Ways to transfer GBP to CDN bank?

Hi there,

I know there have been a couple old posts on this subject, but im wondering what would be the ideal way to send GBP back to Canada?

The options i have are:
1) wire direct from bank-to-bank but then I would probably get unfavourable exchange rates (from GBp to CDN)?
2) go to my UK bank, open a CDN$ account, convert my GBP to CDN, then wire to my CDN bank
3) use Current House or another similar-type company - i probably know the lease about this option
4)?

Thanks in advance!

The best way to do this would be to use a foreign exchange broker as the banks will rip you off. good one ive used before is RationalFX. Pm me if you want to know more about your options.

Option #3 - never use a bank, their exchange rates are hopeless.

You could try www.ukforex.co.uk

As they're brokers you get good rates, and they can transfer direct into a Canadian dollar bank account.

However, the exchange rate into CAD at the moment is dismal - about £1 = $1.85 when I last looked, down from over $2 only a couple of week ago.

option 1 is not that bad if u're sending gbp 2,000 or more. it'll typically cost a flat fee of £20 to £30 in the uk, plus any fee and exchange rate margin (possibly zero, like some uk banks) that the canadian bank will charge for receiving transfers via swift. unless u have accounts with more than one canadian bank, u have no control over the receiving bank's charge, no matter which company u use to send gbp. never accept the option to pay the receiving bank's charges in advance, since the receiving bank might accidentally charge u anyway (and then it'll take ages to recover the money).

however, u must insist on sending a set amount of gbp, so that u are provided with the correct form and it is therefore the canadian receiving bank that does the conversion to cad. if u don't say anything, then the uk bank will automatically assume that u want to send in cad and thereby give u an unfavourable exchange rate (and pocket the difference). not all bank staff are well-informed about sending gbp and u might be told erroneously that the bank doesn't provide this service. other banks, such as alliance & leicester, charge a bigger fee for sending gbp than for sending cad, to allow for the bank not being able to make money from u on the exchange rate.

ian.

Hey! I use tranzfers. Just google it. I know the "z" in the title seems sketchy, but myself and other friends have been using it for over a year without and problems. Its only £7 to send and the banks in the UK or Canada do not charge anything. It takes about 5 working days, but I still find it very safe and efficient. I would never go through a bank again because of the charges it costs. Its bad enough we are losing with the exchange rates right now. Hope this helps!

Thanks for all the info all, im looking at the broker option right now!

Hi - I wrote a blog post about how to send money home here: http://classroomcanada.blogspot.com/200 ... -bank.html
I hope it helps!
cheers,
Victoria
Classroom Canada

I have a friend that is sending me US funds from LLYOD TSB in UK to my bank in Canada.. I heard there might be some service fees? Just wondering which end pays for that, as I have read about some scams.. This is my first overseas money transfer, and I just want to be safe.. What if the funds dont go into my acct at the time needed? Do i still get charged the fees? My friend said she was already taking care of the fees..I'm just a little worried that something might happen, and I will get stuck with the fees even if the money doesnt go into my acct.. I've read alot about scams on the internet, and just want to make sure I get every bit of information I can before this happens.. Is there any way she can take my acct info, and withdrawl money from my acct? or can she only deposit? Is a certain bank acct in Canada needed? or does it matter?
I'd be interested in getting more information on the service fees, and how exactly they work.. If anyone can help, id appreciate it.. Thanks

why us funds? if ur friend sends us dollars, then lloyd's tsb will charge exchange fees in the uk, then ur bank will charge exchange fees in canada. lose-lose. ur friend should not offer to pay ur bank's fees, since ur bank might charge u anyway, then u'll have loads of hassle trying to prove that u weren't supposed to be charged - there's probably no saving even if u're not charged twice.

ask ur friend to send in gbp, so that lloyd's tsb charges ur friend only a flat £20 or £35 fee (depending on under or over £5k), but no exchange fee. ur bank will probably then charge a small % for doing the exchange (0% to 1% is typical for uk banks receiving money from countries such as canada - this is called a third party foreign transaction fee - ask ur bank whether it charges a similar amount for receiving foreign currency). it's normally more expensive for a uk bank to send usd or cad because it promises to pay a fixed amount of dollars even if the exchange rate moves unfavourably, so the exchange fee must be big enough to allow a reasonable safety - and profit - margin.

after ur bank receives foreign currency, it ought to tell u on ur statement how much foreign currency was received as well as the amount in canadian dollars.

ian.