do a better rate than the CB, also watch the fees for changing the money.

 

stevo.

[Guest Aussie pat]

Aussie Pat's other half here. We used the CB service referred to by Chelsea downunder, and still use CB as our bank over here. For a full banking service we have found them excellent. I dare say each bank has its own fan club. If it's just FX you're after you will probably get a slightly better rate from the FX specialists like Hifx and Moneycorp, but we used CB exclusively as a one stop shop to keep life simple. Make sure you're comparing like with like. Some of them quote you a rate and then charge fees on top. Some like CB build their fees into a net rate and don't quote them separately.

[Pesty650]

We have been using HiFX, and I would NOT recommend them to anyone. We have had nothing but trouble with them from the day we opened the account. They were very nice and appeared very knowledgeable when we opened the account, but since then the people that I have spoken to don't appear to know what they are talking about.

We have had hassles with activating the account, changing addresses etc etc.

Find someone else to use!

[Guest Aussie pat]

I didn't make the point explicitly in my post, but there is more to life than squeezing the last drop out of the rate - like service for instance. CB scored very highly here. The sub text of my post was look at the overall package. I think there was another negative comment on Hifx on this forum recently, but then there may be people who have found Commbank not to their liking. People's experiences vary, sometimes consistent patterns emerge but ultimately every one has to take responsibility for their decisions.

[Guest Nick11]

We used ozforex. Didn't have a clue what I was doing - but they helped me through it..step by step. When setting up the account in the uk - I only ever dealt with one guy who rang me regulary or I could ring him. Couldn't tell you if the rates were above/below - just very easy.

[Guest Chelseadownunder]

I was glad to hear you had a good experience with Commonwealth Bank Aussie Pat. I guess their is a good service as they are linked to some UK banks like Clydesdale i Believe? It takes a little longer than Hifx opening the account by post. We actually printed everything off, filled it out and when we went to London to go to Australia House we then caught the tube to Commonwealth Bank and walked in and gave our documents in there and they copied our ID. Im am not sure if its there normal practice but we found them very ameable. Hifx are good and they link everything up on the internet so you can log in and follow your transactions. But we had cock ups with Westpac in Adelaide which soured our experience. We did get compesation interest from Westpac but if it had been all our money we would have been in trouble with the delay. I think Aussie Pat`s point about service is good because you wouldnt want to get over here and still have funds in limbo which could have happened to us.

Steve

[Guest Big Move]

Thanks for your answer but can you confirm what CB stands for? Is it Commonwealth Bank?

[Guest Guest5035]

correct.

 

stevo

[Guest mark&rachel]

Hello my mother used City Forex in London when converting 100k into euros a couple of years ago. They were first class and gave excellen t rates - www.cityforex.co.uk

[niknjas]

Hi

We were asking the same questions not so long ago. not transferred any money yet but about to. As I wasn't sure, we took recommendations from everybody else on here but we also signed with 3 forex companies and they are all falling over themselves to help (funny that eh). We went with Halo financial, Moneycorp and UK forex.

The bank we chose was ANZ.

Jason & Niki

[Boxertony]

I have been using hifx and really pleased with there full service. Within a week I had gained two bank accounts, opened one with Westpac and one with NAB and also transfered £2650 into my new NAB. I will also be using Hifx very soon. Everybody's experience is different, some good some bad.

[Guest familygood]

We used HiFX last week to transfer some of our funds to our Commonwealth account and we found them really helpful and the process really easy. As our account is now all set up we can transfer funds online at any time when the interested rate is best. You also dont get charged the usual bank charges which is surely worth something even if its only £30 or something. No problems at all from our point of view and Commonwealth Bank have also been excellent so far.

[Guest Big Move]

Thanks very much for everyones reply's and recommendations you have all been most helpful. Although I am still unsure of whom to use to transfer my money , i will just have to chance it with one of your many recommendations.

Again thanks for your help!

Denis.