Ways to transfer GBP to CDN bank?

[dnaman]

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!

[pilog]

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.

[Steven]

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

[themeone]

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.

[iancanton]

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.

[ablundon13]

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!

[dnaman]

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

[Classroom Canada]

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