Transferring GBP to Australian $'s

[Guest the umphs]

Hello all,

 

We've finally committed to a date to move to Adelaide and will be there at the end of October.

 

I'm doing my calculations and looking at how I get money from home into an Australian bank account. We have a reasonable amount having just sold our home in the UK but wondered what have others experienced and any good tips.

 

Trawling the net has proved unhelpful as so many views.....

 

Dan

[Fenderman]

Hi Dan, Not too sure if i am allowed to make recommendations but we used a chap called Adam at Satworldwide

www.satworldwide.co.uk

He was recommended to us and he was great, he got us a much better rate than the other larger companies were offering. The large companies only wanted to talk to me if I wanted to move large amounts of money. To move any less than £5000 and we were forced to use their online service where the rate was not so good.

 

 

However we only move a few thousand over just for our validation trip or to pay our agent but I will be using him to move my house money if it ever sells!!!!.

Rob & Sam

[Guest clare]

Enjoy ur time left in the U.K it goes soooooooooo fast we had the same time scale as you and now its here we fly on the 24th june!!!

Try the commonwealth bank u can do it online or they will give u a call and send info they set our bank up in a week Good luck with whatever you decide

[scooterdan]

Hey,

 

We used HifX for large amounts and TRANZFERS.COM for smaller amounts.

 

Dan

[Rob and Mel]

We used HIFX like Scooter dan.

 

Seemed to be very good at what they do.

 

Rob and Mel

[Andrew from Vista Financial]

Yep, Hifx are who we used as well they generally offer better rates than the Banks, you might also want to try MoneyCorp who now advertise on here, mention you're a PIA member as well it might help.

 

Andy

[Mini2005]

We set up an account with Commonwealth Bank while we were still in the UK and we also set up with Hifx for transferring funds. Once the house sale funds were available we rang them both daily for exchange rates and the Commonwealth beat Hifx hands down on the rate. It made a big difference on a large amount. Might be different now but worth looking into.

 

Val

[Guest Aussie pat]

Aussie Pat's other half here. We used Commonwealth Bank too. You can open an account at their London branch and they will use it to transfer your money to their Adelaide branch. You can then organize a term deposit in Adelaide to earn better interest. You can either send pounds to the London branch and they will convert it for you before sending it, or if you want to chase the best rate, I believe you can use say Hifx or Moneycorp ( or whoever else) to change the pounds for you and then send it to Commbank.

 

Details of who to contact on Commbank's website under Migrant Services or Migrant Banking if I remember right.

 

I don't have any axe to grind for Commbank, but we used them and they providedgood service to us. Other banks provide a similar service, and they are probably just as good. Also, people's experiences vary and some swear by one bank and some by another. I'm sure all banks have their customers who have had terrible service from them. But you've got to plump for one. All common sense really.

[Guest the umphs]

Awesome responses, thanks all....

 

I'll be buying you a bloody large pint in a few months.

 

Thanks again,

 

Dan