[Red Devil]

Morning all, yet another question... I know :roll

We've pretty much decided on opening an ASB current account, which we'll action once our passports are back from NZ House in London :D

Our money (equity if you like) is currently with Lloyds TSB in an 'Online Savings Account' (returning a shocking rate of interest mind, after what has happened in the past few months and more so yesterday :mad:)

However, we're getting a little confused with regards the best means of transferring our money from the UK to NZ.

Should we simply do this direct from Lloyds TSB to ASB by means of IBAN & Swift, or should we use one of the popular money transfer companies... apologies, I can't remember any of their names... please advise :)

Also, is it still the case of... the more money you transfer, the better the exchange rate?

Thanks

[Alan]

HIFX every time, they also have an office locally in NZ if you want to do it in stages and haven't let me or a colleague I recommended them to down yet, which is more than can be said for a few others.

Don't believe the amount gets you anything better. Would do the minimum if you can help it as the rate right now is not great.

[Red Devil]

Thanks for your reply Alan :nice1

I seem to remember when we bought property in France 2 years ago, Lloyds TSB said if we transferred 'x' amount of money, then the reserved exchange rate would be better... I would've thought HIFX would be the same?

Having said that, I hear what you're saying about the current exchange rate, so we'll probably do some sums and see what we initially need for 3 months or so.

Anymore suggestions will be much appreciated, thanks.

[Red Devil]

I've just spoken to HIFX... incredibly helpful, etc.

Based on that I've just opened an account with them, both in the UK and also with the Auckland branch (which will come in handy), so that OH and me can make future transfers as and when :)

Thanks for your help, it's much appreciated :nice1

[IanW99]

If you are going with ASB then they will open a London account for you as well as a NZ account.

With the London account you just transfer GBP anyway you want e.g. BACs etc.

When you arrive in NZ the money will have been transferred and exchanged to NZ$ waiting for you in your ASB account.

This is about as simple as you can get, they also do the exchange at business rates so you get a good exchange rate as well. IIRC there is a charge if you don't transfer over a certain amount.

The London account stays open for 2 years and you can just transfer money as you go e.g. from your online Lloyds TSB account to your ASB (London) account.

If there are any problems at all (which there has never been for me) then you are just dealing with one company for the whole transaction and they will sort it out for you.

Ian

[Red Devil]

Thanks Ian :nice1

Well, that sounds a whole lot easier than going through HIFX... extra brownie points for ASB if you ask me.

Soon as our passports are back from NZ House, we'll be opening the NZ account... going off what you've just said, reckon I know who we'll be banking with now.

Thanks again... blimey, this forum's helpful (don't know where we'll be without it) :nice1

[napiers]

If you are going with ASB then they will open a London account for you as well as a NZ account.

With the London account you just transfer GBP anyway you want e.g. BACs etc.

When you arrive in NZ the money will have been transferred and exchanged to NZ$ waiting for you in your ASB account.

This is about as simple as you can get, they also do the exchange at business rates so you get a good exchange rate as well. IIRC there is a charge if you don't transfer over a certain amount.

The London account stays open for 2 years and you can just transfer money as you go e.g. from your online Lloyds TSB account to your ASB (London) account.

If there are any problems at all (which there has never been for me) then you are just dealing with one company for the whole transaction and they will sort it out for you.

Ian


Just want to agree with Ian. Have sent one lot to NZ a/c using this method. Dead easy and no hassle - they've always been very helpful. :nice1

[IanW99]

Thanks Ian :nice1

Well, that sounds a whole lot easier than going through HIFX... extra brownie points for ASB if you ask me.

Soon as our passports are back from NZ House, we'll be opening the NZ account... going off what you've just said, reckon I know who we'll be banking with now.

Thanks again... blimey, this forum's helpful (don't know where we'll be without it) :nice1

Have you phoned ASB (in London) and talked to them yet about it all? If not then I would recommed having a chat with them. I'm sure that they will be able to answer any outstanding questions.

Ian

[Red Devil]

... I'll be doing just that first thing Monday morning :nice1

Certainly sounds the way to go, especially when things are that simple.

Thanks again Ian and napiers :nice1

[Ramo]

First time post for me, but was interested in the thread below as I will need to open a NZ account and transfer money soon.

I noted on their migrant website (UK), that the ASB account requires a £15 fee whenever you place £'s in your UK account (assuming the amount is less than £30,000). This seems pretty steep if you are constantly putting £ into that account.

I was wondering whether HiFX charged an upfront fee for handling your £ when exchanging cash via them - that is, would it be cheaper to transfer cash via HiFX and get the NZ$ put straight into your NZ ASB account, rather than getting ASB to do it. Assuming here that the FX rates are comparable with either method.

Clearly this involves more work on my part, but for the saving of £15 per £ transaction, would seem worth my while!

Ramo

ps I too am going to bank with ASB. Appear to be well thought of from other threads I've read.

[IanW99]

...
I noted on their migrant website (UK), that the ASB account requires a £15 fee whenever you place £'s in your UK account (assuming the amount is less than £30,000). This seems pretty steep if you are constantly putting £ into that account.
...
Clearly this involves more work on my part, but for the saving of £15 per £ transaction, would seem worth my while!
...


You are correct to check all fees being charged to get the very best deal.

And yes, if you are going to transfer small amounts at a time then the £15 may be quite a hit on the transaction. That doesn't necessarily mean that the transaction will be any less than by other means as all companies have costs that need to be paid. Some do it by charging you an upfront fee and others do it by giving you a slightly worse exchange rate (or even a combination).

BTW, any particular reason why you are thinking of using HiFx?

Ian

[Ramo]

thanks for the response. I'll check the total charges (transfers etc) by other methods before deciding anything. with the way the pound is fluctuating against over currencies, it's a bit of a crap shoot when to change my hard-earned pounds!

why hifx? mostly because I've heard good things about them on this forum. good customer service and competitve fx rates. have also read that they make things easy for you to exchange (as I remember, you deposit money into their account (a/c number, s/c number) and then specify an account where you want the money to end up (your new NZ bank).

I guess this is the theory! Let's see if this is the reality.

Ramo

[Mickstim]

We have found ASB in London to be incredibly helpful and it has made tranferring money for us really easy. Last time we transferred we checked the rates with HiFX and also ASB and there was no difference at all.

Bx

[Ramo]

Ok, so I Googled the question (don't know why I didn't think about this before) and it came back with an interesting link on the money fool website) -

http://www.fool.co.uk/news/money-saving-tips/2006/08/22/five-ways-to-transfer-money-abroad.aspx

which pretty much confirmed my expectations. Have not yet contacted HiFX yet about any additional charges - but a foreign exchange specialist seems the way to go (assuming the FX rates remain competitive - which they do according to Mickstim).

I'll let you know how all this goes!

Ramo

[IanW99]

...
which pretty much confirmed my expectations. Have not yet contacted HiFX yet about any additional charges - but a foreign exchange specialist seems the way to go (assuming the FX rates remain competitive - which they do according to Mickstim).

I'll let you know how all this goes!

Ramo

Definitely worth checking out all the transaction fees as you may have to pay either at the UK or the NZ end and these may be charges that they can't do anything about.

If you are going to check out HiFx then worth also checking out XE.com, they have a live demo option which is exactly the same as if you were a real customer. You can see the exact rate that they are going to give you at that second and all the charges etc are shown. As you may know the rate fluctuates all day long so you can watch the real time graphs and decide when is best to transfer (not so important for small amounts).

Ian

[winka]

tranzfers.com:nice1

[Red Devil]

We recently opened a HiFX account and used their services for the first time yesterday... straight forward and easy to deal with :nice1

With regards HiFX's charges, they simply build that into the foreign exchange rate they offer you when speaking to them on the phone... still works out better (financially) than using a high street bank in the UK!

[IanW99]

tranzfers.com:nice1

Just out of interest, compared xe.com and tranzfers.com for GBP 1000.

xe.com = NZ$2668.45
tranzfers.com = NZ$2657.30

Transfer charges £10 and £7 respectively.

So xe.com costs £3 more but gives you an extra NZ$11.15.

If you were exchanging less then the difference isn't so much and of course if you were exchanging more then xe.com would be even better.

Note: I've no idea if the exchange rates between these two companies will track together so if it was tried again it may well give a different result. Also, xe.com transaction charges fluctuate with the exchange rate so was exactly £10 in this case but may be more or less.

Ian

[Ramo]

Thanks for the extra pointers, I'll check out the other sites too (XE.com and Tranzfers.com).

I still need to open a ASB bank account first before attempting the first transfer, but wanted to be armed with all the info before taking the plunge!

Ramo

[winka]

Just out of interest, compared xe.com and tranzfers.com for GBP 1000.

xe.com = NZ$2668.45
tranzfers.com = NZ$2657.30

Transfer charges £10 and £7 respectively.

So xe.com costs £3 more but gives you an extra NZ$11.15.

If you were exchanging less then the difference isn't so much and of course if you were exchanging more then xe.com would be even better.

Note: I've no idea if the exchange rates between these two companies will track together so if it was tried again it may well give a different result. Also, xe.com transaction charges fluctuate with the exchange rate so was exactly £10 in this case but may be more or less.

Ian

Can you actually send money with xe.com? I thought they just displayed mid market rates.

[IanW99]

Can you actually send money with xe.com? I thought they just displayed mid market rates.

Yep, they also transfer money.

Check out XEtrade (http://www.xe.com/fx/).

Ian

[stellafella]

Hi FX are very good and it only takes a couple of days to transfer a large amount.They definitely give a better rate of exchange than the bank..BNZ were offering 2.55 and hifx was 2.62 last week so it makes a big difference if you are transfering a lot of money.

[Ramo]

Getting a bit techy, but the way to check whether the rate is good or not, is to compare the difference in the rates the FX company will buy or sell your currency (called the bid-offer rate in FX lingo). The narrower this is, the better the rate you'll get.

The mid-rate is determined by everyone in the currency market, so the the FX company has no control over this rate. They just ensure that their bid-offer spreads fluctuate around the market mid-rate when they trade.

Only Tranzfers shows the bid-offer rate to non-members, so it's a bit hard to make a comparison with XE.com and HiFX (think you need to be a member to be quoted their bid and offers) - but the bid-offer rate will be worse than the mid-rate for your transfer, since this is how a FX trader makes their return.

Include into this any underlying fees the FX company charges and that should be the all-in rate.

Apologies for any techno-babble, but thought this might of interest! :rolleyes:

Out of interest Ian, are you a member of XE.com and Tranzfers.com?

[IanW99]

...
Only Tranzfers shows the bid-offer rate to non-members, so it's a bit hard to make a comparison with XE.com and HiFX (think you need to be a member to be quoted their bid and offers) - but the bid-offer rate will be worse than the mid-rate for your transfer, since this is how a FX trader makes their return.
...
Out of interest Ian, are you a member of XE.com and Tranzfers.com?

I'm only use XE.com nowadays as they "guarantee to beat every posted bank rate on every transaction. We also guarantee to beat every other competitor's rate nine times out of ten...."

But as I've never used anyone else other that ASB, I'm not in a position to say that they are the best company to deal with (certainly ASB were the easiest).

You say that you can't find the bid rate on XE.com unless you are a member, this is incorrect go to XE trade as posted above and select the "Live demonstration" option, follow it through to get the current bid rate. Note: This interface and rates etc are exactly the same as if you were a real member.

Ian

[winka]

I tried to take a look but I get

"Important:

This demonstration is intended to illustrate the functionality of XEtrade, not actual buy/sell rates. But remember, we offer the best rates, guaranteed. To see the actual rates that you will receive, sign up for free today.

Press the OK button below to be logged into the demo site."

And its from here I cant see their rates, just lots of pages of other info.

[IanW99]

...
And its from here I cant see their rates, just lots of pages of other info.

As I said, this is a live demo of their interface that you would see as a member, so everything is here.

If you want to see what they would pay, then do the following:-
1. Select "Basic Trade" top left
2. On the Select the amount and Currencies page, fill in the appropriate details.
No to third party, amount to sell, NZD, GBP then "Next"
3. On the Select Payment Method page fill in the details.
Wire, Wire and "Next"
4. On the Provide Payment Details page fill in the detials.
"Demo Wire Beneficiary...", type in anything for payment reference

You will then be taken to the Confirm Trade page which will show the current exchange rate and all fees etc. Each time you press "Refresh" you will be given the current rate.

Ian

[Ramo]

thanks Ian, I did see the demo - but was put off by the same thing Winka saw. But if the rates are the actual ones they are quoting, then worth looking at I think! I'll give it a go and try and find out what the bid-offer rates these guys are charging.

Ramo

[IanW99]

thanks Ian, I did see the demo - but was put off by the same thing Winka saw. But if the rates are the actual ones they are quoting, then worth looking at I think! I'll give it a go and try and find out what the bid-offer rates these guys are charging.

Ramo

Yep, the rates on here are the same that you would have got if you had logged in.

I will just point out that my instructions were purely to 'skip' past the various parts to see the rates. If you were to place a real bid then you would of course make sure that all the information is correct.

Ian